They will bribe every election judge
who can be bribed. They will corrupt
every count that can be corrupted. I do
not understand how it is possible for the
plain , every-day republican to close , his
eyes to what is going on , when he
knows that if he aids these influences to
carry the election at this time , the same
means can be employed to carry other
elections , when those who are support
ing the republican ticket today will be
opposing the republican ticket. "
He charges that his defeat will be the
result of corruption. Only by being
bought can people be kept from voting
for him. He announces to the world
that a majority of the people of the
United States will yield to bribes. A
people who would thus be influenced
by corrupt practices , who would sell
their franchise as merchandise to the
highest bidder , are unfit not only to gov
ern others but are not fit to govern
themselves. By making such a charge
against his fellow citizens , Mr. Bryan
impugns their capability for self gov
ernment. Never before has a candidate
for the presidency been so forgetful of
the dignity of the office to which he
aspires as to thus malign those who op
pose him. Never before has a presiden
tial candidate declared that his defeat
could be aecomplished only by the use
of money. Mr. Bryan in thus appeal
ing for votes is embittered by the pre
sentiment of overwhelming defeat , a
fate richly deserved.
To show the changed feeling on the
part of the press of the country toward
Mr. Bryan , we quote the following
from well-known papers :
"If Mr. Bryan really believes what he
says , he is so utterly lacking in mental
stability that he is
Press Talk.
scarcely fit to be
intrusted with the duties of the office to
which he aspires. If ha does not be
lieve it , he is a blatant blatherskite , who
is maliciously striving to set class
against class for his own political ad
vantage. In either case Mr. Bryan pre
sents a pitiful spectacle to the American
people. " Detroit Free Press. ( Dem. )
"We do not remember ever hearing
such accusations brought against any
great political party by the candidate of
the opposition. Partisan newspapers
may misrepresent and abuse the op
position , and petty shouters may
rant , but for a candidate for president
on the ticket of one of the great parties
to utter such charges is beyond all pre
cedent. It is not only the impropriety
we object to ; but they are dangerous
Does Mr. Bryan suppose for a momen
that the lower elements of society
which support him , can hear such words
( and they have been emblazoned in bold
type in the newspapers supporting him
in every city ) , believe them , and go
about their work in his own oheerfu
and good-natured way ? Not by any
means. Such accusations , when coupled
as they are by Mr. Bryan , withconstan
attacks on the substantial persons anc
parts of society , the enterprising and the
prosperous , are bound to incite these un-
uly revolutionary spirits to acts of
violence.
1 'In the presence of riotous mobs , whose
nspiration came from such words , what
nflnence could Mr. Bryan exert ? How
could he throw up his hands in righteous
horror and deplore such outrages ? What
different effect would be likely to
follow these words and others of like
mport , such as the charge made by him
n Wisconsin last week , that the gov
ernment is building forts near large
cities in which to maintain troops to put
down any efforts of laboring men to
obtain their right ? Such speeches cause
disgust , and no one can put faith in the
man who utters them.
"Least of all does it befit the candidate
of a party whose foundations rest on
Tammany Hall and the negro-disfran
chising South to charge bribery , coer
cion , intimidation , and corruption of the
republican management. " Boston
Evening Transcript ( anti-imperialist )
Rep.
"The decision of the Staats-Zeitung to
advocate the reelection of McKinley as
the 'lesser of two evils' is highly sig
nificant. It both illustrates and
strengthens a tendency which has been
visibly increasing of late among conservative
vative men , however disgusted they
may be with the president's policy , to
regard the evils which would come from
Bryan's success as the more threatening.
This tendency must be accelerated by
the more demagogical tone of Bryan's
speeches , as he tries in the last month oi
the canvas to arouse class hatred in his
own interest. The Chicago Record , an
independent journal , expresses a wide
spread feeling when it quotes the demo
cratic-populist candidate's recent talk
about the republicans seeking a large
army in order to overawe labor , and
says :
'The man who sows discord among
the people for his political profit , who
arouses class hatred in a land where
there should be no classes , in order thai
he may get an office , is unmistakably
working his own undoing. Mr. Bryan's
cause cannot prosper from the moment
that he begins to cry out that Americans
are seeking to infringe on the liberties
of Americans. ' " New York Post.
MONEY TO THE
efforts of Mr. Bryan -
FRONT.
an and his man
agers , the money question is now the
most seriously considered issue of the
campaign. Upon this issue will
hinge the result of the election
The financial question has been
brought more prominently to the
front as a result of the statement re
cently issued by Mr. Cleveland in which
he reaffirmed what he said five years
ago when he stated in a letter to Chicago
business men :
"Disguise it as we may , the line o
battle is drawn between the forces of
safe currency and those of silver mono
metalism.
"I will not believe that if our people
are afforded an intelligent opportunity
'or ' sober second thought they will sanc
tion schemes that , however cloaked ,
mean disaster and confusion , nor that
they will consent , by undermining the
foundation of safe currency , to endan
ger the beneficent character and pur
poses of their government. "
Referring to this Mr. Cleveland now
says , "I have not changed my opinion
as then expressed in the least. " The
schemes to which Mr. Cleveland refers ,
the schemes to give us a debased cur
rency although "cloaked" this year with
"imperialism" and "militarism , " will
not be sanctioned by the American pee
ple. The voters of this country have
already penetrated the disguise and rec
ognize the real , the vital question of the
campaign , viz : the maintenance of a
sound and stable currency. This must
be determined now. This is the imme
diate issue confronting us. Other
questions can wait. Congress may deal
justly with the Filipino with either
Bryan or McKinley but a sound cur
rency and industrial progress are impos
sible with Bryan.
Mr. H. L. Sivel-
TABULATED LIES.
ly and Mr. E. L.
Fuller , of Scranton , Pa. , call the atten
tion of THE CONSERVATIVE to a lot of
"Labor Statistics" which have been
manufactured to order by the "Trust"
committee of fusionists whieh is run
ning Bryan for the presidency. They
send the entire table and wish specific
denials of each one. But life is too short
to even say "No" to the innumerable
fabrications which the fusion candida
ture trust is putting on the market.
The presidential candidate of the com
bine and his supporters , who declare
that times are no better in 1900 than
they were in 1896 , can not expect people
ple to take seriously any of their detail
ed tabulated mendacity.
However , to show the utter falsity of
the whole list of "statistics" it is only
necessary to answer the assertion that
"it requires twenty bushels more corn
to buy a wagon than it did in 1896. "
Any well informed person knows that
in 1896 corn was selling for from 10 to
15 cents per bushel and that a standard
farm wagon was then worth $60. In
other words , it took 400 bushels of corn
at 15 cents to buy a wagon in 1896. In
1900 wagons have increased in price to
$65 , but with corn selling at 35 cents a
bushel in Nebraska , it requires less than
200 bushels to buy the wagon. The
same is true in regard to all the other
articles of merchandise referred to in
the "statistics. " It is admitted that
the prices for farm machinery and uten
sils have increased during the last four
years , but the fact remains that the
purchasing power of farm products-
corn , wheat , beef , pork is greater to
day , by a large percentage , than it was
in 1896.
