Che Conservative.
VOL. III. NEBRASKA CITY , NEB. , THURSDAY , NOV. i , 1900. NO. 17.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOCK.
J. STERLING MORTON , EDITOR.
A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION
Or POLITICAL , ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL
QUESTIONS.
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Address , THE CONSERVATIVE , Nebraska
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Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City
Neb. , as Second Class matter , July 20th , 1808.
"IF I CAN PREVENT THE MAINTEN
ANCE OF THE GOLD STAND
ARD , YOU CAN RELY ON
MY DOING IT. "
"They say that I am begging for votes.
Not at all. I never asked a man to vote for
me. In fact , I have teld some people to vote
against me. That Is more than most can
didates do. I have said that if there was
anybody who believed In the maintenance
of the gold standard until foreign nations
came to us and graciously permitted us to
abandon it , I said that If anybody should be
lieve that the gold standard was absolutely
essential to the welfare of this country he
ought to not vote for me at all. I do not
want any man to vote for me and then ob
ject to my doing what I expect to d if you
elect me , and if I can prevent the mainten
ance of the gold standard you can rely on
my doing it the very first possible oppor
tunity given me. "
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.
Philadelphia , Sept. 23 , 1896.
"If there IB any one who believes the
Gold Standard Is a good thing , or that It
must be maintained , Iwarn him not to
cast his vote for me because I promise him
It will not be maintained In this country
longer than I am able to get rid of It. "
Hon. William Jennings Bryan , Knoxvllle ,
Tenn. , Sept. 10,1800.
° f
THE ISSUE.
this country will |
on Tuesday , next , determine who shall
guide the destiny of this republic
for the next four years ; whether it shall
be William MoKinley or William Jen
nings Bryan. As in the campaign four
years ago so now a great political party
threatens to impair the nation's currency
and thus undermine and destroy the
national credit. The credit ef a nation
is nothing more than the confidence oi
its own citizens and the commercial na
tions of the world in its financial sol-
vency and integrity. The commercial
advantage to our government of the
maintenance of the nation's credit upon
the firm and secure foundation of the
gold standard is illustrated by a com
parison of the bonds of the United
States with those of Mexico. United
States bonds formerly drawing 3 and
% per cent have been refunded at 2 per
cent and are today quoted at 104 } , or
4 } cents above par. Mexican bonds
upon the silver basis draw 5 per cent
and are quoted at 42 or 58 cents below
par. Not only has the credit of the
national government been strengthened
by maintaining the gold standard but
the benign influence of a sound
currency has been felt in every
department of commercial and indus
trial life and has given us four of the
most prosperous years known in our na
tion's history. It is a prosperity that
reaches alike the man on the farm and
in the factory ; that has started anew
the wheels of industry and has made
glad the hearts of honest toilers every
where , bringing gloom and disappoint
ment to none save false prophets of
calamity.
The only question confronting the
voter is this : Does he want a change ?
_ Does he want to
Bryan. , ,
Mexioanize the
United States ? Does he want to de
stroy that which is the foundation , the
solid rook upon which rests the whole
fabric of our nation's prosperity ? Does
he want to supplant prosperity with
poverty ? Does he want industry to
give place to idleness ? If so a vote for
Bryan and fusion will indicate this pre
ference. The William Jennings Bryan
of 1900 ia the William Jennings Bryan
of 1896 , who was thus characterized by
Carl Schurz , in his famous speech at
Central Music hall , September 5,1896 :
' 'Mr. Bryan has a taste for Scriptural
illustration. He will remember how
Christ was taken up on a high moun
tain and promised all the glories in the
world if he would fall down and wor
ship the devil. He will also remember
what Christ answered. So the tempter
now takes the American people up the
mountain and says , 'I will take from
you half of your debts , if you will wor
ship me. ' But then brave old Uncle
Sam rises up in all his dignity , manly
pride and honest wrath , and speaks in
thunder tones : 'Get thee behind me ,
Satan. For it is written that thou shall
worship the God of Truth , Honor and
Righteousness , and Him alone shalt
thou serve. ' "
Today Bryan stands for the same va
gary in finance for which he stood when
Unchanged. so bitterly arraign-
edbySohnrz. He
has not made a single retraction of any
thing he advocated then. Instead of a re
traction he has made an emphatic reit
eration. In his speech at the Tammany
meeting , October 27 , he said : .
"The democratic party is applying
familiar principles to new conditions ,
the republican party is removing the
ancient landmarks. In advocating bi
metallism we advocate a financial sys
tem whose usefulness is attested by
thousands of years of history as well is
by our own national experience and by
the past platforms of the republican
party and all other parties. In advo
cating the greenback we are advocating
a money first issued by the republican
party , approved by the supreme court
and never condemned in a republican
platform. In advocating an income
tax we advocate a system which receiv
ed the sanction of Abraham Lincoln
and which is now practiced by the lead
ing nations of Europe. In opposing
government by injunction we are sim
ply defending the jury system which
has been described as the bulwark of
English freedom , and it is as important
here as in Europe. "
In 1896 the intelligence , honesty and
patriotism of the American people revolted -
_ . , volted against
Crokerlsm. _ . °
Bryanism because
it meant a dishonest currency , a corrupt
and dependent judiciary , increased com
mercial depression and industrial par
alysis. Bryanism today is precisely
what it was then. The case against it
is even stronger. Today , in view of
present prosperity , it stands convicted
of all that was alleged against it in 1896.
Shall we accept now what our con
science forbade then ? Shall we endorse
the certificate of good character given
Mr. Bryan by his friend , Richard Oroker ?
Will the voters of this country place the
stamp of approval upon this open alli
ance between financial lunacy and civic
lewdness ? If Bryanism alone was dan
gerous and a menace to the peace and
security of the republic , is not the peril
all the more intensified when with the
ignorance , inoompetenoy and hypocrisy
of Bryanism are linked the viciousness ,
dishonor and reeking corruption of
Orokerism ? Can it be that "Great is
Tammany and Oroker is its prophet , "