reproduced in a Toledo paper, and they have stood so long without correction that I may safely quote them. If their correctness is hereafter denied I shall hasten to do justice to the Republican candidate by retracting them. These are the words which he is said to have used:

During all of Grover Cleveland's years at the head of the Government he was dishonoring one of our precious metals, one of our own great products, discrediting silver and enhancing the price of gold. He endeavored even before his inauguration to office to stop the coinage of silver dollars, and afterwards, and to the end of his administration, persistently used his power to that end. He was determined to contract the circulating medium and demonetize one of the coins of commerce, limit the value of money among the people, make money scarce, and, therefore, dear. He would have increased the value of money and diminished the value of everything elsemoney the master, everything else the servant.

Following these same lines, the Republican National Convention, in 1892, declared, at Minneapolis, that the American people were, from tradition and interest, in favor of bimetallism. Have traditions changed in four years? Have interests changed in four years? No, my friends; but, forgetting the platform of 1880, forgetting the denunciation uttered by their distinguished leader in 1891, forgetting the platform of 1892, the Republican party, in national convention assembled, declared in 1896 that the American people must forego the advantages of the bimetallic system, to which tradition and interests endear them, until foreign nations shall bring these advantages to them.

Is it strange that men who have looked for bimetallism in the Republican party should at last give up hope and turn elsewhere for relief? These Republicans cannot be criticised for leaving the Republican party. They have done what every American citizen has a right to do. They have done better than our Democratic advocates of the gold standard, because these Republicans, when they left their former party, openly joined with those who had a chance to succeed, while our Democratic advocates of the gold standard sought to secure the election of the Republican candidates by nominating separate candidates.

To show you that the action taken by these Republicans is defended by experience and example, let me carry you back to the period just preceding the war. If you will turn to a book recently published entitled “John Sherman's Recollections," you will find, on page 112 of the first volume, a portion of a speech which he delivered in Congress in 1856. Let me read this extract:

I am willing to stand by the compromises of 1820 and 1850, but when our Whig brethren of the South allow this administration to lead them off from their principles, when they abandon the position which Henry Clay would have taken, forget his name and achievements, and decline any longer to carry his banner-they lose all their claims on me. And I say now, that until this wrong is righted, until Kansas is admitted as a free State, I cannot act in party association with them.

There the distinguished Senator from Ohio asserted upon the floor of Congress that he was willing to accept compromise after compromise, but that the time had at last come when he could go with his party associates no further; that until certain things were accomplished he could not act with them. The situation today is but a repetition of history. Compromises have been submitted to by these silver Republicans in the hope that the party of their choice and love would at last bring to the people the relief which they desired. But the Republican party, like the Whig party in 1856, has been led off by an administration until it has deserted its traditions and its platforms,

and these silver Republicans have a right to say to their former associates: "We will act with you no longer until this nation is redeemed."

We do not ask those who present this nomination to pledge their future support to the Democratic party. The same intelligence which directs them today in the discharge of duty will be with them four years from now to direct them in the discharge of the duties which will then arise. The same patriotism which leads them today in what they do will be with them four years from now to guide and direct them then. We trust them now; we shall trust them then. The Democratic party has proven itself worthy of their confidence this year, and it receives their support. If four years from now it proves unworthy of their confidence, it will not then deserve their support.

The chairman of the notification committee has said that we have today to meet a great money trust. He is right. We are now confronted by the most gigantic trust that has ever been formed among men. Do we talk about trusts formed to control the prices of the various articles which we use? My friends, all these trusts combined become insignificant when compared with the money trust which has its hands upon our country. Place the control of the standard money of the world in the hands of a few financiers, and times will always be good with them no matter what distress may overtake the rest of mankind. I believe that Mr. Carlisle did not exaggerate when he said, "The consummation of this scheme (to destroy silver as a standard money throughout the world) means more of misery to the human race than all the wars, pestilences, and famine that have ever occurred in the history of the world." Who does not stand appalled before such misery? Who among you is willing to be a partner in such a conspiracy, in the consummation of such a scheme? It is against the consummation of this scheme so eloquently and so forcibly described by Mr. Carlisle, that the silver Republicans have risen in protest. I respect their convictions. And through you, gentlemen of the committee, I thank them for the nomination tendered. All that I can promise is that I shall endeavor, to the best of my ability, to prove worthy of their confidence. Mr. E. Harrington, of Kansas, and Mr. M. F. Dowd, of Missouri, announced Mr. Sewall's nomination and he, being unavoidably absent, I, at his request, accepted for him.

CHAPTER XXX.

POPULIST NOMINATION TENDERED AND ACCEPTED.

SE

ENATOR WILLIAM V. ALLEN, of Nebraska, chairman of the Notification Committee appointed by the Populist Convention, tendered the Populist nomination in a letter, which will be found below.

Populist Notification.

Madison, Neb., September 15, 1896.

Hon. William J. Bryan, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Dear Sir: At a convention of the People's party, held at St. Louis from July 22d to 25th, of the current year, you were unanimously nominated for President of the United States, to be voted for at the approaching general election. It was known at the time that you had been nominated by the Democratic party at its convention held at Chicago a few days before that time, and that you would, in all probability, accept the same in a formal manner. Your nomination by the People's party, was not, therefore, made with any thought that you were a Populist, or that you accepted all the doctrines declared by the St. Louis platform. It was due largely to the fact that the money question is the overshadowing political issue of the age, and because you have at all times been an unswerving, able, and fearless advocate of the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold, on terms of equality, at the mints of the United States, at the ratio of sixteen to one.

It was thought also that the observance of a patriotic duty required a union of all reform forces, and the convention took the liberty without solicitation or consulting you, of placing your name before the people as its standard bearer. The convention was in doing so guided by deep solicitude for the common welfare, acting on its own motion, prompted alone by a desire to bring about the best attainable results.

So much has been said respecting the rehabilitation of silver by again placing it in our coinage acts in the position it occupied when stealthily demonetized by the act of 1873, that it would be idle for us to discuss the question. You will observe by the closing language of the St. Louis platform, that the convention recognized the money question as the great issue of the day, and because Populists believe that you are in accord with them on this question, you will receive their ballots in November.

It has at no time been expected, nor is it now, that you will abandon your the candidate who stands upon a platform shall endorse the utterances of the the People's party platform, however gratifying the latter would be to all Populists. It must be understood that the party does not abate one jot or tittle of loyalty to its principles. We have declared ourselves in favor of many important reforms, and go farther than you or your party have gone. These reforms

are, in our judgment, essential to the liberation of the people from present unjust and iniquitous industrial bondage.

In accordance with precedent of our party, we take this method of notifying you of your nomination. We shall not send a committee, according to old party custom. In sending this letter of notification of the great honor that has been so justly conferred on you by our party, it is needless for us to assure you that you have the confidence and esteem of all. Your splendid abilities, known integrity, competency and eminent fitness for the position, justly entitle you to a high rank among the great statesmen of the nation.

We feel that in the event of your election, which now seems certain, that you will carry into execution the principles of monetary reform, to the end that the people shall enjoy better industrial conditions. It is not anticipated that this can be done with undue haste, or so suddenly as to wrench or disjoint the business interests of the country, but that it will be done gradually and in a way to infuse confidence and hope of better conditions for all.

The People's party will exact of you no promises, farther than those made in your public utterances and exemplified in a life devoted to the welfare of the race, nor will it ask you to abandon the party of which you are an honored member. In your nomination our party has risen above mere partisan surroundings adopting a high plane of patriotism, believing that a division of forces would result in the election of William McKinley, the foremost advocate of a deeply burdensome and unnatural taxation and the criminal policy of the single gold standard, resulting ultimately, if not in some manner checked, in the complete destruction and disintegration of our form of government.

Your elevation to the Chief Magistracy of the nation would be regarded as a vindication of the right of the people to government, and we entertain no doubt that you will prove a worthy successor of the immortal Jefferson and Lincoln, and, that your public life, like theirs, will illustrate the purity and loftiness of American statesmanship. Your extensive and intimate knowledge of public affairs, and the duties the office will impose, gained in a life that has been devoted to upholding the cause of the people, as well as your keen insight into the condition of our country, in our judgment, highly qualify you, to bring about a change in a way that will work injury to none and justice to all, thus making our Government in fact, as it is now in form only, a government "of, by and for the people."

We have the honor to be

Your most obedient servants,

William Vincent Allen, Chairman.
M. W. Howard, Alabama.
Homer Prince, Arkansas.
T. V. Cator, California.
Henry C. Balsinger, Colorado.
Joshua Perkins, Connecticut.
Chas. Beadenkoph, Delaware.
S. S. Harvey, Florida.
Guy Clopton, Georgia.
Jas. P. Clough, Idaho.

Darrance B. Currier, New Hampshire.
John W. Hays, New Jersey.
T. E. Lincoln, New York.
Wm. A. Guthrie, North Carolina.
O. G. Major, North Dakota.

J. C. H. Cobb, Ohio.

J. W. Marksbury, Oregon.
Helen S. Johnson, Pennsylvania.
Jos. Moore, South Carolina.
Joseph B. Moore, South Dakota.

A. J. Streater, Illinois.
Seymore Riddle, Indiana.

W. H. Robb, Iowa.

W. A. Harris, Kansas.

C. E. Lugg, Kentucky.
J. W. Crawford, Louisiana.
L. C. Bateman, Maine.

Ira L. Guilford, Maryland.
Conrad Reno, Massachusetts.
D. P. Deming, Michigan.
J. M. Bowler, Minnesota.
John A. Bailey, Mississippi.
W. R. Littell, Missouri.
W. L. Hewett, Montana.

J. H. Burnham, Tennessee.
J. C. Kearby, Texas.
James Hogan, Utah.

Niles E. Baker, Vermont.
Major Mann Page, Virginia.

Mat. Ward Fitzgerald, West Virginia.
Campbell W. Bushnell, Washington.
J. W. Vaughn, Wisconsin.
D. H. Davis, Wyoming.

W. O. O'Neill, Arizona.

J. H. Turner, District of Columbia.
M. M. Milligan, New Mexico.
Ralph E. Bray, Oklahoma.

Dr. J. W. Wharton, Indian Territory.

J. M. McCormack, Nevada.

My letter of acceptance was issued shortly afterward, and is reproduced here:

Letter Accepting Populist Nomination.

Lincoln, Neb., October 3, 1896.

Hon. William V. Allen, Chairman, and others, members of the Notification Committee of the People's Party-Gentlemen: The nomination of the People's party for the Presidency of the United States has been tendered me in such a generous spirit and upon such honorable terms that I am able to accept the same without departing from the platform adopted by the Dmocratic National Convention at Chicago.

I fully appreciate the breadth of patriotism which has actuated the members of the People's party who, in order to consolidate the sentiment in favor of bimetallism, have been willing to go outside of party lines and support as their candidate one already nominated by the Democratic party and also by the Silver party.

I also appreciate the fact that while, during all the years since 1873, a large majority of the Democratic party and a considerable minority of the Republican party, have been consistent advocates of the free coinage of silver, at the present ratio, yet ever since the organization of the People's party its members have unanimously supported such coinage as the only means of restoring bimetallism. By persistently pointing out the disastrous effects of a gold standard and protesting against each successive step towards financial bondage, the Populists have exerted an important influence in awakening the public to a realization of the Nation's present peril.

In a time like this, when a great political party is attempting to surrender the right of the American people to legislate for themselves upon the financial question, and is seeking to bind them to a foreign monetary system, it behooves us as lovers of our country and friends of American institutions to lay aside for the present such differences as may exist among us on minor questions, in order that our strength may be united in a supreme effort to wrest the Government from the hands of those who imagine that the nation's finances are only se