I rejoice that such a demonstration as this is possible in the State of West Virginia. Without any money being spent by the committee, great interest has been aroused. The fact that you are willing to give your time and to contribute, even at a sacrifice, whatever is necessary to prepare this magnificent demonstration, is evidence that you are in earnest and that you mean business in this campaign.

We have declared the money question to be the paramount issue of the campaign. Ordinary questions may be settled at any time, but we have reached a crisis in our financial affairs when it is necessary for the United States to take a decided stand, and what that stand shall be must be determined, not by a few financiers, but by the American people. Some of our opponents seem to think that only a few people are able to understand the money question. They even go so far as to assert that financial questions are too complicated to be understood by the ordinary citizen. When I find a man who thinks that the money question is too complicated for the people, I generally find a man who thinks it is just about complicated enough for himself. When I find a man who thinks that the money question is too deep for the people, I generally find a man who thinks that he has made a study of deep questions. Whenever I find a man who thinks that the masses are not intelligent enough to act for themselves, I generally find a man who wants to act for them. And you may rest assured that if you let some one act for all the people on the theory that all the people have not sense enough to act for themselves, then you may depend upon it that the one who does the acting will not neglect himself. The money question is not a complicated question; it requires no extended study to understand the principle which underlies it. It is so simple that there is no person in this audience who need go away without a clear understanding of the subject. You can make money either dear or cheap by law. You can make money dear by making it scarce; you can make money too cheap by making it too plentiful. A dollar is a creature of law; if you have more dollars than are necessary to keep pace with the demands for money, then dollars will fall in purchasing power. If the demand for money increases more rapidly than the number of dollars, then the value of the dollar will rise. There are some people who profit by a rising dollar; there are some people who grow rich as a dollar grows in purchasing power, and if these people control legislation they will so control it as to raise the value of the money which they own. There are those who make a profit by the negotiation of bonds, and those who profit by bond sales are anxious for the government to maintain a policy which will make frequent bond issues necessary. Therefore, my friends, the question as to who shall determine the quantity of money becomes a serious question. The advocates of a gold standard insist that they favor the gold standard, not because of the advantage which it brings them but because of their interest in others. You may believe that if you like, but I do not. When I find a man who wants a thing because he thinks it is good for himself, I recognize him as a natural sort of man, but when I find a man who always wants to do something for me against my will; some one who insists upon looking after my interests when I don't want him to; and who tells me that he always feels for me, I am careful to see that he does not reach me.

I do not know what these gold advocates may have said in your presence

but I know that some of them insist that the New York financiers would make a great profit out of free coinage if they could only permit themselves to enjoy the profit. When they tell me that the financiers will profit by free coinage, then, my friends, I conclude that the time has come for the masses to pay back a debt of gratitude which has been accumulating for twenty years. For twenty years these financiers, if we can believe their own report, have been legislating for the good of the people even to the neglect of themselves. I do not think we ought to permit them to make this sacrifice for us always, and when they tell us that the free coinage of silver will help them I say that we should give them the advantage of free coinage and permit them to enjoy it to their hearts' content. If it brings disadvantage to us we will endeavor to bear up under the disadvantage with that fortitude which they have displayed in enduring the gold standard for so many years. If, as a matter of fact, they believe that the free coinage of silver is going to enrich them, why is it that they call us anarchists because we are attempting to do something for them?

Leaving Wheeling in the night we reached Point Pleasant at an early hour. My father's parents were buried near this spot, and a number of relatives were present at Point Pleasant. I came near missing this meeting because Mr. McMillan was trying to protect my sleep. The Tennessee Congressman was one of the most considerate guardians whom I found during the campaign, and when he was endeavoring to secure rest for me his humor supplied any missing links in his logic. He was the life of the party and never spared himself if there was a joke to be related. As an illustration, I may suggest the following: My speeches were for the most part brief, and he sometimes followed me. On one occasion, when I understood that he was to speak, I was surprised to find him in the car soon after I entered, and said to him, "I thought you were going to follow me." He replied, "I did follow you-and so did the crowd."

But to return to the narrative. I came to the rescue of the Point Pleasant committee and, in accordance with a promise made the night before, addressed the audience assembled. I here met ex-Congressman James Capehart, one of the signers of the address of March 4, 1895.

The next meeting was at Charleston, followed by the last meeting in the State, which was held at Huntington. Both were largely attended. In fact, the trip through West Virginia was a very satisfactory one, and gave me an opportunity to meet many of the prominent silver advocates of all parties. Governor McCorkle was with us during a portion of the trip.

In the ride through Northern Kentucky we found the people assembled at every place where the train stopped, but there was no incident of special importance. Upon arrival in Cincinnati our party

repaired to the Gibson House, where the proprietor, Mr. H. B. Dunbar, one of the best bimetallists, had arranged a little banquet for us. The evening's work began with a speech at the Music Hall and ended with an outdoor meeting at Covington, Ky.

The former ranked among the largest of our indoor meetings; beiow will be found a portion of the speech:

Cincinnati Speech.

Let me call your attention to the language used by Abraham Lincoln in criticising a decision of the Supreme Court. When you hear his words you will understand how much more emphatic his language was than our platformand yet there are many people in this country today who think that Abraham Lincoln was not only a great man, but also a good man and a patriot. He said:

We believe as much as Judge Douglass, perhaps more, in obedience to and respect for the judicial department of the Government. But we think that the Dred Scott decision was erroneous. We know that the court that made it has often overruled its own decisions, and we shall do what we can to have it overrule this.

That, my friends, was the position taken by Abraham Lincoln, and that is exactly the position which we take today. We expect that at some time in the future that decision will be overruled; we expect that at some time in the future it will be possible to make wealth bear its share of the burdens of government. It is strange how suddenly some of these people who have been in court all their lives as defendants, charged with violating the law, it is strange, I say, how suddenly they have come to respect a decision of the court. The men who, under the income tax law, will be compelled to pay a tax, instead of telling us that they are not willing to pay the tax, charge us with disrespect to the court. If these men, who want the protection of government, and yet want others to bear all the burdens of government, were frank and honest, they would tell us that what they object to is not our criticism of the court, but the law itself, which would compel them to pay their share of the taxes.

It was late before we reached Covington, and I only spoke for a few moments at that meeting. While there I was the guest of one of the electoral ticket-Judge James Tarvin.

Leaving Cincinnati next morning, we passed through Indiana, stopping, among other places, at North Vernon, Seymour, Mitchell, Loogootee, Washington and Vincennes. The veteran Congressman, W. S. Holman, accompanied the party during a portion of the journey. The principal stops in Illinois were at Olney, Flora, and Salem. Mr. McMillan sang my praises at Salem, my early home, and as an evidence that his remarks made a deep impression upon the people, I record the fact that the Democratic majority was largely increased in the town and county.

After a brief stop at East St. Louis, where an open-air meeting was held, we again entered the trans-Mississippi territory:

CHAPTER XL.

MEETING OF THE DEMOCRATIC CLUBS.

Τ

HE meeting of the Democratic clubs of the United States was held at St. Louis on the 3d of October. Having promised some weeks in advance to attend this gathering, my dates were so arranged as to enable me to reach there that evening. The Reception Committee took our party to the Southern Hotel, where we met Hon. Chauncey F. Black, of York, Pennsylvania, President of the National Association of Democratic Clubs, Hon. Lawrence Gardner, of Washington, D. C., Secretary of the Association, Senator H. D. Money, of Mississippi, and a number of others prominent in the work.

The public sessions were held at Convention Hall. At the afternoon session, Vice-President Adlai E. Stevenson made a very strong speech, which was widely circulated during the campaign.

At the evening session I delivered an address, which is reproduced in full:

St. Louis Speech Before the Democratic Clubs.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: For just a little while I ask your attention. I desire to address a few remarks to the members of the clubs here assembled.

The clubs can be of more service in this campaign than in any previous campaign, because in this campaign the work is being done by the people themselves. These clubs have adopted a button which presents the likeness of Thomas Jefferson. If you had searched through all history you could not have found a man more worthy to be taken as your ideal statesman, because in all the history of the human race there has never been but one Thomas Jefferson. Of all the constructive statesmen whom the world has ever seen, Thomas Jefferson, in my judgment, stands first.

At a time when representative government was an experiment, he wrote that immortal document which declared that among the self-evident truths were these: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with inalienable rights, that governments are instituted among men to preserve these rights, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. In stating those four propositions, he stated the Alpha and the Omega of Democracy. Men may write books, men may fill libraries with volumes, but they can never improve upon that simple statement, recorded in a few sentences and yet comprehending all that there is in a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

In my opinion, no statesman ever lived who more fully understood human

nature than Jefferson did-no one who more fully understood the capacity of the people for self-government-no one who more fully understood the dangers to be guarded against. He stated the principles which underlie Democracy, and then he applied those principles to every question which arose during his time. We today are inventing no new principles; we are seeking to discover no new truths; we are simply applying to new conditions those principles which must forever live if the people still retain their love for our form of government.

Since you have chosen Jefferson as your ideal, let me read to you the creed, the articles of faith, set forth in his first inaugural address and for years recorded at the platform of the party which he organized. It does us good to re-read these principles and renew our allegiance to them:

Equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.

That is the first, that is the fundamental principle-"Equal and exact justice to all." Show me an abuse of government, show me a law which is worthy of criticism, and I will show you a law which violates that principle of equal and exact justice to all.

The greatest danger which government has to avoid is favoritism. Favoritism is the curse of all governments, least, to be sure, among the governments a government which gives to none, which takes from none, and a government because our government is administered through human beings, and human beings are human.

My friends, if you would have government just, if you would have government fulfill the idea of a perfect government, you must have a government which is no respecter of persons, a government which deals with an equal hand, a government which gives to none, which takes from none, and a government which, in the making of the laws and in the administration of justice, treats all alike, and punishes the great transgressor as it does the petty offender.

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliance with none.

Our position makes it possible for us to be more independent than any other nation; our position, our situation, our surroundings make it possible for us to have peace and commerce and honest friendship with every nation, without forming entangling alliances with any of them.

The support of the state governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-repub

lican tendencies.

Our form of government recognizes the right of the States to do certain things, and the perpetuity of this nation depends as much upon respecting local self-government as it does upon recognizing national supremacy.

If we neglect to preserve the local self-government provided by the Constitution, we encounter the danger which threatens this Government, as it has threatened all others, namely, the concentration of power in the hands of a few and those few remote from the people themselves. If we depart from the idea of local self-government we will lessen the watchful care of the people over the government and place them in a position where they will become the victims of any tyrant who seizes the reins of government and uses force to subdue a people already half subdued by indifference.