commerce in this country can stand. Destroy the power of the masses to buy and you undermine our commercial fabric and increase the number of failures and the number of traveling men out of employment.

I thank you, my friends, for this opportunity to speak to you. If men ask you what 16 to 1 means, you tell them it means that every one traveling man is going to get sixteen votes for us this fall.

Here I was the guest of Mayor Taggart, at the Grand Hotel.

The following day was spent in a trip through northern Indiana. The largest meeting was held in Logansport, shorter stops being made. at Noblesville, Tipton, Kokomo, Winnemac, Hammond, and some other places. At Logansport there were two meetings; here I met Senator Turpie, who devoted himself actively to the campaign in his State, Judge James McCabe, the Indiana member of the Resolutions Committee at the Chicago convention, and ex-Congressman Lafe Pence, formerly of Colorado, now of New York. The visit to Logansport was a very enjoyable one. The day's work closed with an immense open air meeting at Hammond, and from this point we went to Chicago, reaching there in time for a night train West.

CHAPTER XLII.

A

A TRIP THROUGH THE NORTHWEST.

WAGNER car, the "Idler"-a most inappropriate name, it seemed to me-was provided by the National Committee, and from this time until the end of the campaign the journey was robbed of the inconvenience which necessarily attends a frequent change of cars. There was sufficient room in the car for the newspaper correspondents, as well as the representatives of the committee who traveled with us; our meals were served in the car, and we were able to get more rest than was possible at hotels.

We reached Bulington, Iowa, on the morning of the 8th. After breakfast at the home of ex-Congressman Seerley, where I met my former pastor, Dr. Sutherland, and a parade through the principal streets, we were driven to the Exposition grounds, where the main speech was delivered in a hall, and two or three short ones at overflow meetings. I was here interrupted at a most opportune time. I was intending to quote from Mr. McKinley's speeches in favor of free silver, and had the quotations marked and on the table in front of me. Just as I reached that point in the speech some enthusiastic Republican in the audience shouted out, "Hurrah for McKinley." By asking him which McKinley he referred to, and contrasting Mr. McKinley's language of 1891 and 1893 with his language of 1896, I was able to emphasize the change which had taken place.

From Burlington we went to Cedar Rapids, where a large meeting' was held in Athletic Park; thence to Marshalltown, where two meetings were held, the last under the auspices of the silver clubs of Iowa. Morning found us at Sioux City, where a speaker's stand had been erected in the commodious depot. Judge A. Van Wagenen, fusion candidate for Congress in that district, presided. Hon. C. A. Walsh, of the National Committee, and Chairman Curry, of the State committee, were in charge during the trip through Iowa; ex-Congressman Hamilton was with us a part of the time.

At Sioux City we turned north, and after several brief stops, reached Sioux Falls, South Dakota, about noon. The meeting at this place. was a very enthusiastic one. Senator R. F. Pettigrew was chairman

of the Reception Committee, and our carriage was drawn through the streets by several hundred persons. This was the only place where this was done. In a brief speech I defended Senator Pettigrew's action in joining the silver forces.

From Sioux Falls we went to Huron, stopping at a few points en

route.

The hour was late and the weather disagreeable, but the people at the latter place seemed willing to endure the inconvenience.

The next stop was at Aberdeen, which was indelibly impressed upon my memory as the place where I made three speeches to three large audiences, between the hours of half past one and half past two A. M. The first meeting was held in Exposition Hall, where the audience had assembled at seven o'clock. Senator Peffer, of Kansas, Senator Kyle, of South Dakota, and others had spoken during the six hours which elapsed between the opening of the meeting and the arrival of our train. The fact that Senator Pettigrew, Republican, and Senator Kyle, Populist-with both of whom my relations were very pleasant in Washington-were supporting a Democrat for the Presidency, was here referred to as showing the union of the silver forces during the campaign.

There was no switch between the road over which we entered Aberdeen and the road over which we went to Fargo, and, therefore, Mr. Tomlinson took the "Idler" to St. Paul, while we continued our journey toward the North.

Late as it was when we retired, we were up at Waupeton, reaching Fargo for breakfast. Here Hon. Henry F. Miller, a free silver Republican national banker, presided at a large outdoor meeting.

The Minnesota committee, consisting of National Committeeman Thomas D. O'Brien and Chairman Rosing, of the Democratic State Committee, Hon. S. B. Howard, silver Republican, and others, met us here and took us to St. Paul by special train. Messrs. O'Brien and Rosing and Congressman Towne deserve special credit for the excellent arrangements made for the Minnesota tour.

The towns through which we passed on this day were, for the most part, small, and the stops were brief.

Three meetings were addressed in St. Paul that evening, and all were largely attended. I quote from the speech delivered at the first meeting, held in the Auditorium:

St. Paul Speech.

Before addressing myself to the subject in hand, I desire to express to organized labor my grateful appreciation of the gift just presented. It is a gold pen with a silver holder, and if I am elected by my countrymen to be chiel executive of this nation, that pen and holder will be used to sign a free coin. age bill. I am glad that the pen with which my signature is to be affixed is the gift of the laboring men, because I believe that the laboring men of this country-aye, more than that, the laboring men of all the world—are interested in the restoration of silver to its ancient place by the side of gold.

I would not favor the free coinage of silver did I not believe that it would be beneficial to those who toil, because my political philosophy teaches me that there can be no prosperity in this nation unless that prosperity begins first among those who create wealth and finds its way afterward to the other classes of society. More than that, civilization itself rests upon the great mass of the people, and it is only by carrying the people upward and onward that we can expect any advance in civilization. There can be no real civilization where a few have more than they can use and the many have not sufficient to give necessary sustenance. Nor do I believe that these great inequalities can exist in a nation where the government observes the old maxim of equal rights to all and special privileges to none.

When government is properly administered, there will be no railroad wreckers to make themselves rich by bankrupting those who put their confidence in them; when government is properly administered there will be no representative of a coal trust sitting by every fireside to exact tribute from those who desire to be protected from the cold of winter; when government is properly administered there will be no syndicates fattening upon the government's adversities, after they have brought the adversities upon the government; when government is properly administered there will be no corporations which will assume to be greater than the power which created them; when government is properly administered it will recognize those fundamental principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with inalienable rights, that governments are instituted to preserve these rights, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. When these four principles are applied, then government will be what it ought to be.

Jackson has well said that there are no necessary evils in government; that evils exist only in its abuses. It is not government against which we raise our hands. It is against the abuses of government that we aim, and we will not be driven from our purpose to eradicate these evils, although every man entrenched behind a special privilege heaps abuse upon us.

Speaking of the desertion of the gold Democrats, I said:

I am not going to say one word to prevent any Democrat doing what his conscience tells him to be right, but if any Democrat is going to leave the Democratic party, I want him to find his reason in his head or in his heart, and not in his pocketbook. If he finds his reason in his pocketbook, I want him to be man enough to say that that is where the reason is, and not say that he leaves because all the rest of the Democrats have become anarchists.

If a Democrat is connected with a trust and loves the trust more than he does his country, let him say so, and we will bid him Godspeed. If there is any Democrat who is connected with a corporation and prefers to retain his connection with that corporation rather than to stand with the Democratic party in its effort to bring the Government back to the position of Jefferson and Jackson, let him say so.

And more than that, let not the Democrats who go delude themselves with the thought that this is but a temporary disagreement. Let them not delude themselves with the thought that they can separate from us now and come back hereafter to assume positions of command. Let them understand what this contest means. This contest is not for now or for a day. This contest is the beginning of a struggle which will not end until this Government is wrested from the hands of syndicates and trusts, and put back into the hands of the people. Any Democratic son who desires to leave his father's house can do so, but let him understand that when he gets tired and comes back we may not kill the fatted calf for him. When he gets tired of associating with those who would undo what Jefferson and Jackson did, it may be that those whom he left at home will make him saw wood a long while before he gets to the dinner table.

At this meeting a committee representing organized labor presented me a gold pen, with silver holder, with the instructions to use them in signing the silver bill, if elected.

At Minneapolis the laboring men gave me a beautiful inkstand, the bottom and top being each a silver dollar, and the stand so constructed as to give the appearance of sixteen silver dollars piled one upon another. It was opened by means of a gold dollar, fastened to the lid. At Duluth the laboring men supplied an ink bottle made of gold and silver combined.

At Terre Haute the laboring men added a blotting pad and silver holder, and Miss Broady, daughter of the fusion candidate for Congress in the Lincoln (Neb.) district, to complete the outfit, made a pen wiper, in appearance like the daisy.

Although I am unable to use these articles for the purpose intended, they are preserved as a souvenir of the campaign, interesting enough, I think to justify me in giving a cut of them on another page.

Mrs. Bryan joined me here on Sunday morning, and we attended the Central Presbyterian Church together.

On Monday we dined with Judge Caldwell, of the United States Court, and Judges Willis, Egan and Kelly, and a few others at the Ryan Hotel. Judge Caldwell was one of the most prominent of the silver Republicans, and gave to our cause as active a support as his position would permit.