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THE FINANCIAL PLANK.

Recognizing that the money question is paramount to all others at this time, we invite attention to the fact that the constitution names silver and gold together as the money metals of the United States, and that the first coinage law passed by congress under the constitution made the silver dollar the money unit and admitted gold to free coinage at a ratio based upon the silver dollar unit.

We declare that the act of 1873, demonetizing silver without the knowledge or approval of the American people, has resulted in the appreciation of gold and a corresponding fall in the prices of commodities produced by the people; a heavy increase in the burden of taxation and of all debts, public and private; the enrichment of the money lending class at home and abroad; the prostration of industry and impoverishment of the people. We are unalterably opposed to monometallism, which has locked fast the prosperity of an industrial people in the paralysis of hard times. Gold monometallism is a British policy and its adoption has brought other nations into financial servitude to London. It is not only un-American, but anti-American, and it can be fastened on the United States only by the stifling of that indomitable spirit and love of liberty which proclaimed our political independence in 1776 and won it in the war of the revolution.

We demand the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation. We demand that the standard silver dollar shall be a full legal tender, equally with gold for all debts, public and private, and we favor such legislation as will prevent for the future the demonetization of any kind of legal tender money by private contract.

We are opposed to the policy and practice of surrendering to the holders of the obligations of the United States the option reserved by law to the government of redeeming such obligations in either silver coin or gold coin.

We are opposed to the issuing of interest bearing bonds of the United States in time of peace and condemn the trafficking with banking syndicates which, in exchange for bands and at an enormous profit to themselves, supply the federal treasury with gold to maintain the policy of gold monometallism. Congress alone has the power to coin and issue money and President Jackson declared that this power could not be delegated to corporations or individuals. We, therefore, demand that the power to issue notes to circulate as money be taken from the national banks and that all paper money shall be issued directly by the treasury department, be redeemable in coin and receivable for all debts public and private.

THE TARIFF PLANK.

We hold that tariff duties should be levied for purposes of revenue, such duties to be so adjusted as to operate equally throughout the country and not discriminate between class or section; and that taxation should be limited by the needs of the government, honestly and economically administered. We denounce as disturbing to business the Republican threat to restore the McKinley law, which has twice been condemned by the people in national elections, and which, enacted under the false plea of protection to home industries, proved a prolific breeder of trusts and monopolies, enriched the few at the expense of the many, restricted trade and de

prived the producers of the great American staples of access to their natural markets. Until the money question is settled we are opposed to any agitation for further changes in our tariff laws, except such as are necessary to meet the deficit in revenue caused by the adverse decision of the supreme court on the income tax. But for this decision by the supreme court there would be no deficit in the revenue under the law passed by a Democratic congress in strict pursuance of the uniform decisions of that court for nearly one hundred years, that court having in that decision sustained constitutional objections to its enactment which had previously been overruled by the ablest judges who have ever sat on that bench. We declare that it is the duty of congress to use all the constitutional power which remains after that decision, or which may come from its reversal by the court as it

may hereafter be constituted, so that the burdens of taxation may be equally and impartially laid to the end that wealth may bear its due proportion of the expenses of the govern

ment.

PAUPER LABOR IMPORTATION. We hold that the most efficient way of protecting American labor is to prevent the importation of foreign pauper labor to compete with it in the home market and that the value of the home market to our American farmers and artisans is greatly reduced by a vicious monetary system which depresses the prices of their products below the cost of production and thus deprives them of the means of purchasing the products from our home manufacturers.

TRUSTS AND POOLS.

The absorption of wealth by the few, the consolidation of our leading railroad systems and the formation of trusts and pools require a stricter control by the federal government of those arteries of commerce. We demand the enlargement of the powers of the interstate commerce commission and such restrictions and guarantees in the control of railroads as will protect the people from robbery and oppression.

WASTE OF PUBLIC MONEY DEPLORED.

We denounce the profligate waste of the money wrung from the people by oppressive taxation and the lavish appropriations of recent Republican congresses which have kept taxes high while the labor that pays them is unemployed and the products of the people's toil are depressed in price till they no longer repay the cost of production. We demand a return to that simplicity and economy which befits a Democratic government and a reduction in the number of useless offices the salaries of which drain the substance of the people.

ALTGELD'S ANTI-CLEVELAND PLANK. We denounce arbitrary interference by federal authorities in local affairs as a violation of the constitution of the United States and a crime against free institutions and we especially object to government by injunction as a new and highly dangerous form of oppression by which federal judges in contempt of the laws of the states and rights of citizens, become at once legislators, judges and executioners, and we approve the bill passed at the last session of the United States senate and now pending in the house of representatives relative to contempts in federal courts and providing for trials by jury in certain cases of contempt.

No discrimination should be indulged by the government of the United States in favor of any of its debtors. We approve of the refusal of the Fifty-third congress to pass the Pacific railroad funding bill and denounce the efforts of the present Republican congress to enact a similar measure.

Recognizing the just claims of deserving Union soldiers, we heartily indorse the rule of the present commissioner of pensions that no names shall be arbitrarily dropped from the pension roll and the fact of enlistment and service should be deemed conclusive

evidence against disease or disability before

enlistment.

ADMISSION OF TERRITORIES.

We favor the admission of the territories of New Mexico and Arizona into the Union as states, and we favor the early admission of all the territories having the necessary population and resource to entitle them to statehood and while they remain territories we hold that the officials appointed to administer the government of any territory, together with the District of Columbia and Alaska, should be bona fide residents of the territory or district in which the duties are to be performed. The Democratic party believes in home rule and that all public lands of the United States should be appropriated to the establishment of free homes for American citizens. commend that the territory of Alaska be granted a delegate in congress and that the general land and timber laws of the United States be extended to said territory.

We re

We extend our sympathy to the people of Cuba in their heroic struggle for liberty and independence.

We are opposed to life tenure in the public service. We favor appointments based upon merit, fixed terms of office, and such an administration of the civil service laws as will afford equal opportunities to all citizens of ascertained fitness.

AGAINST A THIRD TERM.

We declare it to be the unwritten law of this republic, established by custom and usage of one hundred years and sanctioned by the examples of the greatest and wisest of those who founded and have maintained our government, that no man should be eligible for a third term of the presidential office.

IMPROVEMENT OF WATERWAYS. The federal government should care for and improve the Mississippi river and other great waterways of the republic, so as to secure for the interior states easy and cheap transportation to tidewater. When any waterway of the republic is of sufficient importance to demand aid of the government, such aid should be extended upon a definite plan of continuous work until permanent improvement is secured.

THE APPEAL.

Confiding in the justice of our cause and the necessity of its success at the polls, we submit the foregoing declaration of principles and purposes to the considerate judgment of the American people. We invite the support of all citizens who approve them and who desire to have them made effective through legislation for the relief of the people and the restoration of the country's prosperity.

William J. Bryan's Speech. It was in the course of the debate which preceded the adoption of the platform that William J. Bryan of Nebraska made the

speech to which he owed his subsequent nomination for President of the United States.

"Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the convention-I would be presumptious, indeed, to present myself against the distinguished gentleman to whom you have listened, if this were but a measuring of ability, but this is not a contest among persons. The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the whole hosts of error that they can bring. I come to speak to you in defense of a cause as holy as the cause of liberty, the cause of humanity. (Loud applause.) When this debate is concluded a motion will be made to lay upon the table the resolution offered in commendation of the administration, and also the resolution in condemnation of the administration. I shall object to bringing this question down to a level of persons. The individual is an atʊm; he is born, he acts, he dies, but principles are eternal and this has been a contest of principle. Never before in the history of this country has there been witnessed such a contest as that through which we have passed. Never before in the history of American politics has a great issue been fought out as this issue has been by the voters themselves. the 4th of March, 1895, a few Democrats, most of them members of congress, issued an address to the Democrats of the nation asserting that the money question was the paramount issue of the hour, asserting also the right of a majority of the Democratic party to control the position of the party on this paramount issue, concluding with the request that all believers in free coinage of silver in the Democratic party should organize and take charge of and control the policy of the Democratic party. Three months later, at Memphis, an organization was perfected and the silver Democrats went forth openly and boldly and courageously proclaiming their belief, and declaring that if successful they would crystallize in a platform the declaration which they had made; and then began the conflict with a zeal approaching the zeal which inspired the Crusaders who followed Peter the Hermit. Our silver Democrats went forth from victory unto victory until they are assembled now, not to discuss, not to debate, but to enter the judgment rendered by the plain people of this country. (Applause.)

On

"In this contest brother has been arrayed against brother and father against father. The warmest ties of love and acquaintance and association have been disregarded. Old leaders have been cast aside when they refused to give expression to the sentiments of those whom they would lead, and new leaders have sprung up to give direction to this cause of truth. (Cheers.)

"Thus has the contest been waged, and we have assembled here under as binding and solemn instructions as were ever fastened upon the representatives of a people. We do not come as individuals. Why, as individuals we might have been glad to compliment the gentleman from New York (Senator Hill). But we knew that the people for whom we speak would never be willing to put him in a position where he could thwart the will of the Democratic party. (Cheers.) I say it was not a question of persons; it was a question of principle, and it is not with gladness, my friends, that we find ourselves brought into

conflict with those who are now arrayed on the other side.

"The gentleman who just preceded (Governor Russell) spoke of the old state of Massachusetts. Let me assure him that not one person in all this convention entertains the least hostility to the people of the state of Massachusetts. (Applause.) But we stand here representing people who are the equals before the law of the largest citizens in the state of Massachusetts. (Applause.) When you come before us and tell us that we shall disturb your business interests, we reply that you have disturbed our business interests by your course. (Great applause and cheering.)

"We say to you that you have made too limited in its application the definition of the business man. The man who is employed for wages is as much a business man as his employer. The attorney in a country town is as much a business man as the corporation counsel in a great metropolis. The merchant at the crossroads store is as much a business man as the merchant in New York. The farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day, begins in the spring and toils all summer, and by the application of brain and muscle to the natural resources of this country creates wealth, is as much a business man as the man who goes upon the board of trade and bets upon the price of grain. The miners who go a thousand feet into the earth or climb 2,000 feet upon the cliffs and bring forth from their hiding places the precious metals to be poured in the channels of trade are as much business men as the few financial mag

nates who in a back room corner the money of the world.

"We come to speak for this broader class of business men. Ah, my friends we say not one word against those who live upon the Atlantic coast; but those hardy pioneers who braved all the dangers of the wilderness, who have made the desert to blossom as the rose those pioneers away out there, rearing their children near to nature's heart, where they can mingle their voices with the voices of the birds: out there where they have erected school houses for the education of their young, and churches where they praise their Creator, and cemeteries where sleep the ashes of their dead, are as deserving of the consideration of this party as any people in this country. (Great applause.)

"It is for these that we speak. We do not come as aggressors. Our war is not a war of conquest. We are fighting in the defense of our homes, our families and posterity. (Loud applause.) We have petitioned, and our petitions have been scorned. We have entreated and our entreaties have been disregarded. We have begged and they have mocked, and our calamity came. We beg no longer. We entreat no more. We petition

no

more. We defy them. (Great applause and confusion in the silver delegation.)

"The gentleman from Wisconsin has said he fears a Robespierre. My friend. in this land of the free you need fear no tyrant who will spring up from among the people. What we need is an Andrew Jackson to stand as Jackson stood against the encroachments of aggrandized wealth. (Great applause.)

"They tell us that this platform was made to catch votes. We reply to them that changing conditions make new issues: that the principles upon which rest Democracy are as everlasting as the hills. but that they must be applied to new conditions as they arise. Conditions have arisen, and we are attempting to meet those conditions. They tell us

that the income tax ought not to be brought in here. That is a new idea. They criticise. us for our criticism of the supreme court of the United States. My friends, we have not criticised, we have simply called attention to what you know. If you want criticism, read the dissenting opinions of the court. That will give you criticisms. (Applause.) They say we passed an unconstitutional law. I deny it-the income tax was not unconstitutional when it was passed. It was not unconstitutional when it went before the supreme court for the first time. It did not become unconstitutional until one judge changed his mind, and we cannot be expected to know when a judge will change his mind. (Applause, and a voice: 'Hit 'em again.')

"The income tax is a just law. It simply intends to put the burdens of government justly upon the backs of the people. I am in favor of an income tax. (Applause.) When I find a man who is not willing to pay his share of the burden of the government which protects him, I and a man who is unworthy to enjoy the blessings of a government like ours. (Applause.) He says that we are opposing the national bank currency. It is true. If you will read what Thomas Benton said, you will find that he said that in searching history he could find but one parallel to Andrew Jackson. That was Cicero, who destroyed the conspiracies of Catiline and saved Rome. He did for Rome what Jackson did when he destroyed the bank conspiracy and saved America. (Applause.)

the right to coin money and issue money is "We say in our platform that we believe that a function of government. We believe it. We believe it is a part of sovereignty, and can no more, with safety, be delegated to private individuals than we could afford to delegate to private individuals the power to make penal statutes or to levy laws for taxation. (Applause.) Mr. Jefferson, who was once regarded as good Democratic authority, seems to have a different opinion from the gentleman who has addressed us on the part of the minority. Those who are opposed to this proposition te!! us that the issue of paper money is a function of the bank, and that the government ought to go out of the banking business. I stand with Jefferson, rather than with them, and tell them, as he did, that the issue of money is a function of the government, and that the banks ought to go out of the government business.

"They complain about the plank which declares against the life tenure in office. They have tried to strain it to mean that which it does not mean. What we oppose in that plank is the life tenure that is being built up in Washington which excludes from participation in the benefits the humbler members of our society. I cannot dwell longer in my limited time. (Cries of "Go on! Go on")

"Let me call attention to two or three great things. The gentleman from New York says that he will propose an amendment providing that this change in our laws shall not affect contracts already made. Let me remind him that there is no intention of affecting those contracts, which, according to the present laws, are made payable in gold. But if he moans to say that we cannot change our monetary system without protecting those who have loaned money before the change was made. I want to ask him where, in law or in morals. he can find authority for not protecting the debtors, when the act of 1873 was passed. but now insists that we must protect the creditor! He says he also wants to amend this law and provide that if we fail

to maintain a parity within a year that we will then suspend the coinage of silver. We reply that when we advocate a thing which we believe will be successful we are not compelled to raise a doubt as to our own sincerity by trying to show what we will do if we can. I ask him, if he will apply his logic to us, why he does not apply it to himself? He says that he wants this country to try to secure an international agreement. Why doesn't he tell us what he is going to do if they fail to secure an international agreement? There is more reason for him to do that than for us to fail to maintain the parity. They have tried for thirty years-for thirty years to secure an international agreement, and those are waiting for it most patiently who don't want it at all. (Cheering. Laughter long continued.)

"Now, my friends, let me come to the great paramount issue. If they ask us here why it is that we say more on the money question than we say upon the tariff question, I reply that if protection has slain its thousands, the gold standard has slain its tens of thousands. If they ask us why we did not embody all these things in our platform, which we believe, we reply to them that when we have restored the money of the constitution, all other necessary reforms will be possible, and that until that is done there is no reform that can be accomplished. (Cheers). Why is it that within three months such a change has come over the sentiment of this country? Three months ago, when it was confidently asserted that those who believed in the gold standard would frame our platform and nominate our candidate, even the advocates of the gold standard did not think that we could elect a President, but they had good reason for the suspicion, because there is scarcely a state here to-day asking for the gold standard that is not within the absolute control of the Republican party. (Loud cheering).

"But note the change. Mr. McKinley was nominated at St. Louis upon a platform that declared for the maintenance of the gold standard until it should be changed into bimetallism by an international agreement. Mr. McKinley was the most popular man among the Republicans, and everybody three months ago in the Republican party prophesied his election. How is it to-day? Why, that man who used to boast that he looked like Napoleon-(laughter and cheering)-that man shudders to-day when he thinks that he was nominated on the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. Not only that, but as he listens he can hear with ever increasing distinctness the sound of the waves as they beat upon the lonely shores of St. Helena. (Cheers). "Why this change? Ah, my friends, is not the change evident to anyone who will look at the matter? It is no private character, however pure, no personal popularity, however great, that can protect from the avenging wrath of an indignant people the man who will either declare that he is in favor of fastening the gold standard upon this people, or who is willing to surrender the right of self government and place the legislative control in the hands of foreign potentates and powers. (Cheers).

"We go forth confident that we shall win. Why? Because upon the paramount issue in this campaign there is not a spot of ground upon which the enemy will dare to challenge battle. Why, if they tell us that the gold standard is a good thing, we point to their platform and tell them that their platform

pledges the party to get rid of a gold standard and substitute bimetallism. (Applause.).

"If the gold standard is a good thing why try to get rid of it? (Laughter and continued applause.) If the gold standard, and I might call your attention to the fact that some of the very people who are in this convention to-day and who tell you that we ought to declare in favor of international bimetallism and thereby declare that a gold standard is wrong and that the principle of bimetallism is better, these very people four months ago were open and avowed advocates of the gold standard and telling us that we could not legislate two metals together even with all the world. (Renewed applause and cheers.) "I want to suggest this truth, that if the gold standard is a good thing we ought to declare in favor of its retention and not in favor of abandoning it; and if the gold standard is a bad thing, why should we wait until some other nations are willing to help us to let go? (Applause.) Here is the line of battle. We care not upon which issue they force the fight. We are prepared to meet them on either issue or on both. If they tell us that the gold standard is the standard of civilization, we reply to them that this, the most enlightened of all the nations of the earth, has never declared for a gold standard, and both the parties this year are declaring aginst it (Applause.) If the gold standard is the standard of civilization, why, my friends, should we not have it? So, if they come to meet us on that, we can present the history of our nation.

"More than that, we can tell them this, that they will search the pages of history in vain to find a single instance in which the common people of any land have ever declared themselves in favor of a gold standard. (Applause.) They can find where the holders of fixed investments have. Mr. Carlisle said in 1878 that this was a struggle between the idle holders of idle capital and the struggling masses who product the wealth and pay the taxes of the country; and, my friends, it is simply a question that we shall decide upon which side shall the Democratic party fight? Upon the side of the idle holders of idle capItal or upon the side of the struggling masses? That is the question that the party must answer first, and then it must be answered by each individual hereafter.

"The sympathies of the Democratic party, as described by the platform, are on the side of the struggling masses, who have ever been the foundation of the Democratic party. (Applause.) There are two ideas of government. There are tthose who believe that if you just legislate to make the well to do prosperous that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class and rest upon it. (Applause.)

"You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard. I tell you that the great cities rest upon these broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in this country. (Applause.) My friends, we shall declare that this nation is able to legislate for its own people on every question without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation on earth. (Applause. Upon that issue we expect to carry every single state in this Union. (Applause.)

Bryan's Nomination.

Klutz of North Carolina was the first to second Bryan's nomination:

"I shall not slander the fair state of Massa- | Klutz of North Carolina Seconding chusetts nor the state of New York by saying that when its citizens are confronted with the proposition, Is this nation able to attend to its own business?—I will not slander either one by saying that the people of those states will declare our helpless impotency as a nation to attend to our own business.

"It is the issue of 1776 over again. Our ancestors, when but 3,000,000, had the courage to declare their political independence of every other nation upon earth. Shall we, their descendants, when we have grown to 70,000,000, declare that we are less independent than our forefathers? No, my friends, it will never be the judgment of this people.

"Therefore, we care not upon what lines the battle is fought. If they say bimetallism is good, but we cannot have it till some nation helps us, we reply that, instead of having a gold standard because England has, we shall restore bimetallism and then let England have bimetallism because the United States has. (Applause.) If they dare to come out and in the open and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."

Address of Lewis of Georgia Nomi

nating Bryan of Nebraska.

Bryan was placed in nomination by Lewis of Georgia.

"Mr. President and gentlemen of the convention-I did not intend to make a speech, but simply, in behalf of the Democratic party of the state of Georgia, to place in nomination as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States a distinguished citizen, whose very name is an earnest of success, whose public record will insure Democratic victory, whose public life and public record are loved and honored by the American people. Should public office be bestowed as a reward for public service then no man merits this reward more than he. Is public office a public trust? Then in no hands can be more safely lodged that greatest trust in the gift of the American people than in his.

"In the political storms that have swept over this country he has stood on the field of battle among the leaders of the Democratic hosts like Saul among the Israelites, head and shoulders above all the rest. (Applause.) "As Mr. Prentice said of the immortal Clay, so we can truthfully say of him "that his civil reward will not yield a splendor to the brightest helmet that ever bloomed upon a warrior's brow.' He needs no speech to introduce him to this convention. He needs no encomium to commend him to the people of the United States. Honor him, fellow Democrats, and you will honor yourselves; nominate him, and you will reflect credit upon the party you represent; honor him, and you will win for yourselves the plaudits of your constituents and the blessing of posterity. I refer, fellow citizens, to the Hon. William J. Bryan of Nebraska."

"Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the convention-At the behest of the yeomen Democracy of the good old state of North Carolina I second the nomination of the young giant of the West, that friend of the people, that champion of the lowly, that apostle and prophet of this great crusade for financial reform-William J. Bryan of Nebraska. (Cheers.) He can poll every Democratic vote in every section of this great country that any other candidate here named can do. And, more than that, he can poll more votes from persons of different affiliations and do more to unite the friends of free silver than all of them put together. (Renewed applause and cheers.) Cynics tell us that oratory is dead; that the admiration of divine virtues is lost to our people, but this splendid ovation that you gave to-day to William J. Bryan, the splendid tribute that you paid to his manhood, to his oratory, to his patriotism and to his sincerity, gives the lie to both of those observations. In the young prime of his great powers, known as a fearless tribune of the people, known for his advocacy of the cause of the lowly, known the friend of free silver and as the champion of reform, eloquent as Clay, patriotic as Webster or Lincoln, if he is elected, as he will be if nominated, he will be the President of all classes and all sections of this great country of ours." (Renewed and prolonged applause and cheers.)

as

The Final Ballot for President. There were five ballots taken on the nominations for President, the last and decisive

one being as follows:

State.

Alabama Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Idaho

Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana

Maine
Maryland

Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana

Nebraska
Nevada

New Hampshire.
New Jersey..

New York..
North Carilona..

North Dakota...
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island..
South Carolina..
South Dakota.
Tennessee
Texas

Utah
Vermont

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