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 chief 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 an hour, 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 Joyce 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.

CHAPTER XLIII.

F

AT MINNEAPOLIS AND DULUTH.

OUR meetings were held in Minneapolis on Monday night, the first one at the Exposition Building, the hall in which the Republican National Convention was held in 1892. Below will be found a portion of the speech delivered on this occasion:

Minneapolis Speech-Exposition Building.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Before entering upon the discussion of any political question, I desire to express my appreciation of the kindly feeling which has prompted the gift presented to me in your presence. I am the more gratified because of the source from which it comes. When I was in St. Louis a few weeks ago, the horseshoers presented to me a silver horseshoe which I promised to hang over the doors of the White House, if I am elected. Over in St. Paul last Saturday night the laboring men gave me a pen with a silver holder with the instruction that I should use them in signing the free coinage bill which will come to me if I am elected. And tonight the laboring men of this city have been thoughtful enough to provide me with this beautiful inkstand, which is a part of the necessary outfit. Now that I have a pen, penholder and inkstand, I only need the ink to be properly equipped for the work. As I remarked to the laboring men of St. Paul, I would not favor the free coinage of silver did I not believe that it would be for the best interests of those who toil. I have not belonged to that class known distinctively as workingmen, being a lawyer by profession, but I have been taught that the legal profession must have something to rest upon. Lawyers do not produce wealth, and unless wealth is first produced they will suffer. I believe that all the classes which rest upon the producers of wealth can only prosper permanently when the producers of wealth are prosperous, and, therefore, I am not unselfish when I desire such legislation as will enable the people to have more than enough to eat and drink and wear. I want them to have enough to be comfortable, because until they produce there is nothing to distribute, and if they simply produce without enjoying, the production of wealth will be so discouraged that production will finally cease.

I desire to say also before proceeding further that I appreciate the honor which has been done me tonight by these veterans of the war who have marched as a body guard. I would not receive the support of these soldiers if I thought their interests could not be intrusted to those who believe in an American financial policy. I am confident that the interest of those who fought thirty years ago that this Union might be one will be safe in the hands of those who are fighting today a great battle which will determine whether this nation, being one, is big enough to attend to its own business. I am informed that the Re

publicans have been circulating in this city an editorial which was once published in the Omaha World-Herald. I was editor of the Omaha World-Herald for nearly two years, but my editorial work began about two years after the publication of the editorial to which I refer. That editorial criticised pension legislation, but those who are circulating it know that it was published before I was at all connected with the paper, and that I was in no way responsible for it. If they have not known it heretofore, they know it now, and will not be free from criticism if they use it hereafter. The fact that they attempt to use an editorial which I did not write is proof that they have not found anything in my four years of Congressional life which they can use.

Let me call your attention to another matter. In my travels over the country I have received letters asking me to answer all kinds of questions. I do not always pay attention to these requests because I desire to make my own speech instead of having it outlined for me by men who do not have as much interest in our cause as I have, but I have received a letter today from so distinguished a citizen of Minneapolis that I think I am justified in making some reference to it. The letter is dated October 12 and signed by W. D. Washburn, who is, I believe, an ex-Senator from this State. In this letter he asks me many questions about my votes and speeches in the House of Representatives on the tariff bill. I answer these questions by respectfully referring him to the Congressional Record, but when he asks me to enter into a discussion of the tariff question I reply to him that there is a question before the American people of far greater importance. The tariff question can be settled at any time, but there is one question which must be settled now. If he wants me to discuss the tariff, I reply to him that if he will join me in putting a prohibitory duty on foreign financial policies I will then discuss the rest of the schedule with him. If he is not willing to discriminate against that foreign product by a prohibitory duty, then I suggest that he wait until the money question is settled by international agreement and afterward submit the tariff question to international agreement. I am not going to discuss the tariff question, because I desire to call your attention to the paramount issue of this campaign, declared to be so by three political parties, and considered so even by the Republicans, who are afraid to discuss it and are attempting to drag in the tariff question instead.

But there is a part of the letter which I think you ought to hear. It is good, and I am not willing to deny you any good thing. He says:

The audience will be composed, I presume, very largely of laboring men and wage earners, all of a high order. This class of people, like others, dominated by human selfishness so far as their own interests are concerned, naturally prefer to receive their wages in dollars worth one hundred cents, rather than in those worth only fifty-three cents.

I take for my text the words "like others, dominated by human selfishness so far as their own interests are concerned." Laboring men, I want to ask you why it is that every goldbug says you are selfish and that your vote will be influenced by selfish considerations, while he pretends to be a philanthropist and insists that he loves honest money simply because it will help other peopie. I want to know why it is that these goldbugs are so sure that everybody else will be influenced by selfish considerations and so positive that personal inter

ests cannot affect them. Why is it, my friends? I will tell you why. If a man believes that a proposed law is good for himself and also good for others, he will admit that it is good for himself; but if he thinks a law is good for himself and bad for others, he will not admit that it is good for him. Now, that is a rule which you can examine and apply in everyday life, and you will find that men never deny that a thing is good for them so long as they can show that others share the benefit. It is only when they believe that they prosper by the adversity of others that you find them denying the benefit to themselves.

There is one thing that I like about the advocates of free coinage, and that is that they do not pose as "holier than thou" people. Ask a silver man why he wants bimetallism, and he says that he wants it because it is good for him and he believes that it is good for others also. He knows that the gold standard destroys opportunity for work and increases the number of idle men, and he knows that idle men are a menace to his own employment. Ask a farmer why he wants bimetallism and he will tell you that he believes it is good for him and for others also. He tells you that he suffers from falling prices, and that he believes the only way to stop falling prices is to increase the volume of standard money, and he knows that that can only be done by restoring silver to its ancient position by the side of gold. Ask a business man why he wants bimetallism, and he will tell you that he believes bimetallism will be good for him and for others also. He will tell you that he makes a living out of those to whom he sells, not out of those from whom he borrows. He will tell you that he can sell more goods when people are able to buy, and that, therefore, he believes bimetallism will bring prosperity. But ask one of the great financiers why he is in favor of the gold standard. Will he say that it is because it is good for him? You never heard one of them say that. Some of them even say that free coinage will be good for them but that they do not want anything which will help them. They pretend to want the gold standard because it will be good for the laboring man. Yes, my friends, those financiers are so concerned about those who toil, that whenever one of them is troubled with sleeplessness, his physician never asks him the cause of the trouble but just tells him that his sleep will be restored if he will quit worrying about the laboring man. The financier says that he is in favor of the gold standard because it will help the farmer, the laborer, and the business man. When you tell him that the laboring men, the farmers and the business men are willing to risk bimetallism, he rises to the full height of his moral stature and exclaims:

But shall I let them hurt themselves?

No, he will cram the gold standard down their throats whether they want it or not, and he will justify his conduct on the ground that he loves them better than he loves himself. Do you believe it, my friends? I do not. I say that the financier is just as good as anybody else, but I deny that he is better. I am willing to admit that he is as unselfish as others, but I deny that he is more unselfish. I challenge you to find in six thousand years of recorded history a single page which proves that the owning and loaning of money purges mankind from the dross of selfishness.

Is Mr. Washburn, "like others, dominated by human selfishness?" Are all people dominated by human selfishness? If so, does it not explain why the heads of the trusts are against our ticket? But why don't they say that it is