increasing tribute to the creditor nations of the world-a tribute which no one dares to defend. I assert that national honor requires the United States to secure justice for all its citizens as well as do justice to all its creditors. For a people like ours, blest with natural resources of surpassing richness, to proclaim themselves impotent to frame a financial system suited to their own needs, is humiliating beyond the power of language to describe. We can not enforce respect for our foreign policy so long as пе confess ourselves unable to frame our own financial policy.

Honest differences of opinion have always existed, and ever will exist, as to the legislation best calculated to promote the public weal; but, when it is seriously asserted that this nation must bow to the dictation of other nations and accept the policies which they insist upon, the right of selfgovernment is assailed, and until that question is settled all other questions are insignificant.

Citizens of New York, I have traveled from the center of the continent to the seaboard that I might, in the very beginning of the campaign, bring you greeting from the people of the West and South and assure you that their desire is not to destroy but to build up. They invite you to accept the principles of a living faith rather than listen to those who preach the gospel of despair and advise endurance of the ills you have. The advocates of free coinage believe that, in striving to secure the immediate restoration of bimetallism, they are laboring in your behalf as well as in their own behalf. A few of your people may prosper under present conditions, but the permanent welfare of New York rests upon the producers of wealth. This great city is built upon the commerce of the nation and must suffer if that commerce is impaired. You can not sell unless the poeple have money with which to buy, and they can not obtain the money with which to buy unless they are able to sell their products at remunerative prices. Production of wealth goes before the exchange of wealth; those who create must secure a profit before they have anything to share with others. You can not afford to join the money changers in supporting a financial policy which, by destroying the purchasing power of the products of toil, must in the end discourage the creation of wealth.

I ask, I expect, your co-operation. It is true that a few of your financiers would fashion a new figure-a figure representing Columbia, her hands bound fast with fetters of gold and her face turned toward the East, appealing for assistance to those who live beyond the sea-but this figure can never express your idea of this nation. You will rather turn for inspiration to the heroic statue which guards the entrance to your city-a statue as patriotic in conception as it is collossal in proportion. It was the gracious gift of a sister Republic and stands upon a pedestal which was built by the American people. That figure-Liberty enlightening the world-is emblematic of the mission of our nation among the nations of the earth. With a Government which derives its powers from the consent of the governed, secures to all the people freedom of conscience, freedom of thought and freedom of speech, guarantees equal rights to all and promises special privlleges to none, the United States should be an example in all that is good and the leading spirit in every movement which has for its object the uplifting of the human race.

V.

SPEECH OF HON. ARTHUR SEWALL.

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN-ACCEPTING THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION FOR VICE-PRESIDENT.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee.

You have given me official notice of my selection by the Democratic National Convention as its candidate for Vice-President.

For the courteous terms of your message and the kind personal expres sions I thank you.

Having been present at that great convention I can more truly estimate the honor its action has conferred.

It was the greatest and most earnest convention in the history of our party. It was closer and more in touch with the people. The delegates were there to voice the sentiments of their constituents, the people of the party, for the people of the party controlled and conducted that convention.

The Democracy of the country realize that all the great principles of our party are as potent and essential to the well-being of the country to-day as they have alway been, and as they ever will be, but the overshadowing issues before the country now, made dominant by the distressed condition prevailing throughout our land, is the demand for reform in our existing monetary system.

Our party and, we believe, a great majority of the American people, are convinced that the legislation of '73 demonetizing silver was a wrong inflicted upon our country which should and must be righted.

We believe that the single gold standard has so narrowed the base of our monetary structure that it is unstable and unsafe, and so dwarfed it, in its development and in its power to furnish the necessary financial blood to the nation, that commercial and industrial paralysis has followed.

We believe that we need, and must have the broad and expanding foundation of both gold and silver to support a monetary system strong and stable, capable of meeting the demand of a growing country and an industrious, energetic, and enterprising people; a system that will not be weakened and panic stricken by every foreign draft upon us; a system that will maintain a parity of just values and the nation's money, and protect us from the frequent fluctuations of to-day, so disastrous to every business and industry of the land.

We demand the free coinage of silver, the opening of our mints to both money metals without discrimination, the return to the money of our fathers, the money of the Constitution, gold and silver.

We believe this is the remedy and the only remedy for the evil from which we are now suffering; the evil that is now so fast devastating and impoverishing our land and people, bringing poverty to our homes and bankruptcy to our business, which, if allowed to continue, will grow until our very institutions are threatened.

The demonetization of silver has thrown the whole primary money function on gold, appreciating its value and purchasing power. Restore the money function to silver and silver will appreciate and its purchasing power increase. Take from gold its monopoly, its value will be reduced and in due course the parity of the two metals will again obtain under natural causes. We shall then have a broad and unlimited foundation for a monetary system, commensurate with our country's needs and future development, not the unsafe basis of to-day reduced by half by the removal of silver and continually undermined by foreigners carrying from us our gold.

This is the reform to which we are pledged, the reform the people demand, the return to the monetary system of over eighty years of our national existence.

The Democratic party has already given its approval and its pledge. Our opponents admit the wisdom of the principle for which we contend, but ask us to await permission and co-operation of other nations.

Our people will not wait. They will not ask permission of any nation on earth to relieve themselves of the cause of their distress. The issue has been made. The people stand ready to render their verdict next November. Mr. Chairman, unequivocally and through sincere conviction, I indorse the platform on which I have been nominated.

I believe we are right; the people are with us and what the people declare is always right and must prevail.

I accept the nomination, and, with the people's confirmation, every effort of which God shall render me capable will be exerted in support of the principles involved.

VI.

LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE OF HON. W. J. BRYAN.

LINCOLN, NEBR., Sept. 9, 1896.

William J. Bryan's letter accepting the Democratic nomination for the Presidency is as follows:

Hon. Stephen M. White and others, members of the Notification Committee of the Democratic National Convention:

GENTLEMEN: I accept the nomination tendered by you on behalf of the Democratic party, and in so doing desire to assure you that I fully appreciate the high honor which such a nomination confers and the grave responsibilities which accompany an election to the Presidency of the United States. So deeply am I impressed with the magnitude of the power invested by the Constitution in the Chief Executive of the nation, and with the enormous influence which he can wield for the benefit or injury of the people, that I wish to enter the office, if elected, free from every personal desire except the desire to prove worthy the confidence of my country. Human judgment is fallible enough when unbiased by selfish considerations, and in order that I may not be tempted to use the patronage of the office to advance any personal ambition, I hereby announce, with all the emphasis which words can express, my fixed determination not under any circumstances to be a candidate for re-election if this campaign results in my election.

I have carefully considered the platform adopted by the Democratic National Convention, and unqualifiedly indorse each plank thereof.

Our institutions rest upon the proposition that all men, being created equal, are entitled to equal consideration at the hands of the Government. Because all men are created equal it follows that no citizen has a natural right to injure any other citizen. The main purpose of government being to protect all citizens in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, this purpose must lead the government, first, to avoid acts of affirmative injustice, and second, to restrain each citizen from trespassing upon the rights of any other citizen.

A democratic form of government is conducive to the highest civilization because it opens before each individual the greatest opportunities for development and stimulates to the highest endeavor by insuring to each the full enjoyment of all the rewards of toil except such contribution as is necessary to support the government which protects him. Democracy is indifferent to pedigree; it deals with the individual rather than with his ancestors. Democracy ignores differences in wealth. Neither riches nor poverty can be in

voked in behalf of or against any citizen. Democracy knows no creed, recog nizing the right of each individual to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. It welcomes all to a common brotherhood, and guarantees equal treatment to all, no matter in which church or through what forms they commune with their Creator.

Having discussed portions of the platform at the time of its adoption and again when your letter of notification was formally delivered, it will not be necessary at this time to touch upon all the subjects embraced in the party's declaration.

A Dual Government,

Honest differences of opinion have ever existed and ever will exist as to the most effective means of securing domestic tranquility, but no citizen fails to recognize at all times and under all circumstances the absolute necessity for the prompt and vigorous enforcement of law and the preservation of the public peace. In a government like ours law is but the crystallization of the will of the people; without it the citizen is neither secure in the enjoyment of life and liberty, nor protected in the pursuit of happiness. Without obedience to law government is impossible. The Democratic party is pledged to defend the Constitution, and enforce the laws of the United States, and it is also pledged to respect and preserve the dual scheme of government instituted by the founders of the Republic. The name, United States, was happily chosen. It combines the idea of national strength with the idea of local self-government and suggests "an indissoluble union of indestructible States." Our Revolutionary fathers, fearing the tendencies toward centralization as well as the dangers of disintegration, guarded against both, and national safety as well as domestic security is to be found in the careful observance of the limitations which they impose. It will be noticed that, while the United States guarantees to every State a republican form of government and is empowered to protect each State against invasion, it is not authorized to interfere in the domestic affairs of any State except upon application of the legislature of the State, or upon the application of the exec utive when the legislature cannot be convened.

This provision rests upon the sound theory that the people of the State, acting through their legally chosen representatives, because of their more intimate acquaintances with local conditions are better qualified than the President to judge of the necessity for Federal assistance. Those who framed our Constitution wisely determined to make as broad an application of the principles of local self-government as circumstances would permit, and we cannot dispute the correctness of the position taken by them without expressing a distrust of the people themselves.

Economy.

Since governments exist for the protection of the rights of the people and not for their spoliation, no expenditure of public money can be justified unless that expenditure is necessary for the honest, economical, and efficient ad