proposition, they will declare that this nation is not able to attend to its own business. It is the issue of 1776 over again. Our ancestors, when but three millions in number, had the courage to declare their political independence of every other nation; shall we, their descendants, when we have grown to seventy millions, declare that we are less independent than our forefathers?

No, my friends, that will never be the verdict of our people. Therefore, we care not upon what lines the battle is fought. If they say bimetallism is good, but that we cannot have it until other nations help us, we reply that, instead of having a gold standard because England has, we will restore bimetallism, and then let England have bimetallism because the United States has it. If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we will fight them to the uttermost. Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand 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.

SPEECH AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

NEW YORK CITY, OCTOBER 16, 1900

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

HE presence of this vast audience to-night indicates

ΤΗ

an interest in this campaign which is gratifying to

all who realize the importance of the questions involved. I am not vain enough to believe that any large part of your enthusiasm is intended as a personal tribute

to the candidates, for in a cause like this the individual counts for nothing except as he may be the instrument used by the people to carry out their own will. I am glad to defend our cause in this great centre of population, of industry and of wealth. To say that the people gathered here to support our cause are the enemies of honest wealth is a slander which could not be uttered without the one who uttered it knowing it to be false.

(Applause.)

We are not the foes of that wealth which comes as the reward of honest toil, and is enjoyed by those who give to society something in return for that which society bestows upon them. The Democratic party to-day is not only not the enemy of honest wealth, but the Democratic party today is the best friend of that wealth that represents ability of muscle or of mind employed in its accumulation. We draw the line between honest wealth and predatory wealth. We draw the line between that wealth which is a just compensation for services rendered and that wealth which simply measures the advantage which one citizen has taken over many citizens (applause); and no honest industry, no honest occupation, no honest man need fear the success of the Democratic party. (Applause.) The Democratic party shows its honesty by stating what it believes and telling the people what it will do. Compare our platform with the Republican platform and any candid man must say that through our platform runs the evidence of sincerity, and through the Republican platform runs the evidence of hypocrisy.

Our platform deals with the conditions now before the country and when we present an indictment we present a remedy. The Republican party spends its time congratulating itself upon the existence of things which it

did not cause, and shirking responsibility for things which it has done.

The Republican party to-day is not prepared to make a fight on any question before the country. (Cheers.) And if you want proof, let me remind you that the Republican party to-day, instead of presenting any great principle and defending it, is presenting an appeal to every class of people supposed to be approachable in any direction.

The Republican party goes to the laboring man and says to him: “What do you need except a full dinner pail?" (Applause.) The Republican party assumes that the laboring man is all stomach, and has neither head nor heart. (Applause.) The Republican party assumes that a laboring man is like the hog that squeals when it is hungry and sleeps when it is full. (Laughter.) It tells the laboring man that he has plenty to eat, and that therefore he should not be interested in any questions that concern his government or the policies pursued by his government.

The laboring man has more than appetite. The laboring man, made in the image of his Creator, wants more than a full dinner pail and a place to sleep. (Prolonged applause.) The laboring man wants shorter hours of labor that he may be with his family more. (Applause.) He wants protection from the black list and from government by injunction. (Applause.) He wants arbitration of his differences with capital, and he wants a representative in the President's Cabinet (applause), that Labor's voice may be always heard in the official household of the Chief Executive. (A voice-"You are the man we want.")

And what answer does the Republican party give to these demands of the laboring man? It tells him the advantages or gives him the assurance that there will be a

large army to make him satisfied with his full dinner pail. (Applause.) I shall speak of the army question later. I only mentioned it now that you may understand that it is the only answer that the laboring man has received made by the party in power. The Republican party appeals to the farmer and says to him, "Don't you know that it has rained, that the weather has been good and that the crops have been bountiful?" and suggests to him that that could only be the case because the Republican party is a silent partner with the Almighty. (Applause.) But the fact is that the Republican party instead of being the silent partner makes all the noise and the Almighty gives the silent part. (Applause.)

When you go out West they tell you how prosperous the laboring man is down East, and when you come down East they tell you how prosperous the farmer is out West. (Applause.) I came East a few weeks ago and was amazed to learn of my own prosperity as a farmer. (Applause.) I am not a farmer. (Laughter.) I am an agriculturist. (Laughter and applause.) I have heard it stated that a farmer made his money on the farm and spent it in town, while the agriculturist made his money in town and spent it on the farm; and according to that definition I am an agriculturist. I read in the "New York Tribune" a despatch from Lincoln telling of a wonderful oat crop upon my farm. It said that I had raised 120 acres of oats, that they yielded 40 bushels to the acre, that I sold them for 30 cents a bushel, and that the money received from the crop was more than what I paid for the land; and then it was stated that I was just a sample of what was going on on the farm. It was stated that the farmers were getting so rich that they were all going into the Republican party,

the only rich man's party. (Laughter.) Now I would not talk about my farm except that it is necessary in selfdefence. Instead of having 120 acres of oats I had five. Instead of getting 40 bushels to the acre they have not been thrashed yet and I do not know what they would yield. Instead of selling them for thirty cents a bushel they were worth less than twenty in Nebraska when the item appeared, and instead of paying only $6 an acre for the land it cost me a little over a hundred. With those corrections the "Tribune's" account is correct (laughter), and if I am just a sample of what is going on on the farm I have some idea of what is going on; but, my friends, I only mention this to show you the exaggeration the Republican papers and speakers resort to when they attempt to make a show at prosperity.

They say we are prosperous. Who is we? There is no doubt that the Republican Administration is good for some, but who is we? (Cries of "Hanna, Hanna.') Don't trifle with a great name. (Laughter.) The army contractor can be prosperous under the Republican Administration. The trust magnate can be prosperous under the Republican Administration. The man who gets special privileges at the hands of the government can prosper under a Republican Administration. The man who can use the instrumentality of the government for private gains and the government itself for public plunder can profit under a Republican Administration. (Applause.) But I deny that the wealth producers of this country are enjoying their share of the government's productions. Take the farmer and take the prices that prevail, and see how long it would take a farmer to accumulate a portion that would be large enough to class him among the rich men of the nation. Take the