Mansfield, OH Speech, 1896-08-10

Speech by William Jennings Bryan.

Speech by William Jennings Bryan
Monday, August 10, 1896
Depot, Mansfield, OH

Source: MR. BRYAN AVERTS A PANIC, Coolness of the Democratic Leader Prevents a Disaster at Delphos, Ohio., Omaha World-Herald (Morning Edition), Tuesday, August 11, 1896

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I esteem it a privilege to stand in the home of the senator who is more responsible for the present financial policy of this country than any living man in it. (Great cheering.) I beg you, without distracting him from his high honors and his great personal worth, to consider the financial policy presented by the Democratic platform and decide for yourselves whether our policy is better for you and for your own interests than the policy so ably support by your townsman. If we present to you that which is good, we beg you to accept it, even though it is opposed by those who live among you. We have people in our state who believe that Senator Sherman's policy is the wisest one, but I believe that the American people will decide that the United States is strong enough to legislate for its own people on every question without asking the consent or aid of any other nation earth. (Cheering.) I thank you for this vast assemblage here and I beg you to realize the duties which rest upon American citizens. Here are some who believe that only in times of war can people prove their patriotism. I was too young to prove my patriotism in the time of war, but I glory that, in a country like this, every year presents a battlefield and every day gives those who live in the country an opportunity to prove their devotion, and in the campaign upon which we are now entering—which in my judgment is a repetition of the campaign of 1776—there is an opportunity to prove whether you be patriots or tories." (Loud cheers.)