Durham, NC Speech, 1896-09-17

Speech by William Jennings Bryan.

Speech by William Jennings Bryan
Thursday, September 17, 1896 at 5:45pm
Depot, Durham, NC

Source: GUEST OF COLONEL CARR., Addresses a Large Audience of Cotton Operatives at Burlington, Omaha World-Herald (Morning Edition), Friday, September 18, 1896

"There is one point to which I wish to call your attention. You are told that the decrease in the cost of production has affected the price of silver. I call your attention to the fact that there has been a decrease in the cost of producing gold and yet gold has risen in value. They tell us that improved machinery has come in to lessen the value of silver. Improved machinery has been applied to the production of gold and it has not affected the purchasing power of an ounce of gold.

The price of gold and silver does not depend upon the cost of production. The price depends on supply and demand, and no matter how much the production falls, if the supply does not increase as rapidly as the demand for it, the price of it will rise. Another point: They tell you that you cannot legislate two metals together because of their varying productions, but they forget that when the government stands ready to take all the gold for a certain price, and all the silver at a certain price, and convert those metals into money at that price and ratio, whether you produce one ounce of one or ten of the other, or reverse the proportion, there cannot be a change effected in the ratio unless the government fails in its ability to consume or rather to take and utilize all of both presented."