Anderson, IN Speech, 1896-10-22

Speech by William Jennings Bryan.

Speech by William Jennings Bryan
Wednesday, October 21, 1896 at 4:30pm
Open Field, Anderson, IL

Source: The Evening News, Thursday, October 22, 1896

"I want you to remember that many of our opponents are opposing us on grounds which they dare not state to the public. You have not heard a single man in this campaign object to the Chicago platform because it favors arbitration of differences between railroads and their employees, and yet you know the opposition of the railroads in this campaign is largely due to the fact that we are in favor of arbitration between the railroads and their employees.

There is another thing that I want you to remember, and that is there is no one in this campaign who has dared to go before the public and condemn a trial by jury as provided by the bill which passed the United States senate in certain contempt cases, and yet you know that much of the opposition to the Chicago platform comes from those who want government by injunction and yet dare not tell the American people so. Now they accuse us of arraying class against class. I want to say to you that the division we make in society between the producer and the money changer is a difference which has been made by all the public men who have spoken in the country in the past, and everybody knows that the man who profits by a rising standard is an entirely different man from the man who produces wealth and exchanges that wealth for money."