Macomb, IL Speech, 1896-10-24

Speech by William Jennings Bryan.

Speech by William Jennings Bryan
Saturday, October 24, 1896
Depot, Macomb, IL

Source: THAT WORTHINGTON INTERVIEW, Mr. Bryan Hopes for a Denial of Its Authenticity, Omaha World-Herald (Sunday Edition), Sunday, October 25, 1896

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I want to call your attention to an interview which appears in yesterday morning's Chronicle. I hope that we may find out that it is not true. I waited until today before using it, thinking that possibly the morning's paper might make a correction, and when I speak of it I want you to distinctly understand that if there be a subsequent denial of the language used, then all I say about it shall fall to the ground. It is an interview published in the Chronicle of Chicago of yesterday morning, and a dispatch from New York giving the interview with Bishop Worthington of Omaha. Let me read you what he says:

'When it was suggested to the bishop that the farmers throughout the country were not in as prosperous condition as they had been in the past, Bishop Worthington said: "The trouble with the farmer, in my judgment, is that we have carried our free educational system entirely too far. The farmers' sons, a great many of them, who have absolutely no ability to rise, get a taste of education and follow it up. They will never amount to anything—that is, many of them—and they become dissatisfied to follow in the walk that God intended they should, and drift into the cities. It is the over-education of those who are not qualified to receive it that fills our cities while the farms lie idle.'

I say, my friends, that I hope it be proven that these words were not uttered by Bishop Worthington."