Lafayette, IN Speech 1, 1896-10-22

Speech by William Jennings Bryan.

Speech by William Jennings Bryan
Thursday, October 22, 1896
Court House, Lafayette, IN

Source: NOT THE RIGHT MAN, Republicans Erred in Choosing Their "Advance Agent of Prosperity.", Omaha World-Herald (Morning Edition), Friday, October 23, 1896

"I want to ask you to consider for a moment the position taken by the leading advocate of the other side, ex-President Harrison. I think I am justified in saying that, of all the supporters of Mr. McKinley's election, Mr. Harrison is the ablest and most distinguished. He made a speech yesterday in which he tried to show the impossibility of there being a double standard, and yet Mr. Harrison was elected president on a platform which denounced Grover Cleveland for trying to demonetize silver. (Cheers.) He tried to show that it was impossible to have two yard sticks, and yet he ran four years ago on a platform that declared that the American people from tradition and interest favored bimetallism, which means a double standard. (Cheers.)

But, worse than that, while he opposes the double standard, he is trying to run on two platforms this year. He said in his speech yesterday: 'The present conditions are that we are a bimetallic country,' and yet the Republican platform of this year says that we must maintain the present gold standard. (Cheers.) If we are a bimetallic country, why didn't the platform say that we must maintain the present bimetallic standard? And while the Republican platform declares that we are at present under a single gold standard, Mr. Harrison states that we are under a bimetallic standard. (Cheers.) What does it mean, my friends? It means that, having been defeated in this campaign on the gold standard, now, as the election approaches, they are trying to get under cover of bimetallism and claim that their platform is false." (Cheers.)