Fond du Lac, WI Speech, 1896-10-30

Speech by William Jennings Bryan.

Speech by William Jennings Bryan
Friday, October 30, 1896
Depot, Fond du Lac, WI

Source: NOT ONE A TRAITOR, Mr. Bryan Speaks of the Men Who Are Now Fighting for Independence., Omaha World-Herald (Morning Edition), Saturday, October 31, 1896

STAND BY THEIR COLORS.

(Mr. Bryan speaks of a gold Democrat who had announced that he was going to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to carry the convention for the gold standard.)

(A voice: "Was that Dave Hill?")

"No, that was W. C. Whitney. He said that notwithstanding that a majority of the delegates were instructed, he had no doubt that when the Democrats of the south and west found out how the Democrats of the east felt, there would be no trouble about carrying the convention for gold, which was simply saying that the men who went there instructed would betray their constituents and vote against what their constituents demanded. But, my friends, when the convention met we had a scene that will be memorable in the history of this country. (Cheers.) Those delegates who came instructed could neither be driven from their instructions by threats nor drawn by persuasion, but they carried out the will of people who sent them there, and that Democratic convention was the most Democratic convention that this nation has seen for twenty-five years." (Cheers.)