"Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is a good omen when the people upon whom rest
the responsibilities of government by such gatherings as these, express the interest which they feel
in the campaign. There is no other country where the people are so free, or where the government
derives its just powers so directly from the consent of the governed, and our people have never in
any emergency failed to prove themselves equal to the occasion."
I AM AN OPTIMIST
"I am an optimist. I believe not only in the capacity of the people for self
government, but that they will rise equal to all emergencies. In the American people, regardless of
party, there is a patriotism which is never appealed to in vain. (Applause.) Whether it be peace or
war, when duty calls, the people respond and they respond in such a way as to leave no question as
to their love of country and their love of mankind. (Applause.)
In my judgment, no campaign has come before the people of this country in time of
peace since our national history begun when so much depended upon the struggle. I beg you, as you
love your country, to study these questions. It is not for me to tell you how to vote. I would be
insulting the intelligence of the people if I attempted to do so. But I am only doing my duty when I
beg you, first, each for yourselves, to find where your duty lies and then to do your duty like
citizens who appreciate the responsibilities of government. (Cheers.)
Parties are but instruments, and when people say that they owe something to a party,
let them remember that parties owe higher duties to the people than the people can owe to parties,
and that when any party arrays itself against the interests of the great people of this country,
that it forfeits the confidence and is undeserving of the support of any man, no matter to what
party he belongs." (Great cheering.)
MUST SETTLE AT ONCE
"But I must stop, for I will make a speech. (Cries of "go on.") There is a paramount
issue in this campaign. I care not whether you believe in free silver or oppose it, you must agree
with me that the money question right now rises up and overshadows all other questions. We cannot
postpone the settlement of this question. When we have to decide whether it is is necessary for this
government to employ foreign or domestic syndicates to take care of our affairs, we must settle that
question at once or place a mortgage upon posterity. (Great cheering.)
Now, my friends, all I ask you to do, is to study. They talk about the silver craze
dying out. They have been burying the silver question every year now for twenty years (cheers) and
it is more alive today than it was ever before. (Applause.) Why is it they can't bury it? Why is it
that they may call it any name they please and yet it rises and torments them all the time? Why is
it?
It is because this silver question is based upon the great principles of justice, and
you can't settle any question until you settle it right. We ask you to settle it by settling it
right and that we believe is by restoring the gold and silver standard of the constitution."
(Cheers.)