William Jennings Bryan, The First Battle: A Story of the
Campaign of 1896
(Chicago: W.B. Conkey Company, 1896), 301 and Omaha World-Herald (Sunday Edition), 9
August, 1896.
JUST LIKE GRAVITATION
"Ladies and Gentlemen: I am glad to see you and I believe this is Newton. If I am not
mistaken, your town bears the name of a man who is given credit for stating the law of gravitation.
Some of the laws of finance—I may say all the great laws of finance—are as certain in
their operation and as irresistible in their force as the law of gravitation. If you throw a stone
into the air you know that it will come down. Why? Because it is drawn toward the center of the
earth. The law upon which we base our fight is as sure as the law of gravitation. If we have a gold
standard, prices are as certain to fall as the stone which is thrown into the air." (Great
cheering.)