"My friends, democracy has a meaning and that meaning is well understood by those who
love democratic principles and in this campaign we find men who claim to be democrats trying to
fasten upon this country a system by which the banks shall issue money, when Thomas Jefferson
declared that banks of the United States were more dangerous than standing armies. (Applause). One
reason why we know that we are standing in the position that Jefferson occupied is that he said that
those who wanted to turn over the business of issuing paper money to the banks called him a maniac
because he opposed it; and the very men who called him a maniac call us who advocated what he
advocated then, lunatics. (Applause).
My friends, Jefferson had confidence in the capacity of the people for
self-government, aye, a hundred years ago, when government was an experiment he had faith enough in
them to think the people could govern themselves. And yet today we have to meet enemies who are not
willing that the people themselves shall run this government, but think it is necessary to turn its
affairs over to a syndicate to manage for the benefit of the American people." (Applause).
WAS GOOD ENOUGH THEN.
"My friends, we are advocating the restoration of that financial policy which was good
enough for this country during all the early days of the republic—a financial policy which had
the support of all the leading democrats who lived before 1873, a financial policy which was changed
by the representatives of the people in darkness and without discussion, and as many believe, by
fraud, actually practiced upon the people. (Cheers).
My friends, some of the financiers down [�]st doubt the ability of the pe[o]ple to[�]
their own business [�] when I find a financier who distrusts the American people I generally find a
financier who visits Europe oftener than he visits the country that lies west of New York. (Cheers.)
I want you to remember that in this campaign those who advocate the free coinage of silver are the
only ones who have a system of finance that they are willing to lay before the American people. We
are not asking that the silver dollar be changed nor that the gold dollar be changed, but that the
American people shall have an option to have both gold dollars and silver dollars to do business
with. (Applause and a voice, 'How about the 53-cent dollar?')
Some ask, 'How about the 53-cent dollar?' Well, now, my friends, I have known people
who have been without dollars so long that a 53-cent dollar would be a God-send to them. (Laughter
and applause.) But, my friends, they did not call a silver dollar a [�]3-cent dollar when silver was
treated like gold. Prior to 1878 the silver dollar was a dollar and 3-cent dollar, measured by gold.
They told us that they wanted to get rid of the silver dollar, because it was too good, and now they
do not want to bring it back because it is not good enough.
They told us they wanted to demonetize it because it went abroad, and now they are
afraid to remonetize it for fear it will come back. (Applause) When our mints were open to the free
coinage of gold and silver on equal terms we did not have any trouble about silver being a cheap
dollar, and when we open our mints again to silver on an equal footing with gold, there will be
nobody to complain of 50-cent dollars, because a silver dollar will be worth as much as a gold
dollar here and anywhere in the world." (Cheers.)