Cross of Gold Persuasive Speech
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention:
I would be presumptuous, indeed, to present myself against the distinguished gentlemen to whom you have listened if
this were mere measuring of abilities; but this is not a contest between persons. The humblest citizen in all the land,
when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error. I come to speak to you in defense of a
cause as holy as the cause of liberty -- the cause of humanity.
When this debate is concluded, a motion will made to lay upon the table the resolution offered in commendation of the
Administration, and also the resolution offered in condemnation of the Administration. We object to bringing this question
down to the level of persons. The individual is but an atom; he is born, he acts, he dies; but principles are eternal, and
this has been a contest over a principle.
Never before in the history of this country has there been witnessed such a contest as that through which we have just
passed. Never before in the history of American politics has a great issue been fought out as this issue has been, by the
voters of a great party.
On the fourth of March, 1895, a few Democrats, most of them members of Congress, issued an address to the
Democrats of the nation, asserting that the money question was the paramount issue of the hour; declaring that a
majority of the Democratic party had the right to control the action of the party on this paramount issue; and concluding
with the request that the believers in the free coinage of silver in the Democratic party should organize, take charge of
and control the policy of the Democratic party.
Three months later, at Memphis, an organization was perfected, and the silver Democrats went forth openly and
courageously proclaiming their belief, and declaring that, if successful, they would crystallize into a platform the
declaration which they had made. Then began the conflict.
With a zeal approaching the zeal which inspired the crusaders who followed Peter the Hermit, our silver Democrats went
forth from victory unto victory, until they are now assembled, not to discuss, not to debate, but to enter up the judgment
already rendered by the plain people of this country. In this contest brother has been arrayed against brother, father
against son.
The warmest ties of love, acquaintance and association have been disregarded; old leaders have been cast aside when
they have refused to give expression to the sentiments of those whom they would lead, and new leaders have sprung up
to give direction to this cause of truth. Thus has the contest been waged, and we have assembled here under as binding
and solemn instructions as were ever imposed upon representatives of the people.
We do not come as individuals. As individuals we might have been glad to compliment the gentleman from New York,
but we know that the people for whom we speak would never be willing to put him in a position where he could thwart the
will of the Democratic party. I say it was not a question of persons; it was a question of principle, and it is not with
gladness, my friends, that we find ourselves brought into conflict with those who are now arrayed on the other side.
The gentleman who preceded me spoke of the State of Massachusetts; let me assure him that not one present in all this
convention entertains the least hostility to the people of the State of Massachusetts, but we stand here representing
people who are the equals before the law, of the greatest citizens in the State of Massachusetts. When you come before
us and tell us that we are about to disturb your business interests, we reply that you have disturbed our business
interests by your course.
We say to you that you have made the definition of a business man too limited in its application.
The man who is employed for wages is as much a business man as his employer; the attorney in a country town is as
much a business man as the corporation counsel in a great metropolis; the merchant at the cross-roads store is as much
a business man as the merchant of New York; the farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day -- who begins in
the spring and toils all summer -- and who by the application of brain and muscle to the natural resources of the country
creates wealth, is as much a business man as the man who goes upon the board of trade and bets upon the price of
grain; the miners who go down a thousand feet into the earth, or climb two thousand feet upon the cliffs, and bring forth
from their hiding places the precious metals to be poured into the channels of trade are as much business men as the
few financial magnates who, in a back room, corner the money of the world.
We come to speak for this broader class of business men.
Ah, my friends, we say not one word against those who live upon the Atlantic coast, but the hardy pioneers who have
braved all the dangers of the wilderness, who have made the desert to blossom as the rose -- the pioneers away out
there, who rear their children near to Nature's heart, where they can mingle their voices with the voices of the birds -- out
there where they have erected schoolhouses for the education of their young, churches where they praise their Creator,
and cemeteries where rest the ashes of their dead -- these people, we say, are as deserving of the consideration of our
party as any people in this country.
It is for these that we speak. We do not come as aggressors. Our war is not a war of conquest; we are fighting in the
defense of our homes, our families, and posterity. We have petitioned, and our petitions have been scorned; we have
entreated, and our entreaties have been desregarded; we have begged, and they have mocked when our calamity
came. We beg no longer; we entreat no more; we petition no more. We defy them.
The gentleman from Wisconsin has said that he fears a Robespierre.
My friends, in this land of the free you need not fear that a tyrant will spring up from among the people. What we need is
an Andrew Jackson to stand, as Jackson stood, against the encroachments of organized wealth. They tell us that this
platform was made to catch votes. We reply to them that changing conditions make new issues; that the principles upon
which Democracy rests are as everlasting as the hills, but that they must be applied to new conditions as they arise.
Conditions have arisen, and we are here to meet these conditions. They tell us that the income tax ought not to be
brought in here; that it is a new idea. They criticize us for our criticism of the Supreme Court of the United States. My
friends, we have not criticized; we have simply called attention to what you already know. If you want criticisms read the
dissenting opinions of the court. There you will find criticism. They say that we passed an unconstitutional law; we deny
it.
The income tax law was not unconstitutional when it was passed; it was not unconstitutional when it went before the
Supreme Court for the first time; it did not become unconstitutional until one of the judges changed his mind, and we
cannot be expected to know when a judge will change his mind. The income tax is just. It simply intends to put the
burdens of government justly upon the backs of the people. I am in favor of an income tax.
When I find a man who is not willing to bear his share of the burdens of the government which protects him, I find a man
who is unworthy to enjoy the blessings of a government like ours.
They say that we are opposing national bank currency. It is true. If you will read what Thomas Benton said you will find
he said that, in searching history, he would find but one parallel to Andrew Jackson; that was Cicero, who destroyed the
conspiracy of Cataline and saved Rome.
Benton said that Cicero only did for Rome what Jackson did for us when he destroyed the bank conspiracy and saved
America. We say in our platform that we believe that the right to coin and issue money is a function of government. We
believe it. We believe that it is a part of sovereignty, and can no more with safety be delegated to private individuals than
we could afford to delegate to private individuals the power to make penal statutes or levy taxes.
Mr. Jefferson, who was once regarded as good Democratic authority, seems to have differed in opinion from the
gentleman who has addressed us on the part of the minority. Those who are opposed to this proposition tell us that the
issue of paper money is a function of the bank, and that the Government ought to go out of the banking business.
I stand with Jefferson rather than with them, and tell them, as he did, that the issue of money is a function of
government, and that the banks ought to go out of the governing business.
They complain about the plank which declares against life tenure in office. They have tried to strain it to mean that which
it does not mean. What we oppose by that plank is the life tenure which is being built up in Washington, and which
excludes from participation in official benefits the humbler members of society.
Let me call your attention to two or three important things. The gentleman from New York says that he will propose an
amendment to the platform providing that the proposed change in our monetary system shall not affect contracts already
made.
Let me remind you that there is no intention of affecting those contracts which according to present laws are made
payable in gold; but if he means to say that we cannot change our monetary system without protecting those who have
loaned money before the change was made, I desire to ask him where, in law or in morals, he can find justification for
not protecting the debtors when the act of 1873 was passed, if he now insists that we must protect the creditors.
He says he will also propose an amendment which will provide for the suspension of free coinage if we fail to maintain
the parity within a year. We reply that when we advocate a policy which we believe will be successful, we are not
compelled to raise a doubt as to our own sincerity by suggesting what we shall do if we fail. I ask him, if he would apply
his logic to us, why he does not apply it to himself. He says he wants this country to try to secure an international
agreement.
Why does he not tell us what he is going to do if he fails to secure an international agreement? There is more reason for
him to do that than there is for us to provide against the failure to maintain the parity. Our opponents have tried for
twenty years to secure an international agreement, and those are waiting for it most patiently who do not want it at all.
And now, my friends, let me come to the paramount issue.
If they ask us why it is that we say more on the money question than we say upon the tariff question, I reply that, if
protection has slain its thousands, the gold standard has slain its tens of thousands. If they ask us why we do not
embody in our platform all the things that we believe in, we reply that when we have restored the money of the
Constitution all other necessary reform will be possible, but that until this is done there is no other reform that can be
accomplished.
Why is it that within three months such a change has come over the country? Three months ago, when it was confidently
asserted that those who believe in the gold standard would frame our platform and nominate our candidates, even the
advocates to the gold standard did not think that we could elect a President. And they had good reason for their doubt,
because there is scarcely a State here to-day asking for the gold standard which is not in the absolute control of the
Republican party.
But note the change. Mr. McKinley was nominated at St. Louis upon a platform which declared for the maintenance of
the gold standard until it can be changed into bimetallism by international agreement. Mr. McKinley was the most
popular man among the Republicans, and three months ago everybody in the Republican party prophesied his election.
How is it to-day? Why, the man who was once pleased to think that he looked like Napoleon --that man shudders to-day
when he remembers that he was nominated on the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. Not only that, but as he listens
he can hear with ever-increasing distinctness the sound of the waves as they beat upon the lonely shores of St. Helena.
Why this change? Ah, my friends, is not the reason for the change evident to any one who will look at the matter? No
private character, however pure, no personal popularity, however great, can protect from the avenging wrath of an
indignant people a man who will declare that he is in favor of fastening the gold standard upon this country, or who is
willing to surrender the right of self-government and place the legislative control of our affairs in the hands of foreign
potentates and powers.
We go forth confident that we shall win. Why? Because upon the paramount issue of this campaign there is not a spot of
ground upon which the enemy will dare to challenge battle. If they tell us that the gold standard is a good thing, we shall
point to their platform and tell them that their platform pledges the party to get rid of the gold standard and substitute
bimetallism.
If the gold standard is a good thing, why try to get rid of it? I call your attention to the fact that some of the very people
who are in this convention to-day, and who tell us that we ought to declare in favor of international bimetallism -- thereby
declaring that the gold standard is wrong and that the principle of bimetallism is better -- these very people four months
ago were open and avowed advocates of the gold standard, and were then telling us that we could not legislate two
metals together, even with the aid of all the world.
If the gold standard is a good thing we ought to declare in favor of its retention, and not in favor of abandoning it, and if
the gold standard is a bad thing, why should we wait until other nations are willing to help us to let go? Here is the line of
battle, and we care not upon which issue they force the fight; we are prepared to meet them on either issue or on both.
If they tell us that the gold standard is the standard of civilization, we reply to them that this, the most enlightened of all
the nations of the earth, has never declared for a gold standard and that both the great parties this year are declaring
against it. If the gold standard is the standard of civilization, why, my friends, should we not have it? If they come to meet
us on that issue we can present the history of our nation.
More than that -- we can tell them that they will search the pages of history in vain to find a single instance where the
common people of any land have ever declared themselves in favor of the gold standard. They can find where the
holders of fixt investments have declared for a gold standard, but not where the masses have.
Mr. Carlisle said in 1878 that this was a struggle between "the idle holders of idle capital" and "the struggling masses,
who produce the wealth and pay the taxes of the country," and, my friends, the question we are to decide is, upon which
side will the Democratic party fight -- upon the side of "the idle holders of idle capital," or upon the side of "the struggling
masses"? That is the question which the party must answer first, and then it must be answered by each individual
hereafter.
The sympathies of the Democratic party, as shown by the platform, are on the side of the struggling masses who have
ever been the foundation of the Democratic party. There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that
if you will only legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous their prosperity will leak through on those below.
The Democratic idea, however, has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its
way up through every class which rests upon them.
You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard; we reply that the great cities rest upon
our broad and fertile prairies.
Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms, and
the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country. My friends, we declare that this nation is able to legislate for
its own people on every question without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation on earth, and upon that issue
we expect to carry every State in the Union.
I shall not slander the inhabitants of the fair State of Massachusetts nor the inhabitants of the State of New York by
saying that, when they are confronted with the proposition, they will declare that this nation is not able to attend to its
own business. It is the issue of 1776 over again.
Our ancestors, when but three millions in number, had the courage to declare their political independence on every other
nation; shall we, their descendants, when we have grown to seventy millions, declare that we are less independent than
our forefathers? No, my friends, that will never be the verdict of our people. Therefore, we care not upon what lines the
battle is fought.
If they say bimetallism is good, but that we cannot have it until other nations help us, we reply that, instead of having a
gold standard because England has, we will restore bimetallism, and then let England have bimetallism because the
United States has it. If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing we will fight
them to the uttermost.
Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring
interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them:
You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns;
you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.
