(Laughter.) If you can make silver 16 to by law when in fact it is 31 to 1—that is, it takes sixteen ounces of silver, according to them, to be worth one ounce of gold. Now, it takes thirty-one ounces to be worth an ounce of gold. But they propose by law to make sixteen ounces of silver the value of an ounce of gold.

If they can do that by law, what is the use of wasting all that silver? (Laughter.) If they can by law make it 16 to 1, why not put another clause on and make it I to I? (Laughter and applause.) And if they by fiat can add 48 cents' worth of law to 52 cents' worth of silver and make a dollar, why not make all fiat (Applause), and use the silver for forks and spoons? (A voice in the audience: "How much is in the dollar now?") In a silver dollar? (The voice: "Yes.") Four hundred and twelve grains standard. (The voice: "That is 16 to 1.") That

is 16 to 1.

Now, let me tell you: One of our dollars today—16 to I-is made equal with gold. And how is it made equal with gold? Because the government of the United States has promised to redeem it in gold. (Applause.) If there was only one grain of silver in a silver dollar, and our government promised to keep it on an equality with gold, it would be just as good as if there were 412. (Applause.) The silver of the United States today, as coin, is worth between 51 and 52 cents on the dollar, and the moment the promise of the government is withdrawn all the dollars of the United States coined of silver will only be worth 51 cents each. The rest is promise—not fiat, but promise-and as long as we believe the government is able, as long as we believe the government has the

honesty to redeem its promise, that silver will be good. (Applause.)

Now, there is another trouble. A promise to pay money is not money. A promise to pay money is like a nomination for an office, and the fulfillment of that promise is like the election to that office; and on the 4th day of November even Bryan will know the difference between promise and fulfillment.

HISTORICAL.

Let me tell you a little something about the history of our money, which people don't know, or else they forget. In 1792 we made in this country a double standard—gold and silver. The ratio was fixed by Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, and they both said they fixed that ratio on the commercial price of the metals. That ratio

was 15 to 1. And we started with a double standard— gold and silver.

But the double standard has always been hard to maintain. France has changed the ratio more than a hundred times. As Dogberry says, "Where two men ride a horse one man rides behind." (Laughter and applause.) So in 1806 they found there was too much silver in the silver dollar, and Jefferson stopped its coinage. No more was coined until 1837, and then it was that our people in Congress declared that they adopted the gold standard.

In 1853 they lessened the silver in the silver coins, and again they declared that their object was to create a gold standard. In all the time from 1852 to 1873 there were coined in the United States only 8,000,000 silver dollars, and they had all gone out of circulation. There was too much silver, and people got them and melted them up.

Eight millions! That is what the friends-the fathersThey found that if they put too much sil

did for silver.

ver in a dollar it would be exported or would go to the melting pot. So they put in a little less silver, that it would not be taken for other purposes. That is all.

Now, then, according to Mr. Bryan, our fathers were the friends of silver. And yet our dear old fathers, in all their lives, only minted 8,000,000 of these sacred dollars. (Laughter.)

ALLEGED ENEMIES OF SILVER.

See what the enemies of silver have done! Since 1873 the enemies of silver have coined 430,000,000 of these dollars. (Applause.) And yet silver has kept going down. We are coining now over $2,000,000 a month, and silver keeps going down. We are now floating these 430,000,000 silver dollars on the promise of the government to keep them on a parity with gold. (Applause.)

I wish every one here would read the speech of Senator Sherman delivered at Columbus a little while ago, in which he gives the history of American coinage. Every man who will read it will find that silver was not demonetized in 1873. You will find that it was demonetized in 1853. And if you will read back you will find that the apostles of silver now were in favor of the gold standard in 1873. (Applause.)

Senator Jones of Nevada, in 1873, voted for the law of 1873. He said, from his place in the Senate, that God had made gold the standard. He said gold was the mother of civilization. Whether he has heard from God

since then I do not know.

(Laughter and applause.) But

now he is on the other side. Senator Stewart of Nevada was there at the time. He voted for the act of 1873, and said gold was the only standard. He, too, has changed his mind.

So they have said of me, that I used to talk another way; and they have published little portions of speeches without publishing all that was said. I want to tell you tonight that I have never changed on the money question. (Laughter.) I was opposed to the demonetization of silver because, I said, it put an additional burden on the debtors.

But here is this trouble. (A voice: "How about McKinley?") You wait until you get some sense about money. All the debts that were due in 1873, or made in 1873, of individuals, have all been paid or they have been outlawed. You can not help the debtors that were injured then. You can not help the debtors of 1873 by swindling the creditors of 1896. That has been doneright along it has been done. It has been acquiesced in by the commercial world, and this Nation can not correct a mistake of mankind.

Let me tell you how I have stood on this question. Twenty years ago, at Cooper Union, in the city of New York, in 1876, I made a speech upon this subject among others; and I want to tell you just what I said at that time. You will then see how much I have changed.

Supposing that silver was demonetized in 1873, I denounced it as a fraud on debtors. I wanted silver remonetized, but I wanted good dollars. Here is what I said:

"I am in favor of honest money. I am in favor of gold and silver. I am in favor of paper with gold and silver behind it. I believe in silver, because it is one of the great American products; and I am in favor of anything that will add to the value of an American product. But I want a silver dollar worth a gold dollar, even if you have to make it four feet in diameter." (Laughter and applause.)

You would say my head was level then. (A voice: "It is level now."-Laughter.) Yes, sir; no government can afford to be a clipper of coins. A great republic can not afford to stamp a lie on silver or gold or paper. Honest money for an honest people, issued by an honest Nation! I have been told that during the war we had plenty of money. I never saw it. I lived years without enriching my eyes with the sight of a dollar; for the greenback, unless you have the gold behind it, is no more a dollar than a bill of fare is a dinner. You can not make a paper dollar without taking a dollar's worth of paper. We must have paper that represents money. I want it issued by the government, and I want behind every one of these paper dollars either a dollar in gold or a silver dollar worth 100 cents, so that every greenback under the flag can lift up its hands and swear: "I know that my redeemer liveth." (Applause.) That was where I was twenty years ago, and that is where I am tonight. For nations and individuals, at all times, everywhere and forever, honesty is the best policy. (Applause.)

HONOR VERSUS FRAUD.

Better be an honest bankrupt than a rich thief.

Pov

erty can hold in its hand the jewel, Honor-a jewel that