Until this money Question is fully and finally settled, the people will no* consent to the consideration
of any other important question.— Bryan's Letter of Acceptance. i8t)b.
B R Y AN=the Prophet

HIS NUMEROUS PREDICTIONS, AND HOW THEY HAVE
STOOD THE TEST OF TIME.

MOST SWEEPING INDICTMENT IN AMERICAN POLITICS.

PROSPERITY IMPOSSIBLE— "VICTORY WILL COME"— NOT ENOUGH
MONEY TO DO BUSINESS — GOLD DEMOCRATS MUST SAW
WOOD — "A WAR OF EXTERMINATION" — CON
VICTED OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH
ON MANY COUNTS.
By D. F. Kennedy, of Indiana.
When a man who was once defeated for the presidency is again pre
sented for the suffrages of the American voter, for the highest office in
their gift, it is well for the voter to ask what this man has done since the
last election that entitles him to their consideration a second time. Have
the issues and policies he stood for then had their wisdom demonstrated,
by the four years that have elapsed? Has the test of time vindicated his
predictions? Have the policies he opposed been found failures when
tested? These are not idle questions; they are questions fraught with
destiny, "for if we believe in the perpetuity of our government, we must
believe that the mass of voters desire to vote for the best interests of our
country and its people. Voters Must Be Intelligent.
Therefore, we will be doing our patriotic duty to make a careful,
investigation of the facts. We assume that the question of a man being
eloquent or sincere in the advocacy of an issue can have no weight in
the effect or value of a governmental policy^ This government will
suffer just as much from a wrong policy carried into effect by an honest
(executive as if he was: a dishonest one, and the voter who votes hon
estly for a bad policy, will suffer just the same. Therefore, the voter
must be highly intelligent in order to do his whole duty as a citizen. Mr.
Bryan came to the front suddenly as a leader, dominated by one over-
, mastering thought, the free coinage of silver at 16 to 1. To him it was
the one vital issue. Mr. Bryan said in his Philadelphia speech in 1896:
*< I studied the money question. I read books on the money question.
I compared the works that I read— and I read on both sides of the
money question — and the more I read' the deeper became my conyic-

¦-' • v . - '
tions, until, my friends, I became so firmly of the opinion that there could
be no prosperity in this country until free silver was restored and the
white metal was put again by the side of the yellow metal and given free
access to the mints as gold is given. I became so convinced that I was
willing to risk all I had or hoped to be upon the correctness of the
-conclusion." He staked his fate and that of his party on that one issue. He lost
before the people and time has proved that his issue wasa gilded fallacy.
Seeing the narrow escape the nation had four years ago, can we
safely trust the destiny of the nation to the guidance of a man so im--
pulsive and easily led astray by fallacies that vanish at the first' test, like
the one advanced by W. J. Bryan four years ago?
We will now examine the record.
Prosperity Impossible.
" There can be no return to prosperity in the United States until we
-stop the appreciation of money by giving the people more standard
money." — Bryan at Kenosha, Wis., Sept. 5, 1896.
" There can be no general prosperity in this country until we stop
the conspiracy of those who would make gold the only standard of the
world." — Bryan's First Battle, page 41.
"There is no end to the gold standard. You think you have suffered
enough; your suffering has just begun. You think there has been
enough depression, but depression has just commenced." — Bryan at
Whejling, W, Va., Oct. 1, 1896.
" When prices are falling and money is rising a man can better
afford to lock his money up in a vault and gain the rise, than invest it in
property. You are making property not worth- having and everybody is
trying to turn their property into money, and while' the gold standard lasfc
that condition must remain, and times must be hard, and hard times mean
more idle men and more destitute men." — Bryan at Raleigh, N. C, Sept.
17, 1896. In concluding a speech at' Baltimore, Sept. 19, 1896, Mr. Bryan said
with marked emphasis :
" If we win this fight now, then the reform begins at once. If we are
defeated in this campaign there is nothing before the people but four
years more of hard times and greater agitation, and then victory will
come." Time has demonstrated that the direct opposite of these predictions
has come about. The gold standard remains and is more fixed than it
was four years ago. Property of all kinds has increased in value and
money is seeking property. The army of the unemployed has practi
cally disappeared, wages of labor has increased, employment has become
more constant and general prosperity is upon every hand. .
„ "There is but one way to stop this constant issue of bonds, and that
is to return to bimetallism." — Bryan's First Battle, page jyo.
"The Republican party is pledged to continue the present financial
system, which means a continued issue of bonds." — Bryan at Richmond,
Ind., Oct. 21.
Four years of the gold standard system since this prediction has
shown it to be utterly false, for we are farther away from the issue of
bonds than ever before.

Gold Must Go Abroad.
"The only way to stop the outflow of gold is to adopt bimetallism."
Bryan at Asheville,- N. C, Sept. 16, 1896.
" Under the gold standard, our gold must go abroad and we must
either issue bonds to bring it back or else we must lower the prices of
products and bring it back. that way. These are the only two ways the
treasury can be replenished. If we issue bonds, we simply postpone" the~
evil day. We must pay interest on the gold while we have it. If, on the
other hand, we lower prices, we drive down the value of our exports
below the cost of production and throw upon the producing class the bur
den of maintaining the gold reserve." — Bryan's Peoria speech, Oct. 23,1896.
To the contrary, gold has flowed into the treasury for four years until
at the present time the gold reserve in the treasury is the largest in the
history of our government. There is more gold in circulation among the
people:. The prices of products have increased to a healthy profit level.
, New life pervades every branch of industry and traffic.
" If the Republican party succeeds, it will go on contracting the cur
rency instead of increasing it." — Bryan at St. Louis.
" The Republicans are pledged to the present financial system, which
means a continued decrease in the volume of the currency." — Bryan at
- Richmond, Ind., Oct. 21, I1896.
" If you vote the Republican ticket you will not be troubled with see
ing too much money for the next four years. There is $150,000,000 less
money in circulation now than two years ago, and it will still go lower
under the present financial system. It means the substituting of bonds
upon the p'eople instead of putting money in the pockets of the people."
Bryan at Harper 's Ferry, Sept. 30, 1896.
Not Money Enough to do Business.
. " I call your attention to the fact, that the Republican party proposes
to make no effort to supply sufficient money to do the business of the
country. If I was to tell you that a grown person could wear the
clothes of a child, you would think me foolish; and if I should tell you
that a grown person could live on the food necessary to sustain life in a
child, you would call me foolish; and yet, they call these men financiers,
who assume that the people, growing in numbers, can survive on a money
"decreasing in its amount." — Bryan in New York.
" What is going to be the result when the election js over ? Why,
the money which they now furnish in exchange for treasury notes and
greenbacks, can be withdrawn the next day after the election. Having
blinded the, people during the election period, they will then bleed them
for another four years." — Bryan's Milwaukee speech, Sept. 5, 1896.
The record shows that during the first year of President McKinley's
administration the circulation of money was brought up to $1,640,209,519,
a'raise of $134,000,000. In 1898 it raised to $1,837,000,000. In 1899 it
reached $1,-904,071,881, increasing the per capita circulation to $25,
this being the largest per capita circulation in twenty-five years. The
next largest was at the close of, President Harrison's administration in
1892, when it was a fraction over $24. At the close of President Cleve
land's term the per capita circulation was down to $21 and total
circulation $1,506,000,000, which was the lowest since 1880. The interest

on money has gradually diminished. . Money is more plentiful now than
it has been since the resumption. of specie payments. The volume of
trade is nearly twice as large as it was at the end of President Cleveland's
term. Money is seeking investment in property and business ventures
with a view to future gains. Our exports have nearly doubled, reaching
the phenomenal amount of $1,400,000,000 in 1899.
Gold Bad for Farmers.
"If there is any Republican farmer here who feels that when he sells
his oats at ten cents a bushel that he is getting too much for them, all he
has to do is to vote the Republican ticket and he will not get more than
five cents a bushel, and he can keep on voting the Republican ticket until
the price is so small that it will not trouble him at all." — Bryan at Martins-
burg, Va., Sept. 30, 1896.
" Is ft a fair measure of value that in our great producing section ten
bushels of potatoes must be paid for a dollar, ten bushels of oats for a
dollar, six bushels of corn for a dollar, three bushels of wheat for a dollar,
and all other products, and labor also, at the same ratio? This is the
condition to which the gold standard has brought us. So it has been" and
so, under the present gold standard, it must continue to be." — Bryan's
First Battle, page 438.
"The producers of wheat and cotton have a special grievance; as
silver goes down the prices fall." — Bryan's Book, page 98.
"The gold standard makes dear dollars. Dear dollars make cheap
men and cheap products." — Bryan's Book.
The result is just the opposite. The prices of all products that had
fallen below living profits under Democratic mismanagement have risen
to a fair price. The farmers, who suffered most in this respect, have had
their prices largely increased. They can buy a dollar now with less than
a bushel and a half of wheat. They can buy a dollar with less than five
bushels of oats. They can buy a dollar with less than two and a half
bushels of corn, and all other farm products have advanced in the same
ratio. The farmer can now pay his mortgage with a much less amount
of products than he could four years ago. This is even better than Bryan
promised under free coinage. The man who pays interest on a mortgage
is now on a level with the man who gets the interest, for they both spend
their dollar in a market that has been adjusted to the gold standard.
Gold Democrats Must Saw Wood.
" Let not the Democrats, who so delude. themselves with the thought,
that this is but a temporary disagreement — let them not delude them
selves with the thought that they can separate from us now and come
back hereafter to assume positions of command. This contest is not for
now or for to-day. Any Democratic son, who desires to leave his father's
house, may do so, but let him understand that when he gets tired and
comes back we may not kill the fatted calf for him. It may be that those
whom he left at the house will make him saw wood a long time before he
gets to the dinner table." — Bryan's First Battle.
And yet we see Mr. Bryan on his.knees before these wandering sons.
He has laid down the softest carpets for them to walk back on, he has

invited them to the, dinner table without sawing wood, he has even
refrained from mentioning the" money question in his public utterances,
and yet we know his mind has not been changed, despite the fact that
every. prediction he has made has-been proved to be false. He has
, simply ^undertaken to win by deception what he failed to win in a frank
and open campaign. Mr. Bryan charged the Gold Democrats with
deception in putting a ticket in the field and voting for another at
the 'election. He is now. making a campaign for votes on one issue
with the intention of making another issue the dominant one in his ¦
administration. A few weeks before his nomination at Kansas
City, he said: "The Democratic party has begun a war of extermination
against the gold standard. We ask no quarter, we' give no quarter. We
shall prosecute our warfare until there is not an American citizen that
dares to advocate the gold standard."
"Until the money question is fully and finally settled, the people will
not consent to the consideration of any other important question." —
Bryan's Letter of Acceptance , 1896.
Bryan and Workingmen.
" If these men Who pride themselves upon their prominence in busi
ness, and who glory in the title of business men, are going to make a
business out of politics and are going to use their ballots to increase their
income, I beg you to consider whether the great toiling masses of this'
nation have not a right to make a business out of politics once, and
protect their homes and their families from disaster." — Bryan's New York
Speech. "I say that until a man" is willing to give up faith in our institutions,
until he is willing to make us a province of a foreign nation, until he is
willing to go "back on the Declaration of Independence, he- cannot vote
for the Republican ticket." — Bryan's Speech at Cambridge City, Oct. 21, 1896.
"The Gold standard makes dear money and dear money makes cheap
"products and cheap men. Prosperity must begin with the workingman
and the farmer and work upward. The free coinage of silver will do
this, hence, when we open the mint we will start the factory; there is no
other way." — Bryan.
" Mark my words. If the gold standard goes on, the gold standard
advocates, instead of trying to improve the condition of the people will
be recommending that you close your schools so that the people will not
realize how much_they are suffering." — Bryan's First Battle, page 72.
This is indeed a dark prophecy, a dark prophecy for labor, but fortu
nately the workingmen took Mr. Bryan's advice and made a business out"
of politics and voted in a business administration, and thereby averted
the dire calamity, but they showed that they knew more about business
than Mr. Bryan. The gold standard prevails and the schools are still
ppen. These are only a small portion of Bryan's prophesies, but they are
all of this kind. ,
The False Proposition.
Mr. Bryan's whole philosophy is based upon a false proposition, and
for that reason every prediction he made has been refuted by experience.
In most of his speeches he said the law of supply and demand controlled

the value of money just the same as commodities. Me asserted when
dollars are scarce they are dear, and when dollars are plentiful they are
cheap. He" asserted in all his arguments that the gold standard was "too
narrow to have a sufficient quantity of money to do the business of the
country, and therefore money must be dear and products of labor
cheap. But unfortunately, he got his erroneous idea from a Dem
ocratic" administration that was utterly incapable of handling the
financial question. He saw money get scarce under President Cleveland,
and he assumed it must remain so. Mr. Bryan, like the party he repre
sents, is utterly unreliable on great governmental questions., and especially
is this true on finance and tariff. The manufacturing and business world
have no confidence in the Democratic party. This accounts for the fact
that most of this class of men are in the Republican party. The great
governmental questions of the country have been handled in such a mas
terly way in the past three years that all classes of people have been .
doing the very best that is possible under our present system. The
factories never operated so steadily, the farmer is getting good prices for
all kinds of products, the railways and mercantile establishments never
did better, and labor has as good an opportunity as it can hope for under
the present system of production.
Democrats Bad Financiers.
In this connection it is well to remember that the Democratic party
have "always been unfortunate in dealing with the finances and tariff.,
When President Buchanan turned the treasury over to Mr. Lincoln there,
was not enough money in it to make a report. When Cleveland was
filling his first term he scared the country by warning the people in his
message that a money famine would result from the enormous accumula
tion of money in the treasury. He said he knew no way to get it out
except by lowering the tariff. Mr. Harrison said if he was elected' he
would get the money out among the people by paying off some of the
nation's bonds. Mr. Cleveland said this could not be done because the
bonds were not due, but President Harrison found no trouble in doing it
when he took charge. Mr. Cleveland, during his second term, said the
gold standard could not be maintained without bond issues. He con
tracted the circulating medium to the lowest point since the Civil War7
Mr. Cleveland maintained a gold standard but he showed his utter
lac& of skill in doing it, and Mr. Bryan was foolish and inexper
ienced enough to think nobody else could do any better than Grov'er.
The Democrats, after years of agitation on the tariff question in opposi
tion to Republican policy, were finally successful in getting a free hand
to carry out a Democratic policy, and then made such a mess of it that
the party dares not talk tariff since.
Farmers and Wage Earners.
The1 price of farm products has advanced and the markets have
/greatly increased. There has been an increase of at least fifteen per cent
in the price of farm products. To an average farmer, producing two
thousand dollars' worth of products per year, this is a net gain'of three
Kundrecf dollars per year. Now suppose this farmer had a mortgage of
$1000 on his farm upon which he paid eight per cent interest. He can

now refund that debt -into a five per cent debt and save thirty dollars per
annum. This, added to his three hundred increase in prices, will pay his
mortgage off in three years. All the farm mortgage indebtedness in the
United" States can be paid in three years by the net results of the im
proved conditions, and the farmers' conditions are growing better every
year. Why should he vote to change this? This improved condition of
the farmer amounts in the aggregate in the nation to about three billions
of dollars. How is it with the wage worker? Has he suffered or has he been
benefited by the gold standard? The aggregate number of days work
has increased by at least one-third per year. This is proved beyond a
doubt by the fact that the production of wealth has increased by more
than that amountr If production has increased thirty-three per cent,
then the labor that creates it has increased by like amount. By whatever
amount production is increased or diminished, by that ratio is labor in
creased or diminished. Now let us see what this means to the working-
man. To illustrate: Suppose a man is getting $1.50 per day and is only
able to work two hundred days, that gives him a yearly income of $300.
Now suppose that this number of days is increased one-third, he now
gets $450 per year. His yearly wages have been increased fifty per cent.
This represents his purchasing power.
There has been an average increase of ten per cent in per diem
wages. If we add this to the increase in days work we have a net increase
of $195 per year. Now we will take a mechanic receiving $2.50 a day
and working one hundred and fifty days. Previous to the last three years
his yearly income was'$375. Now suppose the number of days work is
increased to two hundred and fifty, then his yearly income is increased
to ^5625. Now add an increase of ten per cent per diem and we have
$687 — a yearly increase of nearly ninety per cent.
Increased Purchasing Power.
Taking a dollar and a half per day man again as shown in the first
illustration, this shows an aggregate increase in yearly wages in a town of
twenty thousand people amounting to $780,000. It is this immense in
crease in the purchasing power of labor that caused the merchant to
take on more clerks and delivery wagons. It, is this new market that
made the railways and factories prosper. These facts can be easily
verified by any workingman. This illustration, when applied to the
whole nation, shows the enormous amount of four billions increased pur
chasing power. When we add to this the increased purchasing power of
the farmer we have a total of over six billions. This vast amount of
money, thrown into the channels of trade all over this country, vitally
affected every branch ,of traffic and manufacture. Money that, like
labor, had been idle for several years, now went to work, paying wages
in the factory and paying for the necessities and comforts' of life over
the counters of merchants.
The Value of Wages.
If any workingman doubts this, let him ask the merchant who it was
caused him to increase his facilities for handling goods., The merchant
will tell him that labor buys twice as many goods as it did four years

ago. Then, if labor had nothing but wages with which to buy goods, if
follows that wages must haVey been' increased by whatever amount the
sale of goods increased. And here let no one be confused. It is the
increased yearly income that accounts for the major part of this purchas
ing power. Per diem wages got very low in many branches of industry,
but there- has been a very decided improvement in wages and the move
ment is upward. Now we ask is it wise for the workingman and farmer
to take the risk of disturbing these conditions by following the advice of
Mr. Bryan, who Woved to be a false prophet to labor four years ago?
Are we going £© be deceived by his false issue of imperialism which is a
sharti to cover tiis'deeper purpose to destroy the stability of our finances?
, Bryan Honest But Mistaken.
The fact that Mr. Bryan is honest in his free silver contention counts
for nothing against the demonstrated fact that he is mistaken. We are
now fully adjusted to the goldstandard and we have achieved more under
it than Mr; Bryan promised us under free coinage of silver. Then
why should we take the risk of change ? Does anti-imperialism propose
to accomplish anything good for labor ? Will the success of Aguinaldo
" add anything- to the benefit of American labor ? But labor asks, how did
f President McKinljey and the gold standard bring about these good times?
This is not hani-t.o answer. . Under our productive system, labor cannpt
work unless capital works, for labor works for and with capital. Capital
owns the tools and is the superintendent. Anyone who will stop to think
must know that capital has ho more desire to be idle than labor, but cap
ital, like labor, does not care tt^work without fair prospects for returns.
Capital will always be active when it sees a fair prospect to make divi
dends, -therefore. any governmental pqlicy that causes an uncertainty in
value, must cause capital to hesitate and wait till values are settled.
No matter how eloquently Mr. Bryan may plead, nor how many
prophesies he may make fo? ihe weal or woe of this nation, he cannot
rub out the stern fact that he #[as been a false prophet, that he represents
a party that is feared by the 'est interests of this country, and that he
now represents a false issue i. ¦ ; hield himself from the real issue that is
his hobby,

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