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.

 

--WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.

 

Authority is the great weapon against doubt, but even its force can rarely

prevail against prejudice and persistent wrong-headedness. If any speaker has

been able to forge a sword that is warranted to piece such armor, let him bless

humanity by sharing his secret with his platform brethren everywhere, for thus

far he is alone in his glory.

 

There is a middle-ground between the suggestion of authority and the confession

of weakness that offers a wide range for tact in the speaker. No one can advise

you when to throw your "hat in the ring" and say defiantly at the outstart,

"Gentlemen, I am here to fight!" Theodore Roosevelt can do that--Beecher would

have been mobbed if he had begun in that style at Liverpool. It is for your own

tact to decide whether you will use the disarming grace of Henry W. Grady's

introduction just quoted (even the time-worn joke was ingenuous and seemed to

say, "Gentlemen, I come to you with no carefully-palmed coins"), or whether the

solemn gravity of Mr. Bryan before the Convention will prove to be more