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 fixed investments have declared for a gold
standard, but not where the masses have. 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.
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