A Lie Nailed

At an immense mnss meeting at liay City recently Hon. Spencer O. Fisher, democratie candidate fot governor, was rnost enthusiastically received by the preat audience. Mr. Fisher made a very strong speech, the most striking and important portions benig given below. In opening tlie speaker referred to "the attack. the treaehery, the intriguing of desifrning men. masquerading wolves in sheep's clothing vvithin the democratie party," and said: "I feel tnat I sbould make a statement at this time and I am glad to speak here in my home- the citles of my artoption- where I am sr well known, of an attack that has just been made upon me by Hon. Timothy Tarsno.y, of Detroit, Mii'h. 'i'liis. as you all lenow. is but the result of lh sting of a defeated rival in ihe contest which seeured for our city the TJnited States court and Government building. 1 feel as i (you will believe what I say without going into great detail, that the statements made by him are falsa in some particulars and distorted in others. I belong to no secret society- political or othcr and luive no atltliation or sympathy wlth any, and have had no conference at. any time or at any place with any membors thercof. I am not the candidato of any secret orgauization, church or faetion, and ha%'e made no 'bid' for their support. I resent the charge or imputation. by whomsoever made, that connects me with any faetion or any controversy of a sectarian or religioua nature. At the Grand Hapids convention I was pledged the support of a united democraoy and stand only as the candidate of the entiro democracy. If I were elected to the high offloe of governor of this state 1 should be the servant of the whole people and not of any faetion, church or society. "My life is an open book. to be investigated, and I challenge the fullest and freest investigation of the same in relation to the charges made by Hon. Timothy E. Tarsney. The charge that I w.:s in conference at tho Normandie hotel in Detroit with Messrs. Traynor and Ueatüe, or either of them, is unqualifledly false. Many hundreds of my dearest friends in this, tne city of my home, give religious fealty an! devotion to tho Catholio chunh. I ask evcry one of them here to give answer to the charge that by the letters referred to I have ever intended to show hostility to those of the Roman Catholic faith. If the people of this state, away from my home, have been deceived by these false oharges, I ask them to refer to you. and I ask you to bear me wllling witness, as I believe, yes, 1 know you wlll." To substantiate his denial Mr. Fisher stated that he would place a certified check for 810,000 in any man's hands for proof that he held a conference with A. P. A. leaders in the Xormandie hotel in Detroit. "On the tariff question we have been somewhat dlvided. but as a manufacturar of lumber on Saginaw rlver I make a statement, without fear of contradiction ,that tho placing of lumber on the free Hst was a Godsend to thts community. I nm in favor of free wool. I am the principal stockholder in between seventeen and eighteen thousand sheep in Colorado. I have heen in favor of free wool in season and out of seasou. Why? Because I think it is for tbe best interest of the entire country. I am sincere in my opinión, not only that it i wou tl enhance tho price of wool but that it would start the wneels of the woolén industry in this country. ProtectionV Protection for what? The laboring man? I believe the time haa none by when the laboring men of this country can be hoodwlnked into thinking that protection protects labor. "But the question that overshadows them all and which affects every business man, and which, in my judgment, I believe to be the greatest question before the country, is that of currency. It is that one which brought about the depression last year. I stand before you to-night pledged to the platform of the Michigan flemoeraey, and in that platform is a plank which they cali Fisher's plank. Ideïnanded of the convention that it be placed in the platform, and it reads that we declare in favor of free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen to one [applausej, and I ■was r.ever more sincere in my life than I am ju tais silver question. " The speaker then referred tothe ruin broug-ht upon the country by the deïnonetization of silver by Germán y, the Latin unión and England, and predicted dire results if silver was not placed on the same ratio or footing with g-old. He then presented a table shovring that witli the decrease in the t-alue of silver there had been a corresponding decrease in the value of vvheat, cotton and other producís. Contimiing, he said: ■The Ohio democracy declared in favor of the free and unlimited coinage oí silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, and I am pleased to see that our candidate for congrebs Is in favor of thatmeasure. That is what the populist.? are after. They want the dollar of their daddies. That is what Worthy L. Churchill is after, and see to it that ho is on your ticket." Mr. Fisher then made a strong appeal for the election of the democratie senatorial and legislative tickets. Mr. Fisher then took up the question of direct taxation by the state and, compared the state expenses between the two parties. He said that he believed in liberal appropriations to the state institutions, but believed that many abuses exist that should be done a way with, and before the end of the campaign he hoped to be able to reveal startling facts concerning this matter. These things woold have been different had that sturdy old man, Gov. Winans, been returned to the governor's chair. Gov. Rich, he said, has never written one word to the legislature recommending that the railroads bear their part of the taxation. Mr. Fisher then put some pertinent questions to the republican party that will take longer than the present campaign to answer. In concluding, he said: "If I am elected governor oí this state I pledite you that I will work to do away with i-lass legislatlon, as I believe 1 equal rlgats and justice to all. The republican party today is not the party of Linooln I applause] of Urant and Qarfleld. TUe moderH republloan party to-day is the party of monopolists, of trusts and corporations. Llnooln'a propheoy -was that if the republican party kept on In lts career that oorporatlpns would be enthroned nd an era of corruption VpuW follow, and the money power would prolong Ud relgn. I maka the same prediotlon. If the people do not rise in their mleht. if silver Is not made as good as gold, -we will see the words of Lincoln carried lnto effect." Mr. Fisher read an extract of tjw letter written by ex-Gov. Blair to the1 effect that "the railway people were active for Gov. Eich, and this ought to ruin him." In closing Mr. Fisher referred to the words of Grover Cleveland: "Equal rigfhts for all and favor6 for none."