Democratic Mass Meeting

The first democratie rnass meeting of the year in Ann Arbor was held last Friday eveuiug, when T. E. Tarsney and Fred A. Baker, of Detroit, addressed from 1,000 to 1,200 earnest hsteners in front of the court house. The meeting was three times as large as that of the republicans, addressed by AtkinsoD and Spauldiug, and unhke the latter no issues were dodged. The disou-ssion of the silver issue occupied the entire time of the speakers aud Mr. Tarsney held the olose attention of the audience for an hour and fifty minutes, while Mr. Baker spoke nearly forty minutes. JVI. J. Cavanaugh, chairruau of the county committee, presidad and introduced the speakers. It is impossible for us to give here Mr. Tarsney's speech, but a few extracts are appended. Mr. Tarsney commenced by comparing the present scène with that of 1800, when democrats and republicans alike sank their partisanship and responded to a higher duty, a scène which is now being repeated. He coutrasted the democratie and republican conventions, the democratie couvention being held by the people and the bosses being dethroned, while the republican convention was held by Mark Hanna. The Chicago convention was the grandest one held since the continental congress and asked that the dollar be placed jnst in the position it occupied prior to 1873. Yon, my republican friends - I advise you to read your platform adopted at Minneapolis, where you committed yourselves to the use of both gold and silver as standard mouey. Read your state platform of two years ago, where you eondemned the democratie party for demonetizing silver. Who, . then, my democratie dissentionist, my republican brother, is departing from the time honored prinoiples? The demonetization of the currency always results in want. I read in Genesis of Abraham who was rich in both gold and silver, but we of the present time are more like Peter, who said "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give unto thee. " Mr. Tarsney called attention to the flve years panic which followed the demonetization of silver in 1873, which was partially allayed in 1878 by the Bland-Allison act, providing for the liinited coinage of silver. Gold nas appreciated in value and the volume of currency is not suffleient to carry on the vast business of the country. Gold acts the same as any other commodity. In 1873, Germany forced France to pay a billion dollars in gold indemnity. This forced France to draw on the rest of the world and thus raised the price of gold. By making gold the standard you have shüttened the yard stick of value just one-half. He theu compared prices of farm products in 1873 with the present time, which showed that they are now about one-half of what they were then and claimed that this meaut tbat gold had gone up, while the bullion silver will purchaee as mucb as it did in 1873. "Pil teil you what hasn't gone dowu. Railroad fares haven't, taxes haven't, the interest on your mortgages haven't and I don't think the principal has either. Remonetize silver and silver will go up and gold will come down until they meet somewhere on a parity. " He then qnoted statistics to show that the value of gold and silver fis regulated by the utilizatioa of the metáis and spoke at length ou the "exaltation of gold and tbe debasernent of silver." Mr. Tarsney disclaimed that the silver men were repudiatiouists, but that they intended to pay obligations according to the spirit and letter - with cuin - bnt net with an appreciated currenoy. He olaimed that there was not over 3 pe,r capita ie circulation, the reports of the treasury to the contrary, notwithstanding, and illustrated with the fact that when the United States called in the f49,000,000 of shinplasters, nearly 30 per cent never showed np for redeinption, meaning tat 115,000,000 had been either lost or destroyed. He then paid his respects to the Lansing "bolters." Said he: "They are made up of several classes. First, the politicians who were guides and boly lights when office was in sight, bnt who are now too good to coinmingle with all of ns who are on the ground floor. We will have no cushioned pews and no héroes to worship and to them we say 'Good bye. ' Then there are that olass who put their bonds and mortgages in tbeir burglar proof safe at night. go home and retire and wake up in the morning knowing that while they have been asleep they have growu richer. To theru we bid 'Good bye' also. Theu there ace the toen who are on a flxed salary - small men on small salaries - and you have got some of them in Aun Arbor They want their mout-y to buy as much as ever. Their salaries will not be taised, but the prices of their farm produots wbich they are forced to buy will go up and they are boltiug for their own selflsh reasons. To all these we say 'Good bye'!" Hon. Pred A. Baker, then made an excellent speech showiug from historical oomparisons how the contraction of the currenoy had always cansed hard times. He showed how previous hard periods had been relieved andprosperity restored by large iucreases in the snpply of gold aud siJver and traced the enhancement of the purchasing power of the dollar and the consequent impoverishment of those who owed the dollars, and the decrease in value of the labor of the producers. He eulogized Bryan for his persoual character, ability aud eloqnence. He predicted his success in November and compared him to Abraham Lincoln and his campaign to that of Lincoln's campaign. As Lincoln was called in 1860 from the Plains of Illinois, so is Bryan now in 1890 called from the Plains of Nebraska. It is a great western movement that is rushing towards the east. It is constantly growing stronger just as the movement did in 1860, and you will soon have to announce yourself on tbe side of silver or on the side of gold and the side of gold is the side of slavery. The people of the United States will protect themselves and will chase the monetary classes who are trying to control onr finances over the Alleghenies and if necessary into the Atlantic Ocean. Under the guide of Chaiiman Cavanaugh the crowd gave three cheers for the speakers and three rousing cheers for Bryan and Sewall.