William Jennings Bryan: Speech to Congress on Tariff Reform

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When some young man selects a young woman who is willing to trust her future to his strong right arm, and they start to build a little home, that home which is the unit of society and upon which our government and our prosperity must rest—when they start to build this little home, and the man who sells the lumber reaches out his hand to collect a tariff upon that; then the man who sells paint and oil wants a tariff upon them; the man who furnishes the carpets, tablecloths, knives, forks, dishes, furniture, spoons, everything that enters into the construction and operation of that home—when all these hands, I say, are stretched out from every direction to lay their blighting weight upon that cottage, and the Democratic party says “Hands off, and let that home industry live,” it is protecting the grandest home industry that this or any other nation ever had.

And I am willing that you, our friends on the other side, shall have what consolation you may from the protection of those “home industries” which have crowned with palatial residences the hills of New England, if you will simply give us the credit of being the champions of the homes of this land. It would seem that if any appeal could find a listening ear in this legislative hall it ought to be the appeal that comes up from those co-tenants of earth’s only paradise; but your party has neglected them; more, it has spurned and spit open them. When they asked for bread you gave them a stone, and when they asked for a fish you gave them a serpent. You have laid upon them burdens grievous to be borne. You have filled their days with toil and their nights with anxious care, and when they cried aloud for relief you were deaf to their entreaties.…

We have heard from that side of the House twice, I think, recently that “truth is eternally triumphant.” That is true; and while the proposition may describe the success of the Democratic party in 1890 and give us encouragement to hope that that success will continue, I want to suggest to our friends over there a quotation that is far more appropriate to describe the condition of the Republican party. It is this: Though justice has leaden feet, it has an iron hand. You rioted in power. You mocked the supplication of the people, you denied their petitions and now you have felt their wrath. At last justice has overtaken you, and now you are suffering the penalty that must sooner or later overtake the betrayer of public trust.…

Mr. Clarkson, a high Republican authority, has told us that the young men of the country are becoming Democrats. Why? Because we are right. And when you find where the young men of the country are going, you can rest assured that that party is going to succeed. Why are we right? Because, Mr. Chairman, we are demanding for this people equal and exact justice to every man, woman, and child. We desire that the laws of this country shall not be made, as they have been, to enable some men to get rich while many get poor.…

We cannot afford to destroy the peasantry of this country. We cannot afford to degrade the common people of this land, for they are the people who in time of prosperity and peace produce the wealth of the country, and they are also the people who in time of war bare their breasts to a hostile fire in defense of the flag. Go to Arlington or to any of the national cemeteries, see there the plain white monuments which mark the place “where rest the ashes of the nation’s countless dead,” those of whom the poet has so beautifully written.…

On Fame’s eternal camping-ground

Their silent tents are spread.

Who were they? Were they the beneficiaries of special legislation? Were they the people who are every clamoring for privileges?… No; the people who fight the battles are largely the poor, the common people of the country; those who have little to save but their honor, and little to lose but their lives. These are the ones, and I say to you, sir, that the country cannot afford to lose them.…

That, Mr. Chairman, is a noble sentiment and points the direction to the true policy for a free people.… A free government must find its safety in happy and contented citizens, who, protected in their rights and free from unnecessary burdens, will be willing to die that the blessings which they enjoy may be transmitted to their posterity.…

That is the inspiration of the Democratic party; that is its aim and object. If it comes, Mr. Chairman, into power in all the departments of this Government it will not destroy industry; it will not injure labor; but it will save to the men who produce the wealth of the country a larger portion of that wealth. It will bring prosperity and joy and happiness, not to a few, but to everyone without regard to station or condition.… The day will come, Mr. Chairman, when those who annually gather about this Congress seeking to use the taxing power for private purposes will find their occupation gone, and the members of Congress will meet here to pass laws for the benefit of all the people. That day will come, and in that day, to use the language of another, “Democracy will be king! Long live the king!”