Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The French got that right.

I just read through William Jennings Bryan's "cross of gold" speech of 1896. On the face of it, the issue was whether to have a gold standard or to have free coinage of silver at a ratio of sixteen to one (sixteen ounces of silver would have the same value as an ounce of gold.) But the real issue was the desire of the lending class (creditors or rentiers) to insure a "stable currency" as against the need of cash poor and debt-burdened farmers, small businesses and wage earners for easier money. With minor editing, the speech could still be given today. A few excerpts:

"When you tell us that we shall disturb your business interests, we reply that you have disturbed our business interests by your action. We say to you that you have made too limited in its application the definition of a businessman. The man who is employed for wages is as much a businessman as his employer. The attorney in a country town is as much a businessman as the corporation counsel in a great metropolis. The merchant at the crossroads store is as much a businessman as the merchant of New York. The farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day, begins in the spring and toils all summer, and by the application of brain and muscle to the natural resources of this country creates wealth, is as much a businessman as the man who goes upon the Board of Trade and bets upon the price of grain. The miners who go 1,000 feet into the earth or climb 2,000 feet upon the cliffs and bring forth from their hiding places the precious metals to be poured in the channels of trade are as much businessmen as the few financial magnates who in a backroom corner the money of the world."

"They criticize us for our criticism of the Supreme Court of the United States. My friends, we have made no criticism. We have simply called attention to what you know. If you want criticisms, read the dissenting opinions of the Court. That will give you criticisms.


"When I find a man who is not willing to pay his share of the burden of the government which protects him, I find a man who is unworthy to enjoy the blessings of a government like ours."

"There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it."