on the
ground that it was "in derogation of the Constitution," recalling
Jackson's famous attack on the Bank in 1832. It declared that tariff
duties should be laid "for the purpose of revenue"--Calhoun's doctrine.
In demanding the free coinage of silver, it recurred to the practice
abandoned in 1873. The income tax came next on the program. The platform
alleged that the law of 1894, passed by a Democratic Congress, was "in
strict pursuance of the uniform decisions of the Supreme Court for
nearly a hundred years," and then hinted that the decision annulling the
law might be reversed by the same body "as it may hereafter be
constituted."

The appeal to labor voiced by Mr. Bryan in his "crown of thorns" speech
was reinforced in the platform. "As labor creates the wealth of the
country," ran one plank, "we demand the passage of such laws as may be
necessary to protect it in all its rights." Referring to the recent
Pullman strike, the passions of which had not yet died away, the
platform denounced "arbitrary interference by federal authorities in
local affairs as a violation of the Constitution of the United States
and a crime against free institutions." A special objection was lodged
against "government by injunction as a new and highly dangerous form of
oppression by which federal judges, in contempt of the laws of states
and rights of citizens, become at once legislators, judges, and
executioners." The remedy advanced was a federal law assuring trial by
jury in all cases of contempt in labor disputes. Having made this
declaration of faith, the Democrats, with Mr. Bryan at the head, raised
their standard of battle.

=The Heated Campaign.=--The campaign which ensued outrivaled in the
range of its educational activities and the bitterness of its tone all
other political conflicts in American history, not excepting the fateful
struggle of 1860. Immense sums of money were contributed to the funds of
both parties. Railway, banking, and other corporations gave generously
to the Republicans; the silver miners, less lavishly but with the same
anxiety, supported the Democrats. The country was flooded with
pamphlets, posters, and handbills. Every public forum, from the great
auditoriums of the cities to the "red schoolhouses" on the countryside,
was occupied by the opposing forces.

Mr. Bryan took the stump himself, visiting all parts of the country in
special trains and addressing literally millions of people in the open
air.