544 Chapter 20 From Smoke-Filled Rooms to Prairie Wildfire: 1877–1896
Showdown on Silver
One conclusion that politicians reached after analyz-
ing the 1892 election was that the money question,
particularly the controversy over the coinage of silver,
was of paramount interest to the voters. Despite the
wide-ranging appeal of the Populist platform, most of
Weaver’s strength came from the silver-mining states.
In truth, the issue of gold versus silver was
superficial; the important question was what, if any-
thing, should be done to check the deflationary spi-
ral. The declining price level benefited people with
fixed incomes and injured most others. Industrial
workers profited from deflation except when depres-
sion caused unemployment.
By the early 1890s, discussion of federal mone-
tary policy revolved around the coinage of silver.
Traditionally, the United States had been on a
bimetallic standard. Both gold and silver were
coined, the number of grains of each in the dollar
being adjusted periodically to reflect the commercial
value of the two metals. The discovery of numerous
gold mines in California in the 1840s and 1850s
depressed the price of gold relative to silver. By
1861, a silver dollar could be melted down and sold
for $1.03. No miner took silver to the mint to be
stamped into coin. In a short time, silver dollars
were withdrawn and only gold dollars circulated.
However, an avalanche of silver from the mines of
Nevada and Colorado gradually depressed the price
until, around 1874, it again became profitable for
miners to coin their bullion. Alas, when they tried to
do so, they discovered that the Coinage Act of
1873, taking account of the fact that no silver had
been presented to the mint in years, had demone-
tized the metal.
Silver miners denounced this as the “Crime of
‘73.” Inflationists joined them in demanding a
return to bimetallism. They knew that if more dol-
lars were put into circulation, the value of each dol-
lar would decline; that is, prices and wages would
rise. Conservatives, still fighting the battle against
inflationary greenback paper money, resisted
strongly. The result was a series of compromises. InL. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz(1900) and a fan of William Jennings Bryan, perhaps wrote his story as an allegory of the
1896 election. Dorothy, wearing “silver” slippers (in the original), follows a “yellow brick road” (gold) on a crusade to free the Munchkins (the
oppressed little people) from the Wicked Witch of the East (the rapacious corporations and financiers). Liberation is to come in Emerald City
(greenbacks) through the intervention of a kindly, but ultimately ineffective wizard (Bryan). Only the entire people—Dorothy and entourage—
can prevail against wickedness. Judy Garland starred as Dorothy in the film version of The Wizard of Oz(1939).
Source:The Wizard of Oz©1939 The Kobal Collection/ MGM. Warner Brothers Motion Picture Titles.