 |
Credits |  |
The Legend
Why this puch? Well during the industrial revolution, business was booming and farmers were producing goods more than ever before. Why are the farmers so outraged if they are producing so much surplus? This movement was the farmers' last desparate move to use the power of the ballot to bring the value of silver to restrin the poer of the banks, railroads, and other economic interest that had been squeezing farmers through a combination of low prices, high frieght rates, and continued indebtedness. According to the laws of supply and demand, the farmers would have to lower the prices because of their excess produce. So, even though farmers were producing more than the nations needed, they had to work harder and harder just to gain back what they would have earned had there not been so much of surplus production. In addition to this, farmers had to complete with each other by lwoering the prices of their produce in order to get a sale. If this wasn't bad enough, the banks owned all the farmers' machinery and they were charging phenomenal interest rates.
It even gets worse: Since farmers lived out in rural areas, they had to ship all theri produce to the town by the railroads, which was the only way for them to transport their produce before they spoil. The railroad owners were not very sympathetic of the farmers; they were in the business to make money. Hence, they charged very high fares for the farmers too. See how the farmers are the biggest losers in this game? When the government wouldn't grant the farmers relief, the farmers were determined to make their voices heard. They formed a farmers' alliance called the People's Party (Populists), founded in the 1890's. They demanded:
| 1. Railroads | railroad charges need to be regulated in order to prevent unfair fees. |
| 2. Tariffs | high tariffs so they would not have to compete iwth imports |
| 3. currency | most important; money is no stronger than the governement enforcing it---farmers wanted all the currency they could get because they were debtors---"buy metalism": as much money as metals |
In the 1896 election, there were three parties running for the Presidency. McKinley ran for the Republicans, and the Silver Democrats for the Populists. and with his loud, booming voice and overwhelming charisma in his Cross of Gold speech, William Jennings Bryan was nominated to run for both the Democrats and Populists. McKinley had the upperhand,however, because of his clever campaign manager. Mark Hanna cultivated an image of McKinley that was the people's person. He gave free trian tickets for the people to go see McKinley in his home. He used Bryan's religion against him, accused Bryan of being unpatriotic (Hanna had bought all the American flags in the nation), and had all the big bosses convince their workers not to vote for Bryan.
Bryan lost badly. Since the Populists had put so much energy into this campaign, they no longer could put much of a dent in history ever again. This was one of the most decisive and landmark defeats in American history.