Populism & the Election of 1896 c.20

Farmers Unite to Address Common Problems Farmers faced serious problems after the Civil War, both in the South and in the West. The prices they could sell their crops for kept going down. This was because the United States was withdrawing greenbacks - money printed for the Civil War – from circulation. The decline in prices also meant that farmers had to pay back their loans in money that was worth more than when they borrowed it. Farmers urged the U.S. government to increase the money supply, but the government refused.

Meanwhile, farmers continued to pay high prices to transport their crops (usually grain). Often they paid as much to ship their crops as they received for them. Many farmers were on the brink of ruin, and the time, it seemed, had come for REFORM.

Many farmers joined together to push for reform. In 1867, a farmer named Oliver Hudson Kelley started an organization that became known as the Grange that by the 1870s spent most of its time and energy fighting railroads because of the high prices they charged for transporting farmers’ products. The Grange gave rise to the Farmers’ Alliances. Alliance members traveled throughout the Great Plains educating farmers about how to get lower interest rates on their land and equipment, as well as ways to protest the railroads.

The Rise and Fall of Populism Alliance leaders realized that to make far-reaching changes, they needed political power, so laws could be changed. So, in 1892, they created the Populist Party (or People’s Party). This party was the beginning of populism, a movement to gain more political and economic power for common people. The Populist Party pushed for reforms to help farmers and called for reforms to make government more democratic.

The Populist Platform 1. An increase in the money supply (adding silver to the gold standard) 2. A graduated income tax (the rich pay more taxes) 3. A federal loan program for farmers 4. Direct election of U.S. Senators by popular vote 5. Single terms for the president and vice-president 6. A secret ballot to prevent voting fraud 7. An 8-hour workday 8. Immigration restrictions

The party appealed to many struggling farmers in the country and industrial laborers in the cities. Then, in 1893, the nation faced an economic crisis called the Panic of 1893 that continued on through 1895. The crisis made things even worse for farmers and industrial workers, and the Populist Party gained more and more followers by the day.......

SO. When the major political parties began to choose candidates for the 1896 presidential election, one important issue rose to the forefront: Should the country’s money be backed with both gold AND silver, instead of just the traditional gold? On one side were the “silverites” who favored bimetallism, a monetary system in which the government would give people gold or silver in exchange for paper currency or checks. On the other side were the “gold bugs” who favored gold standard – backing dollars solely with gold.

Gold Bugs & Silverites Gold Bugs Silverites Who They Were Bankers and businessmen Farmers and industrial laborers What They Wanted - gold standard - LESS money in circulation - bimetallism - MORE money in circulation Why Loans would be repaid in stable money Products would be sold at higher prices Effects DEFLATION -Prices fall. -Value of money increases. -Fewer people have money. INFLATION -Prices rise. -More people

Republicans were “gold bugs” Republicans were “gold bugs”. They elected William McKinley for president. The Democrats AND the Populists both favored bimetallism, so BOTH parties nominated William Jennings Bryan, who had delivered an emotional speech at the Democratic convention in favor of bimetallism, known as the “Cross of Gold” speech. Thus, the stage was set for a momentous showdown between wealthy and poor interests, and on election day, the vote for the White House went for…………………..

What were some of the major problems facing farmers during the Gilded Age ??

The Silver Issue “Crime of ’73”  demonetization of silver (govt. stopped coining silver). Bland-Allison Act (1878)  limited silver coinage to $2-$4 mil. per mo. (based on the 16:1 ratio of silver to gold). Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890) The US Treasury must purchase $4.5 mil. oz. of silver a month. Govt. deposited most silver in the US Treasury rather than circulation.

Populism: An Agrarian Revolt

Price Indexes for Consumer & Farm Products: 1865-1913

Founder of the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry (1867)

The Grange Movement First organized in the 1870s in the Midwest, the south, and Texas. Set up cooperative associations. Social and educational components. Succeeded in lobbying for “Granger Laws.” Rapidly declined by the late 1870s.

Supreme Court Decisions Munn vs. Illinois (1877) Wabash, St. Louis, & Pacific Railroad Company vs. Illinois (1886)

Gift for the Grangers: The Farmer Pays for All!

The Farmers Alliances Begun in the late 1880s (Texas first  the Southern Alliance; then in the Midwest  the Northern Alliance). Built upon the ashes of the Grange. More political and less social than the Grange. Ran candidates for office. Controlled 8 state legislatures & had 47 representatives in Congress during the 1890s.

United We Stand, Divided We Fall In 1889 both the Northern and Southern Alliances merged into one—the Farmers’ Alliance.

The Populist (Peoples’) Party 1890 Bi-Election: So. Alliance  wanted to gain control of the Democratic Party. No. Alliance  ran 3rd Party candidates. 1892  800 met in St. Louis, MO majority were Alliance members. over 100 were African Americans. reps. of labor organizations & other reformers (Grange, Greenback Party).

Platform of Lunacy

The Populist (Peoples’) Party James B. Weaver, Presidential Candidate Founded by James B. Weaver and Tom Watson. Omaha, NE Convention in July, 1892. Got almost 1 million popular votes. Several Congressional seats won. James B. Weaver, Presidential Candidate & James G. Field, VP

Omaha Platform of 1892 System of “sub-treasuries.” Abolition of the National Bank. Direct election of Senators. Govt. ownership of RRs, telephone & telegraph companies. Government-operated postal savings banks. Restriction of undesirable immigration. 8-hour work day for government employees. Abolition of the Pinkerton detective agency. Australian secret ballot. Re-monitization of silver. A single term for President & Vice President.

Govt.-Owned Companies

1892 Election

Bi-Metallism Issue

The Panic of 1893

Causes of the 1893 Panic Begun 10 days after Cleveland took office. Several major corps. went bankrupt. Over 16,000 businesses disappeared. Triggered a stock market crash. Over-extended investments. Bank failures followed causing a contraction of credit [nearly 500 banks closed]. By 1895, unemployment reached 3 million. Americans cried out for relief, but the Govt. continued its laissez faire policies!!

Here Lies Prosperity

Written by a Farmer at the End of the 19c When the banker says he's broke And the merchant’s up in smoke, They forget that it's the farmer who feeds them all. It would put them to the test If the farmer took a rest; Then they'd know that it's the farmer feeds them all.

Coxey’s Army, 1894 Jacob Coxey & his “Army of the Commonweal of Christ.” March on Washington  “hayseed socialists!”

Result of Election Returns Populist vote increased by 40% in the bi-election year, 1894. Democratic party losses in the West were catastrophic! But, Republicans won control of the House.

The 1896 Election

Gold / Silver Bug Campaign Pins

William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) The “Great Commoner”

William Jennings Bryan Prairie avenger, mountain lion, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Gigantic troubadour, speaking like a siege gun, Smashing Plymouth Rock with his boulders from the West. Revivalist style of oratory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeTkT5-w5RA

Bryant’s “Cross of Gold” Speech You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!

Bryan: The Farmers Friend (The Mint Ratio) 18,000 miles of campaign “whistle stops.”

Democratic Party Taken Over by the Agrarian Left Platform  tariff reductions; income tax; stricter control of the trusts (esp. RRs); free silver.

Mark Hanna: The “Front-Porch” Campaign

William McKinley (1843-1901)

Mark Hanna to Candidate McKinley

“A Giant Straddle”: Suggestion for a McKinley Political Poster

The Seasoned Politician vs. The “Young” Newcomer

Joshua A. Levering: Prohibition Party

Into Which Box Will the Voter of ’96 Place His Ballot?

1896 Election Results

Why Did Bryan Loose? His focus on silver undermined efforts to build bridges to urban voters. He did not form alliances with other groups. McKinley’s campaign was well- organized and highly funded.

Gold Triumphs Over Silver 1900  Gold Standard Act confirmed the nation’s commitment to the gold standard. A victory for the forces of conservatism.

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

1964: Henry Littlefield’s “Thesis”?

Henry Littlefield’s Thesis on Frank Lloyd Braun’s Wizard of OZ The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is one of America's favorite pieces of juvenile literature. Children like it because it is a good story, full of fun characters and exciting adventures. Adults--especially those of us in history and related fields--like it because we can read between L. Frank Baum's lines and see various images of the United States at the turn of the century. That has been true since 1964, when American Quarterly published Henry M. Littlefield's "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism." Littlefield described all sorts of hidden meanings and allusions to Gilded Age society in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: the wicked Witch of the East represented eastern industrialists and bankers who controlled the people (the Munchkins); the Scarecrow was the wise but naive western farmer; the Tin Woodman stood for the dehumanized industrial worker; the Cowardly Lion was William Jennings Bryan, Populist presidential candidate in 1896; the Yellow Brick Road, with all its dangers, was the gold standard; Dorothy's silver slippers (Judy Garland's were ruby red, but Baum originally made them silver) represented the Populists' solution to the nation's economic woes ("the free and unlimited coinage of silver"); Emerald City was Washington, D.C.; the Wizard, "a little bumbling old man, hiding behind a facade of paper mache and noise, . . . able to be everything to everybody," was any of the Gilded Age presidents. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was no longer an innocent fairy tale. According to Littlefield, Baum, a reform-minded Democrat who supported William Jennings Bryan's pro-silver candidacy, wrote the book as a parable of the Populists, an allegory of their failed efforts to reform the nation in 1896. "Baum never allowed the consistency of the allegory to take precedence over the theme of youthful entertainment," Littlefield hedged at one point; "the allegory always remains in a minor key." Still, he concluded that "the relationships and analogies outlined above . . . are far too consistent to be coincidental."

“Parable of the Populists”? Tornado  ? Dorothy  ? Toto  ? Kansas  ? Wicked Witch of the East  ? Tin Woodsman  ? Scarecrow  ? Cowardly Lion  ? Yellow Brick Road  ? Silver Slippers  ? Emerald City  ? Oz  ? The Wizard  ? Munchkins  ? Wicked Witch of the West  ? Flying Monkeys  ? Yellow Winkies  ?

Hmmm………

1896 America: The Populist Movement & The Wizard of Oz? Could it be the same?.............

Tornado = Panic of 1893? Economic Market Panic- over Bi-metallism

Dorothy = Mary Elizabeth Lease (ie. The Kansas Pythoness)? “Raise less Corn and more Hell”

Toto, & the Munchkins = Average Poor Joe/Jane American Citizens (ie Toto, & the Munchkins = Average Poor Joe/Jane American Citizens (ie. “the little people”)?

Scarecrow = The Farmer?

Tin Man = Industrial Workers?

Cowardly Lion = The Gilded Age Presidents? Rutherford B. Hayes James Garfield Chester Arthur Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison Candidate- William Jennings Bryan

Good Witch = William Jennings Bryan?

Wicked Witch = William McKinley?

“Oh-We-Oh. ” Soldiers & Flying Monkeys = U. S “Oh-We-Oh!” Soldiers & Flying Monkeys = U.S. Military who was used by the government to put down labor strikes

Ruby (Silver) Slippers = Silver Standard?

Yellow Brick Road = Gold Standard?

Emerald City = Washington D.C.?

The Wizard of Oz = Big Business, the Giant Corporations Who Ruled D.C.?

Unfortunately for the Populists, their inspired movement for the White House ultimately failed when McKinley won the election and defeated Bryan for the presidency. Bryan’s meager funds could not match the millions of dollars backing McKinley by rich industrialists, and though he campaigned furiously throughout the country, sometimes making as many as 20 speeches a day (while McKinley merely campaigned from his own front porch), Bryan only garnered 6.5 million votes to McKinley’s 7 million. Ultimately, not enough industrial workers (Tin Men) voted for him because they were afraid that bimetallism would lead to higher prices on goods and that their rich employers would not raise their wages in order to help them keep up with the already tough economy. In fact, many of the big business owners not only warned their workers that they would not increase their wages if Bryan won but that they’d also better not bother showing up for work the next day – because they’d be FIRED! Thus, with McKinley’s election, Populism collapsed, burying the hopes of the farmers. Yet then again, not so fast…….

Connections Across Time: 1892 and Today POPULISM The Populist Party may have been short-lived, but the term populism (politician for the people) remains very much alive in today’s political lexicon. While the Populists of the late 1800s fought for the rights of farmers and laborers and battled the railroad companies, today’s political analysts often hang the label of populist on a candidate fighting for middle-class families and blue-collar workers against big corporations. In the current political landscape, however, where nearly all candidates rely on corporate donations to help them cover the increasingly exorbitant cost of campaigning, it is often difficult to claim the title of populist.

So who’s your “populist”? Who really stands for “change”? Ron Paul, Ross Perot, Rick Santorum, and Barack Obama

Heyday of Western Populism

Why Did Populism Decline? The economy experienced rapid change. The era of small producers and farmers was fading away. Race divided the Populist Party, especially in the South. The Populists were not able to break existing party loyalties. Most of their agenda was co-opted by the Democratic Party.