Give Us Silver...or Not

Out of Nebraska in the late 1800s came one of politics greatest crusaders - William Jennings Bryant.  Bryant was pro-silver which supported the western farmers hard hit by the severe economic conditions in the 1890s.  They believed that using silver over gold would increase trade, raise commodity prices and make their debts easier to pay.  Bryant thought that "soft money" as silver was called, could lift the down-trodden farmer and he wanted to be their true voice.

Bryant was born in Salem, Illinois in 1860 and practiced law in rural Illinois until 1897 when he moved to Lincoln, Nebraska and entered politics.  He was a champion of farmers and silver from the time he ran for Congress in 1894.  He lost but that didn't stop him. The presidential campaign of 1896 became a fight between good and evil with Bryant representing the good at 36 years old.  He became known as the "Boy Orator".  He won the Democratic nomination against William McKinley.  Bryant carried the South and the West but it was not enough.  He was beaten by millionaires who rallied their money behind McKinley.

Oddly enough, Bryant had argued the plight of the farmer so well that they got the supply of currency after all.  New gold discoveries increased the supply and prices rose to benefit the farmers.  When the Currency Act of 1900 put the nation firmly on the gold standard, the prosperous farmers didn't have much to complain about after all.

Next time...Metropolis of the Prairie
___________________________
Today in Pioneer History:  "On November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, PA, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln delivers one of the most memorable speeches in American history. In just 272 words, Lincoln brilliantly and movingly reminded a war-weary public why the Union had to fight, and win, the Civil War.