LAD #23 and #24: The Populist Party Platform and "Cross of Gold" Speech

#23: The Populist Party rose as a reaction to the big business practices and pro-business government policies of the late 1800s. Its platform was a claim to support the common man of America or agrarian society. The preamble is an attack on how big business has thwarted the hopes of safety or advancement of the poor urban work. They also call for a currency backed with silver, as it allows for poorer Americans to become better off and it allows for agricultural products to have more success in the market and consequently supports a strong contingent of the population. They hope to embrace the democratic process in American government which had long been lost to the corrupt and monetary government that taken control during this Gilded Age.  In their second section they declare there policies and standing, followed by resolutions. they stand for a legal unionizing of labor forces, coinage of silver and gold in currency at a value ration of 16:1, and also the government ownership and operation of the railroads, telephone, and telegraph. Also land should never be monopolized by alien owners for the purposes of business speculation, but should belong to the rightful owners and used to create wealth that rightfully belongs to the creator/ laborer. They also resolve for a free and fair ballot, fair and liberal pensions for ex-Union soldiers, and stand for an overall sympathy with labor organizations and pleas (shorter workday, better pay, better conditions).  


#24: In William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech to the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1896, he successfully integrated the values of the Populist Party, most notably concerning the platform of bimetallism, the concept that both gold and silver should be coined by the U.S. mint. Bryan clearly states that the Democratic policies are not supposed to be an attack upon Republican policies, but only an attempt to reassert a government for the common person and all for the economic interest of all. Then the true defense of Democrats is formulated as Republican claims against bimetallism as it would hurt the American economy are hypocritical as Republican policies had destroyed the "common economy" of agrarian and poorer society. Also, the Democratic graduated income tax law is defended as in order to be supported and protected by any government, each must pay their own fair tax to support the government itself, a basic democratic principle. In terms of the national bank, Bryan surprisingly coincides with the party's drastic platform and sees the bank as something not beneficial for an American economy. The government should control the currency not the banks, and he considers himself Jeffersonian in this ideal. In the end he bashes the Republicans for running on a platform the gold standard with McKinley, but internally working a deal for a bimetal backing. Why would one say the gold standard is the correct practice when the aim is to replace it? He ends by stating it could be due to a European influence over an American government, and successfully brings Populist support under the Democratic umbrella.