The Cross of Gold speech was a speech famously delivered by William Jennings Bryan at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The speech advocated bimetallism. At the time, the Democratic Party wanted to standardize the value of the dollar to silver and opposed pegging the value of the United States dollar to a gold standard. The inflation that would result from the silver standard would make it easier for farmers and other debtors to pay off their debts by increasing their revenue dollars. It would also reverse the deflation which the U.S. experienced from 1873-1896. One might be looking for the academic discipline of communications. ... William Jennings Bryan, 1907 William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, statesman, and politician. ... The 1896 Democratic National Convention, held at the Chicago Coliseum from July 7 to July 11, was the scene of William Jennings Bryans nomination as Democratic presidential candidate for the 1896 U.S. presidential election, the youngest ever nominee. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... In economics, bimetallism is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit can be expressed either with a certain amount of gold or with a certain amount of silver: the ratio between the two metals is fixed by law. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Atomic mass 107. ... This article is about general United States currency. ... This article is on the monetary principle. ... The silver standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver. ... Deflation (economics) Deflation (data compression) Deflation is the removal of loose soil by eolian (wind) processes This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Backers of the gold standard felt that the protection against inflation was paramount, and the gold standard would prevent runaway inflation. Such an uncontrollable inflation would put a burden on creditors such as banks whose loans' interest rates would then fall under the inflation rate and garner a loss for the creditor. This speech became famous and gets its name from its triumphant ending: An interest rate is the price a borrower pays for the use of money he does not own, and the return a lender receives for deferring his consumption, by lending to the borrower. ...

Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.

Some have speculated that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum is an allegory for the populist movement headed by Bryan, and that the yellow brick road is a metaphor for the gold standard. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a childrens story written by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by W.W. Denslow, and first published in 1900. ... Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author, and the creator with illustrator W. W. Denslow of one of the most popular books ever written in American childrens literature, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. ... Populism is a political philosophy or rhetorical style that holds that the common persons interests are oppressed or hindered by the elite in society, and that the instruments of the state need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and used for the benefit and advancement of the... The road of yellow brick is an element in the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. ...

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Cross of Gold Speech

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See also

• U.S. presidential election, 1896
• Crime of 1873