Post on 21-Jan-2015
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Populist Party and the Wizard of Oz
Farmer’s Problems in the late 1800s
• Falling crop prices• Unable to pay back debt
Farmer’s Wanted
• Add the silver standard to the gold standard
• This would result in:
– Increase in money supply (inflation)
– Increase in prices for farm products
– More money for farmers
– Able to pay back debt
Populist Party
• Political party formed by farmers
• Wanted major changes in gov’t
– Increase $ supply
– Silver and gold standard
– Income tax (more income = pay more taxes)
– 8 hr. work day (attempt to gain support from factory workers)
Populism & The Wizard of Oz…
The Gold Standard• The value of money
is linked to the money supply.
• Up until and after the Civil War, all dollars issued in the U.S. could only be backed by, and could only be redeemed for, gold.
What might represent gold?
• Yellow Brick Road represents the gold standard, a road that looks hopeful, but leads nowhere.
• “Oz” represents “oz.” or the abbreviation for ounce, the standard measure for gold.
Farmers• Faced low crop prices, high
machinery prices, and high tariffs.
• Tariff - fees on imported goods that discourage buyers from purchasing imports
• Midwestern farmers were very pro-Populist. They wanted to increase money supply by backing dollars with silver.
• A silver standard would increase inflation and raise crop prices.
Who represents the farmers?
• Represented the struggling Midwestern farmer at the turn of the century
• In Baum’s version, Scarecrow rules Emerald City after Oz is dethroned.
• Baum predicted that farmers would gain political power.
Industrial Workers• Eastern industrial
workers were anti-Populist because they didn’t want their wages cut due to inflation.
• Baum viewed these workers as victims who had become mechanized and dehumanized.
Who represents the industrial workers?
• Represented the urban industrial worker who was enslaved to heartless industries
• In making the Tin Man rule the West, Baum predicted that industry would move west.
William Jennings Bryan• Congressman from
Nebraska who ran for President from the Populist party in 1896.
• A skilled orator--gave the Cross of Gold speech
• Advocated heavily for bimetalism. Who represents
Bryan?
• Represented William Jennings Bryan
• Described as having a loud roar, but little else--Bryan lost to McKinley by 95 electoral votes
• In having the Lion protect smaller beasts in a “small old forest,” Baum predicted that Bryan would return to Congress.
President William McKinley• The Republican
candidate in the 1896 race for Presidency--anti-Populist.
• Baum viewed McKinley as not being as powerful or wise as the facade that he put forth.
Who representsMcKinley?
The Oppressed
• Baum saw these people as ‘slaves’ of the eastern banking and industrial interests.
• They were anti-Populist because they didn’t want their wages to decline in value due to inflation.
Who represented theseWho represented theseoppressed people?oppressed people?
• The “little people” in America whose power had been taken away by big business and industry
• The Munchkins were slaves to whom in the story?
• Symbolizes large industrial corporations that Baum thought oppressed “the little guy”
• Is thought to represent Americans, who Baum viewed as good-natured, but naïve.
• Represented the Prohibitionist Party.
• They were pro-Populist.
• “Toto” is a play on the term “T-Totalers,” or people who drank no alcohol.
• Thought to represent Washington, D.C. and the color of green American dollars.
• Was the Good Witch of the North, a pro-Populist region.
• Showed Baum’s sympathy for the plight of Native Americans
• “Once . . . We were a free people living happily in the great forest . . . This was many years ago before Oz came out of the clouds to rule over this land.”
Key Terms
• Inflation - the greater the amount of money in print, the less the money is worth money in print = worth
ex: baseball cards
• Deflation - purposely reducing the money supply so that the value of each dollar increases money in print = worth
• Money supply - the amount of money in a nation’s economy; the greater the money supply, the less each dollar is worth
– As money supply , value of dollar (inflation)
– As money supply , value of dollar (deflation)
Key Terms
• Gold Standard - the government only produces a dollar if it possesses $1.00 worth of gold to “back it up”
• Populists - political party that demanded radical changes in federal, economic, and social policies
– Wanted to increase money supply--and cause inflation--by having a silver standard in addition to the gold standard
Key Terms