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Free silver

Free silver was a major economic policy issue in the United States in the late 19th century. Its advocates were in favor of an expansionary monetary policy featuring the unlimited coinage of silver into money on-demand, as opposed to strict adherence to the more carefully fixed money supply implicit in the gold standard. Free silver became increasingly associated with populism, unions, and the struggle of ordinary Americans against the bankers, monopolists, and robber barons of the Gilded Age. Hence, it became known as the "People's Money".

Republican campaign poster of 1896 attacking free silver

Supporters of an important place for silver in a bimetallic money system making use of both silver and gold, called "Silverites", sought coinage of silver dollars at a fixed weight ratio of 16-to-1 against dollar coins made of gold. Because the actual price ratio of the two metals was substantially higher in favor of gold at the time, most economists warned that the less valuable silver coinage would drive the more valuable gold out of circulation.

While all agreed that an expanded money supply would inevitably inflate prices, the issue was whether this inflation would be beneficial or not. The issue peaked from 1893 to 1896, when the economy was suffering from a severe depression characterized by falling prices (deflation), high unemployment in industrial areas, and severe distress for farmers.[1] It ranks as the 11th largest decline in U.S. stock market history.[2]

The "free silver" debate pitted the pro-gold financial establishment of the Northeast, along with railroads, factories, and businessmen, who were creditors deriving benefit from deflation and repayment of loans with valuable gold dollars, against farmers who would benefit from higher prices for their crops and an easing of credit burdens.[3] Free silver was especially popular among farmers in the Wheat Belt (the western Midwest) and the Cotton Belt (the Deep South),[3] as well as silver miners in the West. It had little support among farmers in the Northeast and the Corn Belt (the eastern Midwest).

Free silver was the central issue for Democrats in the presidential elections of 1896 and 1900, under the leadership of William Jennings Bryan, famed for his Cross of Gold speech in favor of free silver. The Populists also endorsed Bryan and free silver in 1896, which marked the effective end of their independence. In major elections, free silver was consistently defeated, and after 1896 the nation moved to the gold standard.[4]

The debate over silver lasted from the passage of the Fourth Coinage Act in 1873, which demonetized silver and was called the "Crime of '73" by opponents, until 1963, when the Silver Purchase Act of 1934, which allowed the U.S. President and U.S Department of Treasury to regulate U.S silver,[5] was completely repealed by Public Law 88-36.

Definitions and explanation edit

 
"The free silver highwayman at it again" in 1896

Under the gold specie standard, anyone in possession of gold bullion could deposit it at a mint where it would then be processed into gold coins. Less a nominal seigniorage to cover processing costs, the coins would then be paid to the depositor; this was free coinage of gold by definition. The objective of the free silver movement was that the mints should accept and process silver bullion according to the same principle, although the market value of the silver in circulating coins of the United States was substantially less than face value.[6]

As a result, the monetary value of silver coins was based on government fiat rather than on the commodity value of their contents, and this became especially true following the huge silver strikes in the West, which further depressed the silver price. From that time until the early 1960s the silver content in United States dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and silver dollars was worth only a fraction of their face values.[7] Free coinage of silver would have amounted to an increase in the money supply, resulting in inflation.[3]

Response edit

 
Cartoon from Puck showing a silverite farmer and a Democratic donkey whose wagon has been destroyed by the locomotive of sound money

Many populist organizations favored an inflationary monetary policy because it would enable debtors (often farmers who had mortgages on their land) to pay their debts off with cheaper, more readily available dollars. Those who would suffer under this policy were the creditors such as banks and landlords.[3] The most vocal and best-organized supporters were the silver mine owners (such as William Randolph Hearst) and workers, and the western states and territories generally, as most U.S. silver production was based there and the region had a great number of highly indebted farmers and ranchers.[3]

Outside the mining states of the West, the Republican Party steadfastly opposed free silver,[3] arguing that the best road to national prosperity was "sound money", or gold, which was central to international trade. They argued that inflation meant guaranteed higher prices for everyone, and real gains chiefly for the silver interests. In 1896 Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado led many western Republicans to bolt and form a third party that supported Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan, the short-lived Silver Republican Party.

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, while falling short of free silver's goals,[3] required the U.S. government to buy millions of ounces of silver (driving up the price of the metal and pleasing silver miners) for money (pleasing farmers and many others). However, the U.S. government paid for that silver bullion in gold notes—and actually reduced their coinage of silver. The result was a "run" on the U.S. Treasury's gold reserves, which was one of the many reasons for the Panic of 1893 and the onset of the 1890s Depression. Once he regained power, and after the Panic of 1893 had begun, Grover Cleveland engineered the repeal of the act, setting the stage for the key issue of the next presidential election.[3]

Climax edit

 
1896 editorial cartoon equating the free silver movement with Frankenstein's monster.

The Populist Party had a strong free-silver element. Its subsequent combination with the Democratic Party moved the latter from the support of the gold standard which had been the hallmark of the Cleveland administration to the free-silver position epitomized by 1896 presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan in his Cross of Gold speech.[8] Bryan's 1896 candidacy was supported by Populists and "silver Republicans" as well as by most Democrats.

The issue was over what would back the US currency. The two options were: gold (wanted by the "Goldbugs" and William McKinley) and silver (wanted by the Silverites and Bryan). Unbacked paper (wanted by the Greenbacks) represented a third option.[3] A fourth option, a currency backed by land value, was advocated by Senator Leland Stanford through several Senate bills introduced in 1890–1892, but was always killed by the Senate Finance Committee.[9]

Silver fraternal orders edit

Three fraternal organizations rose to prominence during the mid-1890s and supported the silver campaign in 1896. They all disappeared after the failure of the campaign.

List of Silverite fraternal orders edit

  • Freemen's Protective Silver Federation - Founded in 1894 in Spokane, Washington, it adopted a constitution, bylaws, and a ritual at Pullman, Washington late that year. Their stated goal was "to unite the friends of silver under one banner to battle for the white metal and to wage war against the gold monopoly". It was reportedly an outgrowth of the National Order of Videttes. The order spread through the Pacific Coast states and east to the Missouri River. It claimed as many as 800,000 members in late 1896, though Stevens considered this "extravagant". Nevertheless, there was no doubt about its popularity and influence west of the Rocky Mountains during the 1896 free silver campaign. The obligation of the order was said to be "most emphatic and binding" and lawyers and bankers were barred from membership.[10] The order was apparently defunct by the early 1920s.[11]
  • Silver Knights of America - Founded early in 1895 to campaign for free silver, it was headquartered in Washington, D.C., where it had a literary bureau. The governing body, the Supreme Temple, was incorporated as a stock company with $100,000 capital. Senator W. M. Stewart of Nevada was president, James Pait was vice-president, Oliver Sabin secretary, James A. B. Richard treasurer, and S. S. Yoder was the director-general. Many well-known current and former members of the House of Representatives were members. The organization was "pushed simultaneously" in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Arkansas, from which it invaded the Democratic-leaning areas. There was a female branch, the Silver Ladies of America, which was "intended to strongly develop the social feature of the organization". The order had a ritual, grips, passwords, and a burial service. The order became defunct after 1896.[12]
  • Patriots of America - It was founded in late 1895 by William Harvey to organize for free silver in the 1896 campaign. Officers of the order included First National Patriot William Harvey, National Recorder Charles H. McClure of Michigan, and National Treasurer James F. Adams of Michigan. Each state was also expected to have a First State Patriot and these officers would constitute the Congress of Patriots. Each county was also supposed to have a First Patriot. The "First Patriots" of the national, state, and county level were expected to make an oath refusing to ever serve in elective or appointive offices or to have property over $100,000. There was an auxiliary organization, the Daughters of the Republic, which was tasked with looking after the poor of the Patriots of America. There were no dues and the order was financed through voluntary contributions. The order's object was to swing one of the parties to a free silver platform in 1896 and, if that failed, to launch an independent free silver ticket. The order was expected to hold a ballot every four years to determine what cause and candidate it would support, however, the order appeared to become defunct after 1896.[13] Headquartered in Chicago.[12]
     
    "The free silver Jabberwock" in 1896

Result edit

The city voters—especially German Americans—overwhelmingly rejected the free-silver cause out of the conviction that it would lead to economic disaster, unemployment, and higher prices. The diversified farmers of the Midwest and East opposed it as well, but the cotton farmers in the South and the wheat farmers in the West were enthusiastic for free silver. Bryan tried again in 1900 to raise the issue but lost by larger margins, and when he dropped the issue it fell out of circulation. Subsequent actions to revive the issue were unsuccessful.[14]

 
Entitled, "A down-hill movement" by C.J. Taylor in 1896

Symbolism edit

Free silver became increasingly associated with populism, unions, and the fight of ordinary Americans against the bankers, railroad monopolists, and the robber barons of the Gilded Age capitalism era and was referred to as the "People's Money" (as opposed to the gold-based currency, which was portrayed by the Populists as the money of "exploitation" and "oppression"). William H. Harvey's popular pamphlet Coin's Financial School, issued in the aftermath of the Panic of 1893, illustrated the "restorative" properties of silver; through the devaluation of the currency, closed factories would reopen, darkened furnaces would be relit, and the like. But progressive activist Henry Demarest Lloyd held a harshly critical view, writing: "The free silver movement is a fake. Free silver is the cowbird of the reform movement. It waited until the nest had been built by the sacrifices and labor of others, and then it lay its own eggs in it, pushing out the others which lie smashed on the ground."[15]

Silver Purchase Act of 1934 edit

In 1934, the passage of the Silver Purchase Act revived the debate stirred by Grover Cleveland's 1893 repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890.[16] The new law granted the U.S. President and U.S. Secretary of Treasury the authority to purchase silver, issue silver certificates, and also nationalize U.S. mines.[5][16] The law also included a 50¢ tax on profits from the transfer of silver bullion and financing a "Silver Tax Stamp".[16][5] After the law was passed, the U.S. Treasury paid rates for silver well over its 1934 value, achieving the hoped-for result, raising the price of silver from 45¢ to 81¢ an ounce.[16] However, overprints on the Silver Stamp Taxes, which ranged from 1¢ to $1,000, also presented a problem for free, nationally owned silver.[16] These were stamps attached to transfer memoranda to indicate payment of the silver tax.[17] In 1943, the overprints were discontinued, and the Silver Purchase Act of 1934 would be fully repealed in 1963.[16]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Charles Hoffmann, "The Depression of the Nineties," Journal of Economic History (1956). Vol. 16, No. 2) 16 (2): 137–164. in JSTOR
  2. ^ "What Prior Market Crashes Can Teach Us About Navigating the Current One". Morningstar, Inc. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Roark, James L.; Johnson, Michael P.; Furstenburg, Francois; Cline Cohen, Patricia; Hartmann, Susan M.; Stage, Sarah; Igo, Sarah E. (2020). "Chapter 18 The Gilded Age: 1865–1900". The American Promise: A History of the United States (Kindle). Vol. Combined Volume (Value Edition, 8th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's. Kindle Locations 13951–13983. ISBN 978-1319208929. OCLC 1096495503.
  4. ^ Williams, 1910
  5. ^ a b c 73rd United States Congress (June 19, 1934). (PDF). The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from March 1933 to June 1934 (PDF). Vol. 48. United States Government Printing Office. pp. 1178–1181. OCLC 50860124. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-08-18.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Walter T. K. Nugent, Money and American Society, 1865–1880 (1968)
  7. ^ Milton Friedman, "Bimetallism Revisited", Journal of Economic Perspectives Vol. 4, No. 4 (Autumn, 1990), pp. 85–104 in JSTOR
  8. ^ "Cross of Gold speech | Summary, Meaning, Audio, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  9. ^ Congress, United States (1890). Congressional Record, 51 Congress, 1 Sess.: 2068-2069, March 3, 1890. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  10. ^ Stevens, Albert C. The Cyclopædia of Fraternities; a compilation of existing authentic information and the results of an original investigation as to more than six hundred secret societies in the United States New York City, Paterson, N.J., Hamilton printing and publishing company p.301
  11. ^ Preuss, Arthur A Dictionary of Secret and Other Societies St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co. 1924 p.137
  12. ^ a b Stevens p.322
  13. ^ Stevens p.321
  14. ^ Russell L. Mahan, "William Jennings Bryan and the Presidential Campaign of 1896". White House Studies (2003). 3 (1): 41. doi:10.2307/1917933. JSTOR 1917933.
  15. ^ The Populist Response to Industrial America p142 Norman Pollack – 1976 "This was followed by his blistering indictment of silver: "The Free Silver movement is a fake. Free Silver is the cow-bird of the Reform movement."
  16. ^ a b c d e f "Silver Tax Stamps". Mystic Stamp Discovery Center. 2017-06-19. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  17. ^ https://www.stamp-collecting-world.com/taxstamps_RG1934.html Stamp Collecting World, Silver Tax Stamps retrieved March 12, 2021

Further reading edit

  • Coletta, Paolo E. "Greenbackers, Goldbugs, and Silverites: Currency Reform and Politics, 1860-1897," in H. Wayne Morgan (ed.), The Gilded Age: A Reappraisal. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1963; pp. 111–139.
  • Kazin, Michael. A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan (2007)
  • Gramm, Marshall. "The Free Silver Movement in America: A Reinterpretation," Journal of Economic History, vol. 64, no. 4 ( Dec 2004), pp. 1108–1129.
  • Ritter, Gretchen. Goldbugs and Greenbacks: The Antimonopoly Tradition and the Politics of Finance in America. (1997)
  • Rockoff, Hugh. "The 'Wizard of Oz' as a monetary allegory," Journal of Political Economy, vol. 98, no. 4 (Aug. 1990), pp. 739–60 in JSTOR
  • Wells, Wyatt. "Rhetoric of the Standards: The Debate over Gold and Silver in the 1890s," Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, (Jan. 2015) 14#1 pp. 49–68.
  • Weiss, Colin. 2019. "Contractionary Devaluation Risk: Evidence from the Free Silver Movement, 1878-1900." The Review of Economics and Statistics
  • Williams, R. Hal. Realigning America: McKinley, Bryan, and the Remarkable Election of 1896. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2010.

External links edit

  • The Money Question of the 51st Congress: Speeches before the 51st Congress (1889-1891) regarding "free silver", digitized and available on FRASER
  • The Money Question of the 52nd Congress: Speeches before the 52nd Congress (1891–1893) regarding "free silver", digitized and available on FRASER
  • The Money Question of the 53rd Congress: Speeches before the 53rd Congress (1893–1895) regarding "free silver", digitized and available on FRASER
  • Free silver cartoons from Judge
  •   The full text of Free Silver and Annexation at Wikisource
  •   The full text of Honest Money and Honesty at Wikisource
  •   The full text of Popular Science Monthly, September 1893—Why Silver Ceases to Be Money at Wikisource
  •   The full text of Coinage of Silver, 1934 at Wikisource
  •   The full text of Silver Purchase Act of 1934 at Wikisource

free, silver, major, economic, policy, issue, united, states, late, 19th, century, advocates, were, favor, expansionary, monetary, policy, featuring, unlimited, coinage, silver, into, money, demand, opposed, strict, adherence, more, carefully, fixed, money, su. Free silver was a major economic policy issue in the United States in the late 19th century Its advocates were in favor of an expansionary monetary policy featuring the unlimited coinage of silver into money on demand as opposed to strict adherence to the more carefully fixed money supply implicit in the gold standard Free silver became increasingly associated with populism unions and the struggle of ordinary Americans against the bankers monopolists and robber barons of the Gilded Age Hence it became known as the People s Money Republican campaign poster of 1896 attacking free silverSupporters of an important place for silver in a bimetallic money system making use of both silver and gold called Silverites sought coinage of silver dollars at a fixed weight ratio of 16 to 1 against dollar coins made of gold Because the actual price ratio of the two metals was substantially higher in favor of gold at the time most economists warned that the less valuable silver coinage would drive the more valuable gold out of circulation While all agreed that an expanded money supply would inevitably inflate prices the issue was whether this inflation would be beneficial or not The issue peaked from 1893 to 1896 when the economy was suffering from a severe depression characterized by falling prices deflation high unemployment in industrial areas and severe distress for farmers 1 It ranks as the 11th largest decline in U S stock market history 2 The free silver debate pitted the pro gold financial establishment of the Northeast along with railroads factories and businessmen who were creditors deriving benefit from deflation and repayment of loans with valuable gold dollars against farmers who would benefit from higher prices for their crops and an easing of credit burdens 3 Free silver was especially popular among farmers in the Wheat Belt the western Midwest and the Cotton Belt the Deep South 3 as well as silver miners in the West It had little support among farmers in the Northeast and the Corn Belt the eastern Midwest Free silver was the central issue for Democrats in the presidential elections of 1896 and 1900 under the leadership of William Jennings Bryan famed for his Cross of Gold speech in favor of free silver The Populists also endorsed Bryan and free silver in 1896 which marked the effective end of their independence In major elections free silver was consistently defeated and after 1896 the nation moved to the gold standard 4 The debate over silver lasted from the passage of the Fourth Coinage Act in 1873 which demonetized silver and was called the Crime of 73 by opponents until 1963 when the Silver Purchase Act of 1934 which allowed the U S President and U S Department of Treasury to regulate U S silver 5 was completely repealed by Public Law 88 36 Contents 1 Definitions and explanation 2 Response 3 Climax 4 Silver fraternal orders 4 1 List of Silverite fraternal orders 5 Result 6 Symbolism 7 Silver Purchase Act of 1934 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External linksDefinitions and explanation edit nbsp The free silver highwayman at it again in 1896Under the gold specie standard anyone in possession of gold bullion could deposit it at a mint where it would then be processed into gold coins Less a nominal seigniorage to cover processing costs the coins would then be paid to the depositor this was free coinage of gold by definition The objective of the free silver movement was that the mints should accept and process silver bullion according to the same principle although the market value of the silver in circulating coins of the United States was substantially less than face value 6 As a result the monetary value of silver coins was based on government fiat rather than on the commodity value of their contents and this became especially true following the huge silver strikes in the West which further depressed the silver price From that time until the early 1960s the silver content in United States dimes quarters half dollars and silver dollars was worth only a fraction of their face values 7 Free coinage of silver would have amounted to an increase in the money supply resulting in inflation 3 Response edit nbsp Cartoon from Puck showing a silverite farmer and a Democratic donkey whose wagon has been destroyed by the locomotive of sound moneyMany populist organizations favored an inflationary monetary policy because it would enable debtors often farmers who had mortgages on their land to pay their debts off with cheaper more readily available dollars Those who would suffer under this policy were the creditors such as banks and landlords 3 The most vocal and best organized supporters were the silver mine owners such as William Randolph Hearst and workers and the western states and territories generally as most U S silver production was based there and the region had a great number of highly indebted farmers and ranchers 3 Outside the mining states of the West the Republican Party steadfastly opposed free silver 3 arguing that the best road to national prosperity was sound money or gold which was central to international trade They argued that inflation meant guaranteed higher prices for everyone and real gains chiefly for the silver interests In 1896 Senator Henry M Teller of Colorado led many western Republicans to bolt and form a third party that supported Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan the short lived Silver Republican Party The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 while falling short of free silver s goals 3 required the U S government to buy millions of ounces of silver driving up the price of the metal and pleasing silver miners for money pleasing farmers and many others However the U S government paid for that silver bullion in gold notes and actually reduced their coinage of silver The result was a run on the U S Treasury s gold reserves which was one of the many reasons for the Panic of 1893 and the onset of the 1890s Depression Once he regained power and after the Panic of 1893 had begun Grover Cleveland engineered the repeal of the act setting the stage for the key issue of the next presidential election 3 Climax edit nbsp 1896 editorial cartoon equating the free silver movement with Frankenstein s monster The Populist Party had a strong free silver element Its subsequent combination with the Democratic Party moved the latter from the support of the gold standard which had been the hallmark of the Cleveland administration to the free silver position epitomized by 1896 presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan in his Cross of Gold speech 8 Bryan s 1896 candidacy was supported by Populists and silver Republicans as well as by most Democrats The issue was over what would back the US currency The two options were gold wanted by the Goldbugs and William McKinley and silver wanted by the Silverites and Bryan Unbacked paper wanted by the Greenbacks represented a third option 3 A fourth option a currency backed by land value was advocated by Senator Leland Stanford through several Senate bills introduced in 1890 1892 but was always killed by the Senate Finance Committee 9 Silver fraternal orders editThree fraternal organizations rose to prominence during the mid 1890s and supported the silver campaign in 1896 They all disappeared after the failure of the campaign List of Silverite fraternal orders edit Freemen s Protective Silver Federation Founded in 1894 in Spokane Washington it adopted a constitution bylaws and a ritual at Pullman Washington late that year Their stated goal was to unite the friends of silver under one banner to battle for the white metal and to wage war against the gold monopoly It was reportedly an outgrowth of the National Order of Videttes The order spread through the Pacific Coast states and east to the Missouri River It claimed as many as 800 000 members in late 1896 though Stevens considered this extravagant Nevertheless there was no doubt about its popularity and influence west of the Rocky Mountains during the 1896 free silver campaign The obligation of the order was said to be most emphatic and binding and lawyers and bankers were barred from membership 10 The order was apparently defunct by the early 1920s 11 Silver Knights of America Founded early in 1895 to campaign for free silver it was headquartered in Washington D C where it had a literary bureau The governing body the Supreme Temple was incorporated as a stock company with 100 000 capital Senator W M Stewart of Nevada was president James Pait was vice president Oliver Sabin secretary James A B Richard treasurer and S S Yoder was the director general Many well known current and former members of the House of Representatives were members The organization was pushed simultaneously in Missouri Illinois Kentucky and Arkansas from which it invaded the Democratic leaning areas There was a female branch the Silver Ladies of America which was intended to strongly develop the social feature of the organization The order had a ritual grips passwords and a burial service The order became defunct after 1896 12 Patriots of America It was founded in late 1895 by William Harvey to organize for free silver in the 1896 campaign Officers of the order included First National Patriot William Harvey National Recorder Charles H McClure of Michigan and National Treasurer James F Adams of Michigan Each state was also expected to have a First State Patriot and these officers would constitute the Congress of Patriots Each county was also supposed to have a First Patriot The First Patriots of the national state and county level were expected to make an oath refusing to ever serve in elective or appointive offices or to have property over 100 000 There was an auxiliary organization the Daughters of the Republic which was tasked with looking after the poor of the Patriots of America There were no dues and the order was financed through voluntary contributions The order s object was to swing one of the parties to a free silver platform in 1896 and if that failed to launch an independent free silver ticket The order was expected to hold a ballot every four years to determine what cause and candidate it would support however the order appeared to become defunct after 1896 13 Headquartered in Chicago 12 nbsp The free silver Jabberwock in 1896Result editThe city voters especially German Americans overwhelmingly rejected the free silver cause out of the conviction that it would lead to economic disaster unemployment and higher prices The diversified farmers of the Midwest and East opposed it as well but the cotton farmers in the South and the wheat farmers in the West were enthusiastic for free silver Bryan tried again in 1900 to raise the issue but lost by larger margins and when he dropped the issue it fell out of circulation Subsequent actions to revive the issue were unsuccessful 14 nbsp Entitled A down hill movement by C J Taylor in 1896Symbolism editFree silver became increasingly associated with populism unions and the fight of ordinary Americans against the bankers railroad monopolists and the robber barons of the Gilded Age capitalism era and was referred to as the People s Money as opposed to the gold based currency which was portrayed by the Populists as the money of exploitation and oppression William H Harvey s popular pamphlet Coin s Financial School issued in the aftermath of the Panic of 1893 illustrated the restorative properties of silver through the devaluation of the currency closed factories would reopen darkened furnaces would be relit and the like But progressive activist Henry Demarest Lloyd held a harshly critical view writing The free silver movement is a fake Free silver is the cowbird of the reform movement It waited until the nest had been built by the sacrifices and labor of others and then it lay its own eggs in it pushing out the others which lie smashed on the ground 15 Silver Purchase Act of 1934 editIn 1934 the passage of the Silver Purchase Act revived the debate stirred by Grover Cleveland s 1893 repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 16 The new law granted the U S President and U S Secretary of Treasury the authority to purchase silver issue silver certificates and also nationalize U S mines 5 16 The law also included a 50 tax on profits from the transfer of silver bullion and financing a Silver Tax Stamp 16 5 After the law was passed the U S Treasury paid rates for silver well over its 1934 value achieving the hoped for result raising the price of silver from 45 to 81 an ounce 16 However overprints on the Silver Stamp Taxes which ranged from 1 to 1 000 also presented a problem for free nationally owned silver 16 These were stamps attached to transfer memoranda to indicate payment of the silver tax 17 In 1943 the overprints were discontinued and the Silver Purchase Act of 1934 would be fully repealed in 1963 16 See also editAlexander del Mar Gresham s law Inflation Silver PartyReferences edit Charles Hoffmann The Depression of the Nineties Journal of Economic History 1956 Vol 16 No 2 16 2 137 164 in JSTOR What Prior Market Crashes Can Teach Us About Navigating the Current One Morningstar Inc Retrieved 2020 07 14 a b c d e f g h i Roark James L Johnson Michael P Furstenburg Francois Cline Cohen Patricia Hartmann Susan M Stage Sarah Igo Sarah E 2020 Chapter 18 The Gilded Age 1865 1900 The American Promise A History of the United States Kindle Vol Combined Volume Value Edition 8th ed Boston MA Bedford St Martin s Kindle Locations 13951 13983 ISBN 978 1319208929 OCLC 1096495503 Williams 1910 a b c 73rd United States Congress June 19 1934 Chapter 674 An Act To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase silver issue silver certificates and for other purposes PDF The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from March 1933 to June 1934 PDF Vol 48 United States Government Printing Office pp 1178 1181 OCLC 50860124 Archived from the original PDF on 2020 08 18 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Walter T K Nugent Money and American Society 1865 1880 1968 Milton Friedman Bimetallism Revisited Journal of Economic Perspectives Vol 4 No 4 Autumn 1990 pp 85 104 in JSTOR Cross of Gold speech Summary Meaning Audio amp Facts Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved 2021 03 11 Congress United States 1890 Congressional Record 51 Congress 1 Sess 2068 2069 March 3 1890 Retrieved August 7 2017 Stevens Albert C The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities a compilation of existing authentic information and the results of an original investigation as to more than six hundred secret societies in the United States New York City Paterson N J Hamilton printing and publishing company p 301 Preuss Arthur A Dictionary of Secret and Other Societies St Louis B Herder Book Co 1924 p 137 a b Stevens p 322 Stevens p 321 Russell L Mahan William Jennings Bryan and the Presidential Campaign of 1896 White House Studies 2003 3 1 41 doi 10 2307 1917933 JSTOR 1917933 The Populist Response to Industrial America p142 Norman Pollack 1976 This was followed by his blistering indictment of silver The Free Silver movement is a fake Free Silver is the cow bird of the Reform movement a b c d e f Silver Tax Stamps Mystic Stamp Discovery Center 2017 06 19 Retrieved 2021 03 10 https www stamp collecting world com taxstamps RG1934 html Stamp Collecting World Silver Tax Stamps retrieved March 12 2021Further reading editColetta Paolo E Greenbackers Goldbugs and Silverites Currency Reform and Politics 1860 1897 in H Wayne Morgan ed The Gilded Age A Reappraisal Syracuse NY Syracuse University Press 1963 pp 111 139 Kazin Michael A Godly Hero The Life of William Jennings Bryan 2007 Gramm Marshall The Free Silver Movement in America A Reinterpretation Journal of Economic History vol 64 no 4 Dec 2004 pp 1108 1129 Ritter Gretchen Goldbugs and Greenbacks The Antimonopoly Tradition and the Politics of Finance in America 1997 Rockoff Hugh The Wizard of Oz as a monetary allegory Journal of Political Economy vol 98 no 4 Aug 1990 pp 739 60 in JSTOR Wells Wyatt Rhetoric of the Standards The Debate over Gold and Silver in the 1890s Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era Jan 2015 14 1 pp 49 68 Weiss Colin 2019 Contractionary Devaluation Risk Evidence from the Free Silver Movement 1878 1900 The Review of Economics and Statistics Williams R Hal Realigning America McKinley Bryan and the Remarkable Election of 1896 Lawrence KS University Press of Kansas 2010 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Free silver The Money Question of the 51st Congress Speeches before the 51st Congress 1889 1891 regarding free silver digitized and available on FRASER The Money Question of the 52nd Congress Speeches before the 52nd Congress 1891 1893 regarding free silver digitized and available on FRASER The Money Question of the 53rd Congress Speeches before the 53rd Congress 1893 1895 regarding free silver digitized and available on FRASER Free silver cartoons from Judge nbsp The full text of Free Silver and Annexation at Wikisource nbsp The full text of Honest Money and Honesty at Wikisource nbsp The full text of Popular Science Monthly September 1893 Why Silver Ceases to Be Money at Wikisource nbsp The full text of Coinage of Silver 1934 at Wikisource nbsp The full text of Silver Purchase Act of 1934 at Wikisource Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Free silver amp oldid 1198368119, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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