| 1 |
 |
“...38 WITH DE LEON SINCE 89.
dent of the United States at the 1892 election, lost his Demo-
cratic majority in the House in the election of 1894. The in-
dustrial panic w'hich began in 1893 was blamed on the Demo-
cratic administration. Factories were shut down, and great
numbers of workers were unemployed and destitute. Soup
houses were opened in all large cities instead of the good
times promised by the Democratic politicians. Farm prod-
ucts were lower in price than for years previous; a bushel of
wheat sold for fifty cents and less. (This latter fact, by the
way, was the material basis of the existence of the Peoples
Party.) The small farmers had to mortgage their farms, their
farm products did not yield the price to assure their existence
and make small farming possible.
When the Democratic Party met in convention at Chicago,
Bryan unsaddled the old leaders, and proposed a platform that
was to solve the economic problem. Free coinage of silver,
at the ratio of sixteen ounces of silver...”
|
|
