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