LAD #20 Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech

William Jennings Bryan gave this speech at the Democratic National Convention. This addressed the issue of whether or not to issue silver at the ratio to gold of 16 to 1. This would increase the total amount of money in circulation, and would provide people who needed money with an easier way to get it. William Jennings Bryan was the Democratic Pick for president. He said that he wanted to speak to the people on the basis of saving humanity. It was well known that the idea of silver as coinage was accepted by the democrats very highly. He went against the extremely wealthy men in the country. He was also one in favor of the income tax, since it took away from the extremely rich. These people could afford to lose some of that money so an income tax was a good idea. He also thought that the government should be in control of money he didn’t want the banks to hold all the cards in this situation. He also stated that if the gold standard was a bad thing, that the United States should not wait to do away with it, but instead be an example for other countries and remove that policy. There were many mixed feelings about the coinage, big cities and farmers had different opinions but Bryan, to go with the democratic ideas was in support of the silver coinage system.