Exploring American Histories: Printed Page 545

Document 17.5

Walter Huston | “Here Lies Prosperity,” 1895

The “money question” became a focus of American politics in the first half of the 1890s and was exacerbated by the depression of 1893. Those who supported the gold standard believed that it provided the basis for a sound and stable economy. Proponents of the unlimited coinage of silver, especially Populists and Democrats such as William Jennings Bryan, asserted that expansion of the money supply would liberate farmers and workers from debt and bring prosperity to more Americans. The following cartoon illustrates the “free silver” point of view.

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“The Situation: The Result of Interest Bearing Bonds and Sherman,” in Sound Money (Massillon, OH), August 22, 1895. Reproduced from Worth Robert Miller, Populist Cartoons: An Illustrated History of the Third Party Movement in the 1890s (Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2011).

  • Question

    Why does the cartoonist use the phrases “enslaved,” “stabbed in the back,” “assassinated,” and “traitors”? Whom does he accuse of these misdeeds?

  • Question

    According to this cartoon, what is the cause of poverty?

  • Question

    What burden keeps the working man in chains?

Put It in Context

Question

How did the depression of 1893 affect the economic situation of farmers and working people? Whom did debt affect more?