Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/10/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]If you guys are going to make fun of the phrase "Free Silver" you should at
least learn enough U.S. History to know where it comes from.
Having watched the US Presidential debates last night, I long for the era of
riveting public speakers. One of the most mesmerizing speakers in U.S.
history was William Jennings Bryan, a fervent populist. He gave this speech
to the 1896 Democratic National Convention, during which "free silver" was
THE issue of contention.
http://douglassarchives.org/brya_a26.htm
The history books say that Bryan got 30 minutes of standing ovation after
giving that speech. Here is a good watercolor of the era, including a
photograph of him speaking, in this page maintained by the historical
society of his home state of Nebraska:
http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0600/stories/0601_0304.html
If you go to this website and select the 1896 Democratic Party platform:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/platforms.php
you'll be able to divine what the "free silver" issue was all about.