Silver question--Government policy

Lieutenant Governor Guild of Massachusetts delivers a speech at an event commemorating President Ulysses S. Grant in Des Moines, Iowa. Guild reminds Iowans of their special connection to Grant, as Iowa regiments were key in his first great victory of the American Civil War, the Battle of Fort Donelson. Guild points out how Grant’s administration saw the beginnings of a lot of contemporary issues, like the fight between the gold and silver standard, the corruption of machine politics, and the ills of the spoils system. Guild does, however, defend Grant against his harshest critics, stating that Grant did punish many of the instigators of scandals like Credit Mobilier and the Whiskey ring, and that Grant’s idea to annex the Dominican Republic seems less extreme in light of recent South American upheavals.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-04-27

Creator(s)

Guild, Curtis, 1860-1915

President Roosevelt thanks newspaperman H. J. Wright for his letter, but disagrees with him regarding the Democrats leaving the gold standard out of their 1904 party platform.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-15

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

A gladiator labeled “Sound Money,” holding a sword labeled “Currency Reform,” stands over a fallen gladiator labeled “Free Silver” who appeals to the crowd for mercy, but instead receives the thumbs-down gesture.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-12-07

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

Print shows William Jennings Bryan as a goose flapping his wings and squawking, perched on a nest with a large egg labeled “Free Silver 16 to 1.” At his feet is a bowl of food labeled “Republican Non-Interference with the Money Question.” In the background, Mark Hanna and William McKinley are standing behind a gate that leads to the White House.

Caption: Chairman Hanna–We must be careful not to take that food away from him. We wouldn’t be nearly so sure of our jobs without those eggs.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-09-20

A woman labeled “Business Interests” is drowning in a pond of silver coins labeled “85 cents.” She is wearing waterwings labeled “Patent Air-Bladder” and “Life Preserver,” “Makeshift Silver Certificate,” and “85-Cent Legal Tender Dollar,” from which air is escaping through several punctures. The U.S. Capitol is in the background and a long line of congressmen are departing “Homeward.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-03-11

Creator(s)

Zimmerman, Eugene, 1862-1935

Major General Sickles urges United States military veterans to set aside partisan differences to oppose the election of the Democratic Party’s candidate for the 1896 presidential election, William Jennings Bryan. Sickles primarily denounces Bryan on the issue of replacing the gold standard with a looser silver standard, which will, according to Sickles, allow debtors to pay off creditors and government bonds with less valuable currency, defrauding many veterans and army widows of the value of their pensions. Sickles considers this an unconstitutional attack on the public credit, a move towards Populist mob-rule. Sickles also accuses Bryan of encouraging the type of sectionalism that sparked the American Civil War. Although Sickles identifies as a Democrat himself, he denounces the platform and candidate, Bryan, approved at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and voices support for the Republican Candidate, William McKinley.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1896-07

Creator(s)

Sickles, Daniel Edgar, 1819-1914