Just a quick note before a little tip today. Once in awhile, one of the subscribers to the list sends in a query. This is a "closed" list meaning that it is not set up for queries. So, your posts to this list will not be seen by anyone. And now to a short look at Populists, Gold Bugs and Silver Democrats. The Honorable Mitchell Nance of Glasgow, KY, Judge of the Circuit Court, recently spoke to our historical society on a subject of which I was unfamiliar. I have since been trying to find more information on the subject as I found it extremely interesting. He spoke of the Gold Democrats, the Silver Democrats, and the election of 1896. As Judge Nance explained, the United States and Kentucky included was going through a transition between a strictly agriculture based economy and the new industrial growth in America. THE POPULIST PARTY was also known as the People's Party and was founded in Cincinnati, OH in 1891. Its platform was taken largely from what was known as the Farmer's Alliance. Candidates ran on all ballots from the Populist Party between 1891 and 1896 and it's main platforms included backing of direct election of the U S Senators, governmental regulation of railroads, free coinage of silver at a ratio of 16 to one with gold, free and unlimited coinage of silver, lower interest rates, labor reforms, and a graduated income tax. It originally was organized to help farmers in the south and west who were "particularly stressed in the 1890s by high interest rates on loans, severe drought in the Midwest, a high rate of foreclosure of farm mortgages, and unfair railroad shipping rates for their products. (http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/prog17/feature/essay.html) Here in Kentucky, many supporters blamed their hardships on a conspiracy of bankers and railroad millionaires from the east. The Farmers' Alliance had at first supported these independent candidates in 1890, S. Brewer Erwin, former president ran on the slate for state office later about 20 candidates ran. Only a few were elected, and they were failing in the governor's race. One of the strongholds of the Populists was in the dark-tobacco belt of western Kentucky. One candidate of the Populists was well-known Democrat William Jennings Bryan who was responsible for writing a majority of the platform. He was the orator at the convention where he gave what was known as the "Cross of Gold Speech." Populists tried to rally support from the Republican party but this didn't work and eventually the party faded away, holding on until about 1912. (See Bland, Gaye Keller, "Populism Kentucky 1887-1896", University of Kentucky, 1979. GOLD BUGS or the GOLD DEMOCRATS split with their own party over the silver issue in 1896. They supported the gold standard as the basis of our monetary system. They also called themselves the "New Democratic Party", held their own conventions and made their own nominations. Their candidate was John M Palmer, in 1896, who was a 79 year old Kentuckian. They criticized Bryan and most of the regular Democrats saying that the Populists "advocate a reckless attempt to increase the price of silver by legislation to the debasement of our monetary standard, and threaten unlimited issues of paper money by Government." (See URL above) SILVER DEMOCRATS was a term coming into usage due to the passing of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act during the administration of Grover Cleveland. It is shown below: Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 1890, passed by the U.S. Congress to supplant the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. It not only required the U.S. government to purchase nearly twice as much silver as before, but also added substantially to the amount of money already in circulation. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act (supported by John Sherman only as a compromise with the advocates of free silver) threatened, when put into operation, to undermine the U.S. Treasury's gold reserves. After the panic of 1893 broke, President Cleveland called a special session of Congress and secured (1893) the repeal of the act. (Free silver was the unlimited use of silver). William Jennings Bryan was an advocate of free silver. (See: http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0857392.html) Because of the conflict within the Democratic Party, the feuding between the Gold and the Silvers, the party was so split that the first Republican Governor of Kentucky was elected - William O. Bradley. He served from 1895-1899, a Garrard County native and lawyer. He was credited with suppressing the violence and feuding in Eastern Kentucky. (http://www.kdla.net/statelib/KYGovernors_pg4.htm#Wbradley) I would not have time or space to go into an in-depth study of the Gold Bugs, the Silver Democrats and the Populists in one tip, but if you are interested in the political history of the United States and its effect on Kentucky, this would be a topic you might want to pursue. (c) Copyright 3 July 2003, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved. Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html SCKY surname registry sites: http://www.rootsweb.com/~kyclinto/reg.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~kyclinto/forms/SCKYreg.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/