LAD#20

The speech made by William Jennings Bryan, could be called the most famous speech of this period in American history. It was delievered at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Bryan begins by asserting the importance of the financial issue in America at this time. Byran transitions into talking about the importance of the actual worker in American by saying, "the man who is employed for wages is as much a businessman as his employer". Through this statement, it is clear that he represents the working people of America and his views will hence look out for the best interests of those who are working in America. Subsequently, Bran discusses his views on the vitality of the income tax and next how it is true that he does disagree with national bank currency- but perhaps this is a credible position considering men such as Jackson have also stood in the same position. However the primary issue of this entire piece is the backing of money in our country. Bryan decided that the most important reform to take place was the reform that would standardize the value of money by backing it through silver means instead of teh gold standard. This could lead to a larger circulation for the money and in turn this could solve a great deal of other problems that were surfacing at this time. The deflation could be solved, and other issues could be brought to the front burner by settling this one issue of standardizing money. Bryan's speech was powerful and logical, it is no wonder this speech is still well known today.