THE CROSS OF GOLD
The Cross of Gold speech as the name suggests is about the situation of the United States’ currency. Bryan takes advantage of the heated debate on the gold standard of currency which was unpopular among the citizens to win the Democrat’s party nomination for the presidency. Bryan depicts the Democratic Party as the winner of public confidence at the time. The quick rise to prominence of Bryan was due to the worsening economic situation which Bryan described as crucifying the citizens on a golden cross. The main critique by Bryan is on his opponents’ support of the gold standards. Bryan is for the idea that money should be available for the poor to be able to pay off their debts.
According to Bryan, the claim that the cities are in support of the gold standard is a lie. In addition, the towns would not suffer the same fate as the farms if the farms collapsed. America urgently needed a lot of money, and this could be achieved by silver coinage (Schug, Mark, Mary and William). Bryan claims that cities could burn and be rebuilt easily but for the farms, collapsing of the economy was a different case all through. Farming is depicted as an activity left to peasants who are overwhelmed by heavy debts and need a lot of money to offset the liabilities.
According to (Bryan), the Americans have grown in numbers as compared to the 1776 case where only three million people had the confidence to stand and declare their independence. Bryan is completely against the gold standard which is an idea bought from a foreign land and instead proposes bimetallism which will be an idea of the American people and will be bought by other nations. The Americans should stand confidently and resist any form of ideas obtained from foreign as this could imply a lack of independence.
Bryan’s speech only helped in securing the nomination for the party primaries but was not strong enough to help win the presidential seat. Depicting silver as a solution to the problems facing Americans did not earn enough support for the presidency. Although Bryan seemed to have the solution needed for money situation in America, a decision was made to continue with the gold standard despite the unpopularity of the system among citizens.