1. Which Jerry Marini Guest does this document connect with?
Russell Conwell, “Acres of Diamond” Sermon, 1913.
I say that you ought to get rich, and it is your duty to get rich ... The men who get rich may be the most honest men you find in the community. Let me say here clearly ... ninety-eight out of one hundred of the rich men of America are honest. That is why they are rich. That is why they are trusted with money. That is why they carry on great enterprises and find plenty of people to work with them. It is because they are honest men. ... I sympathize with the poor, but the number of poor who are to be sympathized with is very small. To sympathize with a man whom God has punished for his sins ... is to do wrong. ... Let us remember there is not a poor person in the United States who was not made poor by his own shortcomings..

2. What issues did the farmers face in the Gilded Age?
Deflation-
After the Civil War, the government reduced the amount of paper money and silver money in the economy and put the US on gold money.
This made the nations money strong for international trade, but drove prices down for farmers and made it harder to pay back loans
Railroad trusts-
Railroad corporations began setting high rates for farmers to ship, cutting into farmers profits
International competition
Farmers were now competing with farmers across the nation and from overseas with improved technology making grain easier to ship

4. Dorothy?
Represent the American People. She was from Kansas, representation of the common American still seen as the yeoman farmer, no urban living factory workers yet. Good-natured, believing in the country but a little bit naive.

5. The Yellow Brick Road?
The gold standard which was a road that led to problems. Like the road, the gold standard was a promise that looked like it pointed the nation in the right direction, but in fact did not.
The gold standard favored the elites, those who had money and lent money, but did not favor the lower classes and the farmers.

6. Ruby Slippers?
The slippers were originally silver and Dorothy was supposed to wear the shoes which had powers to fight the evils of the world
Silver was huge issue for the Farmer’s Alliance and Populists. They wanted the government to issue more silver coins so farmers could pay back debts easier and so the price of their crops would go back up.

7. Scarecrow?
The Farmers! They were brave and strong and had the best intentions, but did not always use their brains and work together.
The farmers were the basis of the Granger movement, Famers Alliance and the Populist Party but were sometimes easily divided (by race or regional issues) and did not always organize and take power like they should have.

8. The Tin Man?
Represented the workers of the East, who were human but had been turned into a machine by the bankers and railroad companies of the East.
The Populist Party tried to get support from workers, but was never able to unite them to vote for them, especially when they merged with the Democratic Party. Workers stayed loyal to McKinley and the Republican party

9. The Cowardly Lion?
Williams Jennings Bryan, who like the Lion had loud roar, but didn’t have the courage yet to use that roar.
Bryan was one of the best speakers in the nation and now that he had the Populist Party and the Democratic Party support, he could use that roar to win the election (which he did not)

10. Wicked Witch of the West?
The Railroad companies of course! They were seen as the corrupt enemy who had really stolen control of Oz.
The railroad companies were of course one of the biggest obstacles for farmers and the Populist movement. The Grangers, The Farmers Alliance and the Populist Party were created to help take control of the railroads which was defended in the case Munn v. Illinois (1877)

11. The Emerald City?
Represents Washington D.C., which is green because all the wealth of the land is there.
The greenback dollars (paper money) which had been used during the Civil War, had been called back by the Treasury Department which meant the paper money that would help the farmers was actually all in Washington D.C.

12. The Wizard himself
President William McKinley, who won the election of He was backed by the corrupt powers and was just a common man behind the curtain.
Frank Baum’s hope was that if the workers, the farmers, all Americans and Bryan worked together they could defeat the railroads and banks and McKinley would listen to them and help them with what they wanted.

13. Legacy of the Populist Movement:
Most successful 3rd party in American History
Grange Laws: Railroads could be regulated and controlled by state governments
The Progressive Movement ( ) was heavily influenced by the reform ideas of the Populist Movement
Both Republicans and Democrats realized they need to listen to the common people more