7 - Money, history, and American political development

Summary

“All the other animals in the forest naturally expect me to be brave, for the Lion is everywhere thought to be the King of Beasts. I learned that if I roared very loudly every living thing was frightened and got out of my way … But whenever there is danger my heart begins to beat fast.”

“But what about my courage?” asked the Lion, anxiously. “You have plenty of courage, I am sure,” answered Oz. “All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.”

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

By the close of the nineteenth century, it seemed that Americans had chosen the road to “Oz.” The antimonopolist alternative was defeated politically and economically. Voters trusted William McKinley's promises of industrial prosperity on the gold standard. That trust was rewarded when the world gold supply rose and monetary contraction finally stopped. Further, the assault of the hinterlands on Washington ended with the collapse of Populism, the rise in voter apathy, and Republican hegemony. In America, as in Oz, the rule of gold was secured, sectional divisions were retained, and political dissension dissipated.

The antimonopolist vision – in which equalized investment opportunities and a flexible monetary standard shifted economic development away from geographical and industrial concentration toward a regionally dispersed, mixed agrarian-industrial economy – was lost after the election of 1896.