Question

How does William Jennings Bryan propose to solve the economic grievances of farmers?

Answer 1

William Jennings Bryan (1860 -1925) was an American politician and orator, he was also a dominant figure in the Democratic Party, who stood three times as a nominee for President of the US unsucessfully. He was a member of the US House of Representatives and served in the United States Secretary of State.

As a response to the agrarian movements that were taking place in the South, and in order to help farmers, regulate the establishment of railroads, and the limits of corporations he positioned himself in favour of the intervention of the state in such matters. He was an advocate of two measures:

• Free coinage of silver. This mechanism or policy option was called "free silver", and consisted on a expansionary monetary policy that aimed to coin silver money unlimitedly as mechanism of increasing demand. This policy appeared in opposition to the fixed money supply dictated by the gold standard.
• Establishment of a progressive federal income tax. This type of tax is such in which as the taxable amount increases so does the tax rate owed. In the case of the income tax, the taxable amount would be the income earn by a person.