The Wonderful Wizard of Oz or O-Z the abbreviation for an ounce of gold. And of course there is a nod to gold in the title. He believed that adding silver to the gold standard would ease deflation and solve the nation's economic woes. The cowardly lion is William Jennings Bryan, A populist leader and the face of the Free Silver Movement. His joints are rusted and he can no longer work much like the 18% of Americans that were unemployed in 1894. Industrial workers are represented by the tin man. The farmers weren't the only group suffering and seeking an end to the gold standard. They urge Dorothy to "follow the yellow brick road". But the citizens of the East (who are represented by the munchkins) wanted to keep the gold standard in place. The gold standard was blamed for the rise in prices and many believed the end of the gold standard would fix everything. The amount they owed the bankers was now worth much more than at the time of the loan - bad for the farmers but great for the bankers The yellow brick road is the gold standard. When deflation hit, the value of the farmers' debts rose. most of these farmers had mortgages and owed money to the bankers in the east. The scarecrow represents the farmers in the west. In their telling, each character represents a person or group active in the late 1800s. Many economists and historians insist that the book is a political allegory. Frank Baum and originally published in 1900, may have been inspired by the real-life economic struggles during the Gold Standard.
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