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Show FALL 2013 UHQ pp 304-385_UHQ Stories/pp.4-68 9/16/13 1:25 PM Page 313 WILLIAM GLASMANN passion for free silver that transcended party allegiance, especially in the West. Bimetallism drew the interest of the majority of westerners into an issue-driven campaign that argued for free silver as a second monetized currency, if for no other reason than the poor condition of the economy. Silverites argued that the linkage between the fixed ratio of silver to gold at sixteen-to-one made sense and maintained the emotional argument that the western states needed a fixed price of monetized silver to help pull them out of the depression.32 Glasmann’s rationale for supporting the silverites went much deeper. He focused on the global implications of abandoning silver and of interference from European banking interests, most notably the Rothschild cartel. Glasmann felt that if the United States adopted a bimetallic currency standard, the rest of the world would follow. The term “silver Republicans” gained widespread use after the election of Democrat Grover Cleveland in 1892. It grew partially out of the mistrust of the northeastern establishment that many felt controlled Congress, no matter if they belonged to the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. The western Republicans called themselves silver Republicans to distinguish themselves from the easterners who wanted to preserve the gold standard, referred to by the pejorative title “gold bugs.” At the Democratic Convention of 1896, William Jennings Bryan won the nomination for president, largely on account of his “Cross of Gold” speech, which sharply defined the currency issue vis-à-vis the Republican candidate, William McKinley. Glasmann supported the Bryan campaign wholeheartedly, with every bit of the gusto with which he had backed Republicans in years past. During this campaign, however, he had more time to spend, owing to the addition of Frank Francis as managing editor. While Glasmann hit the campaign trail stumping for Bryan, Francis busied himself whipping the Standard into a first-rate newspaper. On July 1, 1896, the masthead began referring to membership in the United Press. The paper also boasted the moniker “The Pioneer Silver Paper of Utah,” which it proudly used for almost three years.33 Meanwhile, Glasmann had offered his oratory skill to Bryan’s campaign and went to work for Bryan where he needed him most. The campaign sent him to Nebraska, where McKinley and Bryan were facing off in a head-to-head battle. Glasmann stumped for Bryan seventy-two times throughout Nebraska and Iowa in five weeks. Touting his Republican background, but believing passionately in the silver question, he appealed to the rural Nebraska farmer; he argued that one could be a loyal Republican and still vote for Bryan. Silver was the issue, and Bryan was the man. On one campaign swing through northeastern Dakota County in Nebraska, across the Missouri River from the McKinley stronghold of Iowa, Glasmann earned a 32 Friedman, “Crime of 1873,” 1172. On May 11, 1899, the Standard quietly removed this title from its masthead, thus following the Salt Lake Tribune in abandoning the silver cause. 33 313 |
