It turns out The Wonderful Wizard of Oz can also been seen as a political allegory affecting the American presidential election of 1896. To set the stage, I need to review the political and economic situation in 1890s America. Don’t like history? Scroll down to Dorothy’s Allegory.

“As a Precious Metal, Silver is also Money.”
— Robert Kiyosaki

During the 1880s and 90s, the United States underwent massive social, political and economic change. Industrialization and large business conglomerates changed the face of American production from small businesses to immense enterprises employing a growing working class. Workers began to organize unions, a violent process pitting the working man against the forces of law and order.

In the West, silver mines produced so well the cost of extracting the ore exceeded the sale price. Farmers were also in dire straights due to overproduction and could not make enough from their crops to pay their debts. The farmers believed that if the United States went off the gold standard and allowed more silver money to circulate, prices for their goods would rise, plus they would be able to pay their debts with cheaper dollars. The silver industry thought this was a brilliant idea.

FREE SILVER

Responsive to pressure, Congress passed the Sherman Silver Repurchase Act in 1890. This dandy piece of legislation required the government to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver every month. The United States became the second largest purchaser of silver in the world. To facilitate the new purchasing requirements the Treasury issued special notes that could be redeemed for either silver or gold. Gold was a better investment. Investors redeemed the notes for gold dollar coins. By 1891, the price of silver fell to 69 cents per ounce. And, instead of assisting farmers, the Repurchase Act actually contributed to a deflationary economy that resulted in the Panic of 1893 – a large economic depression.

In August 1893 Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Repurchase Act. The economy remained bad. People, particularly farmers, blamed Congress for their continued problems. A third political party called the Populists based their entire platform on the issue of “free silver.” They wanted silver to be accepted as legal tender for all debts public and private. In 1896 the U.S. Mint stopped producing silver coins.

“The humblest citizen of all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error.”

                                                                                            — William Jennings Bryan

Eighteen ninety-six was a presidential election year. Republicans nominated William McKinley. As the party of business, Republicans supported the gold standard.  To recruit “free silver” voters, the party platform stated Republicans would support the gold standard only until an international agreement made bimetallism the norm. Thus spoke the party of Reason and Order.

On July 9, 1896 William Jennings Bryan mounted the podium of the Democratic Convention. A great orator and former congressman, Bryan wanted the presidential nomination. He was thirty-six years old.

Speaking on the issue of “free silver,” Bryan acknowledged the Republican stance, and found it without merit. “We care not upon what lines the battle is fought. If they say bimetallism is good but we cannot have it till some nation helps us, we reply that, instead of having a gold standard because England has, we shall restore bimetallism, and then let England have bimetallism because the United States have.”

Bryan’s conclusion electrified the convention: “Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns.

You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

The convention broke into pandemonium. Some people, “like demented things, divested themselves of their coats and flung them high in the air.”

DOROTHY’S ALLEGORY

Writers are never isolated from current events, and many historians and economists have suggested that Baum’s book about Dorothy’s adventures in Oz was really an allegory about good and evil as played out in the campaign for free silver.

Plucky Dorothy represents America – honest, kind, and innocent. Paradoxically, Oz stands for the America of Big Business and Bankers. The cyclone of the Free Silver Movement swirls Dorothy away from the simplicity of Kansas to a land where an ounce of gold rules supreme. [Oz is also the abbreviation for ounce – oz.]

Dorothy’s house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her instantly. This witch stands for the business and financial interests of the Eastern American establishment. The house smashes the witch and Free Silver crushes Big Business. Dorothy’s silver shoes are the bimetallic standard.

Dorothy embarks on the yellow brick road (gold) to the Emerald City (Washington D.C.). On the way she encounters the Scarecrow who thinks he has no brains but is actually quite shrewd. Representing the virtuous farmer, the Scarecrow knows who’s who and what’s what.

The Tin Man is the American worker. The Wicked Witch of the East cursed him so he kept cutting off body parts with his ax. The tinsmith replaced them, and the man worked just as hard as before. Now entirely tin, he has no heart.

Last week I asked why is it only the Lion who has a prefix in front of his name. He’s always Cowardly Lion. Turns out, the Lion is William Jennings Bryan. In 1896, Bryan was a man of courage. But after losing the election, he became a political coward downplaying free silver in favor of other issues.

The Wizard is President McKinley’s advisor Marcus Alonzo Hanna. Representing the establishment perspective, the Wizard informs Dorothy and her friends

“In this country everyone must pay for everything he gets.”

REALLY?

Well, maybe he does, and maybe he doesn’t. This journey down allegory lane doesn’t change my conclusion about the moral of the story. We all at some level feel excluded. We wish a wizard would solve our problems: be it Bryan for free silver or McKinley for a sound economy. Eventually everyone has to face his or her fear alone, a situation that usually requires hard work.

Many thanks to David Hammes, economist extraordinaire, who brought Hugh Rockoff’s article about Oz as an economic allegory to my attention. Dr. Hammes bears no responsibility for my interpretation.

Acknowledgements:
Featured Image: Cartoon of William Jennings Bryan and the Cross of Gold by Grant Hamilton. 1896. U.S. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

History Matters here 

Hugh Rockoff. “The ‘Wizard of Oz’ as a Monetary Allegory. The Journal of Political Economy. Vol. 98, No. 4 (Aug., 1990), 739-760.

The post OZ & THE CROSS OF GOLD first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

Last week I visited the magical Land of Oz. Sitting in Seattle’s Paramount Theater auditorium, I traveled via the musical notes and flashing lighting displayed in Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz. And I wondered, what is it about Oz that brings us back to the story generation after generation?

Oz is a peculiar place. Most Americans started visiting in 1939 when MGM released Wizard of Oz.

STARRING:

Judy Garland as Dorothy, the girl who wanted to go back to Kansas,

Ray Bolger, the Scarecrow who wanted a brain,

Jack Haley, the Tin Man who wanted a heart, and

Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion who wanted courage.

The motley crew believed if they could just visit the Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City, their wishes would come true.

Glinda the Good Witch with her tiara, star topped magic wand, and glistening white dress advised Dorothy to put on the dead witch’s ruby red slippers. Then, “all you do is follow the Yellow Brick Road.”

[Sidebar: One of the remaining pairs sold for $666,000 in 2000. More recently, a Los Angeles auction house valued the slippers at $2-3 million.]

THE BEGINNING OF OZ

L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1899. His protagonist Dorothy lived in Kansas with her dog Toto. Tornados were common and one particular storm picked up Dorothy’s entire house and dropped it in the Land of Oz . . . on top of the Wicked Witch of the East. Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, told Dorothy to wear the dead witch’s SILVER shoes and hotfoot it down the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City.

Dorothy and Toto start the trek, adding Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion to their entourage. [Sidebar: Have you ever wondered why Lion is stuck with “Cowardly” as a first name? It’s not Brainless Scarecrow or Heartless Tin Man. But I digress.]

The Wizard said he would help after Dorothy and Company defeated the Wicked Witch of the West. I’m guessing Wizard didn’t expect to make good on the deal.

The witch sent a pack of wolves to tear her motley enemies apart. Tin Man killed them with his axe. She sent wild crows to peck out her attackers’ eyes. Scarecrow broke their necks. [Can you believe this is a children’s story?] The witch sent a swarm of black bees. Scarecrow used his straw to hide everyone except Tin Man. The bees stung Tin Man and died. The witch sent soldiers. Cowardly Lion repelled them. Finally, the witch sent her Winged Monkeys to capture everyone. They grabbed Dorothy, Toto, and Cowardly Lion. They also unstuffed Scarecrow and dented Tin Man. Could things get worse?

Yes! The dastardly witch wanted Dorothy’s silver shoes and managed to get one. Dorothy was so angry she threw a bucket of water on the witch, who immediately melted. Hence the famous phrase: “I’m meeeeeeltiiiing!”

In the end, Wizard turned out to be a man from Omaha who arrived in Oz via hot air balloon. To keep his end of the bargain, Wizard gave Scarecrow a head full of bran, pins, and needles. In short, Scarecrow received “a lot of bran-new brains.”  Wizard presented Tin Man with a red silk heart stuffed with sawdust. I suppose Tin Man hadn’t specified what he meant by the word “heart.” As for Cowardly Lion, he’s given a magic potion of courage, which he drinks.

What did Dorothy get? Well, after her dog exposed the wizard as a fraud, he suggested they go home together in a hot air balloon. But the dog chased a cat; Dorothy chased her dog, and the balloon left without her. Fortunately the Glinda the Good Witch reappeared. She’s the one who told Dorothy she had to follow the Yellow Brick Road. Now she says all Dorothy has to do is click her shoes three times and she’ll be able to go home. I think it would have been kinder to tell Dorothy the secret in the first place. But then, the book would have been too short.

I submit the Good Witch was a bit devious with her information. One could argue she sent Dorothy to the Emerald City because she knew Wizard would enlist the child to remove the Wicked Witch of the West.

The same thought may have occurred to Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Unlike Frank Baum, Maguire didn’t write a children’s book. Maguire wanted to explore the eternal questions of good and evil. Stephen Schwartz thought Maguire’s adult fairy tale had potential as a family-friendly musical. He was right.

Events in Maguire’s book happen before Dorothy shows up in Oz. It’s the story of Elphaba, a child despised by her parents in part because she’s green. [As Kermit the Frog has observed, “It’s not easy being green.”]

Elphaba has a sister named Nessarose. It seems an appropriate name since this child came out pink in the book, though not in the play. In the book, Nessa is born without arms. Schwartz and his partner Winnie Holzman changed Nessa’s character by giving her arms. Instead, they confined Nessa to a wheelchair. Elphaba’s alterego is Galinda (later shortened to Glinda) who is everything Elphaba is not. Beautiful, popular, self-centered. But, of course, the two eventually become friends . . . sort of.

Elphaba has supernatural powers and a book of spells. When she discovers the Wizard wants to remove the power of speech from the animals, Elphaba becomes an animal rights activist. Elphaba’s apparent power and unpopular politics lead to fantastical rumors of her wicked intent. And so a Wicked Witch is born. But the audience knows the truth. Elphaba isn’t really wicked. The evidence is purely circumstantial.

Like the 1939 MGM movie, Wicked has is enormously popular. Since it’s premier on Broadway in 2003, Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz has grossed over $3 billion worldwide. By the end of 2013, Wicked had been performed in thirteen countries and translated into Japanese, German, Dutch, Spanish and Korean.

AND THE MORAL TO THE STORY . . . 

If there’s any lesson to be found in these three stories about Oz, it’s that we all experience exclusion. We all wish a wizard would solve our problems. But, in the end, the wizard doesn’t exist. We have to face our fears alone and become the intelligent, courageous, compassionate people we wish to be.

Acknowledgements:

Featured Image: I’m standing outside the Paramount Theater, Seattle.

Interesting Factoid: Stephen Schwartz used L. Frank Baum’s initials L-F-B to create the name Elphaba.

Judy Garland’s Ruby Slippers. Here.

“Wizard of Oz” ruby slippers find home at film academy.” Reuters. February 22, 2012. Here.

David Steward. “10 things You Didn’t Know About Wicked.” October 21, 2013. Here.

The post ONCE UPON A TIME IN OZ first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.