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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cwtokenman, post: 2232083, member: 2100&quot;]I&#039;m surprised at one very popular movie that has not yet been mentioned. This is a movie that most everyone here has likely seen, although few may realize that the movie is filled with references to money. While the author of the book, L. Frank Baum never came out and said the story was all about money, his life and background, coupled with the numerous possible monetary/economic references in the story, would make it hard to deny that relationship.</p><p><br /></p><p>What well known story would this be, with the book first published back on August 1, 1900, and the movie released in 1939? Why, none other than &quot;The Wizard of Oz&quot; (originally titled &quot;The Wonderful World of Oz&quot;).</p><p><br /></p><p>The following is largely my paraphrasing of content from Fred Schornstein&#039;s &quot;Bryan Money&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>To give a bit of background, and assuming the monetary allegories are legitimate, the story begins with the Act of 1873 (sometimes called the Crime of 1873), which demonetized silver. This was one of the leading causes of the Panic of 1893. The government could not print more greenbacks without additional gold backing, the economy was stagnant, banks were failing, farm prices were collapsing and the prices of other goods were skyrocketing - especially if paid for in silver.</p><p><br /></p><p>He lived a good portion of his early life in New York, and was undoubtedly exposed to a fair amount of politics as he married a daughter of a leading suffragette, Matilda Joslyn Gage. He moved his family to South Dakota, and experienced the different, and tougher life of rural America. Running the Western Investor, a small newspaper, certainly leads one to believe that Baum would have been very much in tune with financial and political matters of the day.</p><p><br /></p><p>Baum moved to Chicago in 1890, which was the site of the Democratic National Convention in 1896. Baum was a supporter of adding silver as backing for greenbacks, and had trust issues with the big money and businesses in the NE section of the country.</p><p><br /></p><p>William Jennings Bryan was at that 1896 Democratic Convention, and delivered a rather famous speech while there. Pretty much, Bryan&#039;s campaign for the presidency was to restore silver as backing and to allow free coinage of silver.</p><p><br /></p><p>Without going into great detail, as that would make for a very much longer post, I will just list some of the symbolism commonly thought to be in the story. If one would like to read more, I am sure that more information can be found on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><p>Dorothy - a young, honest, average rural American citizen</p><p><br /></p><p>Toto - the Prohibition Party</p><p><br /></p><p>the cyclone - the free silver movement</p><p><br /></p><p>land of Oz - ounce of gold</p><p><br /></p><p>Wicked Witch of the East - eastern financial powers</p><p><br /></p><p>Witch&#039;s ruby red shoes (in the movie) - these were silver in the book</p><p><br /></p><p>yellow brick road - gold bricks</p><p><br /></p><p>Emerald City - Washington D.C., green, the color of money</p><p><br /></p><p>Wizard of Oz - Marcus Hanna, the wizard of banking</p><p><br /></p><p>Scarecrow - the western farmer</p><p><br /></p><p>Tin Woodman - American factory worker, who had no heart because he was cursed by the Wicked Witch of the East</p><p><br /></p><p>Cowardly Lion - William Jennings Bryan, because people were afraid he would not keep his campaign promises regarding silver as backing as top priority.</p><p><br /></p><p>the group traveling to the Emerald City - a group of unemployed workers, who were lead on a march to Washington D.C. (1894) by Jacob Coxey, and demanded that the government print $500,000,000 in greenbacks.</p><p><br /></p><p>green colored glasses with a gold buckle - money colored glasses</p><p><br /></p><p>Emerald Palace - The White House</p><p><br /></p><p>There were seven passages and three flights of stairs - the Crime of &#039;73</p><p><br /></p><p>When the witches and wizards were found to be fake, the new, bimetallic world was found to be wonderful.</p><p><br /></p><p>Note that the wizard called Kansas the land of E. Pluribus Unum (a motto on our coinage)</p><p><br /></p><p>Yellow Winkies - Repubican&#039;s capture of the Philippines from Spain and refusal to grant them independence.</p><p><br /></p><p>Munchkins - simple minded people of the East who did not understand financial issues</p><p><br /></p><p>Dorothy and Toto could return home</p><p><br /></p><p>Scarecrow could now understand pertinent financial issues</p><p><br /></p><p>Tin Woodman got a new tool - the bimetallic ax (golden ax with a silver blade)</p><p><br /></p><p>Cowardly Lion proved his primary goal was indeed the silver issue.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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