Fun Fact #517 Common Cents Reform
Fun Fact #517
Common Cents Reform
In the late 1800s, there was a push to add silver as a second metal to which the dollar could be backed by (Backed by means it can be Exchanged for a precious material– often metal or cowrie shells) and thus allow the country to produce more money to use in the import of food after a series Midwestern Crop failures. This attracted the attention of the US Silvermines who created the “Free Silver” movement whose core goal was allowing silvermines to make Bullion Coins (a metal coin accepted as an official currency) without government oversight and just report on how much they made at the end of the year.
Suffice it to say, this did not go over well. Corruption was rampant even without the bill being successfully passed (they kept trying until 1900) with both Republicans and Democrats wrangling for power from it. This resulted in an economic Boom at first and then blew up into what is now referred to as “The Long Depression” (Panic of 1893). This lasted until 1897 as stock markets crashed and inflation soared --leading to the creation of the 4th Political party in US History, “The Populists”.
What drove all of this over the edge however was a Populist boycott in Pullman, Illinois (south Chicago) when The American Railway Union (ARU) decided to boycott in order to be allowed to own buy their homes, only to be met by the Railway Brotherhood (Democrat-backed Railway Engineer and Conductors’ Union) to violently oppose them resulting in a riot that rolled out to every major Rail Hub in The Continental US (The Brotherhood War). These riots were only stopped when Populist President Grover Cleveland sent in the army to break riots and boycotts up Nationwide after 30 deaths were reported from The Pullman Riots alone. The ARU was then forcefully broken up into several smaller unions with the total Damage caused by the unions estimated to be around 2.8 Billion dollars (Unadjusted for inflation). To put that in perspective, a Bushel of Wheat was 12 cents at the time and is now at $6.80.
One of the only places in the Nation with a rail-hub not to suffer rioting was Rockford Illinois, which temporarily shut down all rail into the city after The Pullman Strike started and relocated ARU members to the West of the City while Brotherhood went to the east. Anyone who resisted was Jailed. While Rockford would still be negatively impacted by the Depression, it would be left in a position to rebound quicker than most other cities in the Nation as the Depression came to an end when the Morgan-Belmont Syndicate bailed out the US Government (they provided A LOT of Gold through hiring groups like the Pinkertons to enforce unofficial Capital Controls on mines not to sell gold overseas).
Interestingly Bullion Coins are still made in the US and are called "American Eagle Bullion Coins" or just "American Eagles" for short (made in Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Palladium). They still serve the primary purpose of safeguarding your money from inflation but are somewhat difficult to obtain --having to directly contact the US Treasury or find a 2nd party vendor who has already bought the Coins.
Illinois National Guard Opens fire into a Strike on July 7th, 1894
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