The Greatest Monetary Allegory Ever Told
In 1900, L. Frank Baum wrote a "children's story" that many believe was a coded blueprint of the banking crisis of his time. As the 20th century dawned, the battle between the Gold Standard and the "Free Silver" movement was tearing America apart.
A literal representation of the Gold Standard. Rigid, beautiful, but leading to a destination that doesn't actually solve the traveler's problems.
In the original 1900 book, Dorothy’s shoes were Silver, not ruby. Baum was suggesting that silver was the "people's money" that had the power to take Dorothy home all along—if only she knew how to use it.
The name "Oz" is widely believed to be the abbreviation for Ounce—the standard unit of measurement for both gold and silver. The story is literally "The Land of the Ounce."
Representing the factory workers who were "rusted" shut by the Depression of 1893. He has no heart because the industrial machine had dehumanized the American worker.
Thought to represent William Jennings Bryan, the "Silver-Tongued" politician who roared about the silver standard but lacked the political power (courage) to defeat the banking interests.
The American farmer. Thought to be "brainless" by the banking elites, yet he is the one who actually comes up with the solutions throughout the journey.
When the travelers finally reach the Emerald City (Washington D.C.), they find a Wizard who rules through illusion and fear. When the curtain is pulled back, he is revealed to be a "common man" using smoke and mirrors.
The Wizard represents the President or the Central Bankers—figures who maintain the illusion of value in a system that, when stripped of its "emerald glasses" (the green ink of paper money), is revealed to be a fabrication. In the end, Dorothy didn't need the Wizard; she only needed the silver shoes she had been wearing since the beginning.
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