As many as one in five people in a working population of 15 million was without a job. By the end of the year, 642 banks had collapsed, wiping out their depositors' savings, and about 16,000 individual businesses failed. ![]() The announcement triggered a panic on the stock market, particularly among companies that had indulged in overproduction and investors who had engaged in speculation and profiteering. On 3 May a trust that controlled the production and sale of twine declared bankruptcy. The Populists' criticism of corrupt eastern elites seemed to be justified in the financial crisis that began in early May 1893. Weaver received over a million votes in the presidential election of 1892, taking 8.5% of the total vote and 22 electoral votes. Chief among the Populists' demands were the unlimited coinage of silver to increase the money supply, direct elections of senators, a national income tax, and government ownership of the railroads and telephone and telegraph companies. Louis convention established a national People's (or Populist) Party to fight for a host of reforms. In response, Kansas farmers formed the first People's Party chapter in 1890. The apparent collusion of big business and the federal government also riled farmers who were convinced that the railroads were takingĪdvantage of them with high shipping rates and monopolistic practices. Antitrust laws were rarely applied to business trusts instead, corporations invoked them to break up labor unions. Although reformers had fought for the Interstate Commerce Act (1887) and the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890), both measures were quickly co-opted by businessmen to serve their own interests. In Gilded Age America, there were few financial controls and little government oversight of the business sector. An international contingent of more than 2,000 men arrives to restore order, but only after several tens of thousands have died. 1900: China's Boxer Rebellion, which began in the preceding year with attacks on foreigners and Christians, reaches its height.This meets with the agreement of other nations involved, including western European countries and Japan. Secretary of State John Hay proposes an " Open Door" policy-meaning that all foreign powers with an economic interest in China should have an equal share As a result, Cuba gains it independence, and the United States purchases Puerto Rico and the Philippines from Spain for $20 million. 1898: United States defeats Spain in the three-month Spanish American War.Her 900 guests, dressed in Louis XV period costumes, consume 60 cases of champagne. Bradley Martin, daughter of Carnegie Steel magnate Henry Phipps, throws a lavish party at New York's recently opened Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where she has a suite decorated to look like Versailles. 1897: In the midst of a nationwide depression, Mrs.1896: First modern Olympic Games held in Athens.1895: German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovers X rays.Meanwhile, crop failures across Russia lead to widespread starvation. 1891: Construction of Trans-Siberian Railway begins.Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act, which in the years that follow will be used to break up large monopolies. The four-year depression finally lifted but not before giving impetus to a new era of political and economic reforms. Shortly after Bryan's defeat in the election of 1896, the economy began to improve as prices for American crops began to climb. Although he lost the election, Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech in support of a free silver monetary policy became the most electrifying moment in the campaign. The party reached a peak in 1896 when it endorsed the Democratic candidate for president, William Jennings Bryan, for office. As thousands of farmers lost their land, the Populist Party gained momentum as a voice of reform and government intervention in the economy. The agricultural sector, already experiencing a slump, also felt the aftereffects of the panic. National unemployment reached an estimated 20 percent in the first year of the crisis, and only a few cities managed to provide relief of any kind. Following the collapse of several Wall Street brokerage houses, over 600 banks and 16,000 businesses failed by the end of the year. ![]() A financial panic in May 1893 led the United States into the worst economic depression it had experienced up to that point in its history.
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