"THE SILVER PLOT" - D. Griffiths [1896]

SUMMARY:

The 1896 pamphlet “The Silver Plot” argues that the free-silver crusade behind William J. Bryan is not a grass-roots revolt but a project bankrolled by “bonanza kings” and allied financiers seeking political power and windfall profits. It frames the movement as an unprecedented conspiracy of capital with transatlantic ties, lists prominent Western mine owners whose combined fortunes it tallies in the hundreds of millions, and highlights alleged European participation through interests in major U.S. silver producers.

The tract portrays these magnates as monopolists who seize rich claims from under-capitalized prospectors, then dominate entire camps by owning the railroads, smelters, banks, and even water supplies—letting them set freight and treatment charges, squeeze producers, influence courts, and discourage outside investors. It also alleges stock-exchange manipulation and notes that, despite cheaper inputs and technical advances, miners’ wages declined, fueling labor unrest.

Finally, it contends the U.S. government has already enriched mine owners via the Bland and Sherman Acts—purchasing roughly 460 million fine ounces of silver for about $464 million, sums the pamphlet compares to the value of major farm crops—while free-silver propaganda was coordinated by the Bi-Metallic League, which it claims paid Bryan, and by a “silver combine” hoarding $50–60 million in bullion that would profit massively if 16-to-1 coinage became law, with strategy allegedly directed from New York’s Plaza Hotel.