"The White House Cuckoo Clock"

Northeastern financial interests (and politicians) convinced President Cleveland that a decline in investor confidence had caused the Panic of 1893.  The problem, they claimed, was an outflow of gold in foreign exchange payments caused by the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890.  Cleveland promptly forced repeal of the Sherman Act, which made the free (untaxed) and unlimited coinage of silver at a ratio of 16 to 1 (the pre-1873 ratio) the biggest political issue of the era.  Repeal probably caused even greater deflation.

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