2. Labor vs. Greed       

Source: Southern Mercury (Dallas, TX), July 23, 1896

Plutocracy was a synonym for monopolist in the late nineteenth century.  In Greek Mythology, Pluto was the god of the lower world, also known as Hades.  Populist newspapers frequently reprinted particularly good cartoons from other Populist newspapers.  Watson Heston of Carthage, Missouri, drew this illustration for Jacob Coxey's newspaper, Sound Money (Massillon, Ohio).  Henry Vincent, former editor of the American Nonconformist, which carried many Watson Heston cartoons, worked for Coxey in 1896, and copyrighted the illustration, which the Southern Mercury of Dallas, Texas, reproduced.  Notice that the balance bar at the top of the scales is labeled "Corrupt Legislation."  Populist contended that it was corrupt legislation that allowed exploiters to steal from producers.  Also, note that the sword in the farmer's hand is labeled the "last resort."   Although farmers expressed considerable anger toward banks and mortgage companies, very little actual violence occurred.  The People's Party was firmly committed to the democratic process. 

Cartoons commonly use popular stereotypes to get their message across.  The Rothschild's, a family of European Jewish bankers, frequently appear as villains in Populist cartoons.  Scholarly critics of Populism, like Richard Hofstadter, have charged Populists with anti-Semitism.  Were Populists Anti-Semitic?  By today's standards, they probably were.  But, they were no more anti-Semitic than other elements of Anglo-Saxon America at the time.  Anti-Semitism was widespread in Europe and America before the Holocaust of the 1940s.  Populist Anti-Semitism was limited to anti-banker/moneylender sentiment.  Very few Populists joined the American Protective Association, the major nativist organization of the 1890s.  In fact, the Populist Rocky Mountain News mounted a crusade against the APA in its pages during the mid-1890s.

For Hofstadter's charges, see:

Hofstadter, Richard. The Age of Reform: From Bryan to FDR. 330 p., index. New York: Knopf, 1955.

For an early rebuttal, see: 

Woodward, C. Vann. "The Populist Heritage and the Intellectual." American Scholar. 29(1):55-72. Winter 1959. Reprinted in The Burden of Southern History. 250 p. Revised edition, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U P, 1968.

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