The People's Party, also known as "Populist", was a short-lived political party in the United States founded in 1891 during the Populist movement. It was very important in 1892-96, then quickly faded. Founded among poor white cotton farmers in the South and struggling wheat farmers in the plains states, it represented a radical form of crusading agrarianism and hostility toward banks, railroads, and elites in general. He sometimes formed coalitions with labor unions, and in 1896 the Democrats supported their presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan. The terms "populist" and "populism" are commonly used for anti-elitist appeals in opposition to established interests and mainstream parties. While the party didn't win much, it still shaped the United States we know today. A movement began with a single individual, Oliver Hudson Kelley. Kelley was an employee of the Department of Agriculture in 1866 when he toured the South. Shocked by the ignorance of sound agricultural practices, Kelley in 1867 founded an organization called the Patrons of Husbandry that he believed would bring farmers together for educational discussions and social purposes. Also known as the Grange, the Patrons hoped to advance farming methods, as well as promote the social and economic needs of farmers in the United States. The financial crisis of 1873, along with declining crop prices, rising railroad rates to ship crops, and Congress' reduction of paper money in favor of gold and silver, devastated farmers' livelihoods and caused a surge in Grange membership in the mid-1870s. The Grange movement eventually became the Farmers' Alliance with the hope of increasing economic cooperation to raise the price of crops... middle of paper... s. The Scarecrow represents the farmers, the agricultural labourers, ignorant of many things in the city but honest and capable of understanding things with a little education. The Tin Man represents the industrial worker whose heart has been torn apart by the evils of factory work and industrialism. WJ Bryan embodied the role of the cowardly lion. Bryan was a very loud and booming public speaker, but was seen as a coward because he did not support the Spanish-American War. OZ is the United States. The Emerald City is Washington DC full of greenbacks and the wizard is the president. Dorothy and her "group" follow the yellow brick path, or gold standard, to find the wizard and solve his problem. When all along solving his problem of how to get home was touching his ruby ​​red shoes which were silver then in the original book, thus representing the populists pushing for a silver standard.