Life, 1896-10-15 · page 1 of 18
Life — October 15, 1896 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine, October 15, 1896 This page features a large coin design titled "When Silver is King: The Dollar of the Future" — a satirical commentary on the 1896 presidential election's monetary debate. The image depicts Lady Liberty wearing a crown of wheat sheaves, with text reading "In Bryan We Trust" and dated "1896." This mocks William Jennings Bryan's Free Silver campaign, which advocated unlimited silver coinage to help farmers and debtors. The satire suggests that if Bryan won and "silver became king," the dollar would be devalued and unstable. Life's conservative Republican editors opposed free silver, viewing it as economically reckless. The coin's design parodies official currency while criticizing Bryan's populist monetary policy as dangerous fantasy rather than sound financial practice.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XXVIII. NEW YORK, OCTOBER 15, 1896. NUMBER 720. Entered at the New York Post Office as Second-Class Mail Matter. Copyright, 1896, by Mircumit & Miter, 1696 © ry are My rT WHEN SILVER IS KING. THE DOLLAR OF THE FUTURE. SIZE OF LIFE. comicbooks.com