Richard Parks Bland, Lebanon, Missouri
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 40.949 W 092° 39.836
15S E 529632 N 4170639
Statue on the Courthouse lawn, at 2nd and Adams streets, in Lebanon, MO.
Waymark Code: WM3V3Q
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 05/19/2008
Views: 43
County of statue: Laclede County
Location of statue: Adams Ave., between 2nd St & 3rd St., courthouse lawn, Lebanon
Artist: Unknown
Founder: White Bronze Monument Company
Dedicated: June 1902
RICHARD PARKS BLAND
Erected by the Friends of the dead statesman, at Lebanon, Missouri, his old home, the Monticello of the West.
"I do speak for the great masses of the Mississippi Valley, when I say that we will not submit to the domination of any political party, however much we may love it, that lays the sacrificing hand upon silver and will demonetize it."
Born in Kentucky in 1835, Bland was orphaned at age 14. he became a teacher, and eventually migrated to Lebanon, MO. in 1869. He became a popular attorney and friend urged him to run for congress as a Democrat in 1872.
During the Civil War the Federal Government had issued $450 million worth of currency backed only by credit. When it withdrew the greenbacks after the war, the poor ad working class suffered. The Demonetization Act of 1873, which discontinued the minting of silver, caused further currency contraction that benefited only the wealthy.
In 1876, Bland sponsored a bill to permit the free and unlimited minting of silver coins. The congressman believed that reintroducing of silver into the economy would inflate the money supply and expand the currency, thus placing more money into the hands of the ordinary citizens. Senator W.B. Allison amended the bill limiting the amount of silver to be purchased in a month, thus it became the Bland-Allison Act, and became law in 1878.
In 1890 several European nation moved to the Gold standard, causing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act to be passed in the United States. This act authorized the purchase of 4,5000,000 onces of silver each month for coins. Under Grover Cleveland's influence this Act was repealed in 1893, and this nation returned to the gold standard. This caused high unemployment, labor unrest, agricultural distress, and the economy worsened. Because of Cleveland's policies many Democrats suffered defeat in the elections of 1894, including Bland.
The "Silver Issue" took center stage in the 1896 elections, and Bland became a prospective presidential candidate. William Jennings Bryan, however, became the delegates choice on the fifth ballot. Bland was then reelected to the house in 1896 & 1989. He died in Lebanon in 1899.