# Wizard of Oz and the Gold Standard **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2001, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684 "2001-01-25T05:50:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684/1 "2001-01-25T05:50:53Z")
A friend of mine with a slight penchant for expanding stories beyond the factual just told me that his Econ Professor mentioned that the Oz books are, in some ways, an extended metaphor of the political environment of the time. He gave the following “points” as examples: [ul] [li]Dorothy walks down a golden road in the land of Oz (oz. = ounces)[/li] [li]She originally had silver slippers in the books, signifying the silver standard.[/li] [li]The wizard (I think) is supposed to be William Jennings Bryan.[/li] [li]Various other characters represent the different political figures/groups of the time.[/li][/ul] This is really two questions in one: Is this a reputable analysis of the Oz books? is the second point true? What exactly was the whole gold/silver standard conflict about? Did it take place at the time of the writing of the Oz books? ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684/2 "2001-01-25T06:55:50Z")
How does his professor account for The Lollipop Guild? ---
**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684/3 "2001-01-25T06:57:51Z")
Cecil has already touched on this: > **[Is The Wizard of Oz a satire of the French Revolution?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341539/is-em-the-wizard-of-oz-em-a-satire-of-the-french-revolution)** > > Dear Cecil: > ABC recently aired the movie classic, The Wizard of Oz, which brings to mind something I first heard in high school. A friend of mine had collected several of the Oz books by L. Frank... [http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/Populism.htm](http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/Populism.htm) A search of the archives with “Wizard of Oz populist” yields several good threads: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=33188](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=33188) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=9404](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=9404) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=44366](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=44366) Basically, it’s as much bunk as the belief that Ring around the Rosey is about the black plague, or that the Twelve Days of Christmas is a coded Catholic catechism. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684/4 "2001-01-25T08:41:17Z")
Thanks Opus. I appreciate it. Maybe I’ll learn how to searh (hopefully) soon. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684/5 "2001-01-25T13:32:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Opus1 \* > \*\*Basically, it’s as much bunk as the belief that Ring around the Rosey is about the black plague, or that the Twelve Days of Christmas is a coded Catholic catechism. \*\* Ok, I’ve heard the Black Plague/Ring Around The Rosey and the Wizard of Oz/Econ-Political things before, but not the Twelve Days of Christmas/Catholic one. What is that all about? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684/6 "2001-01-25T15:37:51Z")
There has been an e-mail and handout circulating for a couple of years that the Twelve Days of Christmas was a coded catechism forCatholics during the period when they were suppressed in Britain. I’m pretty sure that Cecil has addressed it and I _know_ that Snopes has addressed it. [http://www.snopes.com/holidays/xmas/12days.htm](http://www.snopes.com/holidays/xmas/12days.htm) Basically, the reasons given why it _could_ have been written for that purpose are as watertight as an old beat-up window screen. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684/7 "2001-01-25T15:47:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sue Duhnym \* > \*\*How does his professor account for The Lollipop Guild? \*\* Guilds, trade unions, labor in general; the little people who were afraid of Eastern capitalists. Take this as more of a guess than an answer, but it seems to fit. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684/8 "2001-01-25T15:51:25Z")
Thanks, tomndebb. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![muppetsoup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@muppetsoup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muppetsoup)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684/9 "2001-01-25T16:51:25Z")
I remember reading that same interpretation of ‘Wizard of Oz’ in ‘The Bathroom Reader’, and ‘The Bathroom Reader’ has never steered me wrong before. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684/10 "2001-01-25T18:26:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\*Basically, the reasons given why it _could_ have been written for that purpose are as watertight as an old beat-up window screen. \*\* Tom, I must say that that’s a great (and very amusing) analogy. Bye, Jack. ---
**Author:** ![Yardstick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8c91f0/32.png) [@Yardstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yardstick)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-and-the-gold-standard/51684/11 "2001-01-25T20:07:32Z")
> [@](#): > > **Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.** ``` --*Mark Twain*'s forward in Huckleberry Finn ``` Words to live by.