...later a strong advocate of the Reclamation Act of 1 9o2 — warned that "the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities...the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country." Bryan spoke not just for the virtuous rural life; he articulated a widely held and deeply...

...that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard. We reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities...the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country!" At this the convention erupted in a sustained outpouring of approval. The delegates leaped...

...followers stressed the indispensable role of agriculture in the national economy — and they were right. "Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your...the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country," Bryan once said. In 1977 farmers sold more than $100 billion worth of goods and generated...

...farmer and tractor collector Sonoma Valley Pumpkin Patch, California CHAPTER 2 A Long, Cold Winter "Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your...the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country. " — William Jennings Bryan, campaign speech, Democratic National Convention of 1896...

...history. Raising the banner of silver against gold, western farmers against eastern business, Bryan said, "Burn down your cities and leave our farms and your...the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country." With a great theatrical flourish, he concluded, "You shall not press down upon the brow...

...American farmer today is that a pigeon can still make a deposit on a John Deere. — Jim Hightower Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your...the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country. — William Jennings Bryan Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're...

...powerful rhetoric of quasi-Populist Democrat William Jennings Bryan: The great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities...the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country, (from Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech ("You shall not press down upon the brow of labor...

...candidate. In his famous Cross of Gold speech, Bryan castigated urban America: "The great cities rest on broad and fertile prairies. . . . Burn down your cities...the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country" (Hofstadter 1955: 35). Bryan was just as adamant in his opposition to American imperialism...

...and lobbyists. As Bryan said in 1896, while assuming that most social parasites lived in urban areas, "Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your...the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country."44 Populists held that corporations turned the nation's producers, who included urban...

...every class which rests upon them." Farmers sat at the head of the table of the producing classes. "Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your...the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country!" Waiting for the whoops and applause to subside, he closed with his arms outstretched...