What monetary policy did Populists advocate to help farmers pay debts, though it did not come to pass?

• A. Expansion of the gold standard
• B. Free coinage of silver
• C. Imposing a silver tax
• D. Free trade with Britain

Answer: (B)

Increasing the money supply through silver is the idea being tested. The Populists believed that money in circulation needed to expand beyond the gold standard so farmers could pay debts more easily as prices rose. Free coinage of silver would allow silver to be minted into currency at a fixed ratio to gold, pumping more money into the economy and, in turn, raising crop prices. This inflation would lessen the real burden of debts carried by farmers during a period of deflation.

Historically, farmers faced falling prices and fixed debts under a tight money supply. If silver coinage had been adopted, it would have softened that squeeze by increasing purchasing power and wages within rural areas. Although popular in the 1890s, this policy never became law; the United States ultimately remained on a gold-standard framework for longer, and free silver was not enacted.

The other options don’t fit the farmer-debt relief aim. Expanding the gold standard would tighten money supply and worsen deflation, not relieve debt. Imposing a silver tax would reduce the use of silver rather than expand it. Free trade with Britain concerns tariffs and trade policy, not a mechanism for increasing the money supply to aid debtors.