William Jennings Bryan's Speech Before The Ocala Platform

Although Bryan is discussing bimetallism and the Ocala Platform is discussing laws for farmers, they are in fact quite similar in their demands. Neither of the two parties wants national banks; they both would rather have smaller local banks to run the money in the country. Also they both believe income tax is a good thing and that it should not be removed. In William Jennings Bryan’s speech before the Democratic National Convention, he stated that “we are opposing the national bank” (Bryan). In the Ocala Platform, the National Alliance also stated that they opposed national banks and they wanted the creation of sub-treasuries. So even though their topics of discussion are slightly different, their positions on certain subjects are in fact
similar. Normally, people are not in favor of income tax; however, both Bryan and the National Alliance are in favor of income tax. In his speech, Bryan states that “income tax is a just law… I am in favor of an income tax” (Bryan). His justification is that “it simply intends to put the burdens of government justly upon the backs of the people” (Bryan). The National Alliance and the Ocala Platform also calls for income tax. So in fact they both are in favor of income tax. Even though they can be seen on the outside as very different, Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” Speech and the Ocala Platform are quite similar because they both want national banks removed and want to keep income tax. They both wanted what was best for their party.