JOHN ANDERSON OR THE PANIC OF 1897. An Intensely Interesting Political Novelette.

Neillsville, Wisconsion: Tifft Printing Co., Printers and Stereotypers, 1896. First edition. Good. Pamphlet (approximately 5 1/2" 7 1/2"). ii, 59pp. Stapled with printed paper wrapper. George Jacques was an attorney from Clark County, Wisconsin, who penned this novelette to oppose the Free Silver policies of William Jennings Bryan and the Democrats in the 1896 Presidential election. The plot line is predictably didactic and heavy-handed. His central character is a farmer John Anderson, who becomes an ardent Free Silver advocate despite reasoned opposing arguments from a local merchant and Anderson's own wife. The Free Silver advocates win the election and destroy the gold standard. Within a year, the banks fail and proceed to ruin Anderson's brother, who had a loan he could not repay or refinance. The brother dies of stress, leaving a family that John Anderson must now support. This "cautionary tale" appears in microfiche form in a number of US libraries, but an original hard copy is quite scarce. A few small chips at the corners and along the spine. Wrappers lightly soiled with pages tanned with age. About a good copy.