SELL THE COOKSTOVE:
The Panic of 1893
I mentioned that Vivekananda’s story has two frames, the Parliament and the Fair. But the Fair itself had a larger frame, one that included the entire country, that’s usually never mentioned in Vivekananda’s conventional tale. Historians call it the Panic of 1893, which began a few months before the Fair’s opening. I don’t pretend to understand its cause–it all started as a heated national controversy between supporters of the gold and silver monetary standards (which Baum parodied with his Yellow Brick Road and Dorothy’s Silver–not ruby as in the version–Slippers), the fire fanned by government fiscal irresponsibility (glad we don’t have that problem anymore), and poor business practices–but its consequences were obvious. The Panic was the beginning of the worst depression in our history up to that point. So while visitors to the Fair were marveling at the White City, the “showcase” of modern civilization, and entering in a “new age of consumerism” [http://www. correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/ kbd/ kbd_4.html]– they could chose from a host of new brand names, like Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, Pabst Beer (it won its vaunted “Blue Ribbon” at the Fair), Aunt Jemina’s syrup, Juicy Fruit gum, and Cracker Jacks–the rest of the country was in economic chaos, thousands of businesses and banks were failing and unemployment was peaking at 20 percent. It’s not surprising the Fair attracted over 20 million visitors, about a third of the country’s population, since it offered Americans a temporary escape into a safe and self-satisfying fantasy world. Pulitzer Prize-winner Hamlin Garland exemplified the widespread must-see attitude toward the Fair in a letter to his parents, urging them to “Sell the cook stove if necessary and come.”
I mentioned that Vivekananda’s story has two frames, the Parliament and the Fair. But the Fair itself had a larger frame, one that included the entire country, that’s usually never mentioned in Vivekananda’s conventional tale. Historians call it the Panic of 1893, which began a few months before the Fair’s opening. I don’t pretend to understand its cause–it all started as a heated national controversy between supporters of the gold and silver monetary standards (which Baum parodied with his Yellow Brick Road and Dorothy’s Silver–not ruby as in the version–Slippers), the fire fanned by government fiscal irresponsibility (glad we don’t have that problem anymore), and poor business practices–but its consequences were obvious. The Panic was the beginning of the worst depression in our history up to that point. So while visitors to the Fair were marveling at the White City, the “showcase” of modern civilization, and entering in a “new age of consumerism” [http://www. correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/ kbd/ kbd_4.html]– they could chose from a host of new brand names, like Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, Pabst Beer (it won its vaunted “Blue Ribbon” at the Fair), Aunt Jemina’s syrup, Juicy Fruit gum, and Cracker Jacks–the rest of the country was in economic chaos, thousands of businesses and banks were failing and unemployment was peaking at 20 percent. It’s not surprising the Fair attracted over 20 million visitors, about a third of the country’s population, since it offered Americans a temporary escape into a safe and self-satisfying fantasy world. Pulitzer Prize-winner Hamlin Garland exemplified the widespread must-see attitude toward the Fair in a letter to his parents, urging them to “Sell the cook stove if necessary and come.”
