The cotton tailcoat with oil cloth appliques, brass tone stamped "$" buttons, together with a period oil-cloth cap, and a brass and turned wood parade torch held by brass hand-shaped flag holder.

Provenance: Collection of Jeffrey Kenneth Kohn, MD.

A major issue of the 1896 Presidential election was the currency standard debate. The McKinley Campaign firmly backed "Solid Money," a continuation of the American currency system based on the gold standard. The Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan supported "bimetallism" and the shift to paper currency backed by "free silver." Jennings famously declared his position in a speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." With McKinley's victory, the gold standard was maintained.