Brion McClanahanYes because you increase the amount of money in circulation and at the same time you devalue the currency. This is why the so-called “Gold Democrats” were able to say that they wanted the working class to receive 100 cents for every dollar earned. The legislative mechanisms that put this into place, the Bland-Allison Act and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, (also the high McKinley tariff) wrecked the economy, particularly the latter. When Grover Cleveland began his second term in 1893 he had to rescue the economy from the silverites and a severe panic caused by a run on gold in the treasury and high inflation. He took heat for this, primarily because he said it was not the government’s job to support the people, but he made the hard and correct decisions and the economy eventually rebounded.