Editing James B. Weaver (section)

==Populist elder statesman==
Weaver believed that the Populists' embrace of free silver would be the main issue to attract new members to the party.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=177}} After the election he attended a meeting of the '''American Bimetallic League''', a pro-silver group, and gave speeches advocating an inflationist monetary policy.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=178}} Meanwhile the [[Panic of 1893]] caused bank failures, factory closures, and general economic upheaval.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=178}} As the federal gold reserves dwindled, President Cleveland convinced Congress to repeal the [[Sherman Silver Purchase Act]], which ensured the government would purchase less silver for coining and which further disconcerted free silver supporters.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=178}} While depletion of gold reserves slowed after the repeal, the country's economy still floundered.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=181}}
[[File:William-Jennings-Bryan-speaking-c1896.jpeg|thumb|upright|left|Weaver supported Democrat [[William Jennings Bryan]] for president in 1896.]]

The next year, 1894, saw pay cuts and labor disturbances, including a [[Pullman Strike|massive strike]] by the workers at the Pullman Company.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=181}} A group of unemployed workers, known as [[Coxey's Army]], marched on Washington that spring.{{sfn|Haynes|1919|p=353}} Weaver met with them in Iowa and expressed sympathy with the movement, so long as they refrained from lawbreaking.{{sfn|Haynes|1919|p=353}} He then returned to the campaign trail, stumping for Populist candidates in the [[United States House of Representatives elections, 1894|1894 midterm elections]].{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=182}} The election proved disastrous for the Democrats, but most of the gains went to the Republicans rather than to the Populists, who gained a few seats in the South but lost ground in the West.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=183}} During the election, Weaver became friendly with [[William Jennings Bryan]], a Democratic Congressman from Nebraska and a charismatic supporter of free silver.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=183}} Bryan had lost his bid for the Senate in the election, but his reputation as an exciting speaker made him a presidential possibility in 1896.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=183}}

Weaver privately supported Bryan's quest for the Democratic nomination [[1896 United States presidential election|in 1896]], which [[1896 Democratic National Convention|their convention]] awarded him on the fifth ballot.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=184}} When [[1896 Populist National Convention|the Populist convention]] gathered the next month in Chicago, they divided between endorsing the silverite Democrat and preserving their new party's independence.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=186}} Weaver backed the former course, holding the issues the party stood for to be of more importance than the party itself.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=188}} A majority of delegates agreed, but without the enthusiasm that had marked their convention of four years earlier.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=189}}{{efn|Rather than endorse the Democratic vice presidential candidate, the Populists nominated one of their own, former Congressman [[Thomas E. Watson]] of Georgia.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=187}}}} At the same time, Weaver joined with anti-fusionists to keep the Populist platform from deviating from the party's ideological principles.{{sfn|Goodwyn|1978|p=257}} Against the fusion candidate stood Republican [[William McKinley]] of Ohio, a hard-money conservative. Bryan succeeded in uniting the South and West, Weaver's longtime dream, but with the more populous North solidly behind McKinley, Bryan lost the election.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=191}}

Despite the loss, Weaver still believed the Populist cause would triumph. He agreed to be nominated one last time for his old 6th district House seat on a Democratic-Populist fusion ticket.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=191}} As he had ten years earlier, Republican John Lacey defeated Weaver.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=191}} In 1900 Weaver attended a convention of fusionist Populists in [[Sioux Falls, South Dakota]], the party having split on the issue of cooperation with the Democrats.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=192}} The fusionists backed Bryan, the Democratic nominee, but he lost again to McKinley, this time by a greater margin.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=192}} The following year, Weaver was elected to office for the last time as the mayor of his hometown, [[Colfax, Iowa]], after defeating Republican P. H. Cragen and served in that position until 1903.{{sfn|Haynes|1919|p=407}}<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40644463/evening_timesrepublican/ |title=Jen. James B. Weaver Dead |date=March 26, 1901 |work=Evening Times-Republican |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216070552/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40644463/evening_timesrepublican/ |archive-date=December 16, 2019 |url-status=live |page=3 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>