| bimetallism | The practice of using two metals – gold and silver – as the basis for the dollar. The United States practiced bimetallism throughout its history up until 1873.
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| cooperatives | Business enterprises owned by members of an organization and operated for members' benefit and profit. Farmers hoped to avoid reliance on businessmen by forming their own cooperatives, but most of these enterprises failed.
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| dark horse | A political candidate who is not considered a front runner and whose victory would be surprising to most observers.
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| laissez faire | The theory that the economy functions best when it is free from governmental interference. In a strict laissez-faire system, the government neither helps nor hinders business, but many American businessmen who professed laissez-faire doctrines were happy to accept government aid in the form of protective tariffs and railroad subsidies.
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| subtreasuries | A network of government-owned warehouses advocated by the Populist Party, in which farmers could deposit their crops. Using these crops as collateral, growers could then borrow money from the government at low rates of interest and wait for the price of their goods to go up before selling them.
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