Friday, February 05, 2010

An Unfortunate Nickname



Richard Parks Bland was for many years a Democratic Representative from Missouri. "No man of any party had been more consistently or conspicuously an advocate for the free coinage of silver," exemplified by his authorship of the Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act of 1878.

As a result, Stanley L. Jones reports, "his name became a household word, and he was known nationally as 'Silver Dick' Bland."

This post indicates, however, that the residents of the eponymous town of Bland, Missouri were not put off:
The people of this community were so proud of [Bland's] accomplishments that they named their new town in his honor. As you enter the town today, a billboard welcomes you to the home of "Silver Dick" Bland.

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