The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Most of you were probably not aware that the all time classic story of The Wizard of Oz is considered to be the very first American fairy tale. I learned that in my American Civilization class this semester and I am currently working on a report on it. Through my research I discovered that many people view the Wizard of Oz as symbolic of America following the Great Depression and the desolation our country was in following the Stock Market crash in the 1920s. I have heard that speculation as well but through further research found out that The Wizard of Oz was in fact written well before the 1920s and first published in 1900. That was an interesting bit of information to find out after reading about all the symbolism the story holds...turns out it's not true. I guess we learn something new everyday!! I thought I'd share some of the supposed symbolisms with you:

Oz = ounces (representative of the measurement for gold)
Yellow Brick Road = Bricks of ingot bars of gold
Scarecrow = representation of the legal "Straw Man"
Tin Man = representation of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)
Cowardly Lion = representation of the once-fearless American people
Kansas = the heart of America, located almost in the center of the country
Emerald City = The Federal Reserve System
Wizard = the scum-bag, con-artist, of the day trying to make a living by cheating people out of their money/dreams
Toto (in Latin) = in total, all together (the witch wanted to take TOTO, everything)
The witch being destroyed with pure clean water = representation of liquidation

Anyway, that's just a few of them. You can see why people get confused as to the true origin and intent of the story? I just thought I'd try to make some clarification.