 Dawes also met Democratic Congressman William Jennings Bryan, forming a friendship with Bryan despite his opposition to Bryan's free silver policies.Dawes relocated from Lincoln to Chicago during the Panic of 1893.In 1894, Dawes acquired interests in a number of Midwestern gas plants, and he became the president of both the La Crosse Gas Light Company in La Crosse, Wisconsin and the Northwestern Gas Light and Coke Company in Evanston, Illinois.