Obstacle: Remoteness of Markets
Solution: The railroads allowed the farmers to ship their produce east |
Obstacle: Lack of wood, clay, or rock for homes
Solution: the farmers built sod-houses made from grass and soil cut into bricks |
Obstacle: Lack of wood for fencing
Solution: The farmers used barbed wire to fence in their property and keep animals out |
Obstacle: lack of rainfall
Solution: Farmers used drilling equipment to dig wells. They also used windmills to power pumps and bring water to the surface |
Obstacle: Lack of fuel
Solution: Farmers burnt "buffalo chips" (dried buffalo manure) for fuel |
Obstacle: Tough, dry soil
Solution: Farmers used plows to plow deeper into the soil. This new technique became known as "dry farming" |
Obstacle: Lack of manpower
Solution: Farmers used machinery, carried by animals, to farm more acres with few workers |
Still confused? Read the following scenario from your Gateway Book pg 106
A farmer might buy tools and seed for $10.00. He borrows the money from the bank. Suppose the farmer needs to sell 100 bushels of wheat to earn $10.00 to repay the loan. If prices go down, he will need to sell more wheat to earn the same $10.00 to pay off the loan. If prices go up, it will become easier for him to pay the loan because he can sell less wheat to make $10.00 |
The Grange was formed in 1867 as a national association of farmers' social clubs. They hoped to break the isolation of farmers and spread information about new farming techniques. Within 10 years, the Grange had more than 1.5 million members, organizing picnics, lectures, and other social activities. Grangers tried to replace middlemen by forming their own "cooperatives" to buy materials at discount and sell their crops directly to towns and cities.
Once farmers had organized into clubs, they turned to politics. Since they blamed the railroad companies for most of their problems, naturally they first aimed to regulate the railroads. These new laws became known as "Granger laws" and were highighy protested by the railroad companies
The Interstate Commerce Act (1887) marked the first step towards federal regulation of unfair business practices. It prohibited railroad companies from giving different rates to different customers for hauling freight the same distance. Railroad companies were required to publish their rates which had to be "fair and reasonable." The Interstate Commerce Commission was created to investigate complaints and enforce the act.
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Would it be fair to argue the Populist Party and their platform as a foundation for the coming Progressive Party of the 1900s?
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The Populist Party 1892-1896
Eventually, the Grangers formed regional political associations known as"Farmers Alliances" in the Northwest and the South. Since these associations were focused mostly on local politics, in 1892 they turned their attention to national politics by creating The Populist Party or "People's Party".
Populists believed rich industrialists and bankers had control of the government and that the Democratic and Republican Parties had both "sold out" to banking interests. They also believed bankers were using their control of government to restrict the money supply so that their own gold would become even more valuable. (Gateway, 108-109) They wanted to unite all laboring men-both farmers and industrial workers. |
The Populist Platform 1892
A platform is a political party's declared policy outlining their party's objectives. The following are apart of the Populist Party's platform of 1892
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Free coinage of silver, the Populists argued, would increase the money available through bimetallism: a system of allowing the unrestricted currency of two metals (e.g. gold and silver)
This would raise farm prices and make loans easier to repay. At the Democratic Convention of 1896, William Jennings Bryan won the Democratic Party's nomination after delivering his famous "Cross of Gold" speech where he distinguished the farmer and condemned the bankers for attempting to "crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." This call for "free silver" by the Democrats and Bryan brought the Populists Party under control of the Democratic Party, ending their independence as a separate party. William Jennings Bryan lost the election of 1896 to William McKinley. Even though the Populists dispersed, many of their ideas were adopted later in the Progressive Era. |