"Why the Farmers Were Wrong"
The period between 1880 and 1900 was a boom time for American
politics. The country was for once free of the threat of war, and many
of its citizens were living comfortably. However, as these two decades
went by, the American farmer found it harder and harder to live
comfortably. Crops such as cotton and wheat, once the bulwark of
agriculture, were selling at prices so low that it was nearly impossible
for farmers to make a profit off them. Furthermore, improvement in
transportation allowed foreign competition to materialize, making it
harder for American farmers to dispose of surplus crop. Finally, years
of drought in the midwest and the downward spiral of business in the
1890's devastated many of the nation's farmers. As a result of the
agricultural depression, many farm groups, most notably the Populist
Party, arose to fight what farmers saw as the reasons for the decline in
agriculture. During the last twenty years of the nineteenth century,
many farmers in the United States saw monopolies and trusts, railroads,
and money shortages and the demonetization of silver as threats to their
way of life, though in many cases their complaints were not valid.
The growth of the railroad was one of the most significant
elements in American economic growth. However, in many ways, the
railroads hurt small shippers and farmers. Extreme competition between
rail companies necessitated some way to win business. To do this, many
railroads offered rebates and drawbacks to larger shippers who used their
rails. However, this practice hurt smaller shippers, including farmers,
for often times railroa ...