Monopolies, Farming, and Populism

“What you farmers need to do is raise less corn and more hell!”

Mary Elizabeth Lease (1890)Populist Organizer

Things to Know About the American West

• Homestead Act: 160 acres, 5 years

• Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)

• Dawes Act: Broke up the reservation system and “Americanized” Native Americans

• Cattle frontier: open range ended with barbed wire

• Mining (especially silver)

Why were farmers experiencing problems?

• Mechanization– New machines=more debt

• New Farm Land– Buy more land=more debt

• Specialization of crops– One crop reliance could lead to problems if not a success

• Disasters– Floods, droughts, boll-weevils, grasshoppers

• Monopolies– Railroads, barbed wire companies, oil

The Grange

• Cooperative movement• Pooled money to make

shared purchases of machinery, supplies, and insurance.

• Worked for pro-farmer laws• Interstate Commerce Act:

regulated rates of the railroads

Also known as the Patrons of Husbandry

Populism

• Political movement that aimed to help the farmers with their problems.

• Grew out of the Farmers’ Alliances.

Populist Party and Free Silver

• Farmers wanted to use both gold and silver coins, increasing the amount of money in circulation.

• Larger money supply=Inflation• Inflation means that prices go up and the

value of the dollar goes down.• Creditors hate inflation while debtors love it.