Agarian Discontent

Agrarian Discontent

Agrarian discontent in the late nineteenth century stemmed from threats made by monopolies and trusts, railroads, money shortages and the demonetization of silver. The American farmer throughout the years had already had his fair share of problems he was perceived as unfair in regards to the success industrialized businessmen were experiencing. Crops such as cotton and wheat, which were once the staples of an agricultural society had begun selling at low prices that it was impossible for farmers to make a profit off them, especially since new inventions had come out in regards to modern equipment that would allow them to produce twice as many goods. Many farmers had invested a lot of money in this new equipment. In addition to modern equipment, improvements in transportation allowed foreign competition to emerge. This made it harder for American farmers to transport crops and dispose of surplus crops. In the 1890’s the Midwest had many years of drought. This drought and the degeneration of business led to an agricultural depression. Many farm groups, such as the Populist Party arose to fight what farmers saw as the reasons for the decline of agriculture.

Near the end of the nineteenth century, business began to centralize, leading to the rise of monopolies and trusts. Falling prices, along with the need for better efficiency in industry, led to the rise of companies, the Carnegie Steel and Standard Oil company being a significant one. The rise of these monopolies and trusts concerned many farmers, for they felt that the disappearance of competition would lead to abnormaly unreasonable price raises that would hurt consumers and ultimately themselves. James B. Weaver, the Populist party's presidential candidate in the 1892 election, summed up the feelings of the many American Farmers of the period in his work, A Call to Action: An Interpretation of the Great Uprising. His interpretations of the feelings of farmers during that time were head...