What were some of the major problems facing farmers during the

1. What were some of the major problems facing farmers during the Gilded Age and how did they respond??

2. Wanted, dead or alive`

3. Economic Distress Farmers borrow a lot of money to buy new technology, like mechanical reapers and tractors Farmers buy more land to grow more crops to pay off debts After Civil War, government takes Greenbacks out of circulation Debtors have to pay loans in dollars worth more than those borrowed Prices of crops fall dramatically, deflation 1870s, debtors push government to put more money in circulation to cause inflation 1878 Bland-Allison Act-money supply increase not enough for farmers Farmers and the Populist Movement: Farmers unite to address their economic problems, giving rise to Populism

4. Problems with the Railroads • Lack of competition lets railroads overcharge to transport grain • Farms mortgaged to buy supplies; suppliers charge high interest

5. The Silver Issue • “Crime of ’73” demonetization ofsilver (govt. stopped coining silver). • Bland-Allison Act (1878)  limitedsilver coinage to $2-$4 mil. per mo.(based on the 16:1 ratio of silver togold). • Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890) • The US Treasury must purchase$4.5 mil. oz. of silver a month. • Govt. deposited most silver in theUS Treasury rather than circulation. Farmers Demand the unlimited coinage of Silver!!

6. Bi-Metallism Issue

7. Populism: An Agrarian Revolt

8. Price Indexes for Consumer & Farm products: 1865-1913

9. Founder of the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry (1867)

10. The Grange Movement • First organized in the 1870s in the Midwest, the south, and Texas. • Set up cooperative associations. • Social and educational components. • Succeeded in lobbying for “Granger Laws.” • Rapidly declined by the late 1870s.

13. The Farmers Alliances • Begun in the late 1880s (Texas first  the Southern Alliance; then in the Midwest  the Northern Alliance). • Built upon the ashes of the Grange. • More political and less social than the Grange. • Ran candidates for office. • Controlled 8 state legislatures & had 47representatives in Congress during the 1890s.

14. United We Stand, Divided We Fall • In 1889 both the Northern andSouthern Alliancesmerged into one—the Farmers’ Alliance.

15. "What you farmers need to do is raise less corn and more Hell." -Mary Elizabeth Lease, 1890

16. Platform of Lunacy

17. The Populist (People’s) Party • Founded by James B. Weaverand Tom Watson around farmer’s interests. • Omaha, NE Convention in July,1892. • Got almost 1 million popularvotes. • Several Congressional seatswon. James B. Weaver, Presidential Candidate &James G. Field, VP

18. Omaha Platform of 1892 System of “sub-treasuries.” Abolition of the National Bank. Direct election of Senators. Govt. ownership of RRs, telephone & telegraph companies. Government-operated postal savings banks. Restriction of undesirable immigration. 8-hour work day for government employees. Abolition of the Pinkerton detective agency. Australian secret ballot. Re-monitization of silver. A single term for President & Vice President.

19. Govt.-Owned Companies

20. 1892 Election

21. The Panic of 1893 Here Lies Prosperity

22. Written by a Farmer at the End of the 19c When the banker says he's brokeAnd the merchant’s up in smoke,They forget that it's the farmer who feeds them all.It would put them to the testIf the farmer took a rest;Then they'd know that it's the farmer feeds them all.

23. Coxey’s Army, 1894 • Jacob Coxey & his “Army of the Commonwealth of Christ.” • March on Washington  labeled “hayseed socialists!” • Demanded the government to create public works jobs for the unemployed

24. Result of Election Returns • Populist voteincreased by40% in the bi-election year,1894.

25. The 1896 Election

26. William Jennings Bryan Democrat The “Great Commoner”

27. William Jennings Bryan Prairie avenger, mountain lion, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Gigantic troubadour, speaking like a siege gun, Smashing Plymouth Rock with his boulders from the West. • Revivalist style of oratory.

28. Bryan’s“Cross of Gold” Speech You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon across of gold!

29. Democratic Party Taken Over by the Agrarian Left Platform  tariff reductions; income tax; strictercontrol of the trusts (esp. RRs); free silver.

30. Bryan: The Farmers Friend(The Mint Ratio) 18,000 miles of campaign “whistle stops.”

31. Gold / Silver Bug Campaign Pins

33. William McKinley Republican

34. Mark Hanna: The “Front-Porch” Campaign

36. NAME: John D. RockefellerOCCUPATION: ManufacturingWORTH: $125,000,000 Cornelius Vanderbilt, Railroads100,000,000C. P. Huntington, Railroads60,000,000J. Pierpont Morgan, Banker25,000,000Joseph Milbank, Banker20,000,000Andrew Carnegie, Manufacturer20,000,000William D. Sloane, Carpets15,000,000John Sloane, Carpets15,000,000David Dowes, Banker12,000,000Herman O. Armour, Provisions12,000,000Brayton Ives, Banker10,000,000 John H. Starin, Transportation10,000,000George Bliss, Banker8,000,000Samuel Thomas, Contractor7,500,000Charles L. Tiffany, Jeweler7,000,000LeGrand B. Cannon, Railroads6,500,000 Henry H. Cook, Financier6,500,000 . (If the wealth of this committee were converted into metallic money it would absorb all the gold in the United States and about $75,000,000 of the silver.)--Raleigh News and Observer, September 6, 1896, reprinted from New York Journal, 3 August 1896Are you rich? If yes, how did you get rich? Is somebody else poor because you are rich? Are you rich because somebody else was willing to work while you loafed around? Did you get rich by taking from the man who worked for you four-fifths of all he produced? If yes, is that sort of thing creditable to you? When you started out to get rich why didn't you do it by working yourself? Couldn't you get rich without stealing what another produced?--The Coming Nation, August 1, 1896 HALF A BILLION BACK OF M'KINLEY.The following is a list in part of the members of the Union League Club Committee that has been appointed to provide funds to combat the free silver sentiment. Each man is possessed of great wealth and in control of much more:

37. The Seasoned Politician vs. The “Young” Newcomer

38. 1896 Election Results

39. Gold Triumphs Over Silver • 1900  GoldStandard Act • A victory for the forces ofconservatism.

40. McKinley gets East, industrial Midwest; Bryan South, farm Midwest McKinley elected president; Populism collapses; leaves legacy: the powerless can organize agenda of reforms enacted in 20th century by Progressives Victory for the gold standard and conservatives Election ends the politics of paralysis and stalemate and leads to the domination of Republican rule until the New Deal coalition of 1932 Overall, the election showed the emergence and domination of big business, urban America. The End of Populism

42. The Wizard of Ozby L. Frank Baum

43. What Are the Metaphors? • Dorothy  ? • Kansas  ? • Wicked Witch of theEast  ? • Tinman  ? • Scarecrow  ? • Cowardly Lion  ? • Yellow Brick Road  ? • Slippers  ? • Emerald City  ? • Oz  ? • The Wizard  ? • Munchkins  ? • Wicked Witch of the West  ? • Flying Monkeys  ?

44. Oz = Ounces of Gold

45. The Yellow Brick Road = paved with gold bricks, and leads to D.C.

46. The Emerald City = Washington D.C., the color of money

47. Dorothy’s journey on the Yellow Brick Road Coxey’s March on Washington

48. Dorothy= the common person, a farmer

49. Kansas  heart land of the country, populist stronghold

50. The Wicked Witch of the East = Eastern bankers, New York City