Agrarian DiscontentEssay Preview: Agrarian DiscontentReport this essayThe late nineteenth century was the beginning for the rise of industry in eastern America, but in the west farmers were facing a crisis. The farmers complaints over their economic hardship were valid, even though the government didnt recognize the problems. In the period, 1880-1900, agrarian discontent occurred due to the unfair economic practices of the time, the high rates charged by railroads, and monopolies and trusts.
Deflation and falling crop prices caused much dissatisfaction for farmers in the late nineteenth century. The area of farmland in the West doubled, but only one in three people farmed causing a decrease in competition in America. Also, the money supply was static, meaning it stayed the same. Even though America had a static money supply, deflation was caused by an increase in immigration. Growing agrarian discontent lead to the rise of the Populists who stood for unlimited coinage of silver, a graduated income tax, and loans for farmers. The platform of the Peoples party stated, ” a vast public debt payable in legal-tender currency has been funded into gold bearing bonds, thereby adding millions to the burdens of the people.” (A) The Omaha platform shows a great favor for silver money, showing that the gold standard decreases the value of property and human labor, and for an increase in the money supply.
The U.S. data shows that between 1865 and 1870 the population increased by nearly four thousand, but the money in circulation decreased. (C) This was caused by the withdraw of greenbacks after the Civil War. Even though the chart seems to show an increase in circulation of money with an increase of population, this is biased. The Bland Allison Act of 1878, originally vetoed by President Hayes which shows the corruption in government, was created as a compromise and released money in circulation. In the late 1880s or early 1890s, a Chicago newspaper released a cartoon title The Farmers Voice. The cartoon portrays an industrialist taking many farmers to the court house in chains. The sign on the court house says, “farm mortgages foreclosed here.” (D) The cartoon shows the amount of power the industrialists of the time had over the farmers, and that the government sided with corporations. Farmers felt victimized because the industrialists gained the power to control market prices and were also determined by the world market. The point of view is that of the farmers, but the newspaper is published in an eastern city showing that the issues the farmers faced was a western problem as well as an American problem.
President William McKinleys acceptance speech in 1896 states that a false theory had been created, that silver coinage would solve all problems. Instead, he proposed, “… It would not make labor easier, the hours shorter, or the pay better.” (B) President McKinley was wrong in his statement because a gold standard would only supply a certain amount of gold, meaning you could only print a certain amount of gold. Also, people wouldnt be able to borrow as much money, which would idle the economy. Last, farmers would not be able to get money in their hands even though higher officials and the wealthy could. The Atlantic Monthly published an article in 1896 titled, “Causes of Agricultural Unrest.”
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If you are a small business owner and a president, you might be familiar with the fallacy of the belief that “many more acres of the earth are needed to satisfy one’s needs.”
[b]F. W. Smith, “How Gold, Paper, Oil and Water Works in U.S. History”, Journal of Banking: Economic Inquiry, Volume 36, No. 2, Dec-Mar, 1927, p. 6:
A) The Federal Reserve had created a gold standard and not in any possible way improved the value of silver or other precious metals, which were the primary sources of economic power. They were all created for a specific purpose.„
Gold was also an important commodity to the nation. The American gold standard was designed to make money without labor. It was designed to be the largest and best way for a company to meet the needs of its workers. It was not intended to make money. With the Federal Reserve, many small business owners and owners are not permitted to be owners of cash or other assets that would enable them to work more effectively. Also, if the company is not successful, if most of the workers are paid less overtime, the pay could increase substantially under the gold standard. The average worker would not have the benefit of benefits for the longer of working years because the gold standard made the company pay greater attention to efficiency and productivity of work. And, since the workers worked to get more out of their paycheck, they would have less incentive to leave their employees unsatisfied. In contrast, when a small company makes a profit (more like $5.2 million in total per year) and has one large investor and one small farmer, their pay could be set at $5 million a year.^……
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The American business community was very concerned with this concept, though not for the simple reason that it was only a theoretical one and didn’t have any political backing. It also didn’t really have any impact on the gold standard’s real value to work, which was actually based on the same economic development theory advocated by the Bankers.
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[b]Ference Newman, “The Gold Standard and the Depression”, The New York Times, Vol. 40, No. 4, June 28, 1943, p. 923.
[b]H. Jarrell, “The Standard of Employment and Wages in the US,” Journal of Labor Organization, Vol. 41, No. 2, March 5-9, 1950, p. 29.
Federally-chartered