Poor Farming Conditions

Analyze the reasons for the emergence of the Populist movement in the late nineteenth century.

* Poor farming conditions

o Grasshoppers consuming nearly half of the midwestern crops

o Drought on the great plains especially during 1886-1887

o low prices for goods

o Rest of the economy in depression during the 1880's too

o Impossible to farm on the Plains without borrowing money

* The farmers felt like they were being exploited by greedy middlemen, fueling their discontent.

o Attacked railroads for giving discounts to large shippers etc, which culminated in Munn vs. Illinois and Interstate Commerce act

o While it could be argued that many Grange and Alliance complaints weren't justified, the important thing is that they thought they were being exploited

o Farmers mired in debt when they attempt to settle new areas. "Boom-bust cycle"

o Needed a place to store grain and wait for prices to recover from the market flood at harvest time.

* The populist movement rose because of previous organizations inability to fix the underlying problems in the economy.

o Proof: Most of the previous complaints are reflected in the populist's platform of 1892. The platform was primarily aimed at repairing the economic problems farmers had to face.

o Needed something to fill the void after the Grange collapsed and Democrats who promised to aid the farmers ignored the Populist agenda once they were in office. The Democrat part works because Alliance leaders felt they had to create a third party after this happened.

o Farmers faith in the government badly shaken Cleveland desperately tried to save the gold standard, which is reflected in the huge spike in voting (40%) for the populist party during the election of 1896.