HIUS 131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Nationstates, William Jennings Bryan, Money Supply

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8 May 2018
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HIUS 131 Lecture 10 The Populist Revolt
Dorothy and the Emerald City
Wizard of Oz
Aunt and Uncle changed by hard times, no longer laugh or have fun
Historians: allegory of populist revolt; fantasy story about populism/populist movement
Frank L. Baum
Same age as Bellamy, grappled with same issues as him
Spent time in South Dakota writing for a newspaper until it failed, observing the struggles of
American farmers
o Cotiued to osere farers’ reolt/populist reolutio fro Chiago, here he oed
after SD
Supporter of Bryant during election of 1896
The Farer’s Dilea
Increasing distress and poverty among farmers
High tariffs
o US government placed taxes on imported goods
o Industrialists liked this, it protected US products and forced consumers to buy American
o Not good for farmers who had to buy farm machinery
Having to pay more for products that they increasingly needed in order to run farms
Had to pay exorbitant railroad rates in order to transport products
o Railroads in most areas were monopolies, no competition, so farmers had to pay what the
railroads charged, which was a lot
Declining prices for farm products/goods, especially cotton
o Industrialization in Europe and the US spurred nation-states to seek out new producers of
raw materials
o Prior to CW, American South was leading producer of cotton on world market; after CW
South encourages pre-CW levels of cotton production, but by this time Egypt, Brazil, and
India were also producing cotton, so price of cotton going down
Good for consumers, textile manufacturers, but bad for farmers that were growing
cotton
Same thing happened with wheat
Paying more for agricultural products and bringing in less money for goods they were producing
To make ends meet, borrow from merchants/banks and paying high interest rates
Those that wanted to sell their land to get out from under debt found that years of drought made
their farms almost worthless
o Could’t ee sell out at a profit
No matter how hard they worked, the only people that got rich were eastern manufacturers,
railroads, bankers, and merchants
Small-scale white farmers in the south had it the worst
o Most lived in up-country areas of south, away from plantations
o Before CW, did not own slaves
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o Fought reluctantly for Confederate cause, many had been drafted in CW
o Return home to find that farms destroyed by CW battles, plundering
o To get back on their feet, start borrowing, but can never get out from under debt
o By 1880s, many farmers facing possibility of losing farms to the banks
o  iles to the earest post office, 100 miles to wood, 20 miles to water, and 6 inches to
hell
The People’s Party ad Populis
Largest 3rd part movement in US history
Populism a far-reaching and radical challenge to rise of industrial capitalism
During 1880s, farmers began to organize in local communities in order to discuss/think about
ways to improve their situation/write the wrongs they felt were engulfing them, began to organize
farer’s alliaes
o Social, share suffering, think of ways to put US on different course
 at a eetig i Oaha, Neraska, represetaties of farer’s alliaes ae together to
for politial part: People’s/Populist Part
Party of poor, white farmers
Omaha Platform
o Government ownership of railroads
o Income tax
NOT to support expenses of nation-state
Some people have too much wealth; very rich are using their wealth to destroy
democracy through bribing
Radical democrats in this sense
o Free coinage of money
Silver standard
Wanted more money in circulation
If money supply got too tight, they would be paying debts back with money that
was worth more than what they had borrowed
If money supply was large, they would be paying debts back with money that
was worth less
o Laws against monopolies
o Federal government should open banks in post offices, where farmers could borrow money
at a fair interest rate
Were’t allig for goeret to oertake priate ak, ut goeret should
create own banks to give loans to poor people
o Sub-treasury plan
Farmers market crops through local, popularly controlled, government-owned
agencies
Pool crops, store them in local warehouse; warehouse gives us an advance on crops to
tide them over; warehouse would hold pooled crops until prices rose, then sell
Circumvent fluctuations of world market
o End to immigration
Wanted to get support from industrial workers
Intense suffering leading farmers to question the direction in which the nation was moving
Not seeking limited program to help themselves; they wanted to place US on entirely new footing
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