HIST 2057 Chapter : Farmers And New Urban Industrialization
Document Summary
Agrarian myth : the farmer represents the best kind of citizen. He"s closer to nature and there for closer to god. Farmer problems (real and percented: had to adjust psychologically to industrialization, cost price squeeze. To keep up with the demand farmers needed new machinery but couldn"t afford it: debt. Land is becoming more expensive along with supplies: high tariffs, taxes. Taxes fell more heavily on real property: rail road rates, surplus. Industrialization is commercializing farming therefore reducing farmers self-sufficiency. They grow extra to sell it off to others. But more and more farmers start doing this and prices go down on crops. Weather can mess up crops and they"ll lose money. First set up as more of a social organization. Inevitably gets involved in politics: (green back party was a party of farmers). When modern day currency came about it wasn"t backed by gold or silver, it was soft money, it could inflate and deflate rapidly.
