HIST 460
Chapter 8
1.
2.
3.
Actions taken to support railroad building
Land Grant Law of 1876
Local subsidies and bonds
Private subscriptions
3.
4.
5.
6.
Problems created by the railroads. Railroads
1.
2. ended local patterns of trade discriminated between shippers. sometimes charged more for shorter hauls granted free passes to political friends gave rebates to preferred customers formed monopolies
7.
8. provided poor service blocked any legislation that addressed these abuses
Economic Development: Railroads, Public lands, Lumber, Light industries, Mineral industries,
Labor unions, Agriculture
Public Services: Prisons, Education
Politics 1876-90
Conservative hegemony
Challengers: Republicans, Greenback party, Prohibitionists, Grange, Farmers' Alliance
Populists
Republicans: Norris Wright Cuney, Lily-white faction, Disenfranchisement of blacks
Greenback party: Greenbacks, Specie Resumption Act
Platform
1.
2.
Federal government should issue greenbacks
Income tax
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Australian ballot
Direct election of U. S. senators
Railroad regulation
Improved schools
Elimination of convict leasing
Reduced salaries for government employees
Elimination of government employees
Greenback - Republican alliance: Wash Jones, 1882
Prohibitionists
Local option v. statewide prohibition
United Friends of Temperance, Bands of Hope
Women's Christian Temperance Union
Election of 1886, E. L. Dohoney
Prohibition amendment
1

HIST 460
Chapter 8
Grange
Patrons of Husbandry, Oliver H. Kelley, 1867
Social and educational organization
Economic cooperatives
William Lang
Texas Cooperative Association, 1878
Texas Farmers' Alliance
Differences from the Grange
1. Grass-roots organization
2. The Alliance appealed to less prosperous farmers who had formed voluntary associations: vigilantes, schools, churches, Masonic lodges, former Grangers
Lampasas, 1878, William T. Baggett, S. O. Dawes, Colored Alliance, Robert M.
Humphrey, Dawes Formula
Cleburne Demands
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Recognition of labor unions
Regulation of railroads
Revision of the banking system
Inflation of the currency
Interstate Commerce Commission
Prison reform
Ban on speculation in agriculture futures
Grand State Alliance, Charles W. Macune, Louisiana Farmers' Union, Arkansas Wheel
Farmers' Alliance and Cooperative Union of America, Southern Alliance, Alliance
Exchange, 1887, Subtreasury Plan
Democratic response
Nationally: lower tariffs, Interstate Commerce Commission. Some Texans in the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives endorsed the free coinage of silver. Progressive Democrats in
Texas advocated legislation to encourage farmers to settle western land, to address corporate and railroad abuses, and to reform the banking system.
James S. Hogg
Actions as Attorney General: 1. protected public domaine, 2. regulated insurance companies, 3. wrote anti-trust legislation
"Hogg and a Commission," 1890
Hogg Laws: 1. Railroad Commission, 2. Railroad stock and bond law, 3. forced corporation to sell land, 4. Alien Land Law, 5. restrictions on bonds
Other actions: 1. prison reforms, 2. longer school term, 3. supported universities
4. forced railroads to segregate
2

HIST 460
Chapter 8
Populists advocated
1.
2.
3.
4.
Government ownership of railroads
Abolition of the national banking system
Subtreasury system
Income tax
5.
6.
7.
8.
Eight-hour workday
Direct election of U. S. senators
Free coinage of silver
Australian ballot, referendum, and recall
Thomas L. Nugent, Jerome C. Kearby, J. B. Rayner
Campaigns of the 1890s: Conservative Democrats v. Hogg Democrats v. Populists
Election of 1892
George Clark, Gold Democrats, Norris Wright Cuney
Hogg - Democrat
Nugent - Populist party
Election of 1894
Edward M. House Democrats - Charles A. Culberson
Hogg Democrats - John H. Reagan
Populists - Nugent
Conservative control of Texas
Why?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Allegiance to the "Lost Cause"
Nominating conventions
Control of voter-registration and vote-count
Reform opponents also wanted low taxes
John H. Reagan, Oran M. Roberts (1879-83), John Ireland (1883-87), Lawrence Sullivan Ross
(1887-91)
Election of 1896
Texas: Jerome C. Kearby - Populist, Charles A. Culberson - Democrat
The issues of white supremacy and communism
A stolen election? Intimidation, violence, ballot irregularities
National
Democrats: Free silver, low tariffs, William Jennings Bryan
Midroaders v. fusionists
Republicans: William McKinley
3

HIST 460
Chapter 8
Decline of the Populist Party
1.
2.
3.
Prosperity
Election of 1896
Major parties adopted many populist issues
Texas Populists 1) formed a progressive coalition in the Democratic party, 2) dropped out of politics, or 3) joined the socialist movement.
Disenfranchisement of blacks: white primaries, poll tax
Charles A. Culberson (1895-99)
1. Vetoed measures to save money
2.
3.
4.
5.
Enforce the 1889 antitrust act
Sponsored tax relief for victims of the 1895 drought
Increased powers for the Railroad Commission
Laws regulating labor relations and public lands
Edward M. House, Joseph Weldon Bailey
4