Anthony’s group
In the years 1865-1900, technology, government policy, and economic conditions all
changed American agriculture in some way. New farming machinery allowed farmers to
produce more crops. The railroads were affecting the agriculture community greatly.
charging farmers large sums of money to transport their goods throughout the country.
Industry in the East was booming and creating great wealth for large companies in which
the farmers could not compete with. Economically, the steady drop of agricultural produce
put farmers into debt, forcing them into sharecropping. The government policy during the
period all favored the large industries and monopolies that were forming. Overall, the
farmers responded by adapted by investing in new technology, coming together against
government actions, and finding ways to avoid being hindered by the poor economic
conditions of the East.
Technology was drastically changing during this time, which in turn affected American
agriculture and those involved with it. The maps show how the railroads grew from 18701890. Farmers were exhausting the soil in the East, so they were forced to keep expanding
westward . The more westward they went, the more they had to depend on the monopolistic
railroad companies. It also shows that the growth of railroads allows agricultural products to
be more easily transported toward the East (Doc B). The picture depicts how the application
of technology to farm equipment increased production. The availability of new technology
such as the reaper and thresher led to the farmers investing in heavy machinery. This
caused the emergence of large-scale, commercial farming (Doc D). An issue of Harper’s
New Monthly Magazine of 1884 tells of new technological advances being made to make
the cattle ranching industry more efficient (Doc F). Farmers responded by investing more in
technology which allowed them to produce more products to ship throughout the country.
The rapid changes in technology positively changed american agriculture.
Government policy in this time period heavily favored the large industries in the East over
the small farmers that were moving West. The map shows how subsidies and land grants
encouraged railroad expansion. This allowed the huge railroad companies to control the
agricultural community that was moving out West (Doc B). The statement by the prairie
farmer is in response to the Munn vs. Illinois Supreme Court Case. This case limited the
freight rates that large industrial railroad companies could charge farmers. The farmers
were in support of this because with lower freight rates, it allowed them to make more profit
on their produce (Doc C). In a speech by Mary Elizabeth Lease she explained how many
farmers felt mistreated by the government. She stated how they were not happy with the
political parties and the politicians in charge of the government. Farmers reacted by creating
groups like The Granges and the Farmer’s alliance. This also spurred the formation of the
populist party (Doc G). R. W. McAdams wrote in the Oklahoma Magazine about how Indian
reservations took up a large part of the American Homestead. This was changing American
agriculture because the reservations were taking up valuable farming land. Farmers wanted
the Indians to be on much smaller enclosures of land (Doc I). Farmers responded against
government policy by standing up for the agricultural community through uniting against the
government.
The economic conditions led American agriculture to its breaking point as debt was piled
upon the farmers. A contract in North Carolina showed that sharecroppers incurred debts
that the landowners were deducting before paying their share of the profits. Landowners
were controlling the farmers and making their lives much harder (Doc E). In a letter from
Susan Orcutt to Lorenzo Lewelling it explains how the economic disaster from the panic of
1893, hurt the farmers. This put farmers into poverty, and when many went to find other
work there was no work to be found (Doc H). Farmers were in major debts from 1865-1900.
A chart depicting agricultral pricing over those years, shows pricing and production going
from good to bad. Wheat went from $2.16 a bushel to $.62. Cotton and corn showed the
same patterens of steady decline over the 35 years. As the farmers were making less and
less profit, they tried to compensate their losses by producing more and more goods. This
caused overproduction which made the pricing go even lower (Doc A). In Mary Elizabeth
Lease’s speech she explains how the poor economic conditions for farmers were not
caused by overproduction. “10,000 children starve to death every year.” She said the
problem is the government companies and monopolies controlling the farmers and dropping
the prices of produce. (Doc G). Many farmers responded to the poor economic conditions
by giving up and going back to the East to find jobs in the factories. Some farmers were
lucky enough to be able to make enough profit to stay in the agricultural community through
the bad economic times.