Farmers had problems at every single point, from getting the land all the way to selling the crops grown. In 1862 the Homestead Act was passed allowing people to get 160 acres of land for only $1.25 an acre. This was supposed to help poor citizen acquire land so they can start their own farms but speculators bought up the land by paying poor factory workers to buy western land and then sign it over to them. Now that they owned the land they could sell it for a profit to people who actually wanted to move out west to farm. Farmers also had trouble buying the machinery needed in farming because protective tariffs raised the prices too high. Farmers had trouble getting loans from banks to buy what they needed because the amount of money circulating was limited. Expenses for farmers were extremely high and there sales could not keep up.
Another expense that really hurt farmers were the railroads. The railroads was what made western …show more content…
The Grange Movement consisted of setting up communities of farmers to helping each other out and voting for state legislature that would be sympathetic to them. This movement failed which lead to the Farmers’ Alliance which again tried to have farmers cooperate with each to go against big business. These two movements lead to the rise of the populist party. The populist party wanted large reforms like income tax, direct election of senators, government ownership of railroads, and inflation. The populist party took spots in congress but was never able to obtain presidency because the North wanted nothing to do with them due to the fact they wanted inflation. Farmers did get support from local governments. The sub treasury plan was extremely helpful to farmers allowing them to take low interest loans from the government in exchange for their grain instead of getting loans from banks to buy their
Another expense that really hurt farmers were the railroads. The railroads was what made western …show more content…
The Grange Movement consisted of setting up communities of farmers to helping each other out and voting for state legislature that would be sympathetic to them. This movement failed which lead to the Farmers’ Alliance which again tried to have farmers cooperate with each to go against big business. These two movements lead to the rise of the populist party. The populist party wanted large reforms like income tax, direct election of senators, government ownership of railroads, and inflation. The populist party took spots in congress but was never able to obtain presidency because the North wanted nothing to do with them due to the fact they wanted inflation. Farmers did get support from local governments. The sub treasury plan was extremely helpful to farmers allowing them to take low interest loans from the government in exchange for their grain instead of getting loans from banks to buy their