Farmers and Workers USH-4.4

I. Supply and Demand Supply Demand They have an inverse relationship Amount of a product that exists Demand Amount of a product that people want They have an inverse relationship Higher supply means low demand and vice versa Price (almost) always follows demand

II. Farmers Problems Farmers begin to grow more crops b/c: Invention of the steel plow Machines like the reaper More land out West Even with growing cities, supply exceeded demand so… The price falls Farmers can’t make payments on loans for land and equipment

II. Farmers Problems They plant more crops to make more money The more they grow… The higher the supply… The lower the demand… The lower the price… Etc. The banks begin to take back the land and equipment

III. Farmer Solutions Farmers begin to organize Elect representatives to state legislatures Farmers blamed the RR for their problems RR charged high prices to move and store crops Granger Laws are passed State laws that try to regulate how RR charged Supreme Court says states can’t do that b/c only the federal gov’t can regulate interstate commerce

III. Farmer Solutions Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act Controls RR rates and practices Freight Rate Cases – Supreme Court cases that limited the effectiveness of the law Farmers begin to support the Populist Party

III. Farmer Solutions Populists supported: Regulation of RR Regulation of banking Unlimited coinage of silver Secret ballots Graduated income tax Popular election of Senators Elect senators, governors, & state legislators in the South and West, but no president

IV. Workers Workers attempt to create unions to protect themselves from: Poor working conditions Long hours Low pay No safety Workers felt like “replaceable cogs” If it breaks, just hired someone new

IV. Workers Supply and Demand was applied to labor Immigrants, women, and children means supply is high That makes demand to hire low Injury, death, & unemployment That keeps wages low Less than half of people made $500/year

V. Unions Groups that advocated for the improvement of conditions in industry Often wanted talks Were blamed for wildcat walkouts American Federation of Labor One of the first unions Led by Samuel Gompers Gain collective bargaining powers for its member so they could fight for better conditions

V. Unions Strikes were often ineffective Always more workers to break the strike (scabs) Private security forces Having workers kicked out of company housing Blacklisting workers from other jobs Gov’t backed owners

V. Unions Organizing into smaller craft unions of skilled workers was better than large unions w/everyone Went after easy issues like: Wages Hours Conditions Skilled workers are harder to replace so strikes were more damaging to company

V. Unions Unions make little progress for a long time Low membership makes it harder Unions were portrayed as socialist or communist Wanting to spread the wealth is not “capitalist” Mostly not true Used as propaganda by the bosses

VI. Election of 1896 Main issue is gold standard vs bimetallism Gold or gold and silver? Gov’t support owners or farmers and workers? Many workers voted Republican (in favor of gold only) b/c: They didn’t want to lose their jobs They don’t want prices to increase b/c of inflation

VI. Election of 1896 From Ohio! Used a Front Porch Campaign William McKinley (R) William Jennings Bryan (D) From Ohio! Used a Front Porch Campaign Never went out campaigning but took visitors Big Business spent about $3.5 million to elect McKinley $95,068,347.40 today Wins the election From Nebraska Campaigned all over the Midwest especially US will be “crucified on a Cross of Gold” b/c of gold standard Said farmers needed to prosper before factory workers Collected about $500,000 from Big Business

VII. Railroad Strike of 1877 The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad cut wages for the second time in a year Workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia refused to allow trains to move State militia is called out, but they refuse to shoot the strikers

VII. Railroad Strike of 1877 Spread to Baltimore, MD The militia march from barracks to B&O station and fight in the streets Militia is trapped until Pres. Hayes sent federal troops

VII. Railroad Strike of 1877 Pittsburgh, PA has worst violence Militia fires into crowd and is trapped Strikers burn everything Militia shoots their way out Hayes sends in troops after a month Philadelphia and Reading, PA also have violence and strikes

VII. Railroad Strike of 1877 Spreads to Illinois and shuts down Chicago Spreads to Missouri and closes St. Louis Federal troops going from town to town eventually stops the strike

VIII. Haymarket Affair 5/4/1886 in Chicago Demonstrators were protesting for an 8 hour work day Police began breaking it up Someone threw dynamite Police start shooting 7 dead cops, at least 4 dead civilians and more than 100 wounded

IX. Pullman Strike George Pullman built railway cars His workers lived in his town of Pullman, outside of Chicago He kept cutting wages but not lowering rent Workers strike and refuse to allow trains using his cars to move Spreads across the country Pres. Cleveland sent in troops to help “move mail cars” 30 dead and over $80 million in damages