When Farmers Ruled Hollywood: 24 Astounding Turn-Of-The-Century Photos (2024)

FAQs

What were the problems with farmers during the Gilded Age? ›

Many attributed their problems to discriminatory railroad rates, monopoly prices charged for farm machinery and fertilizer, an oppressively high tariff, an unfair tax structure, an inflexible banking system, political corruption, corporations that bought up huge tracks of land.

For farmers, the 1920's were years of overproduction, debt and depression.

The challenges that many American farmers faced in the last quarter of the nineteenth century were significant. They contended with economic hardships born out of rapidly declining farm prices, prohibitively high tariffs on items they needed to purchase, and foreign competition.

In 1900, just under 40 percent of the total US population lived on farms, and 60 percent lived in rural areas. Today, the respective figures are only about 1 percent and 20 percent. The United States had between six and seven million farms from 1910 to 1940 (figure 1).

Farmers believed that interest rates were too high because of monopolistic lenders, and the money supply was inadequate, producing deflation. A falling price level increased the real burden of debt, as farmers repaid loans with dollars worth significantly more than those they had borrowed.

Like their national counterparts, Mississippi farmers believed that railroads, banks, large lumber companies, corporations, and the middle man were the major causes of their economic plight.

During the 1920s, farmers faced decreased demand for their products and lower crop prices. Those who were in debt could not repay loans, and rural banks failed. This pattern repeated itself in other sectors of the economy during the Depression.

Explanation: Farmers of the 1890s and farmers of the 1920s faced a common problem of overproduction compared to consumer demand. This led to a surplus of agricultural products, causing a decrease in prices. As a result, farmers faced financial difficulties and struggled to make a profit.

Farmers began to organize into groups called Granges and Farmers' Alliances to address the problems faced by farmers. Some farmers tried to launch a new political party, the People's Party (or Populists), running a candidate for president in 1892.

Why did farmers go into debt in the late 1800s? ›

Not making enough to recoup expenses because of depressed crop values, farmers attempted to compensate by growing more and more. This only made the problem worse. Furthermore, inadequate income drove farmers into ever-deepening debt and exacerbated problems in other areas.

The primary danger faced by farmers in the 1880s was economic exploitation by wealthy members and institutions in society. The late 1800s were a time of monopolies: farmers who wanted to send their crops to cities had to pay the railroads a steep price, as there was no competition.

Producers also tend to be experienced; they have been farming an average of 23.4 years. On average, producers are older in southern states and younger in Midwestern states. 3.2 million producers are white, 95% of the U.S. total. Source: USDA NASS, 2022 Census of Agriculture.

After 1840, industrialization and urbanization opened up lucrative domestic markets. The number of farms grew from 1.4 million in 1850, to 4.0 million in 1880, and 6.4 million in 1910; then started to fall, dropping to 5.6 million in 1950 and 2.2 million in 2008.

Keep in mind that America's farm families represent only two percent of the population and feed the other 98 percent with the fruits of their labor.

One of the major farmers problems has to be the loss of agricultural land, as when more land is lost, it becomes increasingly difficult to produce the right volume of food required to feed the entire population.

What problems did farmers of the Gilded Age face? Economic stability, couldn't sell goods, problem paying taxes, lands were seized and farmers jailed, They had high shipping prices, oversupply of crops, and decrease in value, they also borrowed large sums of money to buy new equipment.

The dominant issues were cultural (especially regarding prohibition, education, and ethnic or racial groups) and economic (tariffs and money supply). With the rapid growth of cities, political machines increasingly took control of urban politics. In business, powerful nationwide trusts formed in some industries.