Husbandry, an organization for farmers that became popu-
larly known as the Grange. Its original purpose was to pro-
vide a social outlet and an educational forum for isolated
farm families. By the 1870s, however, Grange members
spent most of their time and energy fighting the railroads.
The Grange’s battle plan included teaching its members
how to organize, how to set up farmers’ cooperatives, and
how to sponsor state legislation to regulate railroads.
The Grange gave rise to other organizations, such as
Farmers’ Alliances. These groups included many others
who sympathized with farmers. Alliances sent lecturers
from town to town to educate people about topics such as
lower interest rates on loans and government control over
railroads and banks. Spellbinding speakers such as Mary
Elizabeth Lease helped get the message across.
Membership grew to more than 4 million—mostly in
the South and the West. The Southern Alliance, including
white Southern farmers, was the largest. About 250,000
African Americans belonged to the Colored Farmers’ National
Alliance. Some alliance members promoted cooperation
between black and white alliances, but most members accept-
ed the separation of the organizations.
The Rise and Fall of Populism
Leaders of the alliance movement realized that to make far-reaching changes,
they would need to build a base of political power. Populism—the movement of
the people—was born with the founding of the Populist, or People’s, Party, in
1892. On July 2, 1892, a Populist Party convention in Omaha, Nebraska, demand-
ed reforms to lift the burden of debt from farmers and other workers and to give
the people a greater voice in their government.
THE POPULIST PARTY PLATFORM
The economic reforms proposed by the
Populists included an increase in the money supply, which would produce a rise
in prices received for goods and services; a graduated income tax; and a federal
loan program. The proposed governmental reforms included the election of U.S.
senators by popular vote, single terms for the president and the vice-president,
and a secret ballot to end vote fraud. Finally, the Populists called for an eight-hour
workday and restrictions on immigration.
The proposed changes were so attractive to struggling farmers and desperate
laborers that in 1892 the Populist presidential candidate won almost 10 percent
of the total vote. In the West, the People’s Party elected five senators, three gov-
ernors, and about 1,500 state legislators. The Populists’ programs eventually
became the platform of the Democratic Party and kept alive the concept that the
government is responsible for reforming social injustices.
THE PANIC OF 1893
Then, in 1893, political issues were overtaken by eco-
nomic concerns. During the 1880s, farmers were overextended with debts and
loans. Railroad construction had expanded faster than markets. In February 1893,
the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad went bankrupt, followed by the Erie, the
Northern Pacific, the Union Pacific, and the Santa Fe. The government’s gold
reserves had worn thin, mainly due to its obligation to purchase silver. People
panicked and traded paper money for gold. As a result, the stock market crashed.
The price of silver then plunged, causing silver mines to close. By the end of the
year, over 15,000 businesses and 500 banks had collapsed.
Changes on the Western Frontier 427
C
Background
See interest rate
on page R42 of
the Economics
Handbook.
Vocabulary
regulate: to
control or direct
according to a rule
or law
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
C
Summarizing
What was the
Populist Party
platform?
C. Answer
increase in the
money supply;
graduated
income tax,
federal loan pro-
gram; election
to U.S. senate
by popular vote;
single terms for
president and
vice president;
secret ballot;
eight-hour
workday;
immigration
restrictions.
THE COLORED FARMERS’
NATIONAL ALLIANCE
A white Baptist missionary, R. M.
Humphrey, organized the Colored
Farmers’ National Alliance in
1886 in Houston, Texas. Like
their counterparts in the white
alliances, members of the local
colored farmers’ alliances pro-
moted cooperative buying and
selling. Unlike white organiza-
tions, however, the black
alliances had to work mostly in
secret to avoid racially motivated
violence at the hands of angry
landowners and suppliers.
