Farmers and Workers USH-4.4. I. Supply and Demand A.Supply 1.Amount of a product that exists B.Demand 1.Amount of a product that people want C.They have.

Farmers and Workers

USH-4.4

I. Supply and DemandA. Supply

1. Amount of a product that exists

B. Demand1. Amount of a product that

people want

C. They have an inverse relationship

1. Higher supply means low demand and vice versa

II. Farmers ProblemsA. Farmers begin to grow

more crops b/c:1. Invention of the steel plow2. Machines like the reaper3. More land out West

B. Even with growing cities, supply exceeded demand so…

1. The price falls2. Farmers can’t make

payments on loans for land and equipment

II. Farmers ProblemsC. They plant more crops

to make more money1. More they grow,

higher the supply, lower the price

III. Farmer SolutionsA. Farmers begin to organize

1. Elect representatives to state legislatures

B. Farmers blamed the RR1. RR charged high prices to

move and store crops2. Granger Laws try to

regulate how RR charged3. Supreme Court says states

can’t do that b/c only the federal gov’t can regulate interstate commerce

III. Farmer SolutionsC. Congress passed the

Interstate Commerce Act1. Controls RR rates and

practices2. Freight Rate Cases –

Supreme Court limited the effectiveness of the law

D. Farmers begin to support the Populist Party

III. Farmer SolutionsE. Populists supported:

1. Regulation of RR2. Regulation of banking3. Unlimited coinage of silver4. Secret ballots5. Graduated income tax6. Popular election of Senators

F. Elect senators, governors, & state legislators in the South and West, but no president

IV. Workers A. Workers attempt to create

unions to protect themselves

1. Poor working conditions2. Long hours3. Low pay4. No safety

B. Workers felt like “replaceable cogs”

1. If it breaks, just hired someone new

IV. Workers C. Supply and Demand was

applied to labor1. Immigrants, women,

children means supply is high

2. That makes demand to hire low

3. Injury, death, & unemployment

4. That keeps wages lowa) Less than half of people

made $500/year

V. UnionsA. Groups that

advocated for the improvement of conditions in industry

1. Often wanted talks2. Were blamed for

wildcat walkoutsa) Usually happened

during depressions

V. UnionsB. Strikes were often

ineffective1. Always more workers to

break the strike (scabs)2. Private security forces3. Having workers kicked out

of company housing4. Blacklisting workers from

other jobs5. Gov’t backed owners

V. UnionsC. Organizing into smaller

craft unions of skilled workers was better than large unions w/everyone

1. Went after easy issues like:

a) Wagesb) Hoursc) Conditions

2. Skilled workers are hard to replace so strikes were more damaging to company

V. UnionsD. Unions make little

progress1. Low membership makes it

harder

E. Unions were portrayed as socialist or communist

1. Not true2. Used as propaganda by the

bosses

VI. Election of 1896A. Main issue is gold

standard vs bimetallism1. Gold or gold and silver?2. Gov’t back owners or

farmers and workers

B. Many workers voted Republican b/c they didn’t want to lose their jobs

1. Don’t want prices to increase b/c of inflation

VI. Election of 1896William McKinley (R)A. From Ohio!B. Used a Front Porch

Campaign1. Never went out

campaigning but took visitors

C. Big Business spent about $3.5 million to elect McKinley1. $95,068,347.40 today

D. Wins the election

A. From NebraskaB. Campaigned all over the

Midwest especiallyC. US will be “crucified on a

Cross of Gold” b/c of gold standard

D. Said farmers needed to prosper before factory

workersE. Collected about $500,000

from Big Business

William Jennings Bryan (D)

VII. Railroad Strike of 1877A. The Baltimore & Ohio

Railroad cut wages for the second time in a year

B. Workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia refused to allow trains to move

1. State militia is called out, but they refuse to shoot the strikers

VII. Railroad Strike of 1877C. Spread to Baltimore, MD

1. The militia march from barracks to B&O station and fight in the streets

2. Militia is trapped until Pres. Hayes sent federal troops

VII. Railroad Strike of 1877D. Pittsburgh, PA has worst

violence1. Militia fires into crowd

and is trapped2. Strikers burn everything3. Militia shoots their way

out4. Hayes sends in troops

after a month

E. Philadelphia and Reading, PA also have violence and strikes

VII. Railroad Strike of 1877F. Spreads to Illinois and

shuts down ChicagoG. Spreads to Missouri and

closes St. LouisH. Federal troops going

from town to town eventually stops the strike

VIII. Haymarket AffairA. 5/4/1886 in Chicago

1. Demonstrators were protesting for an 8 hour work day

2. Police began breaking it up

3. Someone threw dynamite

4. Police start shooting5. 7 dead cops, at least 4

dead civilians and more than 100 wounded

IX. Pullman StrikeA. George Pullman built railway

cars1. His workers lived in his town of

Pullman, outside of Chicago2. He kept cutting wages but not

lowering rent3. Workers strike and refuse to

allow trains using his cars to move

4. Spreads across the country5. Pres. Cleveland sent in troops

to help “move mail cars”6. 30 dead and over $80 million in

damages