Problems and Reform Attempts of Farmers and Workers
Life in the late nineteenth and in the early twentieth century in the United States was rough for the average person because of the poor conditions and inability to get ahead of debts and poverty. Two major groups that suffered the most were labor workers and farmers. For the workers in factories, the industrial expansion of the nation brought many changes to the workplace. These changes made life as a labor worker more dangerous and less profitable. Farmers also faced many problems such as high railroad rates and high loan interest rates. Both groups searched for ways to band together with people in similar situations to help resolve some of the problems. After many failing attempts, a movement called Progressivism caused many changes and greatly improved life for farmers, labor workers, and many other groups of the early 20th century. In the late nineteenth century, people flooded to cities to fill the positions of factory workers. Some of the people were farmers who had grown tired of constant debt and looked to the city for economic gain. Others were immigrants from other countries who left their homeland behind to find a better life. Many of these people had nowhere to go, so they followed their first instinct and moved to
A second group that had large problems in the early 20th century were farm owners. One major problem was the rates charged by the railroad to farmers. Since farmers depended so greatly on the railroad, railroads companies could charge almost whatever they wanted. The result was widespread debt and poverty for farmers. Other uncontrollable factors such as bad weather and overproduction hurt farming as well. The first major attempt to organize to urge changes in the nation was called the Nation Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry. This organization attempted to teach smaller farmers techniques to make their fields more productive. After farm prices plummeted as result of a depression, the organization began to work politically to help control farm prices. As result many states placed strict restrictions on railroads to regulate rates and operations. The courts put a stop to the legislation and sent the railroad prices back up. The second attempt was the farmers alliance which setup stores and other facilities for their fellow farming members to use. This partially removed the 'middleman' from stealing a portion of the profits. Although this was more widespread than the Grange, the system was too strong to allow these alliance groups. A movement known as Populism, which urged changes to aid farmers, formed. Many of the views of the populist movement were adopted by the more popular and successful reform movement known as Progressivism. In the early years of the 20th century, a powerful reform movement called Progressivism swept the country. Its leaders were college professors, ministers, journalists, physicians and social workers. Their goal was to improve conditions for all Americans. They wanted to make the polit
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Approximate Word count = 1163
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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