Farmers, Failure

and Free Silver

A. Farmers Move West• Cheap Land and the Homestead Act• Railroads Link East and West

B. Farmers Face Falling Prices

• Farmers Borrow to Buy New Technology: Tractors and Combines

• Technology More Production (Wheat, Cotton, Corn)

• More Production Falling Prices• Falling Prices Farmers Try to Produce Even

More More Falling Prices

C. Farmers Face Rising Costs, Unpredictable Harvests, and Foreclosure

• Railroads Raise Prices

• Unpredictable Harvests: Bugs and Bad Weather

•Failure and Foreclosure: Banks Repossess Farms

II. Early Solutions Fail

• Work Together: Form Cooperatives to Store and Sell Crops

• Lobby for Laws: Regulate Railroads & Storage Facilities

III. The 1890s Solution: Free Silver, Populists, and the 1896 Election

A. Farmers, Fixed Debts, and Inflation

B. Free Silver for Inflation

C. William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” Speech

D. The McKinley Victory and the Failure of the Populists