He states “It has become apparent that the recognized laws of trade operate but imperfectly at best in regulating the use made of these modern thoroughfares by those who thus both own and monopolize them.” (Document I) As the monopolies grew, more government intervention needed to be put into play. Because of the huge influence trusts had on congress, regulation would be very difficult to address, as demonstrated in Joseph Keppler’s cartoon “Bosses of the Senate” in document M. The Sherman Antitrust Act was created to break through these strong trusts in 1890. In document Q, government data was collected in from mergers in manufacturing and mining from 1895 to 1900. There were almost 2,000 mergers of business with only 18 prosecutions under the Sherman Antitrust Act, clearly illustrating the failed
There were many differences between the two and each difference created more and more tension until they reached the breaking point of war. An example of one would be the way that their economies’ were set up. The North’s economy was industrial centered while the South’s almost exclusively revolved on agriculture. The way that their economies’ were affected the way that their political parties acted. So the North’s industrial political party (Republicans) would support laws like high tariffs on cotton while on the other hand the South’s agricultural political party (democrats) would vote against.
The first signs of disruption that led to the general strike was the fact that other countries such as Poland were becoming a more predominant exporter of coal, and the only way to stop Britain’s coal industry was to higher the price of coal, extend miners working hours and reduce pay. Obviously not favoured by the miners. Many British mines were old and needed modernisation, mine owners didn’t want to do this and there was a feeling of the miners wanting the mines to be nationalised. To make matters worse, the government decided to put Britain back on the gold standard, the pre-1914 exchange rate. British coal exports were more costly, this again led to mine owners wanting wage cuts and longer working hours, however these were rejected, this lead to multiple threats of a lockout, were the miners wouldn’t get paid al all as the were not allowed to work.
In Poltava and Kharkov provinces, mass impoverishment of the peasants, which was exacerbated by the poor harvests of 1901 led to 40,000 peasants took part in an uprising where they also ransacked 150 landlord properties. The barricade between the peasants and landlords strengthened in the years of the Red cockerel 1903-4 where peasants set fire to landlord barns. This peasant unrest was supplemented by the fact that the price of grain increased due to hyper during the Russo-Japanese war in 1904 due and the wages of peasants failed to increase with it therefore many peasants were left to starve and were angered hence more likely to revolt. It was evident that introducing new policies which would avoid bad harvests thus preventing mass starvation would oppress opposition. Also, there was a need to lower the price of grain to make it affordable to impoverished peasants as they were most likely to revolt.
To the government the whole reason of the law was to guarantee land owners profits of which they had became accustomed to during the war. However opponents of the regime both inside and outside of the regime only saw the law as a class piece of legislation in which the law saved landowners from three things: cheaper foreign grain, stabilised prices and making corn more expensive for the consumer. This concept and idea was not new, a similar law 1804 had been introduced to guarantee 80 shillings a quarter. In spite of this the government had problems to face including riots, petitions and demonstrations. The main protest for this law, was the Luddism riots and machine breaking.
Agriculture receives 80% of the Colorado River supply, and much of this is wasted in inappropriate crop choices, e.g. cotton. As demand for water continues to rise, it is more than likely that a range of stakeholders will become angry at their wastage if it means their own water supply is increasing in cost or even cut. This is likely to include dwellers of highly populated cities environmentalists, recreationalists. Another major potential clash is within US Federal Governments – who are under pressure from their own politicians not to change water allocations.
Jackson and the Second Bank of the United States. The war of 1812 left our economy in turmoil. The banks had started printing more bank notes than they could back to pay off the debt accumulated during the war. This only made things worse by causing high inflation. Also in the wake of the war our national credit score had dropped dramatically and was close to a record low making it nearly impossible to finance necessary operations of the Federal Government.
In the United States many policy makers, bankers, manufacturers, and trade unions became fearful that the country might be closed out in the struggle for global markets and raw materials. By the 1890s the American economy was increasingly dependent on foreign trade. A quarter of the nation’s farm products and half of its petroleum were sold overseas. During the late 1880s American foreign policy makers began to display a new assertiveness. American involvement in the overthrow of Hawaii’s monarchy in 1893 created a momentus debate over the United States’ global role.
The reasons for agrarian discontent in the late 19th century were derived from trusts and monopolies, railroad freight costs for transportation of produce, and the circulation of money. Arguably, some of their complaints were not valid. The agricultural depression at the time in question could not solely be blamed on the government. Come to think about it, it was simple economics that mostly brought the farmers down. They grew too much too fast during a time where it wasn’t as required.
Together, Bryan and the farmer’s alliance brought in some good ideas. The farmers were hardly getting any money for all they did so, the Alliance came up with an idea to help with inflation, bring in more crop shares, lower their debt, and income taxes which would help hold down the American economy. The book mentions silver to gold ratio 16:1, for an unlimited amount of coinage and creates more surplus. The silver was their uprising and their downfall. The Alliance hadn’t had much political power, except for the Sherman Silver Act which replaced the gold as the primary coinage in the United States.