The small farmers of America struggled through many agricultural problems during Their exclusion from the industrializing society, and their lagging indevelopments set them back from the rest of the country. Through their hardships theyfound a way to come together and form a political movement that would represent theirrights and needs and give them a voice in the political decision making; it was called thePopulist movement. However, the formation of this movement didnt happen over night; itwas a complicated process, but in the end it paid off for the small farmers of America. Theagricultural problems of the small farmers, farmers organizations, and Populistphilosophies all contributed to the emergence of the Populist movement in the late 19thcentury. The beginning of the emergence of the Populist movement started backwith the farmers and their agricultural problems. For years the American farmers wereisolated from society and felt ignored and left out by the growing industrialized economy.Life as a small farmer became more and more difficult as the prices for their goodsdropped rapidly in the late 19th century. It was also getting more and more expensive toship their goods to markets to be sold so they could make a profit. The large railroadcorporations didnt think twice about making outrageous, and unfair prices for short orlong hauls even though the farmers couldnt afford the high prices. Also, the Europeanmarkets were going through a tough depression at the time, and as a result, the Americanfarmers were struggling from the loss of foreign business. Farmers were constantly in debtand they had no power over the prices of the equipment they had to buy or the prices theywould sell their crops at. The small farmers felt completely out of control of their lives,and they felt they had no power over their own destiny; they needed to makes somechanges in the current economic situation. The farmers wanted restrictions on railroads,buf...
