t value in greenbacks. Surely the Southern farmer
had shaken off much of his traditional conservatism in approving such a
demand as this! The explanation is not far to seek.

The high price of cotton in the years immediately following the War was
the economic salvation of the South. Whatever may have been the
difficulties in its production, the returns repaid the outlay and more.
The quantity was less than the world demanded. Not until 1870-71 did the
production approach that of the crops before the War. Then, with the
increase in production and general financial stringency came a sharp
decrease in price. Between 1880 and 1890 the price was not much above
the cost of production, and after 1890 the price fell still lower. When
middling cotton brought less than seven cents a pound in New York, the
small producer got little more than five cents for his bale or two. The
price of wheat and corn was correspondingly low, if the farmer had a
surplus to sell at harvest time. If he bought Western corn or flour in
the spring on credit, the price he paid included shrinkage, storage,
freight, and the exorbitant profit of the merchant. The low price
received by the Western producer had been much increased before the
cereals reached the Southern consumer. The Southern farmer was
consequently becoming desperate and was threatening revolt against the
established order.

While Southern delegates joined the Western Alliance in the organization
of the People's party in 1891 and 1892, the majority of the members in
the South chose an easier way of attaining their object: they entered
the Democratic primaries and conventions and captured them. In State
after State, men in sympathy with the farmers were chosen to office,
often over old leaders who had been supposed to have life tenure of
their positions. In some cases these leaders retained their offices, if
not their influence, by subscribing to the demands of the Alliance.
Perhaps some could do this without reservation; others, Senators
particularly, justified themselves on the theory that a legislature had
the right to speak for the State and instruct those chosen to represent
it.

The feeling of the farmer that he was being oppressed threatened to
develop into an obsession. His hatred of "money-power," "trusts,"
"corners," and the "hirelings of Wall Street" found expression in his
opposition to the local lawyers and merchants, and, in fact, to the
residents of the towns in general. The