Farmers of the Century free essay sample

Furthermore, improvement in transportation allowed foreign intention to materialize, making it harder for American farmers to dispose of surplus crop. Mother Nature was also showing no mercy with grasshoppers, floods, and major droughts that led to a downward spiral of business that devastated many of the nations farmers. As a result of the agricultural depression, numerous farms groups, most notably the Populist Party, arose to fight what the farmers saw as the reasons for the decline in agriculture.During the final twenty years of the nineteenth century, many farmers in the United States saw monopolies and trusts, railroads, and money shortages and the loss in value of silver as threats to their way of life, though in many cases their complaints were not valid. The growth of the railroad was one of the most significant elements in American economic growth, yet it hurt small shippers and farmers in many ways. We will write a custom essay sample on Farmers of the Century or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Extreme competition between rail companies necessitated some way to win business.To do this, railroads would offer rebates and drawbacks to larger shippers who used their rails. This practice hurt smaller shippers, including farmers, because often times railroad companies would charge ore to ship products short distances than they would for long trips. The rail companies justified this practice by asserting that if they did not rebate, they would not make enough profit to stay in business. So while the railroads felt that they must use this practice to make a profit, the farmers were justified in complaining, for they were seriously injured by it.A perfect example of this fact can be found in The Octopus by Frank Norris. In The Octopus a farmer named Dyke discovers that the railroad has increased their freight charges from two to five cents a pound. This new rate, Date up every cent of his gains. He stood there ruined. The railroads regularly used rebates and drawbacks to help win the business of large shippers, and made up this loss in profit by increasing the cost to smaller shippers such as farmers. As a result, many farmers, already hurt by the downslide in agriculture, were ruined.Thus, the farmers of the late nineteenth century had a valid complaint against railroad shippers since they were severely hurt by the unfair practices of the railroads. Near the end of the nineteenth century, business began to centralize, leading o the rise Of monopolies and trusts. Falling prices, along with the need for better efficiency in industry, led to the rise of such companies as Carnegie Steel and Standard Oil, which controlled a majority of the nations supply of raw steel and oil respectively.The rise of there monopolies and trusts concerned many farmers; for they felt that the disappearance of competition would lead to erratic and unreasonable price rises that would hurt consumers. James B. Weaver, the Populist Partys presidential candidate in the 1892 election, summed up the feelings of many Americans of the period n his work, A Call to Action: An Interpretation of the Great Uprising. He wrote, It is clear that trusts reader conflict with the Common law.They are monopolies organized to destroy competition and restrain tradeOnce they secure control of a given line of business, they are master of the situations]They limit the price of the raw material so as to impoverish the producer, drive him to a single market, reduce the price of every class of l abor connected with the trade, throw out of employment large numbers of personal effeminately increase the price to the consumerists main paeans of the trust are threats, intimidation, bribery, fraud, wreck, and pillage. However, the facts refute many of Weavers charges against the monopolies. While it is true that many used questionable means to achieve their monopoly, many Were not out to crush competitors. To the contrary, John D, Rockefeller, head of Standard Oil, competed ruthlessly not to crush other refiners but to persuade them to join Standard Oil and share the business so all could profit. Furthermore, the fear that the monopolies would raise prices unreasonably was never realized.Prices tended to fall near the end of the sasss and created what some have called a consumers millennium. Thus, the agrarian complaints against monopolies were not incredibly valid since the monopolies did very little harm to farmers of the time. Deflation and falling prices during the late sasss led to the most heated complaint of farmers and the Populist Party that grew out of agricultural discontent. Deflation had been running rampant during the latter half Of the sasss, as evidenced by the drastic fall in the value of wheat and cotton. To eight the deflationary trend, the Populists demanded a reversal of the Coinage Act of 1 873, which denominated silver. Here again, the farmers are wrong in the assessment of their problems. It is true that the countrys money supply was not adequate. United States government data from 1961 shows that though the countrys population between 1865 and 1 875 increased by nearly four million, the countrys money supply actually decreased. However, many farmers used the money supply to explain problems that indeed had very little to do with the money supply at all.This is best summed up in a quote from J. Laurence Laughlins article, Causes of Agricultural Unrest. He says, Feeling the coils of some mysterious power about them, the farmers[leave attributed their misfortunes to the Construction in prices, cause, as they think, not by an increased production Of wheat throughout the world, but by the Disparity of gold. History has shown that battle between gold and silver had little real meaning. The real battle was not between gold and silver, but instead what would be done to check deflation.William McKinley, in his 1 896 acceptance speech, said, Free silver would not mean that silver dollars were to be freely had without cost or labor [11th would not make labor easier, the hours shorter, or the pay better. Would not make the farming less laborious or more profitable. Farmers did not see that the silver would just lead to more problems. These facts prove that the farmers view of silver was not sound, thus invalidating their complaints about the nations financial system. The farmers of the late sasss had many reasons for being dissatisfied with their situation.Unfair railroad practices like rebates and drawbacks hurt them severely. Yet in some cases, these farmers complaints were not justified. Many of the fears they had about monopolies happened in very few occasions. In fact, prices went down in the latter part of the 1 asss. Finally, history has proven that their view of silver as a way to end deflation and the decrease in crop values was inaccurate. The farmers of the period, though, used these issues to change the shape of American politics and bring it to face to face with the problems the country was facing.

Super Size Me Essay Example

Super Size Me Essay Example Super Size Me Essay Super Size Me Essay Morgan Spurlock, was the age of 33 when he ventured on his quest to answer the question?   â€Å"What would happen to my body, if I ate exclusively at McDonald’s fast food restaurant, eating 3 full meals a day for 30 days?†Ã‚   Not only did he have to take in tremendous calories, but he also had to Super Size his portions, when ever asked if he would like to do so. The health conditions that Morgan Spurlock developed were a direct result from eating the high fat and calorie and foods that he ingested during that 30 day period. The fact that Morgan Spurlock was a of a young age, healthy and of average weight for his height, 185 1/2 pounds and 1.88 millimeters tall, before the experiment ever took place, gives us a place to start from.   From that point of his weigh in until the thirty day period ended, Morgan Spurlock had gained a whopping 24.5 pounds and his overall body mass index grew from 23.2 to 27 which made him overweight for his body structure. When Morgan Spurlock learned of the great number of people in America who suffered from being overweight, he launched a plan to investigate how America’s love for fast food affected their weight and health.   By starting at an average size, he very clearly confirmed that his belief that the fatty food, directly affected the diets of individuals who ate at McDonalds, repeatedly. McDonald’s breakfast launched Spurlock’s study, and by the second day he ate ingested his first meal that was Super Sized!   He ate a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese, with the Super Sized fries and drink.   He reported that he was feeling uncomfortable while he was eating the meal and eventually vomited in the parking lot of McDonald’s.   He steadily ate the food and gained nearly ten pounds. Feelings of depression, which his girl friend, Alexandra Jamieson confirmed, participated in Spurlock’s experiment, said that Spurlock lethargy, and several headaches, learns that are lifted when he eats more of McDonald’s fast food.   One of his doctors said he was addicted to the unhealthy food.   Soon after, while continuing to eat the same food, he gained another ten pounds.   He now weighed in at 203 pounds and at the end of the month he weighed in at 210 pounds. When Morgan Spurlock begins to have palpitations in his heart, near the twentieth day of the experiment,   he went to see on of his physicians who was involved in his experiment.   He didn’t take any medications because he felt it would interfere with his experiment. One of the health problems that Morgan Spurlock was diagnosed with on completion of his experiment was liver problems.   Dr. Daryl Isaacs confirmed that Morgan Spurlock’s liver was pate and immediately advised him that he should stop the experiment or else he could suffer with a serious heart problem.   Dr. Isaacs told him that he would be like the character in a movie, where the person intentionally drank excessively, trying to kill himself.   Spurlock was very concerned about what the Pysician reported to him, but continued on with his mission of proving that fastfood is bad for your health. I’ll begin with the liver problem that Spurlock developed during his fast food eating frenzy.   When Dr. Daryl Isaacs examined Spurlock, he concluded that he had developed the pate liver.   Non alcoholic fatty liver disease is an accumulated deposit of fat into the liver without the use of alcohol as a contributor.   This fat causes the liver to swell.   Insulin resistance is believed to be a factor in this liver inflamation. The heart palpitations in which Spurlock experienced was due to the fact that he incurred high blood pressure from the high calorie, high fate, and no exercise routine that contributed to his heart palpitations.   (Merck Manual of Medical Information,1997) â€Å"Whether the heart palpitations are normal depends on answers to a number of questions, such as whether anything seems to bring them on, whether they started suddenly or gradually.†Ã‚   It was quite obvious when a person goes from a healthy life style and nutritional diet to a diet consisting only of McDonald’s fast food, where he is to only eat a salad, every tenth day, that he is going to incur health problems, as Spurlock most certainly did. (The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2007) states that there is a need for an efficient daily diet to sustain a healthy heart.   High cholesterol, high fat, low nutritional value foods contribute to an unhealthy heart and body. (Roberta Larson Duyff, 2006) What we eat determines how healthy we are.  Ã‚   Spurlock’s study did prove beneficial and he was able to shed light on the importance of a healthy diet and the need for a healthy daily exercise routine.