Why did farmers blame railroad companies for their economic problems?

They primarily zeroed in on two villains – banks and railroads. In their view banks charged outrageous interest rates, and monopolistic railroads not only charged outrageous rates but their rates were unfair and arbitrary in that the railroads charged farmers higher rates than they charged fellow industrialists.



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The Complaints of Farmers They generally blamed low prices on over-production. Second, farmers alleged that monopolistic railroads and grain elevators charged unfair prices for their services. Government regulation was the farmers' solution to the problem of monopoly.

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At first, the farmers wanted the government to control prices on the railroads. Later, the farmers began to demand that the government own the railroads. The farmers decided they had to have an organization. They formed several organizations.

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Answer and Explanation: The railroads benefitted western farmers the most by connecting them and their farms to America's cities and markets. Farmers could now easily and quickly move their produce and farm goods to the cities to sell, and could import finished, manufactured goods from the industrial east.

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Railroad workers put in long hours; a 1907 law restricted train crews to 16 hours work out of every 24. Well into the twentieth century, work was unsteady and unsafe. One railroad worker in every 357 nationally died on the job in 1889.

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Crédit Mobilier Scandal, in U.S. history, illegal manipulation of contracts by a construction and finance company associated with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad (1865–69); the incident established Crédit Mobilier of America as a symbol of post-Civil War corruption.

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Abstract. In this chapter, we review the level of disturbance caused by railways due to noise and vibration, air, soil and water pollution, and soil erosion.

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Railroads helped farmers by shipping crops to new markets but hurt farmers by charging high shipping rates.

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The railroads not only set in motion the combined forces of mass production, distribution, and communication under which the American economy grew by leaps and bounds, they also shaped the foundation of modern capitalism.

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But the Depression, and the switch to automobiles after World War II, dealt a blow from which the railroads still have not recovered. A deadly cycle set in. As the number of passengers using the trains decreased, causing revenues to fall, the railroads tried to survive by cutting back on maintenance and service.

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What wrongdoing were railroads guilty of? Stock watering (which enabled railroad stock promoters to inflate their claims about a given line's assets and profitability and sell stocks and bonds in excess of the railroad's actual value) as well as other corruption such as bribery.

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