Why did many farmers criticize railroad companies in the late nineteenth century?
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Correct answer: Railroads often charged high or discriminatory rates for shipping crops
Farmers depended on railroads to move crops to market, so shipping rates strongly affected their profits. Many believed railroads used monopoly power to charge unfair rates, especially where farmers had few alternatives.
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More Populism and Farmers' Movements questions
- What was the Grange originally created to support?
- Which reform did many farmers support to control railroad abuses?
- What were Granger laws?
- Which Supreme Court case upheld state regulation of grain elevator rates and supported early Granger reform?
- Which 1887 federal law created the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroads?
- What was the Farmers' Alliance?