The Agricultural Wheel was a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

alliance of farmers in the United States. It was established in 1882 in Arkansas. A major founding organizers of the Agricultural Wheel was W. W. Tedford, an

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

farmer and school teacher. Like similar farmer organizations such as the Southern Farmers' Alliance, the Louisiana Farmers' Union. and the Brothers of Freedom, the Agricultural Wheel had been formed to expose and correct the injustices and oppressions done to the small farmers by merchants, grain elevators and the railroads. The Wheel promoted a radical agenda including currency expansion through

free silver Free silver was a major economic policy issue in the United States in the late 19th-century. Its advocates were in favor of an expansionary monetary policy featuring the unlimited coinage of silver into money on-demand, as opposed to strict adhe ...

; closing all national banks; regulation or nationalization of the railroads, the telephones and the

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

; allow only Americans to purchase public lands; impose an income tax on high incomes; and elect senators by popular election instead of by state legislatures. The Wheel encouraged farmers to join local cooperatives, avoid the debt cycle, and avoid one crop overemphasis on cotton.

History

On February 15, 1882, during a period of depressed farm prices and drought, a group of nine Arkansas farmers led by W. W. Tedford, W. A. Suit and W. Taylor McBee met at the McBee Schoolhouse eight miles south of Des Arc in Prairie County in eastern

and formed the ''Wattensas Farmers' Club''. The club vowed to improve the lives of farmers, improve their education and knowledge, and improve communications between them. Many Arkansas farmers were suffering under what they viewed as oppressive mortgages (known as anaconda mortgages) and were heavily in debt. Within a short time it was suggested that the organization change its name. The choices were between "The Poor Man's Friend" and "The Agricultural Wheel" which was the name finally selected. The situation did not improve in Arkansas that year and farmers were in such desperate straits that they called upon Governor

Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

to ask the legislature to postpone the collection of taxes. By 1883 the organization consisted of over 500 members in Arkansas. At the organization's meeting in the spring a state Wheel was established and deputies were appointed to spread the word to neighboring states and seek to establish local wheels in those states. In October 1885 the Wheel absorbed, by a vote of both organizations, the '' Brothers of Freedom'', another Arkansas farm organization. In July 1886, the merger of the two farm organizations became official. In 1886 delegates from Arkansas,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

gathered at the town of Litchfield, Arkansas, to establish the ''National Agricultural Wheel'' and an official newspaper for the organization. By the time of the 1887 meeting, the membership of the national organization was over 500,000 farmers from Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. The growing political clout of the organization led it to promulgate a platform consisting of the following demands: * Paying off the national debt * Repeal of laws that favored capital over labor * Preventing aliens from owning land * Abolishing national banks * Government operations on a cash basis * Ending of agricultural futures trading * Establishing a graduated income tax * Prohibiting importation of foreign labor * National ownership of transportation and communication * Direct election of national politicians * Free trade and removal of all import duties * Establishment of a luxury tax * Free public education * No renewal of patents In 1888 at the national meeting in

Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the count ...

a merger between the Wheel and the Farmers' Alliance was proposed. The two organizations met jointly in 1889 in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

and merged that same year. Among farmers' organizations of the period the Wheel was remarkable for refusal to hold racially segregated meetings, a policy it held until merger with the Farmers' Alliance.

Merger

Centered largely in the state of Arkansas the Agricultural Wheel sought association with other farm protest organizations outside the state. Merger talks had begun as early as 1887 between these protest groups. Besides the similarity of their political goals the Agricultural Wheel and the other farm protest organization shared the same organizational structure. The Agricultural Wheel and the other farm protest organizations anticipating merger were organized on the basis of small clubs of farmers organized at the neighborhood level. Even organization at the county level had proved to be impractical. County level organization was too large and not "local enough." In the 1880s, small farmers rarely journeyed to the county seat of their

home counties The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often inc ...

. The Agricultural Wheel continued to exist as a separate organization until 1889 when it merged with the National Farmers' Alliance to form the Farmers' and Laborers' Union of America. Historian

Theodore Saloutos Theodore Saloutos (August 3, 1910 – November 15, 1980) was an American historian. His areas of research included agrarian politics and reform movements, immigration studies, and Greek immigration to the United States Theodore Saloutos Papers, M ...

wrote that: : the Agricultural Wheel was a protest against the effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction, the difficulties of a pioneer, primitive, sparsely-settled community attempting to adapt itself to a small-scale commercialized state of agriculture, the effects of one-crop farming, the share and crop-lean systems, lawlessness, and corruption in "high places."Theodore Saloutos, "The Agricultural Wheel in Arkansas." ''Arkansas Historical Quarterly'' 2.2 (1943) p 12.

References

{{reflist

External links

Agricultural Wheel
from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture
Agricultural Wheel
from the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture History of Arkansas Agriculture and forestry trade unions in the United States History of agriculture in the United States 1882 establishments in Arkansas Agricultural organizations based in the United States Agriculture in Arkansas Organizations established in 1882

History

Merger

See also

References

Further reading

External links