98 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



strong to be lightly broken; and many who favored 

 inflation could not yet bring themselves to the 

 point of supporting the Greenback party. On the 

 other hand there were undoubtedly many farmers 

 and others who felt that the old parties were hope- 

 lessly subservient to capitalistic interests, who were 

 ready to join in radical movements for reform and 

 for the advancement of the welfare of the industrial 

 classes, but who were not convinced that the struc- 

 ture of permanent prosperity for farmer and work- 

 ingman could be built on a foundation of fiat 

 money. Although the platforms of the Green- 

 backers contained many demands which were 

 soundly progressive, inflation was the paramount 

 issue in them; and with this issue the party was 

 unable to obtain the support of all the forces of dis- 

 content, radicalism, and reform which had been 

 engendered by the economic and political condi- 

 tions of the times. The Greenback movement was 

 ephemeral. Failing to solve the problem of agri- 

 cultural depression, it passed away as had the 

 Granger movement before it; but the greater farm- 

 ers' movement of which both were a part went on. 



