The Grange Essay Example For Students

The Grange Essay The Grange was the first major farm organization and began in the 1860s. This organization was created mostly as a social and self-help association notoriginally an organization of protest. During the depression of 1873, thisgroup of bonded friends, became an agency for political change. They knew inordered to help themselves they must become a voice in this new government inorder to survive. With the depression farm product prices began to decrease. More farmsjoined the Grange to band together to resolve the issues before them. Beginningas a small group of friends learning from each other what worked and what didnt,by 1875 the Grange boasted of over 800,000 members and 20,000 local lodges;claiming chapters in almost every state, being the strongest in the states thatproduced the most: the South and Midwest. As a group (strong in member) theymade their statement to the world on an appropriate day, Independence Day 1873. The framers Declaration of Independence informed those listening they were readyto fight back. The Declaration stated they would use all lawful and peacefulmeans to free themselves from the tyranny of monopoly. Many of the membersopened stores and other businesses so they could begin to buy and sell to eachother. However most of these were farmers, with families, not businessmen andmany companies didnt survive because of their lack of real business knowled geand the pressures of the middlemen who wanted them to fail. They worked as ateam to get candidates elected who agreed with the need for governmental controlof the railroads. With the control of the Legislatures they implementedgovernmental controls on railroad rates and practices. However the railroad wasalso very wealthy. They hired lawyers who soon destroyed the new regulations. With these defeats and with the new rise in farm prices in the late 1870s theGrange began to lose strength and power, dwindling to a membership to only100,000 by 1880. We will write a custom essay on The Grange specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The Grange was the springboard for another banding together of farmers,the Farmers Alliances. This new movement began in the Southern states andquickly spread beyond what the Grange had been. One of the most notabledifferences within the Alliance, was the approval of women to vote and becomespeakers and leaders for their cause. The Alliance however, had similarproblems as the Grange. Many of the cooperations, stores, banks, processingplants and other resources began to suffer the same fate. Lack of solidmanagement and the market forces operating against them caused them to fail. These disappointments aided the forming of a national political organization. This merger held their own national convention in Ocala, Florida in 1889, inwhich they introduced their Ocala Demands. Going even further they met and formed a third party. In July 1892,Omaha, Nebraska they met approved an official set of principles and nominatedcandidates for the presidency and vice presidency. Thus the Peoples Party,more often called the Populist Party was born. In the years that soon followedthe Populist Party won the elections for Presidency (James B. Weaver of Iowa),three governorships, five senate and ten congressional seats. Also elected weremany Republicans and Democrats who sided with the Populists. Most of thePopulist leaders were middle class, professional people or long time politicians. Most were not small farmers. Populism lasted for two decades as a third political party, however itwas a losing struggle. One main theory as to their fall was one of the nationsleading historians in the 1950s, Richard Hofstadter wrote in his book The Age ofReform published and expounded this view of the Populism group and theirlikeness to Communism. He stated the farmers were very committed to thecapitalist system they claimed to abhor. He stated further that Populism waspermeated with bigotry and ignorance revealing anti-Semitic tendencies andtheir displayed animosity toward intellectuals, easterners, and urbanites.What began as a united group of victims of economically marginalagricultural regions victimized by drought and debt. The Grangers turned intoan organized group who backed many politicians who won and made changes toprotect the small farmer, established a network of warehouses were farmers coulddeposit their crops and use these as collateral for borrowing money from thegovernment at low rates and wai t for the price of their crop to increase beforeselling, and the acceptance of silver as a form of money. Because of these twodecades in our history we can see our power to influence and change politics. Alone these unimportant, unpowerful, poor people could do nothing, however whenthey came together elected leaders, their sheer numbers made people listen andshaped laws protecting their lives and rights as citizens of these

casblanca essays

casblanca essays In the clip from Casablanca, the mise en scene, cinematorgraphy, and sound, work in in unison to create a significant meaning to the film. The sequence of events adds the missing story piece of their love, and clues the viewer that something bad is yet to occur. This is achieved through the overal lighting, palcement of actors in their environment, the props present, and through the physical body language of the actors. In the first shot, Rick is shown slouched at the bar. He has a half empty bottle of booze and is drunk sounding in his sppech and physical demeanor. The song motif As Time Goes By is being played by Sam, the piano man. This song is used almost subliminally during different times when Rick or Ilsa are experiencing a thought about the other. His dialouge underlines the depth of his deep hurt and abandodment felt from Ilsa. There is a dark feel to the scene by the appropriately placed low key lighting and sharp contrast of shadows. Ricks white coat is a key light which makes him stand out as the viewer is able to concentrate on his feelings. The camera zooms in to a medium shot of Rick, and his feelings become even more subjective and personal. As, he draws on his cigaratte and exhales, the smoke leads to a flashback in Paris enabling the viewer to get inside Ricks head as the meaning of Ilsa is explained. The setting of Paris is evident through the foggy fade in of the second shot of the Larc de Thripomphe. The Paris montage shows Rick and Ilsa driving with an extremely phony back projection shot in which they magically go to Champs de Lisez to the counrty in one second. This unrealistic switch of settings shows how Rick;s memory works, and alos gives a sense of magical romance. Rick and Isla are shown enjoying each others company and falling in love. In the beginning of the third shot, we see them both smiling as the wind is blowing in their hair. Rick puts his arm arou...

International Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 5

International Finance - Essay Example Though the negative event cannot be avoided, but the impact can be reduced. There are two types of risks vis-a-vis systematic and unsystematic risk. Investors usually hedge against systematic risk which includes financial risk, operational risk, liquidity risk, financing risk, currency risk, etc. According to the authors Clark and Ghosh, large firms usually balance their hedging techniques so as to minimise the cost of hedging. Corporate managers try to identify the risks facing the company so that they can strategise a suitable hedging technique to counter the effect of those risks. Big corporations are quite concerned with the foreign exchange risk, owing to their global business exposure. The author also stated that, the large corporations have global presence and trade across nations, thus vulnerable to currency risk as they have to trade in the local currency (Clark and Ghosh, 2004). Though there are various hedging techniques like futures, forwards, options, swaps and debt, but big corporations usually trade in futures, forwards, options and debt (Homaifar, 2004). As per the author Coyle, companies enter into an agreement with other party willing to buy/ sell currency. It is in the form of an agreement, where one party agrees to buy/ sell a specified amount of the currency at an agreed price, at an agreed time, delivery method to another party. Forwards trade takes place in two ways i.e. the spot market where the delivery takes place after T+2 days and the forward market where the price and other conditions are set before the delivery. The delivery takes place at a future date. In forwards contract companies usually face the counterparty risk, where one of the party refuses to buy/sell the derivative, thus putting the hedger at risk (Coyle, 2000). X is an IT company that exports software services to Y, a company in the US. X expects a payment of $1 million after five months. Assuming the exchange rate is  £1/$, it will receive  £1 million at the