The Subtreasury Plan was among the leading political issues of
the 1890s in North Carolina and other states. The plan sought to
revolutionize credit and marketing arrangements for staple
crops, particularly cotton. A prominent version of the
Subtreasury Plan required the federal government to construct
warehouses, or subtreasuries, in counties that marketed crops
with an annual value of $500,000. At harvest, farmers could
deposit crops in the warehouses and receive negotiable federal
notes for up to 80 percent of the value of the crops. The farmer
had one year to sell the crop and then satisfy the notes and a 1
percent per year interest charge. A fee for storage would also
be charged. Unsold crops could be liquidated at auction.  The
Subtreasury Plan was radical because agricultural credit in
North Carolina in the 1890s was generally provided by merchants
and landlords. Credit from these sources, which was necessary to
see a farmer through the growing season, was always expensive
and often extortionate. Conse