Between the early 1870‘s and the 1890‘s, the mounting agrarian discontent in America paralleled the almost uninterrupted decline in the prices of American agricultural products on foreign markets.
The author‘s argument implies that, compared
to the yearly price changes that actually
occurred on foreign agricultural markets during
the 1880‘s, American farmers would have most
preferred yearly price changes that were
(A) much smaller and in the same direction
(B) much smaller but in the opposite direction
(C) slightly smaller and in the same direction
(D) similar in size but in the opposite direction
(E) slightly greater and in the same direction