How was socialism a response to capitalism

Socialism arose in the early 1900's at a time that the US was not in it's best economically. Of course, the economy was great, but only business owners and members of the government were making a lot of money. Common people of the US thought that if socialism were implemented in the country, everybody would get a share of the wealth, which is something they thought wasn't happening with capitalism.

b: to eliminate competition from other farmers