The 1920s was a time of wealth and hope for the majority of people across America. Farmers in America, however, were starting to experience the effects of the Great Depression, beginning at the end of World War l in 1918. The Great Depression was the longest and most widespread depression in American history, lasting from 1929 to 1939. Farmers had been at an all-time high in production levels during World War l by selling their products to European markets. When the war ended European markets were closed off by tariff restrictions. Advancements in machinery continued as well as farmers harvesting their crops and raising their livestock in large quantities, this soon ended. Farmers were the most negatively affected during the 1930s because their …show more content…
Prices were dropping quickly and farmers were getting to a point where they could not drop their prices anymore and still get a profit. An example of this is “in 1920 wheat sold for $2.94 a bushel in Chicago. In 1929 it commanded only $1.00, and by 1932 it sold for a scant $.30” (Baughman). President Hoover hoped to fix this problem by enforcing the Federal Farm Board (FFB) in 1929. The FFB did produce more cotton and wheat but failed to improve the problem of over-productivity. Farmers were beginning to feel hopeless and knew there needed to be a change to get their lives back. Frustrated dairymen in Wisconsin would confiscate milk trucks and overturn the milk on the ground. Farmers in Iowa followed protocol and started the Farmers' Holiday Association. This was made with the hope that farmers across the nation would follow along with a strike trying to raise prices for their goods. Not all farmers agreed that these ways were the solution, once violence broke out between the two sides the strikes were brought to an end. Once the violence ended between the two it was brought to attention that a bad storm would be sitting …show more content…
Millions of acres of crops were destroyed. People who were there at the time explained that walking through the fields was like having a waveform in front of you. An example of this is how Professor Jeff Lockwood of Wyoming states "They explode from beneath your feet. There’s sort of a rolling wave that forms out in front of you. They hit up against your body and cling to your clothes. It’s almost like being immersed in a gigantic living being" (History). It is said that during July in the early 1930s swarms of grasshoppers were “so thick that it blocked out the sun and one could shovel the grasshoppers with a scoop” (History). Corn fields were eaten to the ground leaving fields completely bare. Swarms have not affected the United States since the
After all of this happened, America went down into the Great Depression. The Great Depression was the longest and the most harsh depression in American History. It lasted from the end of 1929 until 1939. This time era ruined thousands of peoples lives.
1930’s The Great Depression The Great Depression was the largest economic depression of the 20th century, and is commonly used today as a measure of how far the world’s economy can decline. The depression started in the U.S in 1929 with the Wall Street stock market crash (known as Black Tuesday). This eventually spread globally and affected the economy of many other nations throughout the 1930s. Canada was greatly affected by this as Canadian industrial production fell to 58%, the second lowest level after the United States.
One other challenge was that farmers began to close off their fields with barbed wire, to keep the cattle out so they couldn’t graze the field. When in the business of ranching, cattlemen were often the fault of their downfall. Cattle weren’t allowed to graze farmer’s fields, they over grazed the remainder range which damaged the prairie grass. They also overstocked the market which lowered the price of beef. By 1885-86 when 85% of cattle were lost due to starvation and freezing temperatures, thousands of individual ranchers and many large corporations were ruined.
American farmers became poorer in the 1920s as their paycheck was only one-third of the national average. The main problem was overproduction. The farmers were helped by the advances of new technology, but the glut of product, combined with overseas competition, caused prices at the market to drop heavily. A high percentage of farmers wanted federal government subsidies (a sum of money granted by the government to boost an industry) to assist farm incomes. When Hoover was still Secretary of Commerce, he rejected this solution.
Many people outside of the Great Plains were relatively unaware of the situation going on out West; others knew but did not care. Finally, one storm reached the eastern coastal area and caught the attention of everyone. Hugh Bennett, a major soil conservation figure, described the storm saying, “This particular dust storm blotted out the sun over the nation's capital, drove grit between the teeth of New Yorkers, and scattered dust on the decks of ships 200 miles out to sea. I suspect that when people along the seaboard of the eastern United States began to taste fresh soil from the plains 2,000 miles away, many of them realized for the first time that somewhere something had gone wrong with the land.” Following the storm, Pres.
Years ago in the 1930s, tragedy struck in America. Along with the wounding great depression, those in the Southern Plain were hit with a catastrophic dust storm known as the Dust Bowl. From acres of farms being destroyed to people losing their lives, the Dust Bowl was an unfortunate disaster. Some may say “the earth ran amok” (Doc A). The devastating Dust Bowl was ultimately caused by poor weather conditions, new farming technology and the immense removal of grass.
Darkness at noon, plagues of dirt and dust battering you in your home. When you wake up, fine dust cakes everything you own. This was the reality for so many in the Great Plains region of the United States during the Dust Bowl. In the 1930s, the Dust Bowl was extensively immense and overbearing for many. Resulting in a decade of bitter darkness at midday, a surplus of casualties in both livestock and humans, and the destruction of agricultural systems, the Dust Bowl caused extensive damage and hardship in a time of ongoing uncertainty and despair.
The effects of the Dust Bowl ““Black blizzards” or windblown soil blocked the sun and piled the dirt in drifts. Occasionally the dust storm swept completely across the country to the east coast. Thousands of families were forced to leave the region at the height of the great depression in the early and mid 1930’s.” The Dust Bowl was a devastating time period that affected many americans. In the 1930’s many Americans were affected by the dust bowl.
However, in 1929 the economy crash lead to the Great Depression. With everyone living very lavish lives, the depression settled in very quickly. The tax reduction lead to the growth of consumers led to demand for agricultural products. However, this demand was only temporary and did not provide a long-term stability for farmers. This increase in industrial then led to overproduction, which caused prices to fall and have many farmers go bankrupt.
The Great Depression which had its reign in the 1930’s on the American economy. It was an era in time of extreme financial hardships that not only impacted the American government, but also its civilians. Since this period of time intersected with the tragedy of World War II, the Great Depression did not last as long as it could have. With the plethora of impacts that World War II made towards ending the Great Depression, this economic recession did not last as long as it would have without the war.
“During the summers of 1934, 1936 and 1939-40, little rain fell, creating drought conditions in Iowa and across the Midwest. Extreme high temperatures topped 100 degrees sometimes for weeks at a time. Crops withered in the field and again, the soil was left with no cover to prevent the topsoil from blowing into the air.” (Dust Bowl | IDCA). This, of course, affected farmers as their crops could not survive the arid and dry conditions, but also lack of rainfall is what allowed the “dust storms” occur.
During the period from 1865 to 1900, American agriculture underwent significant changes due to the influence of technology, government policy, and economic conditions. A variety of factors went into this and influenced the way we live in America now. Technology played a key role in transforming American agriculture during this period. The invention of new machinery and tools, such as the steel plow and reaper, allowed farmers to increase their productivity and efficiency.
During the economic boom of the roaring twenties, rural America was challenge by the jazz age, women smoked, drank, and wore short skirts. Americans were buying automobiles and household appliances, which were bought on credit. Businesses made 65% huge gains but the average worker’s wages only increased 8%. On October 29, 1929 known as Black Tuesday the stock market crashed which triggered the Great Depression. It was the worst economic collapse in the modern industrial world.
Obviously, crops were frozen and there was no hope of growing anything at that storm. Major John Wesley Powell, an explorer, geologist, and writer in meteorology, said “When it came to great disasters” people knew far less that they thought they knew” (42). Back then, weather forecasters were a failure due to errors, faults, and lack of better technology to predict possible weather
Beginning in 1929 a worldwide economic downturn the Great Depression began. It was the longest depression ever experienced lasting until about 1939. The Depression started in the United States, however because of the drastic declines in productivity, unemployment, and deflation the Great Depression was felt in almost every country around the world. Only the Civil War ranks ahead of the Great Depression as the gravest crisis in the history of the United States of America.