The Dark Side of the 1920s:The Plight of the Farmer

Sharon Rounds

McElroy Project through

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum

World War I

• Europe’s farms devastated

• U.S. farmers experience increase in price they are paid for commodities

• U.S. farmers increase amount of land in production

Audio-Visual Collection, 1919 – 48A, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum collection

All People are Encouraged to Save Food for Troops

Instituted a schedule of “-less” days:•Sunday: One meal wheatless; one meal meatless•Monday: All meals meatless; one meal wheatless•Tuesday: All meals wheatless; one meal meatless

http://www.ecommcode.com/hoover/hooveronline/hoover_bio/archive/food/wheat.htmhttp://www.ecommcode.com/hoover/hooveronline/hoover_bio/archive/food/wheat.htm

• Wednesday: All meals wheatless; one meal meatless

• Thursday: One meal wheatless; one meal meatless

• Friday: One meal wheatless; one meal meatless

• Saturday: All meals porkless; one meal wheatless; one meal meatless

http://www.ecommcode.com/hoover/hooveronline/hoover_bio/archive/food/wheat.htm

All People are Encouraged to Save Food for Troops

Other Propaganda for Conserving Food

http://www.ecommcode.com/hoover/hooveronline/hoover_bio/food.htm#p1

Audio-Visual Collection, A1.61-25, USFA Sign in San Diego, CA., Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum collection

http://www.ecommcode.com/hoover/hooveronline/hoover_and_belgian_relief/PROJECTS/G/J19.html

“To cooperate with him (Hoover), to guard against all waste, to use time and strength in purchasing and preparing the food for our households is pleasing to the Master who bade his disciples gather up the baskets and fragments after feeding the Five Thousand.”

A Plea to “Feed the World”

July 1918

• President Wilson vetoed a Congressional attempt to raise the guaranteed price of wheat

• It was decided that the government price for wheat would remain unchanged, while prices of most other commodities were soaring

• Cotton remained exempt from mandatory price restraints

Hoover Defends Price Controls

• Says without government price controls, the price of wheat would be less than $1 a bushel

• Provided President Wilson ammo against public criticisms of Senator Weeks

After the War

• Late in 1919, commodity prices started going down

• Prices never recovered until after World War II• Recovery of European agriculture after 1922

reduced demand and prices even further

What Did the U.S. Consumer do after the War?

• Ate more fruits, vegetables, and meats after the war, but less cereals

• Pushed through Prohibition, which further lowered the demand for cereals and hops

• Bought synthetic products, which narrowed the market for natural fibers like cotton

Parrish, Michael E. (1994). Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression, 1920–1941. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Copy available at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum, West Branch, IA.

So…Why Not Take Land Out of Production to Raise Prices?

• Farmers took 13 million acres out of production in the 1920s

• But – farm output actually grew by 9 percent as productivity of agricultural workers rose 15% due to technical and scientific innovations

Parrish, Michael E. (1992). Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression, 1920–1941. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Copy available at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum, West Branch, IA.