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Crop Failure
8-6.3—Explain the reasons for depressed conditions in
the textile mills and on farms in South Carolina and other regions of the
United States in the 1920s and the impact of these
conditions on the coming of the Great Depression.
Farming Good Times• US exported food to feed
troops in Europe during the war
• Brief prosperity for SC farmers
• Cotton for uniforms• Crops to feed the Europeans
Bad Luck for Farmers
• War end, resulting in a decreased need for crops; prices plunged
• Boll Weevil Attack!• 1922 demand• Drought, erosion, &
soil depletion • Farmers turned to
peach tress & livestock
The Farming Boom • Farmers borrowed from local banks to:– Expand– Buy land– Buy new equipment– Buy insecticides to kill Boll Weevils
• With lower crop yields and plunging prices, farmers couldn’t pay on their loans
Failing SC Banks• Banks foreclosed on past due mortgages• The state took possession of farms that owed
back taxes• B/C banks could not make $ on their loans or
sale the foreclosed properties they began to fail in SC (before the 1929 stock market crash)
• Dispossessed farmers became tenant or share croppers
• Many white farmers took mill jobs
Changes in the Textile Industry• Wartime factory needs dwindled• Synthetic fibers (nylon) replaced cotton
fashions in this era• Increased international competition by
lowering domestic tariffs • Northern mills closed & moved south,
flourishing in SC• SC offered readily available cheap labor
Southern Mill Trends• Improved living conditions by
adding electricity & running water
• Increased profits by using the “speed-up” & “stretch-out” methods
• Wage remained low• Over production of cloth led to
reduced work hours & lay-offs• SC suffered from the declining
demand & overproduction of the era
Remember the rule of supply & demand?
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