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?