The Coming of the Great

Depression8-6.3

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 condition

on the coming of the Great Depression

During the war years

0During the war years, the US exported food to feed the troops and war-torn Europe0Produced a brief period of prosperity

in SC because the state’s farmers supplied food and cotton for uniforms to meet wartime demand

The Aftermath of WWI on SC Farms

0Once the war ended, the troops came home and Europeans were able to resume farming to feed their own populations0 SC farmers begin to suffer as demand for their crops plunged and

therefore so did prices0Agricultural economy hurt further when the boll weevil, an

insect pest, attacked the cotton crop0 In some years, the boll weevil destroyed one half of the crop

0Due to such a little supply, prices improved slightly in 1922, but never again reached prewar levels

0By the end of the 1920s, cotton, like rice before it, was no longer a viable crop in the Lowcountry0 Farmers turned to other crops such as peaches and livestock0 Drought, erosion and soil depletion further worsened the already

terrible conditions in the farming sector

Depression in SC0During the boom of the war years, farmers borrowed

from their local banks to expand0They bought land, equipment and later, in a

desperate attempt to salvage their crops, pesticides to kill the boll weevil

0Prices began to plunge for their increasingly lower crop yields, and farmers were unable to make payments on these loans0Banks foreclosed on delinquent mortgages or

farms were taken by the state because of the farmers could not pay their taxes

Depression in SC0Because they could not make money on their loans or

sell the devalued land that they foreclosed on, banks were failing in SC even before the stock market crash of 1929 marked the beginning of the Great Depression across the US0Dispossessed farmers became sharecroppers or

tenant farmers or left the state to seek opportunities in the North

0White farmers and sharecroppers moved to mill towns to find work in the textile mills

Textile Industry in SC During the 1920s

0The textile industry also experienced changes during the 1920s0High demand during the war years was followed by

declining demand in the 1920s0Synthetic fibers such as nylon replaced cotton in

the fashions of the era (short skirts used less material)

0 International competition increased as tariffs that had protected domestic textile industry were reduced

Textile Industry in SC During the 1920s

0Despite these challenges, the textile industry grew in SC throughout the 1920s0New England textile mills closed in response to

the poor economic conditions and moved south0Northern industrialists were attracted to SC

because of the ready supply of cheap labor0Mill owners improved living conditions in the

mill villages by adding electricity and running water

Textile Industry in SC During the 1920s

0Mill owners also tried to combat continued economic competition and increase their profit by using methods such as “speed-up,” and “stretch-out”0 “speed-up” – where machines were set to run faster0 “stretch-out” – where fewer workers were used to tend a larger

number of machines0Workers’ wages remained low which affected their purchasing

power0 As mills produced more cloth than was demanded by a weakening

economy, reductions were made in the work week or workers were laid off, compounding the effect on the economy of SC

0By the end of the 1920s, the SC textile industry, like agriculture and industry throughout the US, suffered from declining demand and overproduction