May 07, 2007 03:08 am
—
The Great Depression began with the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and had a staggering impact on the lives of most Americans. Hunt County residents were not immune to the economic cataclysm of the Depression -- businesses closed, farmers went bankrupt, and unemployment increased.
Hunt County cotton farmers felt the first impact of the Depression in 1931, when cotton brought 5 cents a pound; three years earlier cotton had sold for 18 cents a pound. Ironically, in 1931 farmers had produced the largest cotton crop in the history of cotton grown in the country -- 95,600 bales of cotton, making Hunt County the fifth largest producer of cotton in the state.
To compound the difficult times, Hunt County farmers witnessed a corresponding drop in land values. Land which had sold for as high as $350 to $400 an acre in the boom times of the 1920s now sometimes went for as little as $25 an acre -- if anyone could be found to purchase it.
Living on the land, farmers cut down on expenses by growing vegetables, fruits, chickens, corn, hogs and beef cattle. One Hunt County farmer survived on $7 dollars a month and what they could grow on their farm, and another family lived on only $40 dollars a year.
To add to their meager incomes, many farmers turned to selling products such as milk and eggs to supplement their income from cotton. Since there were no special sanitation regulations such as pasteurization equipment required of dairies, anyone with "a cow and a shade tree, and a stool" could add to his or her income by selling milk to others.
Though food was seldom a problem for farmers, some families did not even have enough money to purchase basics like clothes; families made dresses and underwear from flour sacks or donated fabric; one family acquired a pair of pajamas from the Texas Rehabilitation Commission and the mother made a Sunday dress for one of her daughters. Tenant farmers who could not afford to purchase new shoes nailed or wired on strips cut from rubber tires to cover holes in the soles of their shoes.
Those living in the cities also suffered from the impact of the Great Depression, perhaps more so because they didn't have farm crops to eat. Out of necessity, the cities of Greenville and Commerce cut city wages from 8 to 15 percent in 1932 and 1933.
In Greenville the number of businesses declined from 450 to 400 from 1931 to 1933, while other Hunt County communities experienced similar down turns in businesses in 1933. Commerce businesses dropped from 175 to 134; Celeste from 48 to 30; Lone Oak from 45 to 38; and Wolfe City 65 to 40.
During the 1930s, Hunt County communities had their share of transients looking for work and shelter and food. Commerce had a large number of these individuals passing through the city because of three railroads which sometimes sent as many as 42 trains through the city in a 24-hour period.
Billie Jernigan Brown recalled feeding these hobos in a reminiscence reprinted in the "Handbook of Commerce, 1872-1985." "In 1930 I was 12 years old. This was the early stages of the Great Depression. I shall never forget the parade of humanity that passed our house day after day. A continuous movement of people passing, and it was common to see an entire family walking. They were dusty, hungry, thirsty, and they were running from some bad situation to another, hoping to find release from the weariness and the hopelessness. My mother and father fed every person who stopped at our house. When the weather permitted, the hobos ate on the back porch, and if it was bad, they were allowed to eat in the kitchen."
Most Hunt County residents survived the depression with assistance from family members, churches, city government, and a host of New Deal programs.
Conrad is archivist and oral historian at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
Posted by Rose Marie Williamson
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.