Dark Side of the Boom

Effects of Mass Production on Agriculture

During the 1920s people who lived in the industrial cities and towns benefited from the effects of ‘Mass Production’.  The use of assembly lines meant that the cost of many goods kept on falling which meant that more people could afford to buy them.  This kick started the cycle of prosperity in these industrial towns and gave people jobs which meant that they could now afford to buy washing machines, vacuum cleaners, cars and radios.

However, many people living in the agricultural (farming) areas of the USA could not afford to buy these new goods.  They suffered from the effects of ‘Mass Production’.

Before mass production farming techniques were introduced into farming, everything was done using muscle power.  This involved employing hundreds of people to plant and harvest crops.  The introduction of ‘Hire Purchase’ and new machines such as combine harvesters and tractors meant that farmers could produce more food using less people.  This led to an increase in unemployment and a drop in wages for farm labourers.   Farming areas such as the South and the Mid West were badly affected.

Farmers were also badly affected by the introduction of mass production.  As farmers produced more produce using their new machines the price of their crops dropped. This was caused by producing more food than was needed by the population. This surplus of food was called ‘overproduction’.  As farmers couldn’t sell their produce prices dropped further which forced many farmers to borrow money from the banks and re-mortgage their land so that they could survive and not go bankrupt. 

This situation was made worse by the introduction of Prohibition.  In the past when the price of wheat had been too low they had used it to make whisky or ‘Moon Shine’.  Prohibition, the banning of the production and drinking of alcohol, prevented them from doing this.  In 1929, the price of wheat and barely hit an all time low.  It was cheaper to burn the wheat as fuel than pay to transport it to market!

Activities: Effects of Mass Production On Agriculture

1.  What effect did Mass Production have on the cost of industrial goods like cars?

2.   Who benefited from these changes in the cost of industrial goods?

3.   What effect did Mass Production have on:

Ø     The cost of wheat? (Hint Overproduction)

Ø     Farm labourers

Ø     Farmers

4.  What prevented or stopped some farmers from turning their wheat into Whisky?

Summary: Extended Writing

5.  What effect did mass production have on farmers in the USA during the 1920s?

There were many Americans who did not like the changes that were taking place  in the 1920s.  Some of these people wanted to purify the USA and return it to some imaginary American ideal.  They formed themselves into two groups.  One was called W.A.S.P.s, which stood for White Anglo Saxon Protestant and campaigned legally to stop immigrants coming into the USA who were not white, Protestant or from Western Europe.  They were able to successfully reduce immigration into the USA from Eastern Europe and China by getting Congress to pass a series of Quota Laws. The other group was called the Ku Klux Klan who physically tried to get rid of people who they considered to be a threat to the USA.

The Ku Klux Klan

Source A: Joseph Simmons, ( Leader of KKK), 1923 We exclude Jews because they do not believe in Christian religion.  We exclude Catholics because they owe allegiance to an institution that is foreign to the Government of the United States.  To assure the supremacy of the white race we believe in the exclusion of the yellow race and the disenfranchisement (Take away the right to vote) of the Negro (Black People).  By some scheme of Providence (God)  the Negro was created a serf (slave).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The membership of the Ku Klux Klan rose to about five million during the 1920s.  They hated anyone who they considered to be un-American.  Source A describes some of  the people who they disliked:

Source B:  Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The membership of the Ku Klux Klan was largest in the South of the USA.  Many poor farmers and labourers thought that their wages would increase if they drove the Black people out of their state.  Black people were cheaper to employ as they were forced to work for lower wages than white people. 

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The Klan put their beliefs into practice by terrorising those people they disliked.  They used to parade through the streets where Black people lived carrying blazing torches and crosses.  Flogging (whipping) and tarring and feathering were common punishments for both black people, Jews, Catholics and even white people who mixed with them!  The Ku Klux Klan was a secret organisation and because many of their actions were illegal the always hid their identities.  Many Policemen, Judges and politicians were members of the Ku Klux Klan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source C:  The people of Marion, Indiana, lynching two blacks who were accused, but not convicted of murder

Source D: Washington Eagle, 1921 He was chained to the stump and asked if he had anything to say.  Castrated, and in indescribable torture, the Negro asked for a cigarette, lit it, and blew the smoke in the face of his tormentors.  The fire was lit and a hundred men and women, old and young, grandmothers among them joined hands and danced while the Negro burned.  A big dance was held that evening to celebrate the burning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When a Black man broke the law, or was even suspected,  he could expect no mercy.  In Georgia alone there were 135 cases of lynching (illegal hangings) in two years!  In 1921 the newspaper the Washington Eagle reported the fate of a black man convicted of murdering a white girl:

Activities: Ku Klux Klan

1.  Which two groups did not like immigrants living in USA in the 1920s?

2.  What do the letters W.A.S.P. stand for?

3.  Look at Source A: 

       a) Which groups did the Ku Klux Klan hate?

       b) Why did they think God created Black people?

4.  What term do we give to people who believe in these ideas?

5.  Look at Source B:

       a) Why are the KKK dressed in White?

       b) Why have they covered their faces?

       c) Why are they carrying an American flag?

6.  How many people were members of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s?

7.  Who joined the Ku Klux Klan and which part of the USA would you find the

     largest number of their supporters or members?

8.  What methods did the Ku Klux Klan use to terrorise people they did not like?

9.  Look at Source C: 

       a) Why have these two men been hanged?

       b) Describe how the people in the picture feel about the lynching?

10. Look at Source D:

       a) Why was the Black person being lynched?

       b) What did they do to him whilst he was being lynched?

       c) What was his attitude towards them?

       d) How did the white people in the source feel about him?

(Remember to use evidence from the source in your answer!)

11. Can you think of any other people in history who felt the same way about the

      Jews and Black people?

Text by Mr Huggins.