The Limits of Prosperity

While many American families are rising on the new tide of prosperity during the 1920s, half of the country is almost untouched. For rural families from Maine to California, very little has actually changed.

Farmers continue to plow the ground, mend the fences and harvest the crops much the same as before. Few can afford the mechanical improvements that others enjoy, while horses, mules and oxen still do most of the work.

Some farms have gas-powered tractors, but not many. Model T cars and trucks are sprinkled about, and more farmers can rent threshing equipment at harvest time. But farms and fields are quiet places most of the year.

Rural homes often have electric lighting and a telephone, but few other electrical appliances. There's just no money to spare. The same is true for many families of mill workers and factory hands.


	Traditional Farm Life As the chart shows, America's urban population (ORANGE bars) continues growing steadily throughout the 1920's. Towns with a population of 2,500 and above are considered urban. The farming population (in BLUE) is also growing, but just barely. It's hard to keep the kids on the farm after they've seen the big city (or heard it on the radio), but most rural parents are still intent on making a go of it on the family farm. The vast majority of rural Americans live in comparative isolation, with few stores anywhere nearby.



	Rural Homes This museum exhibit recreates the housing of Pennsylvania coal miners, but is probably pretty representative of rural life throughout the country during the 1920s. The refrigerator at the far left (partially visible) is electric, which is typical in the East, but less so in farming regions more distant from cities. The hot water at the sink is not heated by a regular water heater, but by running the water through a coil of pipe which is inside the firebox of the wood stove. The tall copper kettle on the stove is used to heat water which will be emptied into the washtub on the floor, next to the stove. This is used to wash babies, children and clothing. An old-fashioned washboard stands next to it.


	After Work Cities are full of nighttime amusements for the rich, while most working Americans have to settle for the local bar. Farmers mostly stay home, but men who work in mills, or as laborers in manufacturing settings, often spend their weekly pay at a bar on Friday night. There, the harsh contours of life gradually melt away in more or less genial company. Women are left alone at home, with the children. They sometimes have to fend off abusive husbands returning from the bar, resentful at having to return to their otherwise meager lives. The Prohibition era that sweeps through America in the 1920s is led everywhere by women, outraged that desperately needed family income so often disappears into bottles of booze.


	Keeping the Farm Going The harsh realities of non-urban life in the 1920s are clearly evident on America's farms. Here, yearly family income is not just dependent upon favorable weather. Wholesale prices for grain and livestock are kept artificially low by shippers and distant commodity brokers who control the transport networks, including the owners of grain elevators necessary to manage rail shipments. Too often, farmers struggle to make sense of their finances through dark evening hours, after a harvest is ruined by flood, drought, insects or even rabbits. By 1930, the allure of establishing a frontier farmstead is gone (see chart). Almost-free land is no longer a big enough inducement to lure new families into the stark life of prairie farming.


	No Money to Spare While manufacturers fill their factories with specialized equipment tailored for each task, most farmers still use wooden contraptions pulled by animals. Even small machines, like the hand-cranked device used to strip corn kernels from the cob (top left), cost money. Barns on some larger farms begin to fill with improved equipment, but often by increasing the mortgage. By 1930, there are six million farms, but barely a million tractors. Only one farm in a hundred owns a combine harvester. Corn is the main crop, due to the relatively high yield per acre, with wheat a distant second.


	More Livestock In the early days, farmers raise small numbers of cows, pigs, goats and sheep for their own needs. As farms slowly turn into commercial enterprises, dependent upon products that can be sold at market, livestock assumes an increasingly important role. Pigs are the most dependable source of livestock income, far surpassing beef cattle in terms of the number of animals slaughtered at the meat-packing center in Chicago. The map shows that cattle are raised everywhere, but most densely near Chicago.