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"Thank God we still have a government in
Washington that knows how to deal with a mob."
-
President Herbert Hoover speaking in Detroit
about ordering General MacArthur to use tanks to forcibly remove financially
ruined World War One Veterans peacefully camped in a shantytown in Washington who
had come to ask for early payment of their war bonuses.
“Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing
we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror
which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance…This nation asks
for action. And action now…”
-
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural speech,
March 4, 1933.
Hoover
was gone after four years of watching the country fall to pieces, and a new
president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, as happy and optimistic as Hoover was dour,
was in Washington willing to try almost anything to improve the economic lot of
the people of this nation. The result
was a crazy quilt of programs with enough acronyms to make a fine soup. There was the AAA, the PWA, the FSA, the REA,
the CCC, the WPA, and many more. Some
put men and women to work on public service or infrastructure projects. Some attempted to aid desperate, debt ridden
farmers. Some regulated the banking and
Wall Street manipulators who had, by building pyramids of fantasy wealth on
margin and intricate frauds free of regulation, brought the country to its
knees. We all know in general terms the
history of the Great Depression and Roosevelt‘s New Deal. We know about the massive dams, buildings,
and roads built in those years, but what benefit did Southwest Wisconsin and
Grant County in particular receive from the programs of that time?
RURAL
ELECTRIFICATION
In
1933 the Dubuque Telegraph Herald carried a short story telling of a marvel in
Grant County. Edward Kruel, a rural
Fennimore farmer had built a barn. This
was not just any barn. It had “all of
the latest improvements,” such as running water, an electric lighting and
ventilation system, and metal stanchions and stalls. For Grant County and indeed for most of rural
America such wonders were almost unheard of.
Fewer than one in eight Wisconsin
farms had electrical service. All
farmers knew that electricity could vastly improve farm productivity with
motors for implements and milking machine systems, pumps for moving water,
heating and cooling systems. With
electrical service the farmer’s home
could join the 20th century by installing stoves, refrigerators, and
radios. Farmers who had battery powered
radio sets had to take the batteries to town frequently to recharge them.
The
problem was geography and cost. In 1882
Appleton, Wisconsin was the first city in the nation to benefit from a
commercial electric generator, introduced by Henry J. Rogers, a paper company
executive and banker. By 1910 most
cities had electrical service available, but those electrical utilities ignored
the surrounding rural areas. In 1934
less than 11% of American farms had electrical service. At that time in Germany and France 90% of
farms had electricity. Utility companies saw no profit in running electric
lines to the farmer. The estimate was
that, on average, it would take a mile of line to serve only three farms. The cost for line and transformers was at
least $500.00 per mile in those days. The total cost estimated to provide
electricity to 500,000 farms was $112 million (about $1.8 billion in today’s
dollars). The cost per farm was estimated to be $225.00 or $3,800.00 in 2012
dollars. Unlike Europe, farms were
widely spread across a large country.
The failure of the market to deliver electricity to rural America,
called for government action, which private electrical providers still objected
to. On May 11, 1935 President Roosevelt
established the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) by executive
order. Congress appropriated $410 million
to assist the formation of local cooperatives; non-profit consumer owned
organizations to build rural power lines and contract for or generate
electrical power for the nation’s farms.
Federal money provided long term loans at low interest rates to carry on
the work.
Our
neighbors to the north in Richland County were the first in Wisconsin to form a
rural electric cooperative 0n January 20, 1936.
On September 7, 1938 the first REA pole in Wisconsin was set in Richland
Center, and On May 7, 1937 the first line (267 miles) was electrified in
Richland county. In Grant County survey
work was started in January of 1937 to ascertain which farmers would sign up
for electrical service if a cooperative was formed. In southeast Grant county 453 Farmers signed
up for REA service and names and locations were sent to the Madison REA office
to draw up line routes. This preliminary enrollment was occurring all over the
county. On April 6, 1937 the Grant
County Cooperative Rural Electric Association was formed. An REA loan of
$180,000.00 was made to construct the first 170 miles of line. County agent Ben H. Walker was especially
active in getting the work started.
Bids were taken in October of 1937 for the construction of the power
lines. L. G. Arnold, Inc. of Eau Claire
won the bid to construct the lines. The
Interstate Power Company supplied the electricity from the substation south of
Lancaster. On January 20, 1938 the
Wisconsin State Journal carried the following story:
FIRST
POLE PLANTED IN GRANT REA LINE
(State Journal News Service)
Lancaster
– The first pole in the Grant county rural
electric
project was set Jan. 14 in the town of Platteville
on land
belonging to Neil Clements, town chairman of
the town of
Platteville. County Agent Ben H. Walker
shoveled
the dirt for the setting of the first pole.
Setting the first REA Pole in Grant County - 1938 (donated by Diane
Doeringsfeld)
On
June 18, 1938 an “old fashioned” community picnic was held on the Grant County
fairgrounds to mark the opening of the REA lines. There were boys’ and girls' races, a softball
game, and the Greer Rodeo sent several acts to entertain. As the years went by more and more lines were
built, so that now almost all rural farms and homes have the benefit of
electricity. Later, cooperatives were
formed to do the same with the telephone.
The public utilities carried on a propaganda war against the Rural
Electric Cooperatives for years, labeling them “communist.” To counter these attacks, the Wisconsin REA
News began publication in July of 1940.
Harvey Schermerhorn, co-owner of the Grant County Independent was named
the first editor or the Wisconsin REA News.
Years later he said that he "recognize[d] it as one of the greatest
stimulants to rural happiness and progress in the history of our country.” He wrote: "We are happy in the thought
that not a week passed but what we preached the gospel of REA through our
columns in the Grant County Independent,
boosting its activities."
FARM AID
The
situation for farmers was grim in the late twenties and thirties. Farm prices fell as tariffs were erected and
other nations could not afford to buy America’s farm products. Farm bankruptcies were becoming ever more
frequent. In 1932 “dirt farmer
legislators” went to Madison seeking direct relief from the state treasury. A subsidy bill was introduced in the state
assembly, and passed, calling for every farmer to receive 30 cents an
hour. When he sold his crop or marketed
his milk if his income did not equal the sum of his hours at 30 cents the state
was to pay him the difference. It was
not practical or possible. The cost to
subsidize the state’s 450,000 farmers in this manner was estimated to be as
much as $300 million per year. It was
impossible, but the fact that it was presented, even though defeated in the
Senate showed the depths of desperation of Wisconsin’s farmers.
After
Roosevelt’s inauguration on March 4, 1933, his “brain trust” went to work
developing and securing passage of a broad spectrum of relief measures: The Agricultural Adjustment Act to institute
farm price supports; the Farm Credit Administration to help refinance farm
mortgages by buying them from banks which were foreclosing on farms wholesale;
the Rural Resettlement Administration to assist in moving farmers (including
tenants and sharecroppers) off land too marginal to support them, and onto
their own farms.
In
Wisconsin the farm resettlement program was initially in the hands of the
Wisconsin rural Rehabilitation Corporation.
The federal government took over these duties in November of 1935,
following the establishment of the Rural Resettlement Administration. In Grant County most of the activities of
the RRA involved loaning money to families on marginal land so that they could
buy their own land and farm it. In 1934
and 1935, forty-nine families received these loans. County Supervisor T. P. Shreve wrote in the Grant County Herald :
“farm
families unable to make a living on land which once supported them have been
cared for, for two years, by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. Pressed down by economic hardships, they were
deteriorating mentally, morally, and physically. Outside help was needed to save them. Direct relief is not the solution. The Government can provide farmers with a
means of living [through loans]. Direct
relief cannot provide economic sufficiency…The objective and ambition of the
Resettlement administration is to help and assist anyone who is worthy and will
qualify to get a new start in life…If a man and his wife have a good reputation
for honesty and industry, have no judgments against them, are sober and
ambitious , and can furnish satisfactory references, there is a possibility of
them getting a loan…sufficient to start farming in a small way.”
In November 1935 the Grant County Herald announced that 314 Wisconsin farm families
would be removed from sub-marginal lands, which would be reforested and used for
game and wildlife refuges. The cost for
the 16,000 acres: $870,000.00. The
families presumably used the money to buy better farms for a better life.
A Grant County Family discussing a farm
rehabilitation management plan with the county agent, 1939, by John Vachon of
the FSA.
JOBS AND RELIEF
ASSISTANCE
Loading scrap, Grant County Wisconsin 1937, by
Russell Lee, FSA
The
story is depressing to read, even after the span of 77 years: “Platteville Has Enormous Relief Costs – A survey of the Platteville relief situation
from November 1, 1934 to November 1, 1935, shows that 247 cases received a
total of $51,410.74 during the 12 months period. Expenditures, as classified, were:
Cash, $25,827.24; groceries, $9,713.46; milk, $1,663.48; clothing,
$1,214.65; rent, $3,016.35; medical aid, $4,142.81; fuel, $5,332.67. The summary does not include $4,000 for
clothing made up and $5,000 in contributed commodities. It has no connection with CCC work or
teaching projects – just relief.” This
situation just seemed to go on and on.
Families were starving; children going without clothes, tens of
thousands were on the roads going somewhere to try for a decent life again. As Christmas 1935 approached reporters asked
President Roosevelt: “Is the government
going to stop direct relief next July?”
“My answer” the President replied “was that the Federal government …does
not propose to let people starve after the first of July any more than during
the past few years.”
Article on undernourished Grant county children
fed by the WPA - from the Wisconsin State Journal April 25, 1937
In May
of 1935 The Federal Emergency Relief Act established a project for women on
relief to work eight hours a day making wool comforters in centers in Cuba city
and Platteville. The year before the
relief recipients had been put to work making cotton comforters. These relief recipients were required to
complete yearly sworn statements stating their assets, liabilities, income, and
dependents.
The
Works Progress Administration (WPA, 1935-1943) and the Public Works
Administration (PWA, 1933-1943) provided the money to do public infrastructure
improvements. In 1935 alone the
following projects were approved for Grant County:
1.
$3,159.00 to crush gravel and put it on farm to
market secondary roads at Patch Grove.
2.
$215.00 to excavate and construct a basement and
move a school building onto the new foundation in Harrison Township District #4.
3.
$9,999.00 to construct water works extensions in
Platteville.
4. $14,277.00
to improve secondary roads in Cassville Township.
5.
$4,120.00 to improve other roads in Grant County.
6. $5,000.00
for 1500 feet of concrete paving in the City of Lancaster.
7.
For Boscobel:
$1,300.00 for two black top tennis courts; $1,500.00 for 1400 feet of
storm sewers; $5,400.00 for curb, gutter, and sidewalk; and $4,500.00 for
crushed rock for the streets.
8. $4,600.00
for sewer laterals in Fennimore.
9. $1,900.00
for Sidewalk, curb, and gutter in Mt. Hope.
10. $8,600.00
for 8700 cubic yards of crushed rock for the roads in Wingville Township.
11. $16,000.00
for Smelser Township to resurface town roads and build “culvert bridges.”
12. $6,200.00 to
Beetown Township for road resurfacing and culverts.
13. $15,000.00
for the Platteville state Teachers College to repair buildings.
14. Another
$7,600.00 to Patch grove for crushed rock for roads.
15. Another
$28,000.00 for 16,000 cubic yards of crushed rock for Cassville town roads.
16. $1,631.00 to
repair the high school at Lancaster.
17. $1,125.00
for repairs to the North and South school buildings in Lancaster.
18. $9,900.00
for city hall improvements.
19. $5,794.00
for city water mains in Lancaster
20. $2,250.00
for a community service program in Lancaster.
21. $1,503.00
for alley improvements in Lancaster.
22. $1,935.00
for park improvements in Platteville.
23. $4,780.00
for construction of a brick incinerator in Platteville.
24. $1,650.00
for sidewalks in Bloomington.
25. $13,690.00
to construct an addition on Livingston High School.
26. $14,875.00
for improvement of the community center in Fennimore.
And many smaller amounts I am too tired to list
Swimming pools were built in Viroqua, Mineral Point, Dodgeville, Sauk
city, and Prairie Du Chien. School house
gymnasiums were built for Cuba City, Reedsburg, Benton, LaFarge, Ridgeway, and
Cassville. The Grant County Herald
reported that The WPA paving job on Elm Street from the Railroad Depot to three
blocks south was completed in November 1935. “The work was done at quite a
reasonable figure” the paper reported “All work was done by local labor and
supervision. The men worked with a will
at all times, cheerfully putting in overtime to get the project out of the way
before frost. Everybody concerned feels
happy over Lancaster’s WPA paving job.”
Lastly, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC, 1933-1942) put young unmarried,
unemployed men ages 17-28 from relief homes to work. In nine years 2.5 million young men were
taken off the roads and put to work at $30.00 per month. They were required to send $25.00 of that
home to the family. They received food
and shelter in the camps, mostly doing work in conservation and rehabilitation
on government land. Many had not eaten as well in years. Many from Grant County participated. There were CCC camps at Lancaster, Wyalusing
(Nelson Dewey), Glen Haven, and Platteville.
Grant County CCC crew abt. 1934
So
what did Grant County get from the New Deal?
They got the same thing that the rest of the country got; a view of some
light at the end of the tunnel; some hope that things would get better, maybe
not tomorrow or the day after, but eventually.
There were naysayers and alarmists in those days as there are now, some
said government was the problem not the solution: that Nazis or Communists
would come to power; that Roosevelt would make himself a dictator and there
would be no more presidential elections.
“If the New Deal goes on to the only destination it can have” said
columnist Mark Sullivan in November 1935, “that this may be the last
presidential election America will have.”
It was all nonsense. Roosevelt
was actually working to save American democratic capitalism from its own near
suicidal abuses. What if there had been
no New Deal? What if….
