494 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



There is little produce to ship but farmers are trying feverishly to keep stock 

 alive. And many are failing. 43 



The western Middle West was in the very midst of this. The first stage 

 of the drought centered about the Dakotas and Minnesota and was the 

 nadir of a series of downward trends in the rainfall in the area. For 

 North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota, the five-year 

 average of rainfall, up to the end of 1933, was 19 inches, while for the 

 five years ending with 1909, at the time of the last maximum phase in 

 this area, the average was 24.1 inches, or 27 per cent greater. Early in 

 May, 1934, in North Dakota "29 counties reported the 'drought of 1933 not 

 yet broken'; 17 counties reported 'crops destroyed'; 34 counties reported 

 'dust storms' seriously affecting crops and livestock; 32 counties reported 

 'no feed'; and 13 counties reported 'stock dying.' Other counties reported 

 'crops suffering'; 'seeding stopped because of windstorms'; 'insects ravag- 

 ing crops'; and 'dire need for human food.' Similar reports came from 

 Minnesota, South Dakota, and eastern Montana, and later from many 

 other quarters." By late fall of 1934 the wheat crop was only half the 

 average size, the corn crop was the smallest in forty years, the barley 

 crop the smallest in thirty-four years, and the production of oats, rye, and 

 buckwheat the smallest in more than half a century. 44 



One of the first worries of the farmers was the replenishment of seed 

 stocks. A large part of the surplus from the previous year had moved into 

 commercial channels, or was being fed, before it was realized that on 

 many farms the 1934 crop would not return even the amount of seed 

 planted. More acute was the feed and water shortage, which made it im- 

 possible for many farmers to carry their cattle any longer. Water had to 

 be shipped in, new wells were dug, and old ones were sunk deeper with 

 the aid of the Federal Relief Emergency Adminstration to meet the water 

 needs of the farmers. The feed situation was such that the farmers either 

 had to rush their stock to market in unfinished condition and without 

 regard to prices, or leave the animals to die of thirst and starvation. Some 

 farmers had hoped that the drought would be broken and that it would 

 not be necessary for them to disburse their stock. This was in vain. "In 

 the areas where conditions were most acute, many of the cattle were so 



43. Milwaukee Journal, July 19, 1934. 



44. U. S. Dept. Agri., A.A.A., Agricultural Adjustment in 1934, pp. 17-19. 



