By C. Paul Bergeron
Part 3: The Economy
The stock market crashed in 1929, when I was
seven years old, and almost immediately bad things began to happen in
the rural community along Coulee Kinney. Some of the banks closed,
denying access to savings and checking accounts.
Crops of rice, cotton and sugar cane brought very low prices, and in
some cases could not even be sold. Some of the farmers who had
mortgaged their farms were not able to pay back the loan and wound up
losing their property. In some cases the farmer wound up being a share
cropper for the new owner of the farm.
My father told me a horror story that he witnessed. The year before the
stock market crash, rice had sold for $20 a barrel. That was an
excellent price. The following year, my father accompanied a friend to a
meeting of farmers on a farm where the rice crop was being threshed. A
thresher separated the grain from the stalk, depositing the grain into
sacks and shooting the straw unto a straw pile. At the meeting a young
farmer, who had borrowed a considerable amount of money to be able to
grow his crop, persuaded all the farmers there not to sell for less than
$20 a barrel. When the first wagon load was ready to roll, the owner of
the rice was reminded of the agreement.
The threshing of the rice continued while the farmer made the trip to
the mill. A couple of hours later the farmer returned with the rice bags
still in the wagon. When questioned by the other farmers, he related
that the mill was not buying rice at any price. The young farmer who had
been so vocal seemed to go into some type of seizure. He began to gnash
his teeth and took his straw hat off his head and ripped the hat apart
with his teeth. All of the farmers were in a very somber mood and showed
their frustration as well.
The year before, my father had bought 5 bags of rice for $100. That year
he bought 50 bags of rice for $100. He used the rice to feed his milk
cows, pigs and chickens, along with rice for the family table.
My two oldest sisters were newlyweds, and soon both the young husbands
were laid off by their employers. So for several months they got up very
early each morning and went to Magdalen Square, where they joined many
others who were hoping to be employed for the day doing farm work. If
they were selected by one of the farmers who came by in a wagon or truck
looking for temporary help, they received 50 cents for 12 hours work or
75 cents for twelve hours work, depending on the type of work that was
being done. The farmer also furnished the noon meal.
My father's job as school bus driver paid $90 per month, but the school
board could only afford to pay half of that in cash. The other $45 was
paid in "script", which could be redeemed only at Landry's "The Big
Store".
But this store was a general merchandise type store and sold groceries,
fresh meat, eggs and dairy products, shoes and clothing for the family,
and even some hardware items. Pop had to furnish the school bus, which
was a home made bus body on a Model T Ford truck. Most of the $45 cash
that Pop got from the school board went for the monthly payment for the
truck and the repairs and maintenance of the bus. So there was never
much cash around our house.
In addition to The Big Store there were several small "mom and pop" type
grocery stores that survived the economic crash, and they usually
advanced credit to their customers when they were not working, so with
that and with other positive approaches to the problem, people had
enough to eat. Those positives included having milk cows, raising
chickens for meat and eggs, raising pigs, having big gardens for fresh
vegetables and canning the surplus, picking and canning figs and
blackberries, making preserves with and canning watermelon rinds.
My two brothers-in-law eventually got regular employment—one found a new
job, the other was recalled by his former employer. The going rate about
that time was $1.00 per day. Sometimes the day of work consisted of 12
hours. The brother in law who went back to his old employer was paid
$6.00 for a six day week. Saturday was a work day. When President
Franklin D. Roosevelt's NRA (National Recovery Act) was passed, it
required that this brother in law's employer pay him $14 per week. So
the brother in law was laid off again. But this layoff did not last
long. One day I was playing in my brother in law's front yard when his
former employer drove up in his car. The employer asked me to tell my
brother in law that he would like to talk to him in his car. I informed
my brother in law and he went to the car and soon came out with a big
grin on his face.
The boss had told him to come back to work, that he would be paid $12
per week and the record would indicate that he was being paid $14 per
week.
Next: Part 4: Elementary School
A Cajun Boyhood, by
C. Paul Bergeron
© 2007 by C. Paul Bergeron