SEGMENT: FARMING METHODS, FARMING DURING GREAT DEPRESSION, & CHURCH

Jack Sarff>UIS Collection S>UIS Collection S, Segment 6

SEGMENT: FARMING METHODS, FARMING DURING GREAT DEPRESSION, & CHURCH,

duration 08:47
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FARMING METHODS
In the early 1930s, corn was selling for ten to twelve cents per bushel. He could earn money shucking corn. Explains how he went to the field to pick corn by hand. Had to shuck each ear by hand. Good shucker could finish 100 bushels per day. He shucked for one cent per bushel; 1 1/2 to 2 cents per bushel was top pay.
CHURCH
He found a 1929 church "Record of Giving" when cleaning a parsonage. One man pledged $60 for the year, but many gave ten cents. Wondered how they could run the church.
FARMING DURING GREAT DEPRESSION
Relates how people in 1929 lost their money in banks that closed. Farmers could survive but had no cash to pay bills. 1929-1931 were worst. In 1932, he worked for $20 per month in summer and shucked corn for 1 1/2 cents per bushel in winter. Got married and got a job on a dairy farm for $35 per month, a hog, and daily milk and corn for chicks.
FOOD & MEALS
Two dollars could buy a week's groceries for two.