FDR created the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation, whose purpose was to do something bizarre. Even in the Dust Bowl years, the rest of America’s farmers produced far too much food, at the same time people were starving. The FSRC was to relieve both of these problems.
This drove prices into the basement at a time when deflation was already bad. A bushel of wheat cost 50 cents, and farmers were burning corn for heat. It was said that agricultural surplus hurt farmers worse than the Dust Bowl.
One of the first actions of the FSRC was to slaughter and dispose of six million pigs. As the saying went at the time, “Then Ol’ Frank killed all the little pigs.” This was done to help the most farmers at once, because pig farming has long been far more decentralized than chicken or beef. Even today, pig farmers will tell you that they always walk the razor’s edge with pork prices. A few pennies in the wrong direction could wipe them out.
On the other side of the coin, the FSRC provided hundreds of tons of food to government and private relief agencies to feed the millions of hungry people.
dalereed: Say what you want about “cash payments to people” welfare, but when people are starving, they will vote for the devil himself if he promises them food.
Hoover was right that his economic program would have restored America faster, but even though he eventually realized that food had to be redistributed, he hesitated just long enough that the hungry public turned on him with fury that still exists. Giving starving people food is not welfare—it is national defense.
“but when people are starving, they will vote for the devil himself if he promises them food”
There it is right there: “promises”. My point was that he did not deliver, but I guess the voters were more than happy to eat his promises for supper every night.
FDR may have given some people some food, but he didn’t deliver on returning the economy as a whole back to a place where everyone could feed themselves. Ultimately, the difference between how history views Hoover and Roosevelt is that it takes FDR at his word and rewards his good intentions, whereas, for whatever reason, it mistrusts everything Hoover ever said. PR is king!
Raising them as a cash crop, yeah. One nice clean pig in the backyard's been a literal lifesaver for many many families.