Declines & Problems in the 1920s

Question 1

X3 old industries suffering major declines

Answer 1

• coal mining
• rail
• textile

Question 2

Number of textile workers in 1920

Answer 2

190,000

Question 3

Number of textile workers in 1929

Answer 3

less than 100,000

Question 4

What did Brogan describe the problems in farming as in relation to the US economy?

Answer 4

“perhaps its crucial weakness”

Question 5

When was USA classified as an urban nation?

Answer 5

1920

Question 6

Natural reason for saturation of farming markets during 1920s

Answer 6

X2 bumper years in mid-1920s brought by good weather

Question 7

What did farm products outstripping demand mean for prices?

Answer 7

prices reduced

Question 8

X3 countries also experiencing saturation of farm markets

Answer 8

Australia, Canada, Russia

Question 9

Why did Australia, Canada and Russia have the advantage over the USA in terms of taking international agriculture markets?

Answer 9

No retaliatory tariffs as hadn’t adopted protectionist policies

Question 10

Price of cattle in 1919

Answer 10

$55 per head

Question 11

Price of cattle in 1925

Answer 11

$32 per head

Question 12

Price of wheat bushel in 1919

Answer 12

$2

Question 13

Price of wheat bushel in 1925

Answer 13

$1

Question 14

why did farmers remortgage their farms?

Answer 14

took out loans during war to buy more land / tractors to meet demand

Question 15

What did the Capper-Volstead Act allow for? When was it passed?

Answer 15

1922

allowed cooperatives to be set up for the sharing of equipment between farmers

Question 16

Was the Capper-Volstead 1922 Act successful?

Answer 16

no

lack of trust between farmers

Question 17

In 1920s what was the decline in population of those involved in farming?

Answer 17

1.5million

Question 18

In 1920 what fraction of the population was involved in farming industry in some way?

Answer 18

1/3

Question 19

By 1930 what fraction of the population was involved in the farming industry?

Answer 19

1/4

Question 20

What socio-cultural factor had reduced grain demand?

Answer 20

prohibition

Question 21

During the 1920s how many acres of land were taken out of production? Why?

Answer 21

13million

technical advances meant more yield per acre

Question 22

What rodent destroyed 1/3 of cotton crop - yet still was not enough to counter overproduction?

Answer 22

boll weevil

Question 23

What flooding destroyed thousands of acres in 1927?

Answer 23

Mississippi flooding

Question 24

% of farms that operated at a loss

Answer 24

66%

Question 25

When did the government introduce the Agricultural Credits Act?

Answer 25

1923

Question 26

What did the Agricultural Credits Act 1923 do?

Answer 26

funded 12 intermediate credit banks to offer loans to cooperatives in farming

Question 27

Was the Agricultural Credits Act effective?

Answer 27

largely no - famers couldn't keep up w/ repayments as still overproduction problem not addressed

Question 28

What bill to do with selling surplus farm products abroad in 1924 was vetoed by Coolidge?

Answer 28

McNary-Haugen Bill

Question 29

When was the McNary-Haugen Bill proposed?

Answer 29

1924

Question 30

In 1920 what was the total of farmers' debt?

Answer 30

$8.4bn

Question 31

During the 1920s how much did famers borrow?

Answer 31

$2bn

Question 32

What was Oklahoma's wheat revenue pre 1920s?

Answer 32

$1mil

Question 33

What was Oklahoma's wheat revenue in 1930?

Answer 33

$7,000

Question 34

Which historian stressed that one of the main reasons for the Depression was the unequal distribution of wealth?

Answer 34

Galbraith

Question 35

Where were the richest areas in America?

Answer 35

north east - big industrialised cities | $920+ annually

Question 36

Where was some of the poorest areas in America?

Answer 36

south - $365 annually

Question 37

How did the poverty of the south impact the north?

Answer 37

couldn't buy goods being produced by the north due to inadequate purchasing power if farmers were going out of business, north would have to import food ($$$ due to tariffs)

Question 38

What % of black americans lived in the south?

Answer 38

85%

Question 39

What was the average annual wage for a black american?

Answer 39

$200

Question 40

Who were the first to loose their jobs during the Depression

Answer 40

women and blacks

Question 41

What evidence is there that the Republicans were aware of poverty's existence?

Answer 41

Hoover's speech on how America was closer to "triumph over poverty" than ever before in 1928

Question 42

How much did charities hand out during the great depression in total?

Answer 42

$750million

Question 43

there was wealth and prosperity for certain groups during the 1920s - so why did the crash occur?

Answer 43

there were not enough wealthy and prosperous to sustain the boom

Question 44

Why did falling prices not cure markets during the Great Depression?

Answer 44

- decreasing prices were not going to stimulate an already saturated market - lack of demand meant lack of employment - meaning many had no source of income so little purchasing power at all

Question 45

What was the foreign policy decided in the 1920s?

Answer 45

Independent Internationalism

Question 46

What did Independent Internationalism mean?

Answer 46

involved with the world in trade, but would act alone (e.g organic own treaties) was not going to abandon their foreign investments

Question 47

What was the average tariff under the Fordney-McCumber Act of 1922?

Answer 47

38%

Question 48

Who introduced the Fordney-McCumber Act

Answer 48

Harding

Question 49

Who preceded Harding's presidency?

Answer 49

Coolidge

Question 50

Who was George Dawes?

Answer 50

vice president to Coolidge

Question 51

How much of a Federal loan did the Dawes Plan of 1924 provide Germany?

Answer 51

$200million dollars

Question 52

During 1920s private business in america invested how much into Germany?

Answer 52

$39billion

Question 53

Why did the mass of private investment into Germany not solve Germany's debt problem?

Answer 53

much investment based on speculation and was unproductive

Question 54

What did the Young Plan of 1929 do to German reparations?

Answer 54

reduced then to $8billion

Question 55

what did reduced reparations mean for Britain?

Answer 55

would receive less money with which to pay back US loans

Question 56

When did the German economy begin to enter decline again?

Answer 56

mid 1920s