In 1933, about one-quarter of America’s workforce was unemployed. Hunger and malnutrition were widespread, families had lost homes and savings, and millions were trying to survive an economic catastrophe.
Franklin Roosevelt’s government responded to part of that crisis by paying farmers to destroy things Americans could use.
From the Library of Congress:
In a country with abundant resources, the largest force of skilled labor, and the most productive industry in the world, many found it hard to understand why the depression had occurred and why it could not be resolved. Moreover, it was difficult for many to understand why people should go hungry in a country possessing huge food surpluses. Blaming Wall Street speculators, bankers, and the Hoover administration, the rumblings of discontent grew mightily in the early 1930s. By 1932, hunger marches and small riots were common throughout the nation.
In June of 1932, nearly 20,000 World War I veterans from across the country marched on the United States Capitol to request early payment of cash bonuses for their military service that weren’t due to be paid until 1945. The marchers, who the organizers called the “Bonus Expeditionary Force” but who became widely known as the Bonus Army, spent several days in Washington, D.C., pressing their case, but a Congressional bill to pay the bonus was defeated. On July 28, U.S. troops and tanks commanded by General Douglas MacArthur dispersed the marchers and destroyed their makeshift camps in the city.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act rested on an economic theory that sounded tidy in Washington. Farm prices had collapsed because farmers were producing more than markets could absorb.
Reduce the supply, officials reasoned, and prices would rise, and higher prices would restore farm income.
Farmers desperately needed help. The question is what Washington chose to do with that desperation.
In the summer of 1933, the government launched an emergency hog program. Federal officials bought about 6.2 million young pigs and another 222,000 sows to remove them from future markets.
Pigs that couldn’t economically be processed for food were turned into grease and tankage. About 100 million pounds of edible pork did reach relief programs.
The USDA’s own history says officials expected the slaughter to provoke public outrage but considered the action necessary. Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace later acknowledged how disturbing the policy looked, describing the destruction of growing production as a grim consequence of an economy Washington believed had become badly unbalanced.
The administration understood exactly what it was doing.
Hellbound and Down 