| Summary |
The purpose of this thesis is to examine and evaluate the actions of Pitt County bright tobacco farmers in their attempt to prevent overproduction of their crop and provide themselves with a good standard of living after a tremendous price decline during the fall of 1920. The production of bright tobacco began in Pitt County, North Carolina, in 1886. Many farmers began to grow bright tobacco after the price of cotton declined so much that they could not afford to continue growing it and make a decent living for their families. For approximately thirty years thereafter, farmers prospered in Pitt County receiving excellent prices for their tobacco, though the market had its ups and downs. Nevertheless, local growers experienced a rude awakening during the selling season of 1920 when prices tumbled to a level fifty percent below the record prices of the previous year Within a few months after the price collapse, Pitt County farmers, as well as other farmers across the state, organized themselves into two cooperative organizations: the North Carolina Tobacco Growers' Association and the Tobacco Growers' Cooperative Association. The farmers appeared to return to a traditional idea, cooperation, used in Pitt County whenever prices declined significantly at the tobacco market. In 1920, the county's tobacco farmers were caught up in the commodity cooperative marketing movement sweeping the nation at the time. After becoming involved in the movement, many realized it would not provide them better tobacco prices or a more secure life. Opposition to the Tobacco Growers' Cooperative Association grew in Pitt County as skepticism about the success of cooperation turned into hatred of an organization which many believed took advantage of its members. Eventually, the opposition of many tobacco growers together with management problems caused the association to fall into receivership. The association failed to provide the bright tobacco farmers with a permanent solution to their problems of overproduction, high productivity, and excessive production costs. Nevertheless, many of the county's farmers failed to examine their own mistakes, a step that could have prevented these problems earlier The New Deal provided the only solution to the overproduction of bright tobacco. |
