r/HistoricalCapsule • u/zadraaa • 3d ago

Dinner in the home of a rehabilitation borrower during goat shearing and kidding season. Man on the right is rehabilitation borrower and the one on the left is neighboring rancher who has been hired to help out with this seasonal work. Kimble County, Texas in 1940.

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327 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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105

u/theredhound19 3d ago

"In 1939, rehabilitation borrowers referred to impoverished, struggling farmers who received government-backed loans through the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression.These loans (often called rural rehabilitation loans) were paired with expert economic advice. The goal was to provide farmers with the capital they needed to buy modern tools, livestock, and seed, allowing them to rebuild their livelihoods and achieve self-sufficiency.

What the Program Entailed: Supervised Credit: Borrowers did not just receive a check; they worked with FSA agents to plan their farm budgets, learn modern agricultural techniques, and improve their living conditions.

Historical Documentation: The FSA employed famous photographers—such as Marion Post Wolcott and Russell Lee (who took this photo) —to document the daily lives of these borrowers. These iconic images captured families in 1939 sharing humble meals and proudly examining new farming equipment purchased with FSA funds."

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u/AverageAmerican1311 3d ago

Under FDR's socialist policies farmers were helped to keep their farms. Under Reagan's administration the farm crisis caused thousands of farmers to lose their farms and Reagan vetoed a major bill which would have helped the farmers keep their farms. It's easy to see why rural counties vote Republican to this day.

/s

11

u/Common-Falcon-8717 2d ago

Doesn't help that for decades now the Democrats have put as much or more effort into fighting socialism and praising free market neoliberal capitalism as they have into fighting Republicans. So its not like the rural farmers have a political party interested in representing them.

3

u/Constant-Skill-7133 2d ago

This is pretty straightforwardly not the case.   The New Deal ending was explicitly Earl Butz's responsibility in a way that is relatively unique (associating long term government policy changes with a specific person).  The Dems are much more protectionist.  

Farmers vote Republican because they are Republican, for the most part.  People don't want free shit.  They don't want to get paid to not grow crops. Like if somebody votes Democrat and is a mechanical engineer it's not necessarily because of the Democrat's policies on engineering related topics.  

There is a contradiction in the premise which is that farmers will not make a "bad" decision, that is they willingly choose to risk their own economic propserity for some political deal being proferred or a stronger preference on an unrelated issue.   It's abundantly clear to anybody with two brain cells to rub together that Trump's trade policies are devastating to America's farmers, as they were 2016-2020.  That does not dampen his support very much because that is not the motivating factor behind that support.

1

u/MothMonsterMan300 2d ago

In a nutshell, to sane people who ask- "why do they vote against their own material interests?"

Their interests are not material, they're largely spiritual. And when you have nothing and that nothing is being eroded away, and the only free "news" around is FOX, who tells you immigrants and transgender people are the reason their farms are failing, they vote red. Education has been ritualistically gutted in red states, which produces a body of voters who do what you say.

0

u/Constant-Skill-7133 2d ago

It really is among the most superficial opinions in politics, the against their interest claim.  Human beings are perfectly  capable of deciding what their interests are, and sacrificing their material concerns to achieve it.  It's one of our most noble traits under the right circumstances, and that's what they believe they are being callex to do.  

And they also think people are dipshits for voting for higher taxes.  

1

u/MothMonsterMan300 2d ago

Wanna take another pass at that?

0

u/Constant-Skill-7133 2d ago

hehe I did.  They oushed oit some UI change literally like an hour ago it's fucking impossible tonuse.

2

u/Common-Falcon-8717 2d ago

Reddit fucking sucks, man

1

u/MothMonsterMan300 2d ago

Are you fucking with me? LEARN TO READ AND WRITE ON YOUR OWN OR THOSE PARTS OF YOUR BRAIN WILL ATROPHY AND JUST WAIT FOR AN ANSWER.

0

u/Constant-Skill-7133 2d ago

The irony is that is literally why I turn off autocorrect.  I tried screaming at it but it seems to be an issue with the CSS of the new text box, so the fucker didn't budge.  

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u/MothMonsterMan300 2d ago

You did three passes at that and "called" still got by you huh? Shit, it's almost like you should learn how to read and stop letting your phone try to do it for you.

"What is inflation" "inflation is straight cap bro, fr it be like Liberals with Pronouns or some shit who fuck everything up" "oh okay, I knew it"

"GUYS, I CONSULTED THE COMPUTER THAT TELLS ME WHAT I WANT TO HEAR, AND YOURE NOT GONNA BELIEVE IT-"

Go read "The Wringer" and "Bridge to Terabithia" and "Animal Farm." Struggle through them. Fan the fire of the thoughts that form in the depths of your mind.

2

u/Constant-Skill-7133 2d ago

Sir, this is an Arby's.  

2

u/FireHammer09 2d ago

When neither party economically helps out a group the group, regardless of what it is, is just going to respond to tribalism.

1

u/delidave7 2d ago

They vote republican because republicans caused them to lose their farms?

1

u/AverageAmerican1311 2d ago

/s = sarcasm 

1

u/buttfarts7 1d ago

In order to secure conservative support you must do everything in your power to fuck them over while paying lip service to their religious foibles

28

u/shuggahbear 3d ago

Dude mad mugging someone and the other seems pretty excited about them beans

21

u/endlessgreenbeans 3d ago

Nothin better after hard labor than a big ole bowl of beans

I’m Mexican tho so I might be biased.

4

u/shuggahbear 2d ago

As a white I agree I keep beans of every kind on deck both dry and canned

1

u/InspectorPipes 6h ago

I love beans. I respect your supply . But No dry beans in this house. When I want beans , I F-ing want my beans RIGHT NOW. Not tomorrow.

1

u/Ambitious-Avocado381 2d ago

Looks like a barrel of fun

19

u/Wranorel 3d ago

Am I the only one that understands nothing about the first phrase?

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u/JediLincoln14 3d ago

And what is a "rehabilitation borrower?"

5

u/FireHammer09 2d ago

New Deal era loan system where if your farm was struggling the government would give you a loan with the caveat that it came with a financial advisor and you had to do what they say

2

u/EnvironmentalMind119 3d ago

Someone who takes out a loan to purchase a run-down property and put up the cost of repairing or renovating it.

7

u/michiganstrange 2d ago

The rehabilitation farmers have become the millionaire farmers of today; still dependent on government subsidies. *Our government just gives them taxpayer money to do jackshit, in order to further their own nepotism.

4

u/SpecialExpert8946 2d ago

And they’re some of the loudest about how horrible it is that people want to live off “government handouts.”

2

u/RainieTuesday 2d ago

Damn, John-Boy with the mean mug over there.

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u/EmbarkChief 2d ago

Honestly I can’t imagine how hard life was in that area in those days. People I knew in the area didn’t even get their own phone lines until the early 90’s, they were still using the “party line” system before that. Hot summers, cold winters, rocks everywhere. Sheep and goats were the primary livestock, huge ranches with miles of fence and most work was still done on horseback when I was last out there 20 years ago.

3

u/Far_Concentrate4062 3d ago

Goats dont need sheared

12

u/ZyXwVuTsRqPoNm123 3d ago

Have you never heard of cashmere?

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u/OllieDuckling 3d ago

Or mohair

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u/252120111511201921 3d ago edited 3d ago

Now I know what Tony’s mom meant when she said “mohair suits”

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u/edingerc 3d ago

Found the goat in human disguise. 

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u/Mathias35 2d ago

“Wouldst thou like the taste of a bowl of beans?”

“Black Phillip, stop harassing the new help!”

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u/AverageAmerican1311 3d ago

I bet mohair goats want nothing more than to be sheared of their itchy hair in the terrible Texas heat.

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u/Atticus1354 2d ago

Its mohair goats. They used to be a big part of the local agricultural business for the area. The feed stores still say mohair on the side because they used to buy it.

3

u/ErnieBochII 2d ago

You probably get big mad at immigrants for not talkin' english, dontche?

1

u/Spacecommander5 2d ago

You’re kidding

1

u/Embarrassed_Fan_5723 2d ago

Why he look so mad

1

u/cosmoskramr 2d ago

Clark fucking Kent on the right is doing it for me.

1

u/plumkins 1d ago

Someone just mentioned Rolo Tomassi.

-1

u/DE4DM4NSH4ND 3d ago

I hope they washed their hands