1930-1954

Troubles grow worse in the '30s

Years before the Great Depression officially began, many Cumberland County residents were living a hard life.

Most farmers lived in houses near the fields they worked. They lacked running water. Firewood was used for heating and cooking. The diet was heavy on hog and hominy.

Farmers witnessed drastic drops in prices. During the Great Depression, cotton prices went from $150 a bale to $13 a bale - if anyone was buying. Tobacco prices fell from 47 cents a pound to 8 cents a pound.

The city of Fayetteville cut the pay of its employees 5 percent to 10 percent in 1930. In 1932, city workers donated one day's pay a month for relief efforts.

By then, one out of every four residents was unemployed.

On June 27, 1932, men who had been without work for seven months marched from the Victory Mill to Sheriff Hector McGeachy's office, demanding food.

"We are desperate and we are liable to do anything before we see our wives and little children starve to death," M.F. Butler said. "We need something to eat at once. Many of us have not even had as much as a mouthful of bread today."

Two city aldermen arranged for food.

The out-of-work mill workers soon got the same relief given to others: 15 pounds of meal, 3 pounds of meat, 2 pounds of lard, a quart of syrup and 4 pounds of peas for a family of five.

Banks close

The biggest shock came earlier in 1932, when two of the county's three banks temporarily closed Jan. 1 after a run on withdrawals. The Salvation Army could not withdraw funds and was unable to "give succor" to those in need.

"Needless to say, the sad news left the city stunned for there was scarcely a citizen of any property or means who was not a depositor in either the Cumberland or Caldedonian bank," The Fayetteville Observer reported.

"But nevertheless, a sturdy spirit of optimism ran in a healthy undercurrent beneath the surface of disaster. Men felt that the worst had come to the worst."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated two months later. His New Deal included numerous agencies - all known by their initials - to turn the country around.

Cumberland County would see Civilian Conservation Corps workers earn $1 a day to build rural privies or repair schools. Government programs set prices for farm goods.

Prosperity and hope slowly returned.

Curtis McNeil, a CCC worker from Fayetteville, remembered: "The CCC would help with your learning. A lot of folks learned to read and write that way. They taught you to be neat and clean ... and the food was good and hot. The beef stew was the best."