Why Anthropologists and America’s Government Should Care About the Dust Bowl.

Daniel Myers

Surrealism

A Roman Philosopher once said “As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without cultivation, so the mind without culture can never produce good fruit” (Mikysa). This philosopher tried to explain how the human mind, like soil, needs to be worked, through culture, in order to work. An example of a bad cultural change can be found in the Dust Bowl Era, a time when dust storms ravaged the great Midwest plains of America. Cultures have been cultured throughout history until they have become what they are today. Anthropologists, scientists studying human behaviors, research how these cultures become what they are. Anthropologists and America’s government should care about the Dust Bowl because it caused so much economic and cultural change in America’s Midwest.

Anthropology is the study of Human societies and cultures. Anthropologists study why cultures came to be and how they did so. They do this to understand what humans are and why and how humans are what they are. After researching those subjects, anthropologists can make educated guesses at what might happen to those humans in the future. Cultures are the traditions and ideas that have been passed down from generation to generation. Cultures consist of people, music, language, jobs, interaction, and many other things. Cultures are a “set of learned behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, values, or ideals that are characteristics of a particular society or population. Its overall objective is to provide a better quality of life through improved means to satisfy our psycho-biological needs” (Herbert). In essence the main idea of this quote is that cultures are developed to make those within the culture happier and safer.

The Dust Bowl Era lasted from the early 1930s to the late 1940s. Throughout this time period, terrible dust storms swept through the Great Plains of the Midwest (About the Dust Bowl). Survivors of this era recount how terrible and powerful these storms really were. “Dave Frazier had his truck sitting out in front of the store there and it even blew that about 30-40 feet – just right down the street” (Ganzel). The power and drama of the storms caused some people to believe that they were signs that God was angry at them. Descriptions of the storms include their similarity to night, caused by the dust blocking the sun, the constant dust everywhere, and not being able to keep anything clean. The storms, in addition to already awful monetary problems such as the market crash and bankruptcy, caused many people to lose their jobs through lack of pay. “We had a number of people living in Gresham that came unemployed. They were more or less day laborers; they would just work by the day or the week. They became unemployed” (Ganzel). These unemployed workers began to migrate to California because they heard promises of work and money. Thousands and thousands of people moved to California and began to work for meager sums of money, sometimes earning as little as a potato per hour (Ganzel). Prices for food were so low then, that some survivors can remember using food as fire fuel. “See, I can recall in the early 30s, the price of corn got so low that we were burning ear corn in our heating stoves in place of coal” (Ganzel).

The Dust Bowl had a terrible effect on the economy. Citizens were without jobs, and others without customers. No one had much money which in turn caused prices for everything to drop. A farmer during the dust storms remembers, “you could buy a lot of groceries for a dollar… I can remember going to Bereuter [gas station] buying 25-cents worth of gas. That seems crazy now, don't it? But that would usually buy me two gallons of gas” (Ganzel). As the prices for material goods decreased, the number of people with any money became fewer and fewer until all the money seemed to belong to small groups of extremely rich people. These people hired many of the unemployed and paid them tiny stipends of money. The now no longer unemployed still had to purchase food, which they bought from their employers. Therefore the workers were being paid with their own money. This vicious circle can be related to feudalistic societies in how terrible it was. People were worth little more than the crops they picked.

Conversely the Dust Bowl Era caused positive changes in people. As the storms and problems became worse, people needed more and more reasons to live and to be happy. People valued their families even more because members could be dead by the next day. People were no longer coveting what their neighbors had, because their neighbors didn’t have anything. One dust bowl survivor said, “[I] never had over 25, 30-cents in the house” (Ganzel). This dust Bowl survivor also had to learn to live on one dollar per day and love what he could get. The Dust Bowl also had negative effects on people. Walter Schmitt, a dust bowl survivor, narrated, “…the banker, one evening he drove along the road about three miles east of Gresham, and he used a gun on himself. That wasn't unusual for bankers to commit suicide” (Ganzel). Other examples of negative changes include highway robbery, because people traveled quite often by foot or wagon, and negligence of those worse off than oneself. An example of this latter change can be found in the book turned play “The Grapes of wrath,” by John Steinbeck, a distinguished American writer. This book, set during the Dust Bowl, describes the journey of a family from Oklahoma to California, and what they encounter once they reach California.

“I can't tell ya about them little fellas layin ' in the tent with their bellies puffed out an ' jus' skin on their bones, an' shiverin ' an' whinin ' like pups, an' me runnin ' aroun ' tryin ' to get work — … — not for money, not for wages — jus' for a cup a flour an' a spoon a lard! An' then the coroner came. "Them children died a heart— failure, " he says, an' put it in his paper. …Heart-failure! — an' their little bellies stuck out like a pig-bladder!” (Steinbeck).

This monologue from the play is said by a man going back to Oklahoma. He warns the family about what might happen to them in California, but they pay him no heed. In the quote, a coroner says that the man’s children die of heart failure even though they obviously show the symptoms of starvation. This proves that the coroner didn’t care about anyone inferior to him. All he wanted was to keep the records of state showing that there was plenty of food for all which would keep more people coming. The more people there were, the more deaths there would be, along with more work for him.

Music made during the dust storms was meant to pacify the troubled minds of people. Songs such as “Way down in old Kentucky,” soothed others because it let them know they weren’t the only bearers of misfortune.

“Way down in old Kentucky
The place they love so well
In the shade of the weepin' willow
They laid his darlin' Nell.

Way down in old Kentucky
The place they loved to play
Is a boy whose heart is so tender
And a mother so old and gray” (Sonkin and Todd).

This song describes how two children, Nelly and Jack, growing up together, fall in love and vow to marry when they are older. But the girl, Nelly, dies before they can marry and as a dying wish asks the boy, Jack, to take care of her mother. Music was also used to advertise work.

“You've heard the story
Of old Sunny Cal
[ . . . ]
They say, "Come on, you Okies,
Work is easy found
Bring along your cotton pack
You can pick the whole year round” (MOURITS).

This travel tune talks about how California is a perfect place to live and work. Because songs were passed from one person to a group instead of only person to person, news in songs spread far more quickly than news on paper. Songs like this one caused people to leave their old lives and move.

Anthropologists and America’s government should care about the Dust Bowl because it caused so much cultural and economic change in America’s Midwest. Anthropologists studying today’s cultures still find traditions, mindsets, and cultural aspects such as songs passed down from the Dust Bowl Era. Anthropologists know that history repeats itself. If they study the Dust Bowl and the problems that arose socially they can be prepared for the economic problems that will follow. If they pay attention to and prepare themselves and others for what will happen they can help create less of a terrible outcome. The next presidential candidate should be aware of the Dust Bowl because, due to America’s recent economy crash, there are many cases of unemployed workers nationwide. The government should be wary of what might be happening to the people of the Midwestern plains. These people are part of the consumers of America and if they can no longer support themselves while consuming, they will create a vicious circle; first ruining the companies that depend on their consumption, and then bringing down the people dependent on those companies. Not only do they consume, but they produce. The “Heartland of America” is also a huge provider of fruits, veggies, meat, milk, and other produce. This is an important industry to maintain because, if this industry declines, the people of America will lose a major source of food. The Government can stop another Depression in the economy from happening by seeing signs of decline, and stopping them before it is too late.

The Dust Bowl is still an important aspect of today’s American society. People today can relate to the Dust Bowl crisis because of the many natural disasters that have occurred while their country’s economy has been collapsing. Recently, due to Hurricanes such as Katrina and fires dotting California, many people have been displaced or had to evacuate, leaving their homes and their possessions behind.

Since the economy and culture of the entire Midwest part of America changed because of the Dust Bowl, anthropologists and America’s government should be wary of similar events occurring today in America’s present society. To prevent another Dust Bowl scenario people must cultivate good cultures and endeavor to prevent hierarchical societies from seeding. People must yield fruit by planting their minds firmly in good cultures.

Works Cited

About the Dust Bowl. 2 10 2008 .

Ganzel, Bill. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s. 2003. 2 10 2008 .

Herbert, Hilbig. The Mind Makers: Nature and Culture--www.modern-worldview.org. 13 10 2008 .

Mikysa, Erik. Mykisa.com. 14 10 2008 .

MOURITS, BERTRAM. Ry Cooder and Dust Bowl Ballads. 1997. 13 10 2008 .

Sonkin, Robert and Charles L. Todd. Voices from the Dust Bowl: the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941. 8 1 1998. 2 10 2008 .

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. Plain Label Books, 1939.