The Ram's Horn, 4 April 1896 PROGRESSIVISM Who? 1.Rising middle class of urban professionals 2.Agrarians 3.Social reformers What? 1.Good government 2.End corrupt politics 3.Improve rural life 4.Curtail the influence of large corporations 5."Purify" society 6.Reform: prison, education, welfare, suffrage How? 1.Efficient bureaucracy 2.Public education

Texas progressivism differed from previous reform movements 1.Unlike Radical Reconstruction it was an indigenous movement. 2.Unlike Populism, it operated within the Democrat party. 3.It happened in era where suffrage was being restricted. All progressives considered recent immigrants and uneducated Americans as a threat to the middle class. "Consequently, they saw no clash between social control and social reform."

1.Agreed with national progressives in the need for social control 2.Differed from national progressives in aiming for a democratic society for whites only 3.Texas progressives were tied to older agrarian solutions 4."Texas progressivism carried an inherent anti- eastern bias...." Southern and Texas Progressivism Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 280.

Joseph D. Sayers ( ) S.W.T. Lanham ( ) Into the Tentieth Century: Governors Sayers and Lanham. Sayers and Lanham were the last ex-Confederates to serve as governor. Both men were conservative by nature and desired not to upset the favorable business climate, which they credited the developing oil and surging lumber industries with having created. Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 280.

In 1902, Texas voters approved of a poll tax that disenfranchised many poor whites and blacks and further limited the possible third- party challenges to Democratic hegemony. The Texas legislature passed many Jim Crow laws, mandating, for example, segregated railroad facilities. Soon Texas, like many southern states, had erected an elaborate legal code that racially segregated public and private facilities. p. 236.

Texas progressive goals Electoral reforms Reforms to benefit labor unions Tax reforms Regulation of insurance and banking Antitrust actions

The 1905 Terrell Election Law of election reform did the following: 1.Establish a system of primary elections 2.Official secret ballot 3.Deadlines for the payment of the poll tax 4.Primary election on the fourth Saturday in July 5.File statements of campaign expenses The 1905 Terrell Election Law, proposed by senior statesman Alexander W. Terrell, attempted to eliminate election fraud and bring some uniformity into the process of selecting candidates by establishing a modern system of primary elections. p “While the poll tax and the Terrell law did much to clean up elections, the reforms came at the expense of democracy.” (Calvert, De Leon, Cantrell, 281.)

Turnout in Presidential Elections: Texas, the South, and the Nation, SOURCE: texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/.../ slide1.html Impact of electoral reforms: 1.Disenfranchised most black voters. 2. Disenfranchised many poor whites Historians have estimated that only between 15,000 and 40,000 of 160,000 black males over the age of twenty-one in Texas managed to retain the right to vote in the 1920s. The tax also eliminated from the electorate many of the poorest whites—a group that had been all-too-eager to embrace the radical notions of Populism in the 1890s. Progressives were confident that eliminating such 'unsavory' elements from politics would go far to clean up he system.

Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey BAILEYISM AND ANTITRUST: Antitrust suits constituted a major element of progressivism. Progressives believed that restoring competition in the marketplace would attract new industry to Texas and create a favorable business climate for local investors. In 1897, Attorney General M. M. Crane brought suit against the Waters-Pierce company because it was controlled by the Standard Oil trust of New Jersey. Found in violation of state antimonopoly law, Waters-Pierce was made to forfeit its state charter, at which point Pierce appealed to Bailey for aid. Bailey convinced the state to allow a reorganized Waters- Pierce company to resume conducting business in the state. In 1905, an investigation revealed that Standard Oil still owned 3,000 shares of Waters-Pierce stock. As the investigation expanded, affidavits disclosed that Pierce had employed Bailey as a legal counsel and had loaned him $5,000. Before World War I, state attorneys prosecuted more than one hundred companies for violating state antitrust laws. Most famous of these antitrust suits was the Waters-Pierce case, which centered on the relationship of U.S. Congressman and later Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey and Henry Clay Pierce, the president of the Waters-Pierce company. Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp

Governor Thomas Campbell ( ) During the Campbell administration the legislature passed the Hogg antirailroad amendments, which: 1.prevented insolvent corporations from operating in Texas 2.prohibited the wholesale granting of railroad passes 3.denied the use of corporate funds for political purposes Other measures Campbell oversaw included: 1.An antinepotism law 2.Strengthening of antitrust legislation 3.Roberson Insurance Law of 1907, which required insurance companies to invest at least 75 percent of their resources drawn from Texas in state real estate and securities. 4.Bank Deposit Guaranty Act ( ) 5.Encouraging the expansion of the Galveston Plan of city government 6.Creating a department of agriculture 7.Establishing a state library and historical commission 8.Advocating a more direct democracy through the use of initiative, referendum and recall Campbell was a genial man who believed in prohibition but considered one’s use of alcohol a moral choice, one outside the realm of politics. (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

Governor Oscar Branch Colquitt ( ) Colquitt favored local option in the matter of prohibition, ran as a conservative and aligned himself with the “wet” forces, who opposed statewide prohibition. * Colquitt sent part of the Texas National Guard to Brownsville to deter feared attacks by Mexican troops. The governor condemned President Wilson’s policies toward Mexico as weak and urged the president to intervene more directly in the Mexican Revolution. (p. 288.) * “Colquitte’s other principal irritant was that he had inherited a tax system with too low a tax base. The governor thus faced a state deficit of $1 million. Meanwhile, the new state institutions, public education, prison reform, and bureaucracies in a developing Texas demanded new revenue.” (pp )

Educational reforms Progressives wanted better schools to serve their children and to attract new industry. Despite Texas's relative poverty, between 1890 and 1920 illiteracy dropped to 8.3 percent, the lowest in the South. Reformers wanted standardization in books, courses, requirements, and administration. Two types of schools: Common schools: rural, administered by trustees, boundaries could change year-by-year. Most had one building, often one-room schools with a single teacher. Critics of the one-teacher, common schools maintained that rural students received an inferior education. One proposed solution was school consolidation. By 1929, more than 1,500 school consolidations had been accomplished. Independent school districts: towns, school boards Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp

GROWING PAINS: TEXAS DEVELOPS A MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, BUT IS RELUCTANT TO PAY FOR IT. Former Mount Pleasant High School building (c. 1927) Yet, in 1920 an independent survey ranked Texas thirty-ninth nationally in quality of education offered. One problem in improving Texas’s education system was that the tax base and, subsequently, the amount spent per pupil were so low that even dramatic increases in expenditures never matched the amount spent per pupil in most northern and midwestern states. Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 287, 289. Between 1890 and 1920, the number of pupils attending Texas public schools increased by 120 percent. About 73 percent of school-age children attended some public school in 1920, with a corresponding drop in illiteracy to 8.3 percent of the population, the lowest in the South. In turn, state expenditure per student, taxation for support of education, and teacher salaries rose.

Annie Webb Blanton was the first woman president of the Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) and the first woman to hold statewide office, superintendent of public instruction ( ), organized the “Better Schools Campaign,” which in 1920 helped secure the passage of a constitutional amendment permitting districts to raise school taxes above the original constitutional restrictions. Annie Webb Blanton In 1919, the legislature passed a law requiring that all children between the ages of eight and fourteen attend school for at least a sixty-day term. Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp

Annie Webb Blanton asked to no avail that the State Industrial Commission set a minimum wage for teachers. Some teachers tried to join or found unions but met Texas Hostility toward such organizations. By 1929, Texas teachers’ salaries averaged $924 per year, as compared to the national mark of $1,420. Calvert, De León & Cantrell, 4 th ed., 289. Teachers were grossly underpaid. In 1920, the average annual salary for a Texas teacher was $615, or about 55 percent of that of the average Texas wage earner. Black teachers earned less than did white ones, and rural teachers earned less than did their urban counterparts.

THE IMPACT OF PROGRESSIVISM ON EDUCATION Possibly, the major impact of progressivism on education was not an improved teaching staff, but rather a change in philosophy. Progressive educators believed the classroom should be an environment to stimulate individual learning that would be relevant to the child's life. "Progressive reformers maintained that schools had a responsibility for the improvement of the social order. Schools were called upon to Americanize the foreign born, teach democratic principles, and impart moral values." "Progressives accepted as axiomatic the Jeffersonian proposition that mass education produced a more responsible citizenry.” Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp

Southern progressives identified the prison system as one of the state- run institutions that defined the South as a backward region of the country.Southern progressives identified the prison system as one of the state- run institutions that defined the South as a backward region of the country. Progressives and the citizenry wanted prisons to support themselves. The additionally desired more humane treatment of prisoners and the standardizing of prison administration and the granting of pardons. Progressives and the citizenry wanted prisons to support themselves. The additionally desired more humane treatment of prisoners and the standardizing of prison administration and the granting of pardons. Political graft and the spoils system seemed to dominate the administration and conduct of the penal institutions. Political graft and the spoils system seemed to dominate the administration and conduct of the penal institutions.Prisoners: 1.were overworked, underfed and poorly clothed 2.were sometimes shot or whipped to death for minor offenses 3.lacked sex-segregated facilities 4.lacked separation by age and the nature of the crime committed 5.worked in conditions in which basic heath and sanitation precautions were ignored The growth rate of the prison population was twice that of the general population. A “BACKWARD” PRISON SYSTEM (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

Prison reform in Campbell administration ( ): 1.end of contract-lease system 2.established ten-cent-per-day pay scale 3.eliminated striped uniforms 4.mandated segregation of prisoners 5.improved prison sanitation 6.improved medical service. Whipping continued. (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

Prison reform in Coquitt administration ( ): 1)state-run farms 2)indeterminate sentences 3)suspended sentences 4)parole system 5) concurrent sentences 6) electric chair 7) better care for juvenile offenders (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

William Goodrich Jones crusaded for regulation of the lumber industry. In 1914 he organized the Texas Forestry Association, a private, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization, financed by membership dues and governed by elected representatives from within its membership. The Texas Forestry Association was committed to a statewide forest conservation plan to prevent lumber barons from completely depleting an area’s timber resources and then simply moving on. (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 294)

In 1915 the legislature created the Texas Department of Forestry, administered as a division of the Agricultural and Mechanical College. Critics charged that the Texas Department of Agriculture was too closely linked to timber barons and not committed enough to conservation. Under the leadership of Eric O. Siecke, who took over the agency in 1918, the agency established state parks, taught scientific reforesting and selective cutting methods, and developed nurseries for seedlings to replace harvested trees. Nevertheless, sufficient regulation was never established, and contrary to the policy in many other states, in Texas no law existed mandating that a seedling be replanted for each mature tree cut. High prices for lumber during World War I hastened the exploitation of Texas timber resources, and the 1920s witnessed the waning of the bonanza period of the lumber industry. The result was the destruction of the great old- growth pine forest of East Texas. (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 294)

Texas Roads The Good Roads Movement emerged around 1910 as the automobile gained popularity in the South. The Texas Good Roads Association organized in 1911 with the intent to educate citizens and the legislature on the need for a central authority to plan and maintain a state highway system. In 1916, the Texas Highway Department was established to promote the construction of roads with matching funds from the federal government. But the program floundered from its beginnings; the early commissioners did not cooperate with one another; and counties continued to make plans for roads unilaterally, grant their own contracts for road construction, and apply individually to the state for reimbursement. This lack of cooperation from county to county denied the state a viable highway system for many years. (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 295)

REFORM INTERRUPTED: THE FERGUSON ADMINISTRATION, A self-educated lawyer and banker, “Farmer Jim” won two terms as governor, was impeached, and then dominated the gubernatorial administrations of his wife ( , ). Critics identified the Fergusons with demagoguery and corruption. Supporters lauded them as friends of the oppressed and tenant farmers. Ferguson announced his campaign in 1914 with the statement that Texans were tired of the issue of prohibition. He, therefore, would ignore it and concentrate on more important topics. He campaigned in the poorer agricultural districts, promising to limit the amount of rent that landlords could charge tenant farmers. During his first term as governor, his farm tenancy bill capping farm rents passed. During Ferguson’s second term, charges of corruption intertwined with his deteriorating relations with the alumni of the University of Texas. Ferguson wanted more control over specific items in the school’s budget. His detractors said that the governor wished in reality to designate faculty appointments in order to purge the staff of those who politically opposed him. James E. Ferguson, Governor of Texas ( ) (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

The attack on the University of Texas was complicated by A. and M. College’s demand for a share of the Permanent University Fund and the structure of the governing boards of both schools. Ferguson charged that some faculty members of the University of Texas mismanaged state funds and that the university offered an elite and costly education. He threatened to veto the university’s appropriation if Robert Vinson, President of the University, and selected faculty members were not fired. When the university regents and the alumni association stood firm against the governor’s demands, he made good on his promise and vetoed the appropriation. Now, the regents put out a call for his impeachment. Due to his opposition woman’s suffrage and prohibition, both the suffragists and prohibitionists united to support the impeachment of Ferguson. The seeming intermingling of state revenues with the governor’s private fund (including $156,500 in unpaid loans, later discovered to have originated from brewing interests) enlisted progressives into the impeachment camp. The legislature commenced impeachment proceeding against Ferguson. Ferguson resigned to avoid impeachment, but the court of impeachment acted anyway, removing the governor and banning him from holding future state offices. “Fergusonism and the Impeachment of Governor James E. Ferguson (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

The Mexican Revolution David Siquieros Mural: “Poeple in Arms”

Between 1910 and 1920, between 1.5 and 2 million Mexican lost their lives in the Revolution. The census takers in 1920 counted almost a million fewer Mexican than they had found only a decade before.

Governor William P. Hobby ( ) Hobby advocated both woman’s suffrage and prohibition.

WOODROW WILSON, AND WORLD WAR I, (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 299.) When Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, won the presidency in 1912, his victory signaled a return of the South to national political power, a place relinquished to the political dominance of the Republican party in the aftermath of the Civil War. Texans undertook a major role in Wilson’s 1912 nomination and campaign.

Texas progressives considered Wilson a beacon to guide their reform efforts, and when the war began they transferred their energies into support of his and the nation’s war efforts. There were many casualties; 5,170 Texans lost their lives in the Great War, with more than one-third of these deaths the result of the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic. (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 300.) Americans burying their dead, Bois de Consenvoye, France, 8 Nov 1918

WOMAN’S SUFFRAGE: WOMAN’S SUFFRAGE: In 1919, Governor Will Hobby requested that the legislature put before the electorate constitutional amendments enfranchising women and denying the vote to the foreign born. Legislators complied, but the voters defeated both measure in an election in which all men in the state, including aliens, could and all women could not cast ballots. Later that same year, however, the legislature ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which authorized woman’s suffrage. (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

“The prohibition movement both gained sustenance from and nourished the women’s movement. In a period when women were considered keepers of morality and culture, prohibition furnished an issue that allowed them political participation in a reform crusade that did not violate their male- ordained societal role. Moreover, prohibition linked all reformers together. Progressives saw alcohol as a corrupter of democratic society and its sale as a moral evil.”PROHIBITION (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 304)

The presence in the antiprohibition movement of ethnic minorities, Germans and Mexicans in particular, buttressed the identification of dry forces as upholders of Anglo-Saxon democracy. (p. 306) (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 304.)

In January 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed the sale of alcoholic beverages. (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp ) The Baptist Standard best expressed the drys’ attitude when it declared that prohibition was clearly “an issue of Anglo- Saxon culture” versus the presumably inferior civilization of minorities in urban areas. The identification of ethnic groups with alcohol paid large dividends to the prohibitionists in Texas and elsewhere during World War I To not drinking alcohol became “patriotic”: people did not work well with hangovers, alcohol was needed in the war effort, and saloons corrupted U.S. servicemen.

The same surge of patriotism that identified liquor as un-American in World War I also encouraged a demand for cultural conformity. A public suspicion arose of those ideals or people who might not endorse the points of view of the majority.The same surge of patriotism that identified liquor as un-American in World War I also encouraged a demand for cultural conformity. A public suspicion arose of those ideals or people who might not endorse the points of view of the majority. Texas made pubic criticism of the American flag, the war effort, the U.S. government, or soldiers’ uniforms a crime punishable by imprisonment.Texas made pubic criticism of the American flag, the war effort, the U.S. government, or soldiers’ uniforms a crime punishable by imprisonment. The legislature mandated that public schools teach patriotism, fly the American flag, and, except for foreign-language classes, conduct all studies in English.The legislature mandated that public schools teach patriotism, fly the American flag, and, except for foreign-language classes, conduct all studies in English. Sometimes the superpatriotism bordered on silliness: sauerkraut became known instead as “liberty cabbage.” Other times it became hysterical and repressive: violent acts such as floggings were used to instill patriotism in those suspected of holding dissenting opinions.Sometimes the superpatriotism bordered on silliness: sauerkraut became known instead as “liberty cabbage.” Other times it became hysterical and repressive: violent acts such as floggings were used to instill patriotism in those suspected of holding dissenting opinions. The antiforeign hysteria melded into an antiradical crusade after 1917 Communist revolution in Russia. Now, the state citizenry frequently defined strikes and demands for civil rights as un-American and Bolshevik-inspired.The antiforeign hysteria melded into an antiradical crusade after 1917 Communist revolution in Russia. Now, the state citizenry frequently defined strikes and demands for civil rights as un-American and Bolshevik-inspired. SUPERPATRIOTISM (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

Progressivism in the 1920s Progressivism did not disappear with the triumph of the Republican party in the 1920 presidential election or with the prosperity of the following decade. Rather, the drive for patriotism in World War I encouraged progressives to stress some goals at the expense of others. Consequently, two strains of progressivism dominated the politics of the 1920s.Progressivism did not disappear with the triumph of the Republican party in the 1920 presidential election or with the prosperity of the following decade. Rather, the drive for patriotism in World War I encouraged progressives to stress some goals at the expense of others. Consequently, two strains of progressivism dominated the politics of the 1920s. Since progressives saw no contradiction between reform and social control, they looked to public schools and other state institutions to Americanize foreigners, to inculcate middle-class values, and to protect morality through prohibition. Thus, one faction of progressives actually had no trouble endorsing attempts by a reborn Ku Klux Klan and anti-evolution theory crusaders to exercise social control through enforcing prohibition laws.Since progressives saw no contradiction between reform and social control, they looked to public schools and other state institutions to Americanize foreigners, to inculcate middle-class values, and to protect morality through prohibition. Thus, one faction of progressives actually had no trouble endorsing attempts by a reborn Ku Klux Klan and anti-evolution theory crusaders to exercise social control through enforcing prohibition laws. The other emergent faction embraced “business progressivism” which endeavored to utilize the ideas of efficiency and public service to effect order and prosperity. Business progressives fought for administrative reorganization, good roads, and improved schools and health care; they seemingly ignored the demands of labor unions, tenant farmers, and proponents of civil rights.The other emergent faction embraced “business progressivism” which endeavored to utilize the ideas of efficiency and public service to effect order and prosperity. Business progressives fought for administrative reorganization, good roads, and improved schools and health care; they seemingly ignored the demands of labor unions, tenant farmers, and proponents of civil rights. (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

Governor Pat Neff ( ) GOVERNOR PAT NEFF: A devout Christian, former speaker of the state house of representatives, and prosecuting attorney, Neff espoused progressive goals. He used martial law to quell violence in the railroad strike at Denison, and he fought hard for good roads and the initiation of a state park network. Many of his failures emanated from his attempt to enforce prohibition laws. While governor, Neff described Texas as suffering from the worst “crime wave” in its history and asked the legislature to expand law enforcement agencies and pass more stringent liquor legislation. He wanted an increase in the Ranger force, a repeal of the suspended-sentence law that allowed bootleggers to avoid prison sentences, and a provision for removing local officials who did not vigorously enforce prohibition laws. When the legislature failed to respond, he chided the lawmakers for defending bootleggers. Neff used his powers as governor and his considerable energy to try to enforce prohibition, dispatching Rangers to areas of suspected bootlegging activity, and taking the lead in publicizing campaigns to eradicate liquor consumption. The controversy over enforcement of prohibition laws made Neff reluctant to condemn the Ku Klux Klan. He believed that the Klan’s opposition to bootlegging warranted his support of the organization, regardless of its violent tactics. (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

THE DECLINE IN AMERICAN MORALS? The general failure of prohibition enforcement brought home to many Texas what they defined as a decline in American morals. The rapidly increasing urbanization seemed to blur what were once clear moral and community values. Migration to the city disrupted the neighborhoods of rural America and, coupled with more and better transportation facilities, broke up the extended family. Historians have cited the urban growth of the United States as creating tensions between rural and urban Americans. The anxiety emanated not only from the countryside, but also from developing southern cities filled with recent foreign immigrants. The anticity focus of rural Texans resulted from their perception of urban areas as hotbeds of disloyal foreigners, religious modernism, illegal speakeasies, organized crime, morally suspicious “New Women,” and corrupting modern music. These tensions were further abetted by the post-World War I Red Scare and reinforced by the progressive drive for social control. (pp )

The Ku Klux Klan The Klan professed as its goals the preservation of patriotism, the purity of women, white supremacy, and law and order. It opposed radicals, Catholics, Jews, blacks, Mexicans, the wearing by women of short skirts, the consumption of “demon rum,” and continued foreign immigration. By 1922, the organization had 700,000 members and by 1925, possibly as many as 5 million. (p. 308)

The New Klan was to be a secret social organization that would advocate patriotism.

THE HOT FLAME OF THE KLAN IN THE 1920S: The motivation behind the Klan in Texas was more the imposition of moral conformity than racism and nativism, and the Klan was willing to use extralegal methods to prevent “moral decay” from spreading throughout the state. Texas newspapers reported eighty incidents of flogging in Klan victims included: 1.doctors accused of performing abortions 2.businessmen charged with corrupting young women 3.oil field workers whose rowdy behavior had disturbed the townspeople of Mexia 4.husbands who abandoned their wives 5.divorcees who set immoral examples 6.as well as pimps, prostitutes, gamblers, thieves, and bootleggers. The Klan argued that it existed to enforce law in a time of lawlessness. By 1923, the Klan’s increased use of violence had begun to alienate upper- and middle-class white voters, and the organization nearly disappeared toward to the end of the decade. However, its residue of demands for moral conformity lived on. BELOW: A group of men dressed in full Klan regalia march down the street at night with torches, crosses and flags. A crowd of people line the street to watch. Source: &st=T X&s=119 (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

Praying for divine help to fight Moral Decay. But whose morals? Who are the judges? Is the enemy clear?

Governor Miriam Ferguson ( ) Miriam A. Ferguson ran for governor in 1924 against the Klan candidate, Felix Robertson of Dallas. Part of her campaign focused on opposition to the Klan. Much of her appeal came from the general understanding that her candidacy for governor was a surrogate campaign for her deposed husband. Thomas Love said Mrs. Ferguson won because progressives hated the Klan violence more than they hated Fergusonism. One historian summed up the Fergusons’ tenure: “In the murky world of statute books, there may well have been no illegality, but the Fergusons were guilty of a flagrant abuse of the ethical standards of public office.” (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp )

Governor Dan Moody ( ) Governor Moody became a spokesman for business progressivism. Moody’s successes were few, yet national journals cited him along with some other southern governors as examples of progressive leaders. Moody’s first term in office had corresponded to a time of prosperity for the nation and the state. His second term witnessed the stock market collapse of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. Now business progressivism, which had solidified with the industrial growth of the 1920s, collapsed with the shattered economy. The Great Depression hit Texas farmers especially hard. Bountiful crops disguised the economic weakness of Texas farmers by helping to offset falling prices for agricultural commodities. GOVERNOR MOODY AND BUSINESS PROGRESSIVISM (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, pp. 308, 312.)