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Excerpt from 'On Drought Conditions'

By President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1936

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), also commonly known by his initials FDR, served as the 32nd
President of the United States (1933-1945). He is known for his unprecedented four-term election and for his
leadership in WWII. He also faced the “Dust Bowl” of the 1930s — during which severe drought and erosion
conditions led to a prolonged agricultural crisis. As you read, take notes on both Roosevelt’s plan to address
the crisis as well as the rhetorical devices he uses to convey his message.

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[1] I have been on a journey of husbandry. I went
primarily to see at first hand conditions in the
drought states; to see how effectively Federal and
local authorities are taking care of pressing problems
of relief and also how they are to work together to
defend the people of this country against the effects
of future droughts.

I saw drought devastation in nine states.

I talked with families who had lost their wheat crop,

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lost their corn crop, lost their livestock, lost the water
in their well, lost their garden and come through to
"Dust Bowl" by U.S. Department of Agriculture is licensed under CC
the end of the summer without one dollar of cash BY 2.0.
resources, facing a winter without feed or food —
facing a planting season without seed to put in the ground.

That was the extreme case, but there are thousands and thousands of families on western farms who share the
same difficulties.

[5] I saw cattlemen who because of lack of grass or lack of winter feed have been compelled to sell all but their
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breeding stock and will need help to carry even these through the coming winter. I saw livestock kept alive only
because water had been brought to them long distances in tank cars. I saw other farm families who have not
lost everything but who, because they have made only partial crops, must have some form of help if they are to
continue farming next spring.

I shall never forget the fields of wheat so blasted by heat that they cannot be harvested. I shall never forget field
after field of corn stunted, earless and stripped of leaves, for what the sun left the grasshoppers took. I saw
brown pastures which would not keep a cow on fifty acres.

1. Here, “husbandry” can mean farming or the management of resources.

2. domesticated animals raised for food, clothing, labor, etc.
3. “Breeding stock” refers to the livestock animals kept for reproduction.

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 Yet I would not have you think for a single minute that there is permanent disaster in these drought regions, or
that the picture I saw meant depopulating these areas. No cracked earth, no blistering sun, no burning wind, no
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grasshoppers, are a permanent match for the indomitable American farmers and stockmen and their wives
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and children who have carried on through desperate days, and inspire us with their self-reliance, their tenacity
and their courage. It was their fathers’ task to make homes; it is their task to keep those homes; it is our task to
help them with their fight.

First let me talk for a minute about this autumn and the coming winter. We have the option, in the case of
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families who need actual subsistence, of putting them on the dole or putting them to work. They do not want
to go on the dole and they are one thousand percent right. We agree, therefore, that we must put them to work
for a decent wage, and when we reach that decision we kill two birds with one stone, because these families will
earn enough by working, not only to subsist themselves, but to buy food for their stock, and seed for next year’s
planting. Into this scheme of things there fit of course the government lending agencies which next year, as in
the past, will help with production loans.

Every Governor with whom I have talked is in full accord with this program of doing work for these farm
families, just as every Governor agrees that the individual states will take care of their unemployables but that
the cost of employing those who are entirely able and willing to work must be borne by the Federal
Government.

[10] If then we know, as we do today, the approximate number of farm families who will require some form of work
relief from now on through the winter, we face the question of what kind of work they should do. Let me make
it clear that this is not a new question because it has already been answered to a greater or less extent in every
one of the drought communities. Beginning in 1934, when we also had serious drought conditions, the state
and Federal governments cooperated in planning a large number of projects — many of them directly aimed at
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the alleviation of future drought conditions. In accordance with that program literally thousands of ponds or
small reservoirs have been built in order to supply water for stock and to lift the level of the underground water
to protect wells from going dry. Thousands of wells have been drilled or deepened; community lakes have been
created and irrigation projects are being pushed…

Spending like this is not waste. It would spell future waste if we did not spend for such things now. These
emergency work projects provide money to buy food and clothing for the winter; they keep the livestock on the
farm; they provide seed for a new crop, and, best of all, they will conserve soil and water in the future in those
areas most frequently hit by drought.

If, for example, in some local area the water table continues to drop and the topsoil to blow away, the land
values will disappear with the water and the soil. People on the farms will drift into the nearby cities; the cities
will have no farm trade and the workers in the city factories and stores will have no jobs. Property values in the
cities will decline. If, on the other hand, the farms within that area remain as farms with better water supply and
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no erosion, the farm population will stay on the land and prosper and the nearby cities will prosper too.
Property values will increase instead of disappearing. That is why it is worth our while as a nation to spend
money in order to save money.

4. Indomitable (adjective) impossible to defeat or discourage

5. Tenacity (noun) persistence and determination
6. The “dole” refers to the distribution of food, money, and other resources from the government to people who are
unemployed.
7. Alleviation (noun) the act of making something less painful or difficult
8. the gradual destruction of something by natural forces, such as wind or flowing water

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 I have, however, used the argument in relation only to a small area — it holds good in its effect on the nation as
a whole. Every state in the drought area is now doing and always will do business with every state outside it.
The very existence of the men and women working in the clothing factories of New York, making clothes worn
by farmers and their families; of the workers in the steel mills in Pittsburgh, in the automobile factories of
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Detroit, and in the harvester factories of Illinois, depend upon the farmers’ ability to purchase the commodities
they produce. In the same way it is the purchasing power of the workers in these factories in the cities that
enables them and their wives and children to eat more beef, more pork, more wheat, more corn, more fruit
and more dairy products, and to buy more clothing made from cotton, wool and leather. In a physical and a
property sense, as well as in a spiritual sense, we are members one of another.

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I want to make it clear that no simple panacea can be applied to the drought problem in the whole of the
drought area. Plans must depend on local conditions, for these vary with annual rainfall, soil characteristics,
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altitude and topography. Water and soil conservation methods may differ in one county from those in an
adjoining county. Work to be done in the cattle and sheep country differs in type from work in the wheat
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country or work in the Corn Belt.

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[15] The Great Plains Drought Area Committee has given me its preliminary recommendations for a long-time
program for that region. Using that report as a basis we are cooperating successfully and in entire accord with
the Governors and state planning boards. As we get this program into operation the people more and more will
be able to maintain themselves securely on the land. That will mean a steady decline in the relief burdens which
the Federal Government and states have had to assume in time of drought; but, more important, it will mean a
greater contribution to general national prosperity by these regions which have been hit by drought. It will
conserve and improve not only property values, but human values. The people in the drought area do not want
to be dependent on Federal, state or any other kind of charity. They want for themselves and their families an
opportunity to share fairly by their own efforts in the progress of America.

The farmers of America want a sound national agricultural policy in which a permanent land use program will
have an important place. They want assurance against another year like 1932 when they made good crops but
had to sell them for prices that meant ruin just as surely as did the drought. Sound policy must maintain farm
prices in good crop years as well as in bad crop years. It must function when we have drought; it must also
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function when we have bumper crops…

In the drought area people are not afraid to use new methods to meet changes in Nature, and to correct
mistakes of the past. If overgrazing has injured range lands, they are willing to reduce the grazing. If certain
wheat lands should be returned to pasture they are willing to cooperate. If trees should be planted as
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windbreaks or to stop erosion they will work with us. If terracing or summer fallowing or crop rotation is
called for, they will carry them out. They stand ready to fit, and not to fight, the ways of Nature.

We are helping, and shall continue to help the farmer to do those things, through local soil conservation
committees and other cooperative local, state and federal agencies of government…

9. something that is bought and sold

10. Panacea (noun) a remedy for all ills or difficulties; a universal solution
11. the features (such as mountains, plains, and rivers) of an area of land
12. careful preservation or protection of something
13. a region in the midwestern U.S. that includes Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Minnesota, and other states
14. Preliminary (adjective) coming before the main part or final version of something
15. large harvests
16. the practice of leaving land unplanted for a period of time
17. Crop rotation is a technique used to prevent erosion or to promote fertile soil.

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With this fine help we are tiding over the present emergency. We are going to conserve soil, conserve water and
conserve life. We are going to have long-time defenses against both low prices and drought. We are going to
have a farm policy that will serve the national welfare. That is our hope for the future.

Excerpt from 'On Drought Conditions' by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is in the public domain.

Unless otherwise noted, this content is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license

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 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. How does FDR utilize imagery in the opening of the text?

A. He describes the agricultural destruction he’s seen on his tour, emphasizing the
impact it has had on the farmers and the environment, setting up his plan for
conservation.
B. He describes the potential future improvements on the American landscape.
C. He recalls past fertile farmlands in order to give his audience hope of recovering
this prosperity.
D. He describes the agricultural destruction he’s seen on his tour, appealing to his
audience by assuring them that he has seen the drought for himself.

2. In paragraphs 5-6, FDR begins most of his sentences with the words “I saw;” Why is this
structure effective in helping FDR convey his message?
A. It proposes a specific set of actions to remedy the people’s plight.
B. It emphasizes the prevalence of the countless hardships that FDR witnessed out
west.
C. It points out FDR’s role in the government’s negligence in responding to the
drought.
D. It contrasts the farmers’ situation with that of people in urban communities.

3. PART A: What does the word “indomitable” mean as used in paragraph 7?

A. Having experienced great suffering
B. Not easily defeated
C. Gifted and talented
D. Destitute and needy

4. PART B: Which phrase from the text provides the best support for the answer to Part A?
A. “permanent disaster in these drought regions”
B. “inspire us”
C. “carried on through desperate days”
D. “our task to help them with their fight”

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5. FDR says that the families in need don’t want to be “on the dole.” How does this claim
contribute to his larger point of view on American labor and work ethic? Cite evidence in
your answer.

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 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to
share your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. Throughout history and your own lifetime, how has the United States responded to other
instances of environmental/agricultural crisis?

2. In the context of this text, what makes America unique? Cite evidence from this text, your
own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.

3. The American people worked the land from immense prosperity to the point of agricultural
exhaust and collapse. In the context of this text, who’s in control: man or nature? Cite
evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your
answer.