Penny Auctions
PENNY AUCTIONS
Penny auctions were part of the militant tactics adopted by many Midwestern farmers before and during the Great Depression (1929–1939). The hard times that began in the mid-1920s led to what was arguably the most violent agricultural movement in U.S. history—the Farmer's Holiday Association. As farm fore-closures skyrocketed in the 1920s, with no relief from the government forthcoming, many Midwestern farmers began to cease all buying and selling of commodities. Dairy farmers blockaded roads into Sioux City, Iowa, attempting to increase the price of milk. Violence increased; milk-dumpings were common; and railroad service was interrupted. Fights broke out between the police and farmers. As part of this struggle— a struggle of farmers trying to survive—farmers began to threaten bank officers with physical harm at the auctions of farms claimed in bankruptcy settlements. The penny auctions involved farmers bidding a few cents for a neighbor's farm to re-purchase it, and if a few cents (pennies) did not clear the bank debt, then the bank officers were physically threatened. With the beginning of the Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945) presidency in 1933, creditors and debtors began to work together to arrange re-financing of farms and to resolve payment of delinquent debts.
See also: Great Depression