Essay Rough Draft... The U.S. lagged significantly behind Europe in providing electricity to rural areas, which were places with very few buildings and people. This was due to the unwillingness of power companies to serve farmsteads. This was a problem because without electricity these farmsteads could not expand their crop fields, which meant people living there would be lacking in food and produce. On May 11, 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Act to ensure that farmsteads of rural areas had electricity to expand and produce. This act was enacted on May 20, 1936. Rural electrification administration achieved to reform the US economy during the Great Depression by replacing lanterns in homes and barns bringing inexpensive power for lights, refrigeration, and farm equipment, and by powering labor saving appliances in the farmhouse and machines in the barns, and it powered water pumps for irrigation and cisterns for running water at kitchen sinks and indoor bathrooms. …show more content…
During the Great Depression, farmers did not have the help of electrical equipment on the farm. They had to do everything by hand, which took longer periods of time and workers were tired out more easily. Electrical lights were also a great help because, instead of having dangerous lanterns that had an open flame, farmers could feel safer and wouldn’t have to worry about the dangers of lanterns. “Although most parts of the U.S. economy prospered during the 1920s, the decade proved to be a harsh, lean time for farmers.”(US History in Context). Since it was the most difficult time for farmers, it was even more difficult to live without farming tools, where they would not have to work as hard and would get more work