When Farming Barely Paid and Liquor Brought the Cash

Mamie Jones wrote that in the years after the War Between the States, farming brought very little hard money to Cleveland County people. There was small sale for farm products, even after long trips to market over rutty roads, sometimes driving a mixed team of a mule and an ox. A country merchant might pay 15 cents for a big, fat hen, a nickel for a frying-size chicken, less than 25 cents for half a bushel of eggs, and about 25 cents for a bushel of corn.

Because of these low prices, Jones explained that farmers found it far more profitable to make liquor from their corn. Turning corn into “likker” brought much better returns than selling the corn itself, and this was one of the main reasons so many farmers continued to distill, even after liquor taxes and penalties were imposed.

Source: Mamie Jones.