Dissertation
Apple capital: growers, labor and technology in the origin and development of the Washington State apple industry, 1890-1930
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
12/2007
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005780
Abstract
It is important to investigate the origin and development of apple production in the Pacific Northwest because the story is as American as apple pie itself. This dissertation examines the history and political economy of the apple industry in Washington State during the period from 1890-1930. The apple industry was aided—even nurtured—by two of the most powerful institutions in the world at the time, the U.S. federal government and transcontinental railroads. These two institutions secured the foundational elements of agriculture—land and water. Once these basics were established through dispossession and reclamation, settlers became orchardists and apples became a commodity. Settlers planted vast acres, and apple growers formed
cooperative associations to create and maintain the necessary conditions to make their growing industry more profitable and competitive, including marketing the fruit nationally and globally. As the industry grew beyond five and ten acre plots, growers needed larger amounts of seasonal labor to pick and pack the fruit. As the demand for more workers continued to increase, growers found ways to obtain the labor they needed by using various social groups, at first local men, women and children, predominantly European Americans, and then later European American migrants. Prior to World War I, Native American, Chinese, and Japanese workers in small numbers also picked and packed apples, and during the war, the roots of migrant labor by Filipinos and Mexicanos began. At the same time, however, the industry also found ways to reduce the amount of labor necessary and the costs of production through the scientific
management of the labor process, and through the implementation of a vast array of labor-saving and labor-replacing technologies. These three solutions to the labor problem are still crucial to profitability in the industry today.
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Details
- Title
- Apple capital
- Creators
- Tony Zaragoza
- Contributors
- Laurie K Mercier (Chair) - Washington State University, Department of HistoryJose M Alamillo (Committee Member)Joan Burbick (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of EnglishRobert F Eddy (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of English
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- School of Languages, Cultures, and Race
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 316
- Identifiers
- 99901054764201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation