Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105/Section 061/Wade Hampton Taylor

Overview
Wade Hampton Taylor was a white male born in Memphis Tennessee who worked in the medical field for a brief period of time as well at the cotton and hotel industry. He was interviewed by John H. Abner and George Andrews for the Federal Writers' Project on January 23, 1939.

Biography
Wade Hampton Taylor was born in Memphis, Tennessee on July 24, 1883. He began attending school at the age of six, later quitting school after completing the eighth grade at the age of fifteen. Taylor's father was a physician and when discussing his decision to halt his education after eighth grade, Taylor stated that "...and when I quit school it was my intention to go to medical college when I got older." No longer enrolled in school, Taylor began to accompany his father on his medical calls both in town and out in the country. Taylor believed these medical calls that his father practiced were the superior method of treatment for patients compared to modern doctors, stating, “Personally, I’d rather risk my life with one of the old style, family doctors, than with one of these hard-eyed, white-coated sharks, that now carve upon humanity.” While his father took a trip to a medical conference in Philadelphia, Taylor began to take over his father’s practice, but soon lost interest in the medical field. Taylor began to find interest in the cotton industry after his Uncle McSpadden offered him a job at the warehouse he owned. Taylor continued to work there for almost ten years, later becoming partners with his uncle for four years where they created their own cotton firm. In 1922, Taylor took an opportunity at the California, Arizona, Mexico Cotton Association, in California where he would work as a chief inspector of cotton for almost eight years. Right after the Great Depression hit, Taylor moved back to Memphis in 1930 where he would work for his brother, W.I. Taylor. After his brother’s business failed, Taylor would become the manager at the Textile Hotel in Beaumont, North Carolina. Taylor would never marry or have children.

Lack of Effective Healthcare System in the 1800s
During the 1800s, the public healthcare system was extremely limited. In modern times, a patient experiencing a problem would admit themselves into a hospital or visit their doctor’s office. However, during the 19th century, doctors would take medical calls and go to their patient’s home and bring whatever equipment and medicine they had available with them. The doctor would then diagnose the patient, prescribe the patient with medicine, and fill the medication all within the patient’s home. Medicine was a luxury at the time because of its price. Even after the evolution of hospitals and pharmacies, pharmacists lacked the skills to correctly prescribe medications and would often prescribe several different prescriptions to patients with little to no effect.

Impacts on Agriculture During the Great Depression
For the past century, cotton had been an extremely successful industry being that it was a leading export for America. However, the stock market crash of 1929 would eventually cause the country to fall into a depression, taking the cotton industry down with it. A big contributor to the downfall of the cotton industry was overproduction of the crop. During the 1920s, more cotton was produced than buyers wanted. As a result, cotton prices plummeted. For example, in North Carolina, cotton that had sold for more than thirty cents per pound in 1919 was selling for less than six cents by 1931. After the stock market crash, many farm owners could no longer pay their mortgages or repay loans, leading many local governments to seize and sell the property of those farmers. The cotton industry would continue on this downward trend until President Franklin D. Roosevelt would implement his New Deal policies to combat the devastating effects left by the Great Depression.