Post by cjm on Jul 16, 2014 5:18:31 GMT
6
The Decline
FROM 1896 the price of ostrich feathers rose steadily. Jews grew
more and more wealthy. Riches increased enormously. Money
literally rolled about in the gutters, so that it was said in
Oudtshoorn that they bathed in brandy. Years ago it occurred to no
one that a time might come when ostrich feathers could go completely
out of fashion. Even the English loan banks had such confidence in
the industry that they advanced great sums of money to the speculators
and exporters of feathers. However wealthy dealers and speculators
might be, they all continued to trade and export, stockpiling their
merchandise in London and speculating there with sums of money
considerably in excess of their capital. Without credit from the
banks, they would never have been able to speculate or trade on such
a vast scale, since the farmers had to be paid spot cash. In this way,
the fortunes of the feather dealers were directly and indirectly
mortgaged to the banks.
The first serious crisis in the feather industry occurred at the end of
1913, at a time when South Africa broke the feather export record.
The crisis came upon them so unexpectedly and sharply that it shook
the whole edifice of the feather industry to its very foundations. This
first blow totally wiped out the accumulated capital of some. In spite
of initial panic, however, the merchants regarded it as a passing whim
of fashion. Even then they did not allow themselves to think that
some time or another the overseas demand for feathers might cease.
The causes of the crisis were as follows. Firstly there was a change in
the fashion of ladies’ hats due in a certain degree to the efforts of the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals organisations which agitated
119
against the wearing of ostrich feathers. Secondly there were huge
warehouses storing feathers worth millions of pounds sterling in
London, and the overproduction began to be acutely felt.
The export of feathers was not controlled by Government regulation,
nor did it conform to the economic law of buying and selling, or
supply and demand. Traders simply stockpiled huge quantities of
feathers in London, a vast export venture quite unrelated to market
gaps created by consumer demand. The banks and the great merchants
in London continued to advance credit, so feathers continued to be
dispatched without reference to the demands of the market. According
to the South African estimate, even in 1914, when there was a
limited demand on the market, feathers to the value of £1 342 717
were exported.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the crash came. With
the force of an earthquake, the traders’ life-structure of comfort and
wealth shattered round them. Not only did Europe ~ the greatest
consumer of feathers - cease buying entirely, but America and other
countries bought very little. Feathers suddenly ceased to be a viable
commodity, and the stock in the heavily-laden warehouses in London
lay untouched. Yet it was still believed that this was a temporary
setback. caused by the war. People believed the war would be of short
duration and that, at its conclusion, normal trade in feathers would
be resumed with the demand surpassing even that of the best years.
Consequently exportation continued unabated. According to the
South African evaluation, feathers worth £743 722 were exported
in 1915; worth £486 362 in 1916; and worth £88 628 in 1918.
(There are no statistics for 1917.) These exports further increased
the over-supply in London. At this point people began to lose
confidence in the future of the ostrich feather industry. This is borne
out by the fact that in 1916 the number of ostriches declined sharply.
The dealers and speculators, now rendered helpless, sank into a
mood of despair and depression as they were steadily impoverished.
The banks and other creditors dispossessed them not only of their
overseas and local stocks of feathers - even though these now held
little value - but also of their mortgaged houses and remaining assets
121
which, incidentally, themselves hardly covered their debts. The
dealers, speculators and exporters were reduced to poverty, feeling as
hard done by as the ostriches had formerly felt after being plucked.
Their poverty grew so great that they found themselves literally
without a crust of bread. The majority of Jews in Oudtshoorn were
reduced to starvation. The Oudtshoorn shopkeepers formed relief
organisations. They obtained wagonloads of fish from Mossel Bay and
collected donations for other food. Jews no longer went out to buy
feathers. Instead they wandered the streets of Oudtshoorn in dire
straits like victims of fire, dejected and desperate. The prosperous
town of Oudtshoorn lost the glitter of its former wealth and the winds
of poverty began to blow from all sides.
The Afrikaans ostrich farmers who had speculated were left at least
with their fertile fields and their houses. They saw that it was also
possible to make a good living selling lucerne, wheat, barley, tobacco,
beans, fruit and other produce. But the economic ground was entirely
eroded from under the feet of the Jews. They consoled themselves
with the fanciful hope that the war would not last long, and they
could then begin anew with feathers. Weeks and months went by,
and no end of the war came in sight. Poverty oppressed and harried
them. Hundreds of Jews began to leave Oudtshoorn. Those who
remained began to adjust to the newly-created conditions by opening
shops and small manufacturing concerns, while some returned to
peddling and so forth.
After the war, many dispossessed feather dealers began to return to
Oudtshoorn in hopes that the prosperous days of the feather industry
would return. They once again began to buy and sell feathers. In 1919
feathers to the value of £ 646 014 were exported. But ostrich
feathers had lost their charm for the ladies and gone out of fashion.
By 1920 the export total had already fallen by two thirds. Moreover,
every year thereafter the export trade decreased steadily. In 1925 the
export total was only £203 926, and by 1926 bottomed out at £71 922.
From that year on, the export dwindled steadily away. Only by the
end of 1925 did the doubly ruined and impoverished Jews come to
the inescapable conclusion that the ostrich feather industry, which
122
had received a mortal blow at the outbreak of the war, was dying.
Ostriches were no longer valuable possessions, no longer “birds that
laid golden eggs”. They became an economic burden on the farmers
because it was costly to feed them. Tens of thousands of them were
destroyed by shooting, their flesh dried in the sun and sold as second-
grade biltong (by comparison with the flesh of springbok and deer),
and their thin skins made into ladies’ shoes, leather purses and
suchlike. Out of 728 087 ostriches in 1911 - and even more between
the years 1912 to 1914 - there are fewer than ten thousand today. Of
this number the majority are owned by a Jewish farmer who suffers
from an “ostrich complex”, for he lives in the conviction that the
ostrich feather industry will arise with a tekhies hameysim, a Resurrection
of the Dead. These prestigious, romantic and beautiful feathers,
which once adorned and delighted women throughout the world, are
used today to make cheap dusters!
123
The Decline
FROM 1896 the price of ostrich feathers rose steadily. Jews grew
more and more wealthy. Riches increased enormously. Money
literally rolled about in the gutters, so that it was said in
Oudtshoorn that they bathed in brandy. Years ago it occurred to no
one that a time might come when ostrich feathers could go completely
out of fashion. Even the English loan banks had such confidence in
the industry that they advanced great sums of money to the speculators
and exporters of feathers. However wealthy dealers and speculators
might be, they all continued to trade and export, stockpiling their
merchandise in London and speculating there with sums of money
considerably in excess of their capital. Without credit from the
banks, they would never have been able to speculate or trade on such
a vast scale, since the farmers had to be paid spot cash. In this way,
the fortunes of the feather dealers were directly and indirectly
mortgaged to the banks.
The first serious crisis in the feather industry occurred at the end of
1913, at a time when South Africa broke the feather export record.
The crisis came upon them so unexpectedly and sharply that it shook
the whole edifice of the feather industry to its very foundations. This
first blow totally wiped out the accumulated capital of some. In spite
of initial panic, however, the merchants regarded it as a passing whim
of fashion. Even then they did not allow themselves to think that
some time or another the overseas demand for feathers might cease.
The causes of the crisis were as follows. Firstly there was a change in
the fashion of ladies’ hats due in a certain degree to the efforts of the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals organisations which agitated
119
against the wearing of ostrich feathers. Secondly there were huge
warehouses storing feathers worth millions of pounds sterling in
London, and the overproduction began to be acutely felt.
The export of feathers was not controlled by Government regulation,
nor did it conform to the economic law of buying and selling, or
supply and demand. Traders simply stockpiled huge quantities of
feathers in London, a vast export venture quite unrelated to market
gaps created by consumer demand. The banks and the great merchants
in London continued to advance credit, so feathers continued to be
dispatched without reference to the demands of the market. According
to the South African estimate, even in 1914, when there was a
limited demand on the market, feathers to the value of £1 342 717
were exported.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the crash came. With
the force of an earthquake, the traders’ life-structure of comfort and
wealth shattered round them. Not only did Europe ~ the greatest
consumer of feathers - cease buying entirely, but America and other
countries bought very little. Feathers suddenly ceased to be a viable
commodity, and the stock in the heavily-laden warehouses in London
lay untouched. Yet it was still believed that this was a temporary
setback. caused by the war. People believed the war would be of short
duration and that, at its conclusion, normal trade in feathers would
be resumed with the demand surpassing even that of the best years.
Consequently exportation continued unabated. According to the
South African evaluation, feathers worth £743 722 were exported
in 1915; worth £486 362 in 1916; and worth £88 628 in 1918.
(There are no statistics for 1917.) These exports further increased
the over-supply in London. At this point people began to lose
confidence in the future of the ostrich feather industry. This is borne
out by the fact that in 1916 the number of ostriches declined sharply.
The dealers and speculators, now rendered helpless, sank into a
mood of despair and depression as they were steadily impoverished.
The banks and other creditors dispossessed them not only of their
overseas and local stocks of feathers - even though these now held
little value - but also of their mortgaged houses and remaining assets
121
which, incidentally, themselves hardly covered their debts. The
dealers, speculators and exporters were reduced to poverty, feeling as
hard done by as the ostriches had formerly felt after being plucked.
Their poverty grew so great that they found themselves literally
without a crust of bread. The majority of Jews in Oudtshoorn were
reduced to starvation. The Oudtshoorn shopkeepers formed relief
organisations. They obtained wagonloads of fish from Mossel Bay and
collected donations for other food. Jews no longer went out to buy
feathers. Instead they wandered the streets of Oudtshoorn in dire
straits like victims of fire, dejected and desperate. The prosperous
town of Oudtshoorn lost the glitter of its former wealth and the winds
of poverty began to blow from all sides.
The Afrikaans ostrich farmers who had speculated were left at least
with their fertile fields and their houses. They saw that it was also
possible to make a good living selling lucerne, wheat, barley, tobacco,
beans, fruit and other produce. But the economic ground was entirely
eroded from under the feet of the Jews. They consoled themselves
with the fanciful hope that the war would not last long, and they
could then begin anew with feathers. Weeks and months went by,
and no end of the war came in sight. Poverty oppressed and harried
them. Hundreds of Jews began to leave Oudtshoorn. Those who
remained began to adjust to the newly-created conditions by opening
shops and small manufacturing concerns, while some returned to
peddling and so forth.
After the war, many dispossessed feather dealers began to return to
Oudtshoorn in hopes that the prosperous days of the feather industry
would return. They once again began to buy and sell feathers. In 1919
feathers to the value of £ 646 014 were exported. But ostrich
feathers had lost their charm for the ladies and gone out of fashion.
By 1920 the export total had already fallen by two thirds. Moreover,
every year thereafter the export trade decreased steadily. In 1925 the
export total was only £203 926, and by 1926 bottomed out at £71 922.
From that year on, the export dwindled steadily away. Only by the
end of 1925 did the doubly ruined and impoverished Jews come to
the inescapable conclusion that the ostrich feather industry, which
122
had received a mortal blow at the outbreak of the war, was dying.
Ostriches were no longer valuable possessions, no longer “birds that
laid golden eggs”. They became an economic burden on the farmers
because it was costly to feed them. Tens of thousands of them were
destroyed by shooting, their flesh dried in the sun and sold as second-
grade biltong (by comparison with the flesh of springbok and deer),
and their thin skins made into ladies’ shoes, leather purses and
suchlike. Out of 728 087 ostriches in 1911 - and even more between
the years 1912 to 1914 - there are fewer than ten thousand today. Of
this number the majority are owned by a Jewish farmer who suffers
from an “ostrich complex”, for he lives in the conviction that the
ostrich feather industry will arise with a tekhies hameysim, a Resurrection
of the Dead. These prestigious, romantic and beautiful feathers,
which once adorned and delighted women throughout the world, are
used today to make cheap dusters!
123