In the early 1930's, American farmers were literally in the dark. Nine in ten farms had no electricity in 1933, relying on gas engines, horses and human labor for power, and kerosene lanterns for light. Private power companies in the 1920's were obligated to show interest in rural electrification but always found it more lucrative to install new lines in heavily populated areas. Farmers had to turn to the government for electricity.

Emergency Relief Appropriation Act

They had an advocate in Morris Llewellyn Cooke. He saw the need for public aid in rural electrification from his Pennsylvania Giant Power Survey in the 1920's. Cooke's proposal for rural electrification was ignored by President Herbert Hoover in 1930, but Franklin Roosevelt urged it in his January 1935 Congressional message. With passage of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, Roosevelt had the authority to establish the Rural Electrification Administration on May 11, 1935 with Cooke as administrator.

However, Cooke encountered difficulties early on. He realized the REA could not operate on relief program standards- 25% of its funds going to labor and 90% of labor drawn from relief rolls. Cooke suggested that the REA would function better as a lending agency- granting low-interest loans to areas without electricity with funds coming from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. FDR approved of the change.

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