My Mother grew up in the rugged bottom-land of North East
Texas, the oldest of several children. She told tales of growing up dirt poor during
the Great Depression and would teasingly say, “We were po, we didn’t have
enough money to be poor.” She talked about getting clothes from The Relief and
my Daddy working for the Conservation Corps.
She was just 5 years old when the Great Depression hit and
the impact on her life was evident until her death a few years back. I would joke
when seeing the half dozen butter tubs in the refrigerator with various
left-overs and her dishwasher full of TV dinner trays and plasticware. She
threw nothing away.
Residuals from a childhood of lack could be found throughout
the house in a cigar box of broken gadgets or a metal coffee can stuffed with
small pieces of yarn. Every bit and bobble was saved in case she “needed it
later.” It was from her that I learned that a plastic milk jug, cut just right,
made a slop bucket with a handle and an oatmeal box made the perfect doll
cradle.
When I researched for my book, A Love to Call My Own, I had to research about the Great Depression to better understand the times.
The catalyst for The Great Depression was Black Tuesday, October
29, 1929 under President Hoover. After decades of prosperity, the United States
was thrown into despair when the stock market plummeted. With no hope of
recovery, panic ensued as everyone tried to sell their stock, but no one was
buying. The pathway to wealth suddenly became the trail to bankruptcy.
Then the dominoes started to fall. Banks that had invested
large portions of their clients' savings in the stock market were forced to
close. As a few banks closed, people rushed to withdraw their money causing
more banks to close. With banks closed, anyone who had not withdrawn their
money became bankrupt.
Businesses that lost capital in either the Stock Market
Crash or the bank closures, started cutting back on workers' hours or wages. In
turn, consumers began to curb their spending and refrained from purchasing luxury
goods.
This lack of consumer spending caused additional businesses
to cut back wages or to lay off workers. Some businesses couldn't stay open
even with these measures and soon closed their doors, leaving all their workers
unemployed.
Unemployment grew incredibly high to 24.9%—meaning that one
person out of four was out of work.
Farmers were usually safe from monetary fluctuations because
they could feed themselves. Unfortunately, during the Great Depression, the
Great Plains which for years had been over grazed, was hit hard by drought causing
horrendous dust storms. This created what is now known as the Dust Bowl.
The dust storms destroyed everything in their paths
including crops. Small farmers were hit especially hard. Many were already in
debt, having borrowed money for seed which they would pay back when their crops
came in. When the dust storms damaged the crops, they could no longer feed their
family nor not pay back the debt. Banks foreclosed causing the farmer's family to
be both homeless and unemployed.
In the 1932 election, President Roosevelt won by a
landslide and began implementing economic recovery programs called the New
Deal. One of those programs was the Works Progress Administration
(WPA).
These work-relief programs employed more than 8.5 million people. For an
average salary of $41.57 a month, These employees built bridges, roads, public
buildings, public parks and airports, many of which are still in use today.
The work relief program was more expensive than direct
relief payments, but worth the added cost, Harry Hopkins, an enthusiastic
ex-social worker who had come from modest means, was over the program and believed.
“Give a man a dole and you save his body and destroy his spirit. Give him a job
and you save both body and spirit.”
Other jobs created and paid for through the WPA were sewing,
bookbinding, caring for the elderly, school lunch programs, nursery school, and
recreational work.
The WPA was not able to employ everyone leaving five
million to seek assistance from state relief programs, which provided families
with $10 per week.
The WPA spend more than $11 million in employment relief
before it was canceled in 1943. In the end, it wasn't the New Deal programs that ended the Great Depression, but instead manufacturing required to support the efforts of WWII.
There are still measures that were put in place during the
Great Depression to ensure history doesn’t totally repeat itself including various
financial programs as well as soil conservation.
I heard stories from my grandparents about the Great Depression. It was a depression of everything including the human spirit. My mom was just a toddler, but she always felt as if she lived through the entire thing too.
ReplyDeleteYes Joan, it was depression of everything. It was funny how it affected my Mother- not only did she save everything, she had little fondness for antiques and would say- that was old when I got it. Like most historical events though, she never told me the worst of it, but mostly fond memories of her youth.
DeleteIn addition to the WPA, there was a CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corp. My father-in-law worked in that. The men had to send home a certain percentage of their salary. Since his parents were dead and he wasn't married, he sent his to an aunt who supposedly saved it for him. He worked in the mountains above Flagstaff but I don't know exactly what he did. He lived in what looked in the photos like Army barracks.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad also worked in the conservation Corp. Occasionally, we would visit parks that were made by the conservation corp- Usually recognizable by their stone bridges and houses and he would mention that he worked for the CC boys.
DeleteThere are so many programs put in place during that time, I want to go back and explore them in greater depth.
My father's and mother's grandparents were farmers during the Great Depression so they fared better. My parents used to relate how families, theirs included, used flour sacks to make clothing and saved even the smallest links of wire or lengths of string that came off feed and flour bags. Very interesting article. Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading! Yes, my Mother made flour sack and feed sack clothes but said many of her clothes came from "the relief". That was the primary reason I had to research and learned that women were paid to remake and repair donated clothes for the poor. I found some historical stories where farmers were paid $10 per head of cattle to be put on a train and sent to Fort Worth. That seemed like a lot back then.
ReplyDelete