I just finished writing my History Final on the Great Depression. Most of the info I had was from emails from my Grandfather. I now feel very very sad. =( In this time of prosperity and economic boom I never put much thought to the Depression, and I wonder how many people do.
Do people today, especially people in my generation, remember this horrific chapter of American history and respect the people who survived it enough?
no reason to be sad but rather to admire those people who came before us. As has been pointed out in another thread, that was a great and admirable generation. Those who grew up in the depression, fought WWII and those who survived went home and spent the next couple of decades rebuilding their country and raising the baby boomers (who in turn were totally spoilt and started all the bitching that has not yet subsided). They were indeed an admirable generation and we should learn from them.
I agree Sailor =)
Quotes from actual letters sent to the Prime Minister of Canada during the Great Depression:
A man who is withdrawing his 8 year old boy from school because “he is not getting enough nourishment to permit his being able to study, and furthermore we have no soap to wash him or ourselves, or any of our clothes.”
“…Daddy has no money to give Santa for my little brother and me and we can’t hang our stockings up…”
“You stated that there would be no one starve in Canada. I presume you mean not starve overnight but slowly and slowly. Possibly you have never felt the Pang of the Wolf. Well become a Father have children then have them come to you asking for a slice of bread between meals and have to tell them to wait…”
“Just enough room for two beds & the house is cold theres two inches of Ice freezes on the water in the house cold nights we are shivering in bed at night we have no mattresses on our beds only gunny sacks & not enough blankets on our beds. Mr. Bishop has no underwear no top shirt no Socks only rags on his feet no trousers only overauls & they are done for, boots are near done my Self I have no house dresses and no wash tub…there are times we live on potatoes for days at a time…I don’t know how much longer it can last…there are a good many people the same in this town I am five months pregnant & haven’t even felt life yet to my baby & its I feel quite sure from lack of food. There has been many babys died in this town from neglect…”
“We have to live ten of us in a cold one roomed shack…we haven’t even a mattress or even a tick just simply have to sleep on a bit of straw and nearly every night we have to almost freeze because we haven’t bed clothes…the whole family have some kind of rash and running sores & I cannot take them to a Dr. as I have not the price to pay the Dr. or to buy the things he would order. Also my wife has become badly ruptured and I cannot have anything done about it…”
“Today I went to get $3 to keep us for a week and Mr. Valcourt of the City Office said I couldn’t get it because someone said we had a radio: he sent Mr. Lessau from the City Office to search our home from top to bottom bedrooms and bathroom under and over: then he says he don’t have to give us help if he don’t want to: I ask you sir who was this money given to and what for? Is it for a man to crawl on his hands and knees to get a loaf for his family?”
(this one in the year 1934)"…my clothing became very shabby…many prospective employers just glanced at my attire and shook their heads and more times than I care to mention I was turned away without a trial. I began to cut down on my food and I obtained a poor, but respectable room at $1 per week. First I ate three very light meals a day; then two and then one. During the past two weeks I have eaten only toast and drunk a cup of tea every other day. In the past fortnight I have lost 20 pounds and the result of this deprevation is that I am so very nervous that I could never stand a test with one, two or three hundred girls. Through this very nervousness I was ruled out of a class yesterday. Today I went to an office for a test and the examiner looked me over and said: “I am afraid Miss, you are so awfully shabby I could never have you in my office.”
I was so worried and frightened that I replied somewhat angrily: “Do you think clothes can be picked up in the streets?”
“Well” he replied, with aggravating insolence, “lots of girls find them there these days.”
Mr. Bennett, that almost broke my heart. Above everything else I have been very particular about my friends and since moving here I have never gone out in the evening. I know no one here personally and the lonliness is hard to bear, but, oh sir, the thought of starvation is driving me mad! Day after day I pass a delicatessen and the food in the window looks oh, so good! So tempting and I am so hungry!
“Yes, I am very hungry and the stamp that carries this letter to you will represent the last three cents I have in the world yet before I will stoop to dishonour my family, my character or my God, I will drown myself in the Lake…”
Pepper, don’t feel sad. The Depressionary Generation had more gumption and can do or can do without than what is coming of age now.
We are going to have a generation that can upload, download and all the technical bells and whistles, but cannot hammer, saw, cook, sew or live without. All style, no substance. Is America the only country where working with your hands is looked down upon?