BlueSunoco
Well-known member
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The Great Depression
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Robert/Texas
Well-known member
I was born in 1934, in the middle of the great depression. We were lucky though as My father never lost his job. On weekends he built small wooden boats in our garage which he sold for extra cash. Often men in business clothes walking by would see him and come by and ask for food. My mother would let them in the back door and feed them. Surprisingly they never returned but they probably told their friends. My father never threw anything away that might be useful. I still have about 60 pounds of SAE nuts, bolts and washers which I saved when he died so I seldom need to go to the hardware store when I need these for my old Fords.
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nkaminar
Well-known member
Regarding Marshall's comments about what would have happened if the Nazi's had not invaded Russia: Theoretical physicists have dreamed up the Multiverse where there are an infinite number of universes besides this one. One of the consequences of this is that there are mostly identical universes to the one we live in but slightly different. In one of those universes Hitler was not born and the Nazi's did not invade Russia. In some other universes the laws of physics are different so that stars did not form and there is no life. There is no way to prove or disprove the Multiverse theory.
stevemclark
Senior Member
I live about 20 miles where Earl Hamner grew up and their house was much smaller than the one in the show, a school near there has become a museum to them. As for the Model A's survival it came out just before the depression and did quite well ,if not for other cars getting six cylinder motors it would have lasted longer. It stopped when Ford came out with a V8. While other V8 engines existed before, Ford's 1932 model was the first that was cheap and compact enough for the average consumer, making V8 power accessible to the masses.Near here we got Shenandoah National Park with The Skyline Drive and just south of it The Blue Ridge Parkway built by the CCC's ,they provided workers many years of work during the depression and after. Does two national parks touch each other like these do in the USA?
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Joe K
Well-known member
Grandfather was a successful lawyer in pre-WWII New England. The 1906 cottage they owned on Cape Cod was purchased in 1926 - house on stilts but a step out onto the front lawn, then several more down a set of green wooden stairs to the beach, and perhaps 15 steps to the water at high tide. It was/is a prime spot which our family owned until 1968.
And the storm swell/hurricane in 1938 passed right underneath it with water ALMOST to the level of the house first floor. Wiped out all the bead tongue & groove siding - but like a hotel in Miami, the ground level was considered "expendable."
But grandfather, while rich, did consider he had some "responsibilities." Or more accurately grandmother.
Dad used to tell the story of "the boy in the field."
At one point Dad was queried by Grandmother about a certain boy she kept seeing passing across the field. "Who is that?"
Dad (age 9 perhaps 1931) "Oh that's just the boy living in the field."
"Living in the field?"
"Yes, he has a hole he has dug and he lives in the hole." (9 year old innocence at work.)
Grandmother had to check it out. Seems the 12 year old was "sent out of the house" because father had lost his job. Mother, now single, wasn't working and had instructed the children to leave because "she couldn't take care of them."
The boy had enlisted my Dad to "bring him food to eat" - which like today was readily available in that kitchen and not missed if filched.
Through the grandfather/legal connection, the case was investigated by authorities and a support situation set up for the mother. Contrary to popular opinion, support for the indigent WAS available before the welfare state - but wasn't achieved through "official" channels.
According to Dad, the boy "disappeared" and wasn't seen afterwards locally.
Joe K
And the storm swell/hurricane in 1938 passed right underneath it with water ALMOST to the level of the house first floor. Wiped out all the bead tongue & groove siding - but like a hotel in Miami, the ground level was considered "expendable."
But grandfather, while rich, did consider he had some "responsibilities." Or more accurately grandmother.
Dad used to tell the story of "the boy in the field."
At one point Dad was queried by Grandmother about a certain boy she kept seeing passing across the field. "Who is that?"
Dad (age 9 perhaps 1931) "Oh that's just the boy living in the field."
"Living in the field?"
"Yes, he has a hole he has dug and he lives in the hole." (9 year old innocence at work.)
Grandmother had to check it out. Seems the 12 year old was "sent out of the house" because father had lost his job. Mother, now single, wasn't working and had instructed the children to leave because "she couldn't take care of them."
The boy had enlisted my Dad to "bring him food to eat" - which like today was readily available in that kitchen and not missed if filched.
Through the grandfather/legal connection, the case was investigated by authorities and a support situation set up for the mother. Contrary to popular opinion, support for the indigent WAS available before the welfare state - but wasn't achieved through "official" channels.
According to Dad, the boy "disappeared" and wasn't seen afterwards locally.
Joe K
David in San Antonio
Well-known member
The Great Depression- A Diary by Benjamin Roth is an amazing book. Roth’s diary records the small daily occurrences and local events that I never read about anywhere else. It starts with small observations and grows more alarming. Banks failed, and those which survived refused to cash checks, uncertain they would ever collect the funds. Crop prices fell so low farmers couldn’t afford to harvest, owed money for feed, seed, and equipment, and were foreclosed upon. But the banks couldn’t sell the seized property - no one else had capital either. There was a currency shortage. Companies issued their own paper money, “scrip”. Several times as the economy got worse, experts, economists, politicians, clergy all said this was the bottom, prosperity is just around the corner, and besides, it just couldn’t get worse. Then it did get worse, and continued getting worse. When the economy actually started growing again in 1942, it took about two additional years for the public to believe it. When the US entered WWII, a third of the volunteers and conscripts were rejected for being underweight. They had been undernourished their entire lives.
We often learn about the past in retrospect. The conclusions seem inevitable. This book differs by showing a view that ends today, over and over.
That is my book report on The Great Depression by Benjamin Roth. I recommend this book to all my friends.
We often learn about the past in retrospect. The conclusions seem inevitable. This book differs by showing a view that ends today, over and over.
That is my book report on The Great Depression by Benjamin Roth. I recommend this book to all my friends.
Marshall V. Daut
Well-known member
In addition to what David just wrote, the Times-Life 1970's series of books on WWII has one volume on the USA Home Front, which is by far my favorite of all those books on the Second World War. One chapter is devoted to building a wartime army in America and the problems facing military officials. It was not the slam dunk, draft 'em and send 'em off to war that most people believe. Eventually, 16,000,000 American men and women served in the American armed forces during the war, but it wasn't easy getting to that figure - mostly because of the after-effects of the Great Depression.
When so many men failed the physical exam early in the war (before women started entering the service in great numbers), FDR was horrified. He commissioned an investigation to find out why this was so. It turns out that the majority of rejections were because of missing teeth, short stature, underweight, poor eyesight, jittery nerves (generally 4-F's) and illiteracy. The reason for each is fairly obvious to us today, given that nutrition during from the second year of the Great Depression through the early 1940's was extremely poor and of insufficient quantity at any rate. People didn't have money to see doctors when diseases or afflictions struck, so many children grew up with lingering effects that stunted their growth and over-all health. This included teeth, eyesight and short stature. The high illiteracy rate was ascribed to children not attending school on a regular basis due to the need to stay at home and work on the farms or because their families were constantly moving, looking for greener grass - which they rarely found.
In 1944, the rejection rate among draftees was so high, that the standards were set to rock bottom, just to replace losses on two war fronts. The army set up schools to bring the 500,000 functionally illiterate soldiers up to a 4th grade reading level. Other accommodations were made for poor or missing teeth and poor eyesight.
Well, you get the picture. The Great Depression's effect on children growing up during those years created a serious problem when it came time to put those young adults into uniform. The Great Depression wasn't just about not having extra spending money or a steady job. It had a lasting effect on at least one generation, the Greatest Generation according to Peter Jennings. I believe he was right.
Marshall
When so many men failed the physical exam early in the war (before women started entering the service in great numbers), FDR was horrified. He commissioned an investigation to find out why this was so. It turns out that the majority of rejections were because of missing teeth, short stature, underweight, poor eyesight, jittery nerves (generally 4-F's) and illiteracy. The reason for each is fairly obvious to us today, given that nutrition during from the second year of the Great Depression through the early 1940's was extremely poor and of insufficient quantity at any rate. People didn't have money to see doctors when diseases or afflictions struck, so many children grew up with lingering effects that stunted their growth and over-all health. This included teeth, eyesight and short stature. The high illiteracy rate was ascribed to children not attending school on a regular basis due to the need to stay at home and work on the farms or because their families were constantly moving, looking for greener grass - which they rarely found.
In 1944, the rejection rate among draftees was so high, that the standards were set to rock bottom, just to replace losses on two war fronts. The army set up schools to bring the 500,000 functionally illiterate soldiers up to a 4th grade reading level. Other accommodations were made for poor or missing teeth and poor eyesight.
Well, you get the picture. The Great Depression's effect on children growing up during those years created a serious problem when it came time to put those young adults into uniform. The Great Depression wasn't just about not having extra spending money or a steady job. It had a lasting effect on at least one generation, the Greatest Generation according to Peter Jennings. I believe he was right.
Marshall
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ModelA29
Well-known member
Or watch the movie. Dorothea Lange photographs of the era are enlightening.
By 1936 it was so bad Los Angeles sent cops to the CA/AZ border to set up the "bum blockade" to keep those without visible means of support out of CA. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...rought-during-the-great-depression-180987022/
How things have changed - today .gov in CA has money for every "non resident"........
That 1/2 acre depression era lot in Salinas is worth $50-160,000 today
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History
Well-known member
When the average person can’t afford to buy it’s getting ready to pop. Everyone’s idea of the “average” person is different but I believe it’s the group that spends the most, per individual it is a smaller amount but collectively it’s huge, those people are broke. Not sure what the next depression will look or be like but I’m sure there will be another.
Marshall V. Daut
Well-known member
Depressions and recessions in a capitalistic free enterprise economic system are cyclical. You are right - there will ALWAYS be another depression, although with the lessons learned from the 1930's and the safeguards built in by the government to protect against catastrophic personal financial ruin, I doubt that we'll see another economic depression on the scale of the Great Depression. If so, I'm checking out... 
M.
M.
David in San Antonio
Well-known member
The “safeguards built in by the government to protect against personal financial ruin” can be employed and supported or suppressed and defunded by Congress or the President. The safeguards put in place by Franklin Roosevelt were seen as political and faced strenuous opposition.
History seems to repeat itself, or as Mark Twain wrote, rhymes, seems to me because people don’t learn from history.
But where in the world would you prefer to live?
History seems to repeat itself, or as Mark Twain wrote, rhymes, seems to me because people don’t learn from history.
But where in the world would you prefer to live?
updraught
Well-known member
A Hobo In The Great Depression. From someone who made the most of it ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZXbHg0EVYk
From the diaries of a hobo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZXbHg0EVYk
From the diaries of a hobo.
Synchro909
Well-known member
Not sure what the next depression will look or be like but I’m sure there will be another.[/QUOTE said:
BlueSunoco
Well-known member
It's crazy times, we don't know just how it will all wind up!
An article I read recently concerning the much-vaunted FDIC, set up to protect our bank accounts, said that they haven't anything near the money to do so. If there is another run on the banks, like in the Depression, it will all fold like a deck of cards. We are led to believe things are safe, just to keep the peace amongst us.
Some politicians have proposed a similar 'insurance' on people playing the stock market, to protect them from loss. Ya plays da game, ya takes your chances. Pure and simple.
In summary, keep spending $$ on the Model A's at least THEY are a tangible asset you can go out and look at and have fun with
An article I read recently concerning the much-vaunted FDIC, set up to protect our bank accounts, said that they haven't anything near the money to do so. If there is another run on the banks, like in the Depression, it will all fold like a deck of cards. We are led to believe things are safe, just to keep the peace amongst us.
Some politicians have proposed a similar 'insurance' on people playing the stock market, to protect them from loss. Ya plays da game, ya takes your chances. Pure and simple.
In summary, keep spending $$ on the Model A's at least THEY are a tangible asset you can go out and look at and have fun with
My cabriolet went through the depression and WWII in active use. My father bought the car around October of 1929 in Woodland, CA shortly after the stock market crash, though he was only vaguely aware that it had occurred. He was 21 and working, and the cabriolet was one of Ford’s most expensive vehicles. After about a year, he gave the car to his mother and bought a used 1928 Chrysler touring. He went through the depression and war mostly working and his mother drove the Ford over 100k miles throughout all of California.
The car had age related damage and various modifications to keep it on the road by the late fifties when it came back to me as my first car. The most typical modifications to Model A’s were the change to 16” wire wheels and sealed beam headlight. Mine had the generic BLC 682 headlights and 1934 Ford wire wheels. Most of the fenders had stress cracks that were coursely welded back together, and the front crossmember had broken near the spring mount and was welded back to one piece. The rumble seat had rusted out, and as was typical, lower edges of most body panels had rusted holes. The engine had been rebuilt once or twice, but still was running strong.
My uncle gets credit for all the work keeping his mother’s car running. He was a professional welder and had good mechanical skills. I think most of the cars that made it through the depression and WWII must have had someone like my uncle who willed it to keep running.
The car had age related damage and various modifications to keep it on the road by the late fifties when it came back to me as my first car. The most typical modifications to Model A’s were the change to 16” wire wheels and sealed beam headlight. Mine had the generic BLC 682 headlights and 1934 Ford wire wheels. Most of the fenders had stress cracks that were coursely welded back together, and the front crossmember had broken near the spring mount and was welded back to one piece. The rumble seat had rusted out, and as was typical, lower edges of most body panels had rusted holes. The engine had been rebuilt once or twice, but still was running strong.
My uncle gets credit for all the work keeping his mother’s car running. He was a professional welder and had good mechanical skills. I think most of the cars that made it through the depression and WWII must have had someone like my uncle who willed it to keep running.
updraught
Well-known member
A new video about how Germany got out of the depression with a Ponzi scheme. Creative accounting at its best.
https://youtu.be/Tj0iLXCU-wM?si=Wni6KB5bo13CfAaZ
https://youtu.be/Tj0iLXCU-wM?si=Wni6KB5bo13CfAaZ
Many of us here grew up with parents that had been deeply scarred by the Depression, which cast a long shadow well after it ended. Their habits of frugality, risk-aversion, and nose to the grindstone work ethics seem to have passed on to us in some form or another although the following generations have no apparent sense of what can happen when it all goes South.