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My grandfather and his brother did starve. Their father passed away when they were very small, and there was no Social Security or widow's benefits back then, or aid to single moms. So his mom had to clean houses to support her 2 kids, and it's not possible to feed 3 people on housecleaning wages. So they often only got 1 meal/day, and they were lucky to have that. She really pushed them to do well in school, so they could go to university on scholarships, which they did. Back then, that was easier than it is now. They both did well for themselves, and pulled their mom out of poverty and supported her in their adulthood.
That's what happened to my dad. His father died in 1929 when he was ten years old. Grandfather left a widow and four young children.
She, too, cleaned houses. People didn't hire someone to dust and tidy up. You were beating carpets and scrubbing floors--as in down on your knees with a brush. She also took in laundry, ironed and watched other people's children. Dad took any work that he could find--cutting grass, washing dogs, running errands, selling newspapers.
Her family, for the most part, couldn't help her. Her father, and at least two of her five brothers, were alcoholics. One brother (the smart one) had moved to NYC for work and would send a little money to her and his mom once in a while. Her in-laws, the Welsh Protestants, didn't like her because she was Irish Catholic. In fact, they tried to take her children saying that she couldn't support them. They owned apartment buildings and she rented a crummy, cold water, third story walk up from them. Yes, they made her pay rent.
Fortunately, the city in which she lived had set up a charitable institution called The Poor Board. Grandmother was eligible for food assistance. Every month she could pick up a sack of flour and rice (she had to pick the bugs out of the rice), a can of lard and a small bag of sugar. Once in a while they got some donated canned goods or seasonal produce. Dad and his younger sister walked to town to pick up the food. Unfortunately, it was a hilly city, and most of the walk home was uphill. The Radio Flyer that their dad had bought for them proved to be pretty handy. I don't think that's what he had in mind when he bought it.
...During the Great Depression folks didn't have work, and more importantly, they didn't have purchasing power. Today, apples were three for a dime. No buyers. Tomorrow, they were two for a nickel. Still no buyers. The next day, they were two cents each. It didn't matter. Even as prices "deflated", there simply were NO buyers. As people fell further and further behind, inevitably they were unable to pay their mortgages. Banks foreclosed, and then the fear of banks being insolvent started to create "runs". ...
On a personal note, I recall my parents having habits of poverty embedded in their behaviors. Lights out, save EVERYTHING (cans, paper bags, used cooking oil) and allow yourself absolutely NO indulgences , heat lowered, no phone calls (especially long distance) and no unnecessary trips in the car. They learned to live frugally, and never forgot that it could happen again.
The deflation was a significant problem, and it was also demoralizing. What little people had, they hoarded, as cash money appeared to be increasing in value compared to commodities.
My parents were born in the Coolidge (father) and Hoover (mother) administrations, so their formative years were both in the Depression.
Dad tells some harrowing stories. Actually they both do. The saving grace for both families was small, income-generating assets thankfully arranged in the boomtime 1920s that somehow survived the 1929 crash. Both families hunkered down in small houses (with extended families), sharing and frugally husbanding everything from coal to ice to grain. There were basically zero indulgences, perhaps ice cream once per year and beef once per month. My father's mother would shop in the old sense of the word. She would first walk to four different markets to compare prices, to the penny, and only then would she devise her list, returning to buy from each grocer only the cheapest necessities for the week. That activity would consume most of Saturday for the entire family.
They both vividly remember that there were many other kids far worse off than they. Broken men wandering the streets of Kansas City (Dad) and the farmroads of the Columbia River Basin of Washington (Mom) while their wives and families scrounged in parks or in camps. People who lived in houses were charitable with food and water, but there was no cash to spare.
Last edited by westender; 10-29-2014 at 02:31 PM..
I find your comments pretty funny considering you posted THIS:
Tell me what you said when you were 18-years-old and I'll hold you to those statements. It is called growing up. I'm not the same person I was 3 years ago.
We had to walk to school through the blinding snow, uphill both ways. Father's workday was 26 hours--he had to leave for work two hours before bedtime. Mother washed clothes in the creek, and always hoped a fish would jump into one of the stockings so we'd have some food for a change. We had lint casserole on Sundays. Most of my siblings died in childhood.
You should have read the OP's post/thread on how great the 10's and 20's were CD is populated by posters who wish we all lived in some off the grid self sustaining utopia... Most of them have no clue how hard life was back in those times. Any simple study of HISTORY should make people understand that we live in the best of times and if we don't kill each other in some heinous fashion they will only get better............... http://www.city-data.com/forum/histo...epression.html
The best of times was 40-50 years ago.
Modern time sucks as we are still digging out from under a depression people seem to gloss over as a mere bump in the road. Millenials believe that mindset and have no idea what best or worst of times ever will be as they only know worst a present.
I cannot believe someone actually typed these 7 words...''we live in the best of times''. What joke.
the great depression is great hype, it's propaganda put out by the
Federal Reserve system cronies and their educational econocrat
media whistle dogs.
my grandparents lived through it, and had nothing bad to say about
these years. hard-working men who weren't educated, that's my
family.. they were minorities also, italian and french.. my italian
great-grandfather bought a whole street of land in the 30s. there
were speakeasies and communities helped each other out.
anyway i've spoken to quite a few locals about it in my lifetime
and for some reason, it appears the "great depression" could be
an exagerrated myth suited for the purpose of instilling trust and
power to the banks. i'm not saying it's all fiction, it isn't, of course,
but there's also a lot of spin involved in its presentation to students
whom the establishment is attempting to indoctrinate with socialist themes.
You obviously never paid atention to anything any of them said if you can condense the "Depression Era" into such a short paragraph which dismisses it all as hype. You had a taste of the entire era, having heard every tale told by any and everyone who lived through that ordeal, correct?
The best of times was 40-50 years ago.
Modern time sucks as we are still digging out from under a depression people seem to gloss over as a mere bump in the road. Millenials believe that mindset and have no idea what best or worst of times ever will be as they only know worst a present.
I cannot believe someone actually typed these 7 words...''we live in the best of times''. What joke.
My son is 23, just got married last year, and he and his wife started college. He is now working two part time jobs plus school at sandwitch shops. He can't find better ones with school. I'm hoping this experience will counter the influence of staying with his aunt during high school and getting abundant funding. Most people I know are worried about money, even those with savings since its invested and that seems to be an uncertain situation at the moment.
You obviously never paid atention to anything any of them said if you can condense the "Depression Era" into such a short paragraph which dismisses it all as hype. You had a taste of the entire era, having heard every tale told by any and everyone who lived through that ordeal, correct?
hello, yes. I have a degree in history. When I was in my 20s, virtually all of my
extensive family who were adults during the "Great Depression" years talked to
me about life during what it regarded as its general timespan, 1929-1939. Some
take it up to the start of U.S. involvement in WWII.
It appears that my attempt to speak about this has met angry opposition from
other posters whose families had more difficult experiences during these years.
I believe I made it clear that my family was large and working class. The area
I'm speaking of is Rhode Island. None of the men in my family, and I'm talking
about well over a dozen, experienced any work shortage whatsoever. Many
children were born. Of course infant mortality was greater then, but I wouldn't
say that medical fact has anything to do with busted banks. I made it clear that
nobody in my family ever kept money in banks or participated in the stock market.
They worked in the jewelry industry, the electric railcar industry, textiles (French side)
and also did some self-sustaining farming such as large vegetable gardens and
poultry. The Italian community supported each other, those who owned markets,
those who owned businesses, those who acted as "bankers" were not bankers.
The local druggist and other elder family men would make loans, keep money
and valuables safe, etc. Nobody stopped drinking or having a good time.
They made their own wine and frequented clubs. They bought houses, bought land,
bought cars, and lived vibrant lives. The streets were full of peddlers selling and buying
everyday things for next to nothing.
I don't mean to make offense to anyone whose family had more difficult conditions
to face. I do maintain that economists, politicians, and the educational system
has a tendency to structure narratives in their favor with an agenda to create
dependency. If other posters are offended, I apologize for sharing. Good bye.
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Life in the Thirties?
