Great Depression
Though most Americans are aware of the Great Depression of 1929,
which
may well be "the most serious problem facing our free enterprise
economic
system", few know of the many Americans who lost their homes, life
savings
and jobs. Americans faced vast problems during the eleven years
of
depression’s span. The paper primarily focuses on what life was like
for
farmers during the time of the Depression. By the 1930's, thirteen
million
workers lost their jobs, which is 25 percent of all workers. The
blacks and
unskilled workers were always the first to be fired. Farmers had
no money and
weren't capable of paying their mortgages. Americans traveled
throughout the
country looking for a place to work to support themselves and
their family.
Farmers plight during the Great Depression and drought.
When the rains failed to
come, the grass began to disappear. As the farmers
watched their plants turn
brown and the dirt slowly turn to dust they began
to fear what was to come. In
the water-cut gullies the earth dusted down in
dry little streams. As the sharp
sun struck day after day, the leaves of the
young corn became less stiff and
erect; then it was June and the sun shone
more fiercely. The brown lines on the
corn leaves widened and moved in on the
central ribs. The weeds frayed and edged
back toward their roots. The air was
thin and the sky more pale; and every day
the earth paled. The farmers were
terrified that the government feed loans
wouldn't be available to keep the
livestock from dying. In many cases, the Red
Cross was making allowances
for feed to keep live livestock. The small farmers
of fruit trees and
vegetable plants depended on others who ran canneries to
bottle and can their
produce. The people they depended upon were the same people
that hired
scientists to experiment on the fruits and vegetables to come up with
better
tasting and yielding produce. Thus the small farmers were dependent on
these
same rich landowners for almost everything. They couldn't harvest
their
produce on their own so they sold it to the rich landowners and thus
made very
little money on their produce. The farmers found themselves in debt
caused by
the purchase of land, tools, animals and other items bought on
credit. The Great
Depression was the end result of World War I. It
affected the rich and poor
alike, factory workers and farmers, bankers and
stockbrokers. In short, it
affected everyone; no one was left untouched. But
of all the people hurt,
farmers were the worst off. The Great Depression is
known to be the worst
economic disaster in U. S. history.