The Great Depression Essay Research Paper by free essay sample

The Great Depression Essay, Research Paper by steve Carson AMERICAN HISTORY THE Great DEPRESSION Though most Americans are cognizant of the Great Depression of 1929, which may good be # 8220 ; the most serious job confronting our free endeavor economic system # 8221 ; , few know of the many Americans who lost their places, life nest eggs and occupations. This paper briefly states the causes of the depression and summarizes the huge jobs Americans faced during the 11 old ages of its span. This paper chiefly focuses on what life was like for husbandmans during the clip of the Depression, as portrayed in John Steinbeck # 8217 ; s The Grapes of Wrath, and tells what the authorities did to stop the Depression. In the 1920 # 8217 ; s, after World War 1, danger signals were evident that a great Depression was coming. A major cause of the Depression was that the wage of workers did non increase at all. Because of this, they couldn # 8217 ; t afford manufactured goods. We will write a custom essay sample on The Great Depression Essay Research Paper by or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page While the mills were still fabricating goods, Americans weren # 8217 ; t able to afford them and the mills made no money ( Drewry and O # 8217 ; connor 559 ) . Another major cause related to husbandmans. Farmers weren # 8217 ; t making to good because they were bring forthing more harvests and farm merchandises than could be sold at high monetary values. Therefore, they made a really little net income. This deficient net income wouldn # 8217 ; t let the husbandmans to purchase new machinery and because of this they couldn # 8217 ; t produce goods speedy plenty ( Drewry and O # 8217 ; connor 559 ) . A new program was created called the installment program. This program was established because many Americans didn # 8217 ; Ts have adequate money to purchase goods and services that were needed or wanted. The installment program stated that people could purchase merchandises on recognition and do monthly payments. The one major job with this thought was that people shortly found out that they couldn # 8217 ; t afford to do the monthly payment ( Drewry and O # 8217 ; connor 559 ) . In 1929 the stock market crashed. Many Americans purchased stocks because they were certain of the economic system. Peoples started selling their stocks at a fast gait ; over 16 million stocks were sold! Numerous stock monetary values dropped to fraction of their value. Banks lost money from the stock market and from Americans who couldn # 8217 ; t pay back loans. Many mills lost money and went out of concern because of this great calamity ( Drewry and O # 8217 ; connor By the 1930 # 8217 ; s, 13 million workers lost their occupations which is 25 per centum of all workers. The inkinesss and unskilled workers were ever the first to be fired. Farmers had no money and weren # 8217 ; T capable of paying their mortgages. Americans traveled throughout the state looking for a topographic point to work to back up themselves and their household ( Drewry and O # 8217 ; connor 560-561 ) . John Steinbeck, born in 1902, grew up during the Depression near the fertile Salinas Valley and wrote many books of fiction based on his background and experiences during that clip and country of the state. One of his great plants would be the Grapes of Wrath In this book, Steinbeck describes the husbandmans predicament during the Great Depression and drouth. When the rains failed to come, the grass began to vanish. As the husbandmans watched their workss turn brown and the soil easy turn to dust they began to fear what was to come. In the water-cut gullies the Earth dusted down in dry small watercourses. As the crisp sun struck twenty-four hours after twenty-four hours, the foliages of the immature maize became less stiff and vertical ; so it was June and the Sun shone more ferociously. The brown lines on the maize foliages widened and moved in on the cardinal ribs. The weeds frayed and edged back toward their roots. The air was thin and the sky more pale ; and every twenty-four hours the Earth paled. ( qtd. Steinbeck 2-3 ) . The husbandmans worst frights were realized when their maize and other harvests began to decease. The dust became so bad they had to cover their oral cavities with hankies so they could breath ( Steinbeck 3- When the drouth hit the Great Plains and the dirt turned to dust, many husbandmans moved to California because they could no longer farm their land ( Drewry and O # 8217 ; Connor 561 ) . The drouth began to impact other parts of the state. In 1930, Virginia # 8217 ; s belt of fertile land dried up. Ponds, watercourses, and springs all dried up and the great Mississippi River H2O degree sank lower than of all time recorded. Small husbandmans every-where began to experience the drouth. Their little gardens were ruined and their maize harvest was cut about down to nil. The hay and grass needed to feed their farm animal was no longer available. They now faced a major job -how to feed their farm animal. The silos were quickly emptying and the barns in many instances were empty. The husbandmans were terrified that the authorities provender loans wouldn # 8217 ; t be available to maintain the farm animal from deceasing. In many instances, the Red Cross was doing allowances for provender to maintain alive farm animal ( Meltzer 121 ) . The little husbandmans of fruit trees and vegetable workss depended on others who ran canneries to bottle and can their green goods. The people they depended upon were the same people that hired scientists to experiment on the fruits and veggies to come up with better tasting and giving green goods. Therefore the little husbandmans were dependent on these same rich landholders for about everything. They couldn # 8217 ; t harvest their green goods on their ain so they sold it to the rich landholders and therefore made really small money on their green goods ( Steinbeck 444-447 ) . The husbandmans found themselves in debt caused by the purchase of land, tools, animate beings and other points bought on recognition. This recognition was due to the bank and when the husbandmans found them- egos unable to refund the debts the bank took off everything they had # 8211 ; their land, places, animate beings and equipment. When the Bankss took over, they went in with tractors and destroyed everything on the farms which included their places and barns. This is best por- trayed in Steinbeck # 8217 ; s description of how the tractors destroyed everything in its manner. # 8220 ; The Fe guard spot into the house corner, crumbled the wall, and wrenched the small house from its foundation, crushed like a bug ( 50 ) . # 8220 ; In the small houses the renter people sifted their properties and the properties of their male parent and of their grampss # 8221 ; ( Steinbeck 111 ) . This describes how after many coevalss of farming on their land these people had to garner their belongings and memories and so seek to sell whatever they could. The husbandmans were so desperate for money that they had to sell for literally pennies.Steinbeck describes the despairing conversation of a husbandman to a persepective purchaser # 8220 ; Well, take it-all junk-and give me five dollars. You # 8217 ; rhenium non purchasing merely debris, you # 8217 ; re purchasing junked lives # 8221 ; ( Steinbeck 112 ) . The despair for work and money became so bad that they were willing to work for every bit small as was offered merely so they could hold some kind of occupation and do any sum of money. Soon it was a battle for life or decease ( Steinbeck ) . In a despairing hunt for a occupation husbandmans moved themselves and their households all over the state. As people wandered the state looking for work they were unable to populate in one topographic point. Large Numberss of stateless people led to Hoovervilles. The husbandmans and their households had to construct places out of anything that they could get as Steinbeck describes # 8220 ; The South wall was made of three sheets of rusy corrugated Fe, the east a square of moldy rug tacked between two board, the North palisade a strip of roofing paper and a strip of tatterdemalion canvas, and the west wall six pieces of burlap plundering # 8221 ; ( Steinbeck 310-311 ) . The places were normally near H2O beginning so they could hold H2O to imbibe from, cook and rinse their vesture ( Steinbeck 311 ) . To cut down the figure of people seeking occupations or necessitating aid, the authorities decided to seek to come up with some kind of alleviation. Among other things, they limited in-migration, returned 100s of Mexicans life here, and sought other methods to assist the husbandmans. Hoover # 8217 ; s Federal Farm Board urged husbandmans to works less so that monetary values would travel up but at that place was no encouragement to make so.From 1920 to 1932 farm production did drop 6 per centum but monetary values fell ten times as much-by 63 per centum. Farmers watched monetary values hit new lows-15 cents for maize, 5 cents for cotton and wool, pigs and sugar 3 cents, and beef 2.5 cents ( Meltzer 123 ) . With farm monetary values so low, most husbandmans, populating under the fright of their mortgages, knew that Oklahoman or subsequently they will lose everything. In 1932 the husbandmans declared a vacation on merchandising. They picketed roads inquiring people to fall in the. They gave off free milk to the hapless and unemployed instead so allow it botch because they refused to sell it. A thirty-day vacation on farm merchandising was begun August 8 and extended indefinitely ( Meltzer 125 ) . In December 1932, 250 husbandmans from 26 provinces gathered together for a Farmers National Relief Conference. They announced that they demand alleviation from creditors who threaten to brush them from their places and land ( Meltzer 126 ) . In May 1933, the Agricultural Ajustment Act was passed. The purpose of this act was to raise the farm monetary values by turning less. The husbandmans were paid non to utilize all the land to works harvests. The money came from revenue enhancement on Millers, meat baggers, and other nutrient industries. In June of that same twelvemonth the Farm Credit Act was passed. This act helped husbandmans get low involvement loans. With this act, husbandmans wouldn # 8217 ; t lose their farms to the Bankss that held the mortgages. The husbandmans who lost their farms already would besides have low involvement loans ( Drewry and O # 8217 ; connor 569 ) . The Great Depression was the terminal consequence of World War I. It affected the rich and hapless alike, mill workers and husbandmans, bankers and stockbrokers. In short, it affected everyone ; no 1 was left untasted. But of all the people hurt, husbandmans were the worst off. John Steinbeck chose to compose about husbandmans trusting that Americans would acknowledge their predicament and rectify the state of affairs. The Great Depression is known to be the worst economic catastrophe in U. S. history. For this ground, the Depression caused many people to alter their thoughts about the authorities and economic system.