AKA: THE DIRTY THIRTIES

The Thirties: A decade of despair

Why did the depression begin?

The stock market crashed on October 29, 1029.

WHY?

Some cautious investors started selling their stocks in order to cash in on high profits, others rushed to follow their lead. Sellers panicked as the value of stocks fell dramatically.

The effects of the collapse were devastating. Investors who had borrowed heavily to buy shares went bankrupt in a single day.

The collapse of the stock market was the beginning of the DEPRESSION

The depression: a period of severe economic and social hardship, massive unemployment, and terrible suffering.

The crash was not the single reason for the depression.

Leading up to the Depression 1

1927- price of wheat on world market began to fall.

More was being produced than sold.

Wheat farmer depended on foreign market – countries began growing own crops.

Income of farmers dropped – couldn’t $ mortgage/loans

Leading up to the depression 2

Same for goods in general.

US imposed a high tariffs on foreign goods coming in.

Tariffs = protect the US domestic market by making foreign items more expensive.

PROTECTIONISM= had harmful effects as other countries imposed their own tariffs in response

Leading up to the depression 3

Germany’s inability to meet its financial obligations under the 1919 peace agreement (outcome of WWI).

Vicious circle. Make a diagram representing this by reading on p. 76, last paragraph under “leading up to the depression”

Canada and the Depression

The depression illustrated a major weakness in the Canadian economy: its dependence on the export of primary resources.

Two exports in particular: wheat from the prairies and newsprint from BC, ONT, QUE

40%

65%

No $ No Buy

The world of consumerism:

With these industry jobs being cut, you loose your income. With no income you can’t buy new things. Those working in factories making those new things (radios, tv…) then get laid off because no one can buy the things they make.

Why was Canada so affected by the “crash” in the U.S?

Because… U.S had become Canada’s biggest trading partner and largest investor. Are we still?

Desperate Years and the “Aid”

Thousands of Canadians then became dependent on “pogey” – government relief payments given to those who had no alternative source of income.

The government did not make this easy to get though.

People had to wait in line for HOURS and then publicly declare their financial failure, and swear they owned nothing of value and were being evicted from their home.

A humiliating experience…

By 1933, more than one-quarter of Canada’s workforce was unemployed.

The beginning of “hopping” freight trains moving from shanty town to shanty town, typically referred to as “jungles”

Drought on the Prairies

The Prairies got the worst of the depression because:

Collapse of wheat market + drought = worse.

The drought started in 1928 and last 8 years!!!!

The “dust bowl” (p.79). Trouble in the Fields.

High winds, and to top it off… grasshoppers.

In 1953 gov’t = Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration Act.

Unfortunately… a little too late.

Disadvantaged

Women = Chatelaine Magazine even said that women should stay home from their job and let the men do it.

Aboriginal families got $5 a month and were expected to “live off the land”

Chinese were expected to be fed half of what it cost to feed a white man

Prejudice was shown against Jews (business closed to them and no jobs).

Immigration was stopped and 10, 000 were deported.

Responding to the Depression

PM Mackenzie King was not prepared to deal with this. Pushed it onto municipal and provincial gov’ts, who of course were bankrupt.

When questioned by the Conservatives (the opposition) he stated: he wouldn’t contribute a “five cent piece” to a Tory provincial gov’t.

Of course, he lost the next election to the Conservatives and R.B Bennett came into power.

PBS Oakie Clip

CBC Clip from farmer 1930

CBC Clip of 1960 Dust Bowl

Bennett

Not much better than King.

Funded work-creation programs that didn’t do much.

Increased tariffs to protect some Canadian businesses, but just as in the U.S, this did more harm than good.

He got scared that men would be influenced by the communist party and so banned them.

Created work-camps for single, unemployed men.

Bennett what???? Can you guess what it is?

Bennett barnyard = Deserted prairie farm

Bennett blanket = newspaper

Bennett coffee= roasted wheat

Eggs Bennett= boiled chestnuts

Work Camps

Conditions were poor, locations were isolated, and men were paid 20 cents a day with room and board.

In 1935 over a thousand men left the camps in BC to Ottawa to protest against the conditions under the leadership of their union. This was known as the On-to-Ottawa Trek.

Bennett attacked the leaders as radicals and trouble.

Politics of Protest

So… things got violent, camps were closed…

And Ottawa struggled to find ways of coping with the Depression.

And what may happen when citizens are not happy with their government????

Look to alternative parties for solutions.

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation

CCF – 1932, in the West. Appealed to famers, labourers, socialists, and intellectuals. Their leader was J.S Woodsworth.

What was the platform/manifesto of the CCF???? See page 86. Write them down.

Provincial Solutions

Many ruling provincial parties were voted out.

Out with Bennett Back with King

1935, they kicked out Bennett and returned King to power, even though his stance had not changed.

Still, even with a commission done in 1936, that found unemployment to be a national problem and recommended the federal gov’t to spend millions on job creation and training programs, King only spent a fraction of the recommendation.

TENSIONS!!!!

In 1937 the Rowell-Sirois Commission examined the issue of federal-provincial relations.

There was disagreement over which gov’t had the right to collect tax money and which gov’t should pay for social and employment assistance.

Commission recommendations: fed gov’t more control over taxes and equalization payments (giving poorest prov more money).

But..

By the time the report was made, the economy had begun to turn around.

Also, recommendations were pushed aside through Canada’s involvement in WWII.

Distractions from Despair.

What do you do to distract yourself from hardships/stress?

Make a list, and compare with those around you.

What do you think people did in the depression for a distraction? Make a list and compare to yours.

Read “Distraction from Despair” on p. 90. And see how much you got right!