Digital History
The Great Depression and the New Deal
Interpreting Primary Sources
I want to tell you about an experience we had in Philadelphia when our private funds were exhausted and before public funds become available.... One woman said she borrowed 50 cents from a friend and bought stale bread for 3 and a half cents per loaf, and that is all they had for eleven days except for one or two meals....One woman went along the docks and picked up vegetables that fell from the wagons. Sometimes the fish vendors gave her fish at the end of the day. On two different occasions this family was without food for a day and a half....Another family did not have food for two days. Then the husband went out and gathered dandelions and the family lived on them.
Senate Committee on Manufactures, 1932
| 25 year old waitress | 43 year old housewife | 54 year old molder | |
| Chief need | Money | Money | Money |
| Meaning of money | Joys the rich have | Chance to educate children | No more relief orders |
| Chief fear | Loss of job | Poverty | Things will never get better |
| Does government owe you a living? | No | No | Thinks U.S. owes all a job |
| Who is responsible for Depression? | The bankers and building and loan men | Drift away from church | Capitalism's greed |
| Would you farm if you had land? | Yes, if I knew how | No | No |
| Has religion helped you? | When things were worst | Almost by itself | No |
| Do you want government to plan the future? | Thinks government can plan without restricting | Will abide by the plan that offers a better day | Wants help not advice |
Columbus, Ohio, Citizen, 1934
The proposals of our opponents will endanger or destroy our system....I especially emphasize that promise to promote "employment for all surplus labor at all times." At first I could not believe that anyone would be so cruel as to hold out a hope so absolutely impossible of realization to these 10,000,000 who are unemployed....If it were possible to give this employment to 10,000,000 people by the government, it would cost upwards of $9,000,000,000 a year....It would pull down the employment of those who are still at work by the high taxes and the demoralization of credit upon which their employment is dependent....It would mean the growth of a fearful bureaucracy which, once established, could never be dislodged.
Herbert Hoover, 1932
We have two problems: first, to meet the immediate distress; second, to build up on a basis of permanent employment. As to "immediate relief," the first principle is that this nation...owes a positive duty that no citizen shall be permitted to starve....In addition to providing emergency relief, the Federal Government should and must provide temporary work wherever that is possible. You and I know that in the national forests, on flood prevention, and on the development of waterway projects....tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of our unemployed citizens can be given at least temporary employment....Finally...we call for a coordinated system of employment exchanges, the advance planning of public works, and unemployment reserves.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932
It is impossible for the United States to preserve itself as a republic or as a democracy when 600 families own more of this nation's wealth--in fact, twice as much--as all the balance of the people put together....Here is the whole sum and substance of the share-our-wealth movement:
1. Every family to be furnished by the government a homestead allowance, free of debt, of not less than one-third the average family wealth of the country....No person to have a fortune of more than l00 to 300 times the average family fortune....
2. The yearly income of every family shall be not less than one-third of the average family income....No yearly income shall be allowed to any person larger than from l00 to 300 times the size of the average family income....
3. To limit or regulate the hours of work to such an extent as to prevent overproduction....
4. An old-age pension to the persons of 60....
7. Education and training for all children to be equal in opportunity in all schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions for training in the professions and vocations of life; to be regulated on the capacity of children to learn, and not on the ability of parents to pay the costs.
Huey Long
Questions To Think About
1. What caused the Great Depression? Was it an historical aberration or was it a predictable outcome of the kind of economic system that existed in the United States until the l930s?
2. Describe the human toll of the Great Depression.
3. What did people think caused of the Depression?
4. Why did President Hoover resist taking radical steps to solve the Depression?
5. What solutions did Franklin Roosevelt and Huey Long offer to the Depression?
6. How effective were New Deal economic policies in solving the problems of the Depression?
Interpreting Statistics
| Cars on the Road | ||
| passenger and commercial vehicles registered in US | passenger and commercial vehicles produced in US | |
| 1900 | 8,000 | 4,000 |
| 1905 | 79,000 | 25,000 |
| 1910 | 469,000 | 187,000 |
| 1915 | 2,491,000 | 970,000 |
| 1920 | 9,239,000 | 2,227,000 |
| 1922 | 12,274,000 | 2,544,000 |
| 1923 | 15,102,000 | 4,034,000 |
| 1924 | 17,613,000 | 3,603,000 |
| 1925 | 20,069,000 | 4,266,000 |
| 1926 | 22,200,000 | 4,301,000 |
| 1927 | 23,303,000 | 3,402,000 |
| 1928 | 24,689,000 | 4,358,000 |
| 1929 | 26,705,000 | 5,337,000 |
| 1930 | 26,750,000 | 3,362,000 |
| 1931 | 26,094,000 | 2,380,000 |
| 1932 | 24,391,000 | 1,332,000 |
| 1933 | 24,159,000 | 1,890,000 |
| 1934 | 25,262,000 | 2,736,000 |
| 1935 | 26,546,000 | 3,971,000 |
| 1936 | 28,507,000 | 4,461,000 |
| 1937 | 30,059,000 | 4,820,000 |
| 1938 | 29,814,000 | 2,509,000 |
| 1939 | 31,010,000 | 3,589,000 |
| 1940 | 4,472,000 | |
See a graph of this chart (opens in a new window; close that window to return)
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1975. Statistical Abstracts, 1901 - 1950, U.S. Census Bureau
For more information, see:
| Number of Radios | ||||||
| Households with Radio Sets | Percentage of All Households | Radio Sets Produced | Average Receiver Cost | Radio Stations (AM) | Population of the US | |
| 1920 | 106.5 million | |||||
| 1921 | 1 | 108.5 million | ||||
| 1922 | 60,000 | 0.2% | 100,000 | $50 | 30 | 110.0 million |
| 1925 | 2,750,000 | 10.1% | 2,000,000 | $83 | 571 | 115.8 million |
| 1930 | 13,750,000 | 45.8% | 3,789,000 | $78 | 618 | 123.2 million |
| 1935 | 21,246,000 | 67.3% | 6,030,000 | $55 | 623 | 127.4 million |
| 1940 | 28,500,000 | 81.1% | 11,831,000 | $38 | 847 | 132.1 million |
Sources:
| Sales of Radios | |
| 1922 | $60 million |
| 1923 | $136 million |
| 1924 | $358 million |
| 1925 | $430 million |
| 1926 | $506 million |
| 1927 | $427 million |
| 1928 | $651 million |
| 1929 | $843 million |
Source: Douglas, George H. The early years of radio broadcasting. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1987.
For more information about radio in the 1920s, see:
| Wage Levels and the Price of a Ford Model T | ||
| Average Earnings | Price of a Model T | |
| 1912 | $592 | $600 |
| 1914 | $627 | $490 |
| 1916 | $708 | $360 |
| 1924 | $1,303 | $290 |
For more information about Model T prices, see: http://www.modelt.org/tprices.html
| Stock Prices | |||
| Sep. 3, 1929 | Nov. 13, 1929 | 1932 Low | |
| American Telephone | 304 | 197 1/4 | 70 1/4 |
| General Electric | 396 1/4 | 168 1/2 | 34 |
| General Motors | 72 3/4 | 36 | 7 5/8 |
| New York Central | 256 3/8 | 160 | 8 3/4 |
| Radio | 101 | 26 | 2 1/2 |
| U.S. Steel | 261 | 150 | 21 1/4 |
| Index of Stock Prices | |
| 1926 | 176 |
| 1927 | 245 |
| 1928 | 331 |
| 1929 | 210 |
| 1932 | 30 |
| Share of Disposable Income Going to the Richest 5 % | |
| 1920 | 24 % |
| 1921 | 29 % |
| 1922 | 29 % |
| 1923 | 27 % |
| 1924 | 29 % |
| 1925 | 31 % |
| 1926 | 31 % |
| 1927 | 32
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