from
WOMEN MUST LEARN TO PLAY
THE GAME AS MEN
Do
1928
Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884—1962) married Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1905.
As First Lady, she was an outspoken advocate for full equality for women and
for civil rights for African Americans. After her husband’s death in 1945,
Eleanor Roosevelt continued to campaign for many causes and is remembered
as one of the 20th century’s most influential women. In this 1928 essay she
focuses on the issue of women’s equality and proposes the path women must
take in order to achieve true and equal political power with men.
THINK THROUGH HISTORY: IdentifyingProblems
According to Roosevelt, what are the problems women must overcome in order to
achieve equal political status with men?
Women have been voting for ten years. But have they achieved actual
political equality with men? No. They go through the gesture of going to the
polls; their votes are solicited by politicians; and they possess the external
aspect of equal rights. But it is mostly a gesture without real power. With some
outstanding exceptions, women who have gone into politics are refused serious
consideration by the men leaders. Generally they are treated most courteously,
to be sure, but what they want, what they have to say, is regarded as of little
weight. In fact, they have no actual influence or say at all in the consequential
councils of their parties.
In small things they are listened to; but when it comes to asking for important
things they generally find they are up against a blank wall. This is true of local
committees, State committees, and the national organizations of both major
political parties.
From all over the United States, women of both camps have come to me, and
their experiences are practically the same. When meetings are to be held at
which momentous matters are to be decided, the women members often are
not asked. When they are notified of formal meetings where important matters
are to be ratified, they generally find all these things have been planned and
prepared, without consultation with them, in secret confabs of the men
beforehand. If they have objections to proposed policies or candidates, they are
adroitly overruled. They are not allowed to run for office to any appreciable
extent and if they propose candidates of their own sex, reasons are usually
found for their elimination which, while diplomatic and polite, are just pretexts
nevertheless.
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FROM WOMEN
MusT LEARN TO PLAY THE GAME AS MEN Do
In those circles which decide the affairs of national politics, women have no
voice or power whatever.
Politically, as a sex, women are generally “frozen out” from any intrinsic
share of influence in their parties.
The machinery of party politics has always been in the hands of men, and still
is... The fact is that generally women are not taken seriously. With certain
exceptions, men still as a class dismiss their consequence and value in politics,
cherishing the old-fashioned concept that their place is in the home. While
women’s votes are a factor to be counted upon, and figure largely in any
impending campaign, the individual women who figure in party councils are
regarded by their male confreres as having no real power back of them. And
they haven’t....
Of course there are women all over the United States who have been elected
to high and important offices. There are three women in Congress; there have
been two woman governors; and women sit in various State legislatures and
hold State offices. In New York City one could cite several who have not only
been elected but who have conducted themselves in office with ability and
distinction. But does that indicate any equal recognition of share in political
power? Infinitely more examples come to mind of women who were either
denied a nomination or who were offered it only when inevitable defeat stared
the party leaders in the face....
How many excuses haven’t I heard for not giving nominations to women!
“Oh, she wouldn’t like the kind of work she’d have to do!” Or, “You know she
wouldn’t like the people she’d have to associate with—that’s not ajob for a
nice, refined woman.” Or more usually: “You see, there is so little patronage
nowadays. We must give every appointment the most careful consideration.
We’ve got to consider the good of the party.” “The good of the party”
eliminates women!
To many women who fought so long and so valiantly for suffrage, what has
happened has been most discouraging. For one reason or another, most of the
leaders who carried the early fight to success have dropped out of politics. This
has been in many ways unfortunate. Among them were women with gifts of
real leadership. They were exceptional and high types of women, idealists
concerned in carrying a cause to victory, with no idea of personal advancement
or gain. In fact, attaining the vote was only part of a program for equal rights—
an external gesture toward economic independence, and social and spiritual
equality with men....
How, then, can we bring the men leaders to concede participation in party
affairs, adequate representation and real political equality?
Our means is to elect, accept and back women political bosses.
To organize as women, but within the parties, in districts, counties and States
just as men organize, and to pick efficient leaders—say two or three in each
State—whom we will support and by whose decisions we will abide. With the
power of unified women voters behind them, such women bosses would be in a
position to talk in terms of “business” with the men leaders; their voices would
be heard, because their authority and the elective power they could command
.
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FROM WOMEN MUST LEARN TO PLAY THE GAME AS MEN Do
would have to be recognized.
Women are today ignored largely because they have no banded unity under
representative leaders and spokesmen capable of dealing with the bosses
controlling groups of men whose votes they can “deliver.” These men bosses
have the power of coordinated voters behind them. Our helplessness is that of
an incoherent anarchy.
Perhaps the word “boss” may shock sensitive ears. To many it will conjure all
that is unhealthy and corrupt in our political machinery. Yet when I speak of
women bosses, I mean bosses actually in the sense that men are bosses. The
term boss does not necessarily infer what it once did... .As things are today, the
boss is a leader, often an enlightened, high-minded leader, who retains little of
the qualities imputed by the old use of this obnoxious word...,
If women believe they have a right and duty in political life today, they must
learn to talk the language of men. They must not only master the phraseology,
but also understand the machinery which men have built up through years of
practical experience. Against the men bosses there must be women bosses who
can talk as equals, with the backing of a coherent organization of women voters
behind them.
Voters who are only voters, whether men or women, are only the followers
of leaders. The important thing is the choosing of leaders....
I should not want the average woman, or the exceptional woman for that
matter, who for one reason or another could not do a public job well, to take
one at present. For just now a woman must do better than a man, for whatever
she does in the public eye reflects on the whole cause of women. There are
women in the United States I would gladly see run for any office. But if we
cannot have the best I should prefer to wait and prepare a little longer until
women are more ready to make a fine contribution to public life in any office
they might hold....
Remember, women have voted just ten years. They have held responsible
positions in big business enterprises only since the war, to any great extent. The
men at the head of big business or controlling politics are for the most part
middle-aged men. Their wives grew up in an era when no public question was
discussed in a popular manner, when men talked politics over their wine or
cigars, and pulled their waistcoats down, on joining the ladies, to talk music, or
the play or the latest scandal. Can you blame them if the adjustment to modern
conditions is somewhat difficult?
Certain women profess to be horrified at the thought of women bosses
bartering and dickering in the hard game of politics with men. But many more
women realize that we are living in a material world, and that politics cannot be
played from the clouds. To sum up, women must learn to play the game as
men do. If they go into politics, they must stick to their jobs, respect the time
and work of others, master a knowledge of history and human nature, learn
diplomacy, subordinate their likes and dislikes of the moment and choose
leaders to act for them and to whom they will be loyal. They can keep their
ideals; but they must face facts and deal with them practically.
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FROM WOMEN MUST LEARN TO PLAY THE GAME AS MEN Do
Source: “Women Must Learn to Play the Game As Men Do” by Eleanor
Roosevelt, in The Red Book Magazine, April 1928. Reprinted in What IHope
to Leave Behind, edited by Allida M. Black (Brooklyn: Carison Publishing,
1995), pp. 195—200.
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The Americans © McDougal Littell Inc.
ON MINDING YOUR OWN
BUSINESS
1929
In the late 1920s, financial speculation was rampant in the United States, with 4
million shares of stock changing hands on an average day on Wall Street. On
Thursday, October 24, 1929, the stock market began to unravel and stunned
investors lost $3 billion in one day. On Monday, October 28, the following fullpage ad was placed in the New York Times urging inexperienced investors to
stay out of the market. The next day, Black Tuesday, panicking stockholders
lost $10 billion, bankrupting thousands of investors and businesses.
THINK THROUGH HISTORY: FormingandSupportingOpinions
What are some of the arguments for the regulation of the securities industry? What
are some of the arguments against such regulations? Refer to parts of the ad in your
answer
American business today is paying too much attention of the wrong kind to
the stock market. In the past few years speculation in securities has become a
national business obsession. Not only has it made business men waste a lot of
time and energy they owe and might more profitably devote to their own
business responsibilities. What is more serious is that this speculative complex
has grossly distorted the views of the business community and a large part of the
general public regarding the nature and conditions of economic prosperity and
progress in this country.
At this time it is especially deplorable that such exaggerated emphasis should
be placed upon what is going on in Wall Street. There is no reason why business
or the government should act at any time as though security trading or security
values are of paramount importance in our economic life.
The business situation in the United States or any other country is not made or
destroyed by conditions in the security market. Prosperity does not depend
upon the price of stocks. Progress is not measured by the volume of securities
floated or sunk or the amount of money that changes hands in buying and
selling them.
Fundamental conditions of business itself—the creation and exchange of
useful goods and services, the advancement of industrial science, the efficiency
of business management, the wise use of credit, the expanding employment of
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The Americans © McDougal Littell Inc.
ON MINDING YOUR OwN BUSINESS
labor—in the end determine conditions in the security market. These things are
the chief concern of everybody. Upon them alone the general welfare depends.
In face of violent vituperation and political pressure, the Federal Reserve
System has done the nation a great service by resolutely and steadfastly
conserving the credit resources of our banking structure so that the universal
and permanent interests of American business as a whole shall be protected.
Security trading is a large, legitimate and necessary business, but it is only a
part, and a relatively small part, of the vast aggregate of American economic
activity. There are many others much larger, much more important, and quite
as exciting—such as mining the world’s coal, making its iron and steel,
manufacturing its clothing, raising its food, transporting and distributing the
goods it needs. These are the basis of business here and everywhere. Without
them the stock market is merely a game of tiddledywinks, and security prices
are simply statistical sawdust.
If business will mind its own business, the security market will take care of
itself.
Source: “On Minding Your Own Business,” from the New York Times,
October 28, 1929. Copyright © 1929 by the New York Times Company.
Reprinted by permission of the New York Times.
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Name
Date
PRIMARY SOURCE
Section 1
The Stock Market Crash
New York Times reporter Elliott V. Bell witnessed firsthand the panic and
despair
that ensued after the stock market crashed on October 24, 1929. As you read his
account, think about the chain of events that followed the crash.
he market opened steady 4th prices little
rf
changed from the previous day, though some
rather large blocks,
of 20,000 to 25,000 shares, came
out at the start. It sagged easily for the first half hour,
and then around eleven o’clock the deluge broke.
It came with a speed and ferocity that left men
dazed. The bottom simply fell out of the market. From
all over the country a torrent of seffing orders poured
onto the floor of the Stock Exchange and there were
no buying orders to meet it. Quotations of representa
live active issues, like Steel, Telephone, and Anaconda,
began to ft1l two, three, five, and even ten points
between sales. Less active stocks became unmar
ketable. Within a few moments the ticker ‘ervice was
hopelessly swamped and from then on no one knew
what was really happening. By 1:30 the ticker tape was
nearly two hours late; by 2:30 it was 147 minutes late.
The last quotation was not printed on the tape until
7:084 P.M., four hours, eight and one-half minutes after
the close. In the meantime, Wall Street had lived
through an incredible nightmare.
In the strange way that news of a disaster spreads.
the word of the market collapse flashed through the
city By noon great crowds had gathered at the corner
of Broad and Wall streets where the Stock Exchange
on one corner faces Morgan’s [the headquarters of
J.
P. Morgan] across the way. On the steps of the Sub
Treasui Building, opposite Morgan’s, a crowd of
press photographers and newsreel men took up their
stand. Traffic was puslecl from the streets of the
financial district by the crush.
The animal roar that rises from the floor of the
Stock Exchange and which on active days is plainly
audible in the Street outside, became louder,
anguished, terriring. The streets were crammed with
a mixed crowd—agonized little speculators, walking
aimlessly outdoors because they feared to face the
ticker and the margin clerk; sold-out traders, morbid
ly impelled to visit the scene of their ruin; inquisitive
individuals and tourists, seeking by gazing at the exte
riors of the Exclnmge and the big banks to get a clos
er view of the national catastrophe; runners, frantical
ly pushing their way through the throng of idle and
curious in their effort to make deliveries of the
unprecedented volume of securities which was being
42
UNIT
6, CHAPTER 22
traded on the floor of the Exchange.
The ticker, hopelessly swamped, fell hours behind
the actual trading and became completely meaning
less. Far into the night, and often all night long, the
lights blazed in the windows of the tall office build
ings where margin clerks and bookkeepers struggled
with the desperate task of triing to clear one (lay’s
business before the next began. They fainted at their
desks; the weaiy runners fell exhausted on the mar
ble floors of banks and slept. But within a few
months they were to have ample time to rest up. By
then thousands of them had been fired.
Agonizing scenes were enacted in the customers
rooms of the various brokers. There traders who a few
short days before had luxuriated in delusions of
wealth saw all their hopes smashed in a collapse so
devastating, so far beyond their wildest fears, as to
seem unreal. Seeking to save a little from the wi’eck
age, they would order their stocks sold “at the mar
ket,” in many cases to discover that they had not
merely lost everything but were, in addition, in debt
to the broker. And then, ironic twist, as like as not the
next few hours’ wild churning of the market would lift
plices to levels where they might have sold out and
had a substantial cash balance left over. Every move
was wrong, in those days. The market seemed like an
insensate thing that was wreaking a wild and pitiless
revenge upon those who had thought to master it.
fmni H. W Baldwin and Shepard Stone, eds.. W’ Sate It
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and James Woodress, esis., Voices [rain Aiiiericas Pa,st, vol. 3.
The Twentieth Century (New York: Dutton, 1962), 90—94.
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Research Options
1. After Black
Thursday, stock prices plummeted.
First, find out prices of several stocks, such as
RCA or General Motors, after the crash. Then
look at the business section of today’s newspaper
to compare the 1929 pnce with p’ce’s of the
same stocks today
2. On October 19, 1987, the stock market crashed
again. Find out about Black Monda in 1987 and
then discuss with classmates the similarities and
differences between this crash and Black Thursday.
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CHILDHOOD DURING THE
GREAT DEPRESSION
1930s
Cesar Chavez
During the Great Depression of the 1930s thousands of farmers (and their
families) were left bankrupt, jobless, and then homeless. California became the
most popular destination for those seeking employment as migrant farm
workers. One of these uprooted families was the Chavez family, who left
Arizona for California in 1934. In this excerpt, Cesar Chavez (1927—1993), the
founder of the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), the first
union of migratory workers in the country, recalls some of the challenges he
and his family faced as Mexican-American migrant workers.
THINK THROUGH HISTORY: RecognizingBias
What factors would you consider in evaluating this document as historical evidence?
Oh, I remember having to move out of our house. My father had brought in a
team of horses and wagon. We had always lived in that house, and we couldn’t
understand why we were moving out. When we got to the other house, it was a
worse house, a poor house. That must have been around 1934. I was about six
years old.
It’s known as the North Gila Valley, about fifty miles north of Yuma. My dad
was being turned out of this small plot of land. He had inherited this from his
father, who had homesteaded it. I saw my two, three other uncles also moving
out. And for the same reason. The bank had foreclosed on the loan.
If the local bank approved, the Government would guarantee the loan and
small farmers like my father would continue in business. It so happened the
president of the bank was the guy who most wanted our land. We were
surrounded by him: he owned all the land around us. Of course, he wouldn’t
pass the loan.,..
We had been poor, but we knew every night there was a bed there, and that
this was our room. There was a kitchen. It was sort of a settled life, and we had
chickens and hogs, eggs and all those things. But that all of a sudden changed.
When you’re small, you can’t figure these things out. You know something’s
not right and you don’t like it, but you don’t question it and you don’t let that
get you down. You sort of just continue to move....
When we moved to California, we would work after school. Sometimes we
wouldn’t go. “Following the crops,” we missed much school. Trying to get
1
The Americans © McDougal Littell Inc.
CHILDHOOD DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION
enough money to stay alive the following winter, the whole family picking
apricots, walnuts, prunes. We were pretty new, we had never been migratory
workers. We were taken advantage of quite a bit by the labor contractor and the
crew pusher [a man who specializes in contracting people to do cheap labor]....
Labor strikes were everywhere. We were one of the strikingest families, I
guess. My dad didn’t like the conditions, and he began to agitate. Some families
would follow, and we’d go elsewhere. Sometimes we’d come back. We
couldn’t find a job elsewhere, so we’d come back. Sort of beg for a job.
Employers would know and they would make it very humiliating...
One of the experiences I had. We went through Indio, California. Along the
highway there were signs in most of the small restaurants that said “White
Trade Only.” My dad read English, but he didn’t really know the meaning. He
went in to get some coffee—a pot that he had, to get some coffee for my
mother. He asked us not to come in, but we followed him anyway. And this
young waitress said, “We don’t serve Mexicans. Get out of here.” I was there,
and I saw it and heard it. She paid no more attention. I’m sure for the rest of her
life she never thought of it again. But every time we thought of it, it hurt us. So
we got back in the car and we had a difficult time trying—in fact, we never got
the coffee....
We’d go to school two days sometimes, a week, two weeks, three weeks at
most. This is when we were migrating. We’d come back to our winter base, and
if we were lucky, we’d get in a good solid all of January, February, March,
April, May. So we had five months out of a possible nine months. We started
counting how many schools we’d been to and we counted thirty-seven.
Elementary schools. From first to eighth grade. Thirty-seven. We never got a
transfer. Friday we didn’t tell the teacher or anything. We’d just go home. And
they accepted this.
I remember one teacher—I wondered why she was asking so many questions.
(In those days anybody asked questions, you became suspicious. Either a cop or
a social worker.) She was a young teacher, and she just wanted to know why we
were behind. One day she drove into the camp. That was quite an event,
because we never had a teacher come over. Never. So it was, you know, a very
meaningful day for us.
This I remember. Some people put this out of their minds and forget it. I
don’t want to forget it. I don’t want it to take the best of me, but I want to be
there because this is what happened. This is the truth, you know. History.
Source: Hard Times by Studs Terkel. Copyright © 1970 by Studs Terkel.
Reprinted by permission of Donadio & Ashworth, Inc.
2
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BEANS,
BACON, AND GRAVY
A POPULAR SONG
1930s
Anonymous
Popular songs often capture the emotions of a particular time, as is evident in
this Depression-era song by an anonymous songwriter. While there had been
other economic depressions or panics in the United States, the crisis of the
1930s touched almost every American— “the worst I’ve seen is nineteen thirtyone” says this songwriter—and left a lifelong impression on most. Those lucky
enough to find work faced other frustrations: as this writer implies, having ajob
and having something to eat did not necessarily bring happiness and satisfaction.
THINK THROUGH HISTORY: Summarizing
How does the author of this song feel about his present situation and his future?
How would you characterize his attitude?
I was born long ago
In eighteen ninety-one,
And I’ve seen many a panic, I will own.
I’ve been hungry, I’ve been cold,
And now I’m growing old,
But the worst I’ve seen is nineteen thirty-one.
Chorus:
Oh, those beans, bacon, and gravy,
They almost drive me crazy!
I eat them till I see them in my dreams.
When I wake up in the morning
And another day is dawning,
Then I know I’ll have another mess of beans.
We all congregate each morning
At the county barn at dawning,
And everyone is happy, so it seems.
But when our work is done
We file in one by one
And thank the Lord for one more mess of beans.
1
The Americans © McDougal Littell Inc.
BEANS, BACON, AND GRAVY
We have Hooverized on butter,
And for milk we’ve only water,
And I haven’t seen a steak in many a day.
As for pies, cakes, and jellies,
We substitute sow-bellies
For which we work the county road each day.
If there ever comes a time
When I have more than a dime,
They will have to put me under lock and key,
For they’ve had me broke so long
I can only sing this song
Of the workers and their misery.
Source: Songs of Work and Freedom, edited by Edith Fowke and Joe Glazer
(New York, 1960).
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The Americans © McDougal Littell Inc.
Date
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PRIMARY SOURCE
Section 3
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Attack on the Bonus Army
The government planned to pay World War I veterans bonuses in 1945; however,
in 1932 tens of thousands of veterans and their families descended on
Washington to demand immediate payment President Hoover eventually
ordered the (iS. Army to drive the Bonus Army from the capital. As you read
this excerpt from reporter Lee McCardell’s eyewitness account, consider whether
the veterans were treated fairly.
WASHINGTON, July 29—The bomis army was
retreating today—in all directions.
The fight bad i)egun, as far as the Regular Army
was concerned, late yesterday afternoon. The
troops had been called out after a veteran of the
Bonus Army had been shot and killed by a
Washington policeman (luring a skirmish to drive
members of the Bonus Army out of a vacant house
on Pennsylvania Avenue, two blocks from the
Capitol.
The soldiers numbered between seven hundred
and eight hundred men. There was a squadron of
the Third Cavaliy from Fort Mver, a battalion of
the Twelfth Infantry from Fort Washington, and a
platoon of tanks (five) from Fort Meade. Most of
the police in Washington seemed to be trailing
after the soldiers, and traffic was tied up in 115
knots.
The cavalry clattered down Pennsylvania
Avenue with drawn sabers
The infantry came marching along with Fixed
bayonets.
All Washington smelled a fight, and all
Washington turned out to see it.
Streets were jam med with automobiles.
Sidewalks, windows, doorsteps were crowded
with people trying to see what was happening.
“Yellow! Yellow!”
From around the ramshackle shelters which
they bad built on a vacant lot fronting on
Pennsylvania Avenue, just al)ove the Capitol. the
bedraggled veterans jeere(l.
The c•’ifr’jnen stretched out in extended order
and rode spectators back on the si(lewalks. The
infantry started across the lot, bayonets fixed.
Veterans in the rear ranks of a mob that faced
the infantry pushed forward. Those in front pushed
back. The crowd stuck. An order went down the
line of infantrvnien. The soldiers stepped back,
piillel tear—gas bombs from their belts, and hurled
them into the midst of the mob,
Some of the veterans grabbed the bombs and
threw them back at the inluitrv. The explo(hng tins
whizzed around the smooth asphalt like devil
chasers, pfutt—pfutt—pfutt. And a gentle southerly
wind wafted the gas in the faces of the soldiers and
the spectators across the street.
Cavalrymen and infantrymen jerked gas masks
out of their haversacks. The spectators. blinded and
choking with the unexpected gas attack, broke and
fled. Movie photographers who had parked their
sound trucks so as to catch a panorama of the skir
mish ground away doggedh tears streaming down
their faces.
The police tied handkerchiefs around their
flices.
“Ya—a—a—ah!’ jeered the veterans.
But more gas bombs fhl belnnd them. The vet
erans were caught in the back draft. They began to
retreat. But before the quit their shacks they set
them on fire. The dry wood and rubbish from
which the huts were fashioned burned quickly. The
flames shot high. Clouds of dirty’ brown smoke
blanketed the avenue.
Lee MeCardell, Baltimore Ecening Sun, July 29, 1932.
Reprinted in Richard 13. Morris and James Wooh’ess. eds.,
Vuices from Auneri(’a ; Past, vol. :3. The Twentieth Cci iturv
from
(New York: Dmmtton, 1962. 9497.
Discussion Questions
1. According to McCardell, what sparked the Fight
betxveen Bonus Army veterans and the soldiers P
2. How (lid the soldiers dnve the veterans from the
capital?
3. Do you think the veterans were treated fairly?
hy or why not? Cite evidence from your text
7
W
book to support your opimuon.
The Great Depression Begins 45
from
B.E.F.: THE WHOLE STORY OF
THE BONUS ARMY
1932
W. W. Waters
Included in the millions of Americans who suffered hardships during the Great
Depression of the 1930s were 3.5 million World War I veterans who held
certificates for payment of a “bonus” for their service during the war. The
bonus was due to be paid in 1945. In this excerpt from his autobiography,
former army sergeant W. W. Waters explains the conditions that led him to
organize the “Bonus Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.)” to march to Washington,
D.C., in order to pressure President Hoover and Congress for early payment of
their promised bonus.
THINK THROUGH HISTORY: Forming andSupportingOpinions
Do you think the actions of the Bonus Expeditionary Force were justified? Why or
why not?
Many groups of citizens have marched on Washington at one time or another
for various purposes but never until June and July, 1932, when the “Bonus
Expeditionary Forces” camped in the capital did such a movement include so
many followers. Sixty thousand to eighty thousand American ex-service men in
all were in that “army” at various times.
I have decided to set down the facts concerning the B.E.F. for many reasons.
The B.E.F. began as a group of men demanding the pre-payment of their
adjusted service certificates voted by Congress in 1924. It soon became for a
vast number of men a means of protest against the economic conditions in our
country in 1932, a safety valve for dissatisfaction. It was not recognized as that
at this time. It will be remembered as that in American history. The spontaneity
which marked its rise and the great popular appeal which brought twenty
thousand men to Washington in the first two weeks were something new in
American life.
Coming three thousand miles overland with a few hundred of these men as
their leader and soon commanding thousands of them, I can tell of the motives
and desires which led men to initiate the Bonus March....
The final eviction of the B.E.F. (Bonus Expeditionary Forces) led to one of
the most disgraceful episodes in recent American history. The full truth about
the steps that led to that eviction and about the event itself must be on record,
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There was murder done on “Black Thursday,” July 2 8th. The methods of
eviction on that day revealed a stupidity and a cupidity among Washington
politicians that is almost unbelievable. The event itself disclosed to thousands of
American citizens who had never before thought particularly about it that the
men whom they elect to represent them too often forget who it was that put
them in power.
This story is told with no malice or bitterness toward any one but I evade
nothing that is necessary to the truthful recording of this chapter of recent
history. This book is not an attack on any political party. I purposely withheld
publication until after the elections to prevent any one from supposing such
motives. I have refused and I shall refuse all offers to let any special group profit
by my experiences. I sold out to no one. I was broke when I began the Bonus
March. I was broke and in debt when I finished with it....
My own background is typical of the sort of American who joined the B.E.F.
I was born in Oregon, of old American stock, in 1898 and was reared in
Idaho. In 1916, restless, with no further “West” to conquer, Ijoined the
National Guard and went to the Mexican border as a private.. .and sent overseas
in the winter of 1917. We entered active service at the front in July, 1918.
Armistice Day found us still on the firing line. After that we were ordered into
Germany as a part of the Army of Occupation. We returned to the United States
in June, 1919, and I was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant.
Shortly after my return to civil life my health failed. I spent several months in
a hospital... for which, by the way, the Government was not asked to pay.
Then, like millions more, I attempted to take up the threads of my life where
I had dropped them some three years before. Like many others of my age, I had
no occupation or profession to resume. Everything had to be commenced for
the first time, and it was a discouraging problem. In the next few years I made
numerous serious attempts to get going in some profitable business or position,
as a garage mechanic, an automobile salesman, a farmhand, a bakery helper.
Each new venture was begun with the same high enthusiasm. Each one ended
as an equally dismal failure.
In 1925,1 hitch-hiked into the State of Washington and there got ajob in the
harvest fields. I even used a new name, “Bill Kincaid,” the first name to flash
into my mind when asked, as if to break the more decisively with the past.
Under that name I met and married the girl who is now my wife....
I found ajob in a cannery near Portland, Oregon, worked up to be assistant
superintendent and for once I seemed to have escaped from the failure that had
followed me in the past.
I lost that job in December, 1930, due to the depression, and went to
Portland in search of employment....
My wife and I had a thousand dollars saved and I felt that we would get along
somehow until work was obtained.
Our savings vanished and the hope of work with them during the winter of
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1931-1932. In the meantime our personal belongings, one by one, found their
way to the pawn shops and by March, 1932, we were not only penniless but
had nothing left except a very scanty wardrobe. There were many days that
winter when we experienced actual hunger while earnestly trying to find any
job that would provide just the necessities of life.
In my ceaseless beating about the city I found family after family in the same
general condition or worse. I saw men half clad, in threadbare clothing, pacing
the streets in soleless shoes. On their faces was the same look, part of hope,
part of bewilderment, as they searched for a chance to earn a few dollars at
honest work. I talked with hundreds of these men and found that, with few
exceptions, they wanted not charity but work that would enable them to live
and to regain their self-respect.
.1 found that a large percentage of these men in Portland were, like myself,
ex-service men. They had fought, so they had been told a few years before, “to
save the nation”; they had fought, it now seemed, only in order to have a place
in which to starve.
Among these men there was profound discontent with conditions. There was
a ravaging desire to change them but a complete and leaden ignorance of the
way to do it. Yet, among these men, hungry, desperate, downcast, there was
little or no talk of the need for violent action. It was every man for himself. One
can merge one’s individuality in the mass when active, even in wartime when
death taps at the shoulders of men, one by one; but starving makes a man think
of himself first and foremost. Yet these men were just as loyal to the nation as
they had ever been. They were just as patriotic, just as law-abiding as their more
fortunate neighbors who had jobs. In other nations similar conditions might
lead to revolution. Among these men the very thought, let alone the desire, was
never in their minds.
These men did think and talk a great deal about the so-called Bonus. The
name “Bonus” is unfortunate. It is not a gift, as that word implies. It is a
payment of money to compensate those men who served in the Army for the
difference in pay between that of service men and non-service men in 1918. The
bill, asking payment in full of the adjusted compensation for wartime service,
was introduced by Representative Patman of Texas and, during the early winter
of 1931, was pending in Congress. The majority of veterans were hoping that it
would pass.
These men had fallen far down into the valley of despair. Some push was
necessary to start them out and up over the hill. Jobs would have provided the
best sort of impetus but there were no jobs. The Bonus, a lump sum of money,
could act in the same fashion. Debts could be met, doctors’ bills paid, a fast
fraying credit renewed, and one man could look another in the eye once more.
It mattered not that the Bonus was not due, legally, until 1945. What man,
having a promise to pay at a later date would not ask his debtor for it in advance
if he believed that the debtor could afford the money and if his own need was
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not only great but critical? These men felt that the Government had the money.
Newspapers, which can always be picked out of trash cans in the parks and
public places, published stories of extensions of credit to foreign nations.
Headlines told of loans to railroads and to large corporations.
This is not the place to argue the justice or the fallacy of the demand for the
immediate payment of the Bonus, The point, continually forgotten, is that the
Bonus in these men’s minds became a substitute or a symbol for that long
dreamt of new start, a job. These men had nothing to which to look forward
except to the shiny shoulders of the man in front of them in the breadline.
Whenever I asked these men which they would rather have, the Bonus or a job,
the reply was nearly always the same: “A job, of course. But where’s a job
coming from? I’ve looked every day for over a year and haven’t found one.”
When asked what they would do with the Bonus, their answers were alike:
“First, I’d buy the kids some clothes, then I’d pay the rent, then the grocery bill.
And believe me, we’d have at least one good Sunday dinner.” Frequently one
heard, “Well, I could at least pay my debts and then maybe my credit would
hold up until I do get a job.”
All this could not fail to impress me because it conformed exactly to my own
condition and viewpoint....
Early in March, 1932, I had come to the conclusion that Congress was
purposely playing football with the Bonus bill and had no intention of giving it
favorable consideration regardless of the demand which ex-service men were
voicing through the various veterans’ organizations. I knew that during 1931
and again during the recent months there had been pilgrimages to Washington
by freight train, of small groups of ex-service men. I had heard of Coxey’s Army
but I had never heard that it had gotten anything; its demands were too vague. A
small Bonus March had gone to Washington from Portland in 1931. I had also
read the Constitution of the United States which grants the right to American
citizens to assemble and to petition Congress peacefully for a redress of
grievances. Gradually the determination to go to Washington to lobby for the
Bonus bill grew on me. The more I thought about it, the more it appealed.
Other lobbies had moved to Washington, supported by money. We had no
money, but perhaps a group, whose only support was in its numbers, might go
to Congress and make some impression.
I asked a member of the Portland assembly of the National Veterans’
Association to secure permission for me to address it. He told me I might come
to the meeting on March 15th. This was to be my first speech before an
organized body and I wrote it out and memorized it while pacing around the
block at night, sometimes until dawn,
Feeling all the sensations of stage fright, I told the several hundred veterans
present that the tactics now being employed to bring about the payment of the
Bonus would fail. “Writing letters to Congressmen,” “signing petitions, “—all
these provided things which could be tucked away in a desk drawer and most
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conveniently forgotten. But several hundred men at the capital—I foresaw no
greater number—might be more difficult to forget. Our only hope was in
following the successful tactics of Big Business; when its representatives wanted
something from Congress they went to it personally and said so. No tariff
schedule was ever raised merely by having Pennsylvania manufacturers write
letters to say they would like it so.
The audience was interested, up to a point. I admitted that the only way to get
to Washington was by freight train but added that the weather would soon be
warm and that such a trip would not be overly difficult. I closed by saying that if
not fewer than three hundred men were willing to organize under strict military
discipline, we could probably attract a few hundred more men en route and
have perhaps a thousand men in Washington....
At the end of April I noticed in the newspaper a statement that a meeting of
unemployed ex-service men was to be held outdoors, to organize a march to
Washington. At the meeting there were a hundred veterans. I was asked to
speak....
I repeated at this next meeting what I had said in March. More gatherings
followed and very slowly there was a distinct increase in enthusiasm. More and
more veterans showed their willingness to make the journey, even though they
believed it eventually futile. After all, there was little difference between hunger
in Washington and hunger in Portland. Every man who addressed the slowly
increasing crowds made it clear that such a march must be marked by proper
organization, discipline and obedience to law and order, both en route and
while in Washington.
Then, in early May, the Bonus bill was shelved “for good” by the Ways and
Means Committee of the House of Representatives.
It was this which brought the nucleus of the B.E.F. from an idea into a reality.
The crowds started to increase at the daily meetings. Men signed up by the
dozens and plans to get started were under way. From the beginning, and to the
end, every man who wanted to join had to show evidence of his war service.
Each man had to declare “to uphold the Constitution of the United States to the
best of my ability and swear an unswerving allegiance to its flag.” Each man had
to agree to be law-abiding and to submit to proper discipline as administered by
elected officers.
A final meeting was held on May 10th. A “Commander-in-Chief” was
chosen who was to travel ahead by automobile, arranging for food and
transportation. A “Field Marshal” with his assistants was appointed. The men
were divided into companies of forty each, in charge of a “Captain” who, in
turn, appointed his “Lieutenants” and “Sergeants.” I held the rank of “Assistant
Field Marshal.” Our little army, at the final roll call, numbered two hundred
and fifty men. After a few days en route it increased to nearly three hundred.
Thus the first group of the B.E.F. arose.
WALTER W. WATERS,
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Commander, B.E.F.
Source: BE.F.: The Whole Story of the Bonus Army by W. W. Waters (New
York: The John Day Company, 1933), pp. 1-17.
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A REPORT ON THE EMPLOYMENT
OF FEDERAL TROOPS
1932
General Douglas MacArthur
In June 1932, economic hardships caused by the Great Depression led 15,000
World War I veterans to form as the Bonus Expeditionary Force and march on
Washington. Their goal was a “bonus bill” providing $2.5 billion to
immediately pay veterans a bonus originally slated for 1945. After the Senate
blocked the bill, 10,000 veterans remained camped in Washington to publicize
their plight. President Herbert Hoover called in the army to force their removal,
and on July 28, General Douglas MacArthur (1880—1964) led an infantry
battalion, a cavalry squadron, and a tank platoon in an attack that injured
dozens of veterans and resulted in one death. Below is an excerpt of
MacArthur’s official report.
THINK THROUGH HISTORY: RecognizingBias
Do you think this account is accurate and unbiased, or would you, as a historian,
seek to corroborate (verify) this report with other accounts? Why or why not?
August 15, 1932
Dear Mr. Secretary,
On the afternoon of July 28, 1932, in response to your instructions, Federal
troops entered the District of Columbia for the purpose of assisting civil officials
in restoring order in certain sections of this city where considerable bodies of
persons had successfully defied police authority and were then engaged in
riotous activity.
Within a few hours this mission was substantially accomplished and with no
loss of life or serious casualty, after the arrival of the troops, among either the
civilian or military elements involved. By July 30th all Federal troops were
withdrawn to their proper stations and the local situation was under the
complete control of the civil authorities.
I am giving below a comprehensive account of this incident, to include the
sequence of events leading up to the employment of Federal forces, the
authority under which the troops acted, the principal troop movements
involved, and the results accomplished. Attached as appendices are copies of
official communications having an immediate bearing upon the incident: a
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detailed report of Brigadier General Perry Miles, who was in direct command
of the Federal troops; a photographic record of particular phases of the
operation, and typical newspaper articles and editorials dealing with the affair.
The purpose of this report is to make of permanent record in the War
Department an accurate and complete description of a particular employment
of Federal troops on a type of activity in which elements of the Army have often
been engaged since the founding of the Republic.
GROWTH AND ACTIVITIES OF SO-CALLED BONUS ARMY
During late May, 1932, large groups of practically destitute World War
veterans, self-styled the “Bonus Army,” or “Bonus Marchers,” began arriving
in the City of Washington with the announced intention of conducting an
aggressive lobby in favor of the immediate payment of Veterans’ Adjusted
Compensation Certificates, commonly called the bonus.
With no normal means of support they established themselves, with the
consent of local authorities, in vacant areas and abandoned buildings,
principally governmentally-owned. Subsistence and supplies were obtained
through donations from local and outside sources and for the large majority the
only protection from the elements were rude huts constructed from scrap
material. The largest of these encampments was named CAMP MARKS, situated
on an alluvial flat on the left bank of the Anacostia River, northeast of the
Boiling Field area. In the same vicinity was CAMP BARTLETT, on privatelyowned ground. A portion of the Bonus Army took possession of an area
southwest of the Capitol where demolition activities incident to the Federal
Government’s building program had already begun. Smaller detachments were
located in other parts of the city. The aggregate strength of the Bonus Army
gradually increased until it reached an estimated maximum of some ten to
twelve thousand persons, including in some cases families and dependents of
the veterans.
Speaking generally, all their early activities in the city were peaceably and
lawfully conducted. They organized themselves under leaders of their own
choosing, and these cooperated reasonably well with the civil authorities in the
preservation of order. Manifestly, however, in a large body recruited as was this
one, the inclusion of a lawless element was inevitable. As the Bonus Army’s
increasing size gave to the members thereof a growing consciousness of their
collective power and importance in the community, efforts to solve acute
problems of existence often went beyond the limits of legality. Individual
solicitation for material assistance was frequently couched in terms of demand
rather than of request. In some cases merchants and others, when called upon
for contributions, were confronted with covert threats which amounted to
nothing less than a system of extortion or forced levy. But the principal and
most weighty objection to the concentration of such a force in the District of
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Columbia was occasioned by the deplorable conditions under which these
people were compelled to live, entailing an ever-present danger of disease and
epidemic.
Until the end of the Congressional session the marchers used every possible
influence to secure support for their project among members of Congress. Even
after the proposal was decisively defeated in the Senate on June 17th, these
efforts were continued, and recruits for their cause were sought throughout the
United States. Meanwhile the sanitary conditions under which they lived, with
the arrival of the summer heat and rains and the further crowding of the
occupied areas rapidly grew from bad to worse.
After it became apparent that Congress would not favorably consider the
bonus project there was of course no longer any legitimate excuse for the
marchers to continue endangering the health of the whole District population
by the continued occupation of these areas. From another viewpoint also the
concentration in one city of so many destitute persons normally residing in
other sections of the country was exceedingly unwise and undesirable. The
natural outlets through which they could benefit from the resources heretofore
made available for the care of the needy by the charitable instincts of the
American people were the local institutions of their respective communities. In
their own communities they and their relative needs were known or could be
investigated, and each could receive assistance accordingly. By coming to
Washington they deprived themselves individually of this assistance, while
collectively they presented to the charitable resources of the District a problem
of insurmountable proportions. But though the necessity for the dispersion of
the Bonus Marchers daily became more evident, its accomplishment was
plainly to be accompanied by many difficulties because of the destitute
circumstances of the great majority. In appreciation of this fact Congress, just
preceding its adjournment on July 16th, provided funds for transporting them
to their homes, and some fifty-five hundred took advantage of this provision of
law.
As this partial evacuation took place an influx of newcomers occurred, in
many instances later arrivals being of radical tendencies and intent upon
capitalizing the situation to embarrass the Government. Former leaders of the
Bonus Army lost, to a considerable degree, the authority they had so far
exercised over the mass, and the subversive element gradually gained in
influence.
During the whole period of its stay in the city the Bonus Marchers were
assisted in various ways by the local police force. Help rendered included the
collection of clothing, food, and utensils; permitting the use of vacant areas and
abandoned buildings; providing some medical service, and securing the loan of
tentage and rolling kitchens from the District National Guard. In this matter the
efforts of the police were humanitarian and more than praiseworthy. In the light
of later events, however, it is likely that a portion of the marchers interpreted
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this attitude as an indication of timidity rather than of sympathy, and were ready
to take advantage of this supposed weakness whenever it might become
expedient to do so.
IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF RIOTS
In late July the evacuation of certain of the occupied areas in the vicinity of
the Capitol became necessary in order that the Government’s parking and
building program might proceed. On July 21st the Bonus leaders were formally
notified by the police of this situation and requested to make prompt
arrangements for the removal of occupants from the affected areas. Although
there still remained ample time for veterans to apply for Government
transportation to their homes, these requests were largely ignored. Prolonged
negotiations were productive of no real results.
Since the projected operations were part of the program for unemployment
relief they could not be indefinitely delayed, and finally the District
Commissioners directed the police to clear these areas, using force if necessary.
Accordingly, on the morning of July 28th a considerable body of police went to
the encampment near Pennsylvania Avenue and 4 1/2 Street and compelled the
trespassers to evacuate. Within a short time large groups of men arrived from
other camps, apparently under some pre-arranged plan, and a struggle for the
possession of the disputed territory ensued. The police were overwhelmingly
outnumbered and were quickly involved in a serious riot. The mob, composed
of veterans and others who had intermingled with them, was incited by radicals
and hot-heads to a free use of bricks, clubs, and similar weapons. Several
policemen were hurt, one most seriously, while another, in defending himself,
was forced to shoot and kill one of the Bonus Marchers. In the pictorial
supplement attached hereto are several photographs showing the desperate
nature of these encounters.
OPERATIONS OF FEDERAL TROOPS
The situation rapidly assumed such a threatening aspect that the District
Commissioners reported to the President their inability longer to preserve law
and order in the area affected and requested immediate assistance of Federal
forces. They gave it as their opinion and that of the Superintendent of Police that
if such help failed to materialize, considerable bloodshed would ensue....
The President promptly directed the Secretary of War to cooperate with the
civil authorities in restoring law and order in the District of Columbia, The issue
had now become a broader one than that of the simple expulsion of recalcitrant
persons from an illegally occupied area in which they were physically
interfering with essential Government activity. By their open and determined
defiance of the Metropolitan police the members of this mob, recruited from all
or most of the bonus camps in the city, had threatened the integrity of Federal
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authority within the confines of the Federally-governed District of Columbia.
The dispersion and expulsion from the District of the force became thus the
only logical answer the Government could make to the mob’s action.
At 2:55 P.M., July 28, 1932, the following order was handed me by the
Secretary of War:
To: General Douglas MacArthur, Chief of Staff,
United States Army.
The President has just now informed me that the civil government of the
District of Columbia has reported to him that it is unable to maintain law
and order in the District.
You will have United States troops proceed immediately to the scene of
disorder. Cooperate fully with the District of Columbia police force which
is now in charge. Surround the affected area and clear it without delay.
Turn over all prisoners to the civil authorities.
In your orders insist that any women and children who may be in the
affected area be accorded every consideration and kindness. Use all
humanity consistent with the due execution of this order.
PATRICK J. HURLEY,
Secretary of War.
.Promptly at 4:30 P.M. the troops began moving east on Pennsylvania
Avenue, the Cavalry and Tanks leading; the Infantry following in extended
formation.
The march to the Capitol area was made without incident. Upon arrival
there, and while troops were taking up designated positions, repeated warnings
to disperse were given to a large crowd of spectators on the north side of the
Avenue. These people were in no sense law-breakers and their dispersion was
desired only to safeguard innocent bystanders from accident incident to
subsequent activity. These warnings were temporarily ignored, but later when it
became necessary to release tear bombs against the rioters, the prevailing wind
carried a light gas concentration into the crowd of spectators and the area was
quickly cleared.
TROOP EMPLOYMENT
The rioting elements were immediately ordered to evacuate the area south of
the Avenue, which order they ignored. In line with my determination to give a
reasonable time to any and all groups to disperse, no troop movement was
initiated against them until 5:30 P.M. At that moment they were still apparently
determined to hold their ground.
It is to be remembered that for many weeks members of the Bonus Army had
seen all their wishes and desires, as far as the local situation was concerned,
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acceded to by civil officials, and more recently they had successfully defied
constituted authority and withstood police efforts to evict them. It is doubtful,
therefore, that when the Regular troops were deployed in their front the rioters
really believed that the eviction order was to be definitely enforced. At least it is
a fact that as the troops started to move forward the mob showed a surly and
obstinate temper and gave no immediate signs of retreating. As the soldiers
approached more closely a few brickbats, stones, and clubs were thrown, and
it became apparent that some hint must be given of the determination
underlying the employment of Federal troops in this contingency. This hint was
given through the medium of harmless tear gas bombs. A number of these were
thrown by the soldiers among the foremost ranks of the rioters, and from that
moment little organized defiance was encountered.
Troop operations were strictly confined to evacuation of Governmentallyowned tracts. A short distance south of Pennsylvania Avenue was a bonus
detachment reported by the police to be occupying leased property. These men
were not molested. For the same reason no action was taken against a small
group of bonus seekers on the 7th Street Wharves—a detachment brought to
my attention by General Glassford in person.
The program previously outlined for the day’s activities was carried out
expeditiously, albeit with a leisureliness that permitted every member of the
Bonus Army ample time to make his unhindered way, if he was so minded, out
of the path of the troops. I was particularly desirous that the drift of the
dispersed groups be toward the Anacostia encampment and away from the
principal business and residence sections of the city. This was accomplished
through appropriate dispositions and movements of the troops.
Source: The Bonus March: An Episode of the Great Depression by Roger
Daniels (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Corporation, 1971), pp.
291—300.
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ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
1932
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
After the stock market crash of 1929 led to widespread economic and social
despair, the governor of New York took unprecedented steps. Franklin D.
Roosevelt (1882—1945) became the first governor to provide unemployment
relief, and under his leadership, New York was the first state to establish a relief
agency in 1931. The next year, Roosevelt won the Democratic Party’s
nomination for president. As a presidential candidate, he faced a bleak
prospect: one-fourth of the labor force was unemployed. In this excerpt from
his acceptance speech before the Democratic National Convention, Roosevelt
promised “a new deal for the American people.”
THINK THROUGH HISTORY: Analyzing Issues
What does Roosevelt propose to do, and what does he say the American people
must do in order to lift the country out of the Great Depression?
The appearance before a National Convention of its nominee for President,
to be formally notified of his selection, is unprecedented and unusual, but these
are unprecedented and unusual times. I have started out on the tasks that lie
ahead by breaking the absurd traditions that the candidate should remain in
professed ignorance of what has happened for weeks until he is formally
notified of that event many weeks later.
My friends, may this be the symbol of my intention to be honest and to avoid
all hypocrisy or sham, to avoid all silly shutting of the eyes to the truth in this
campaign. You have nominated me and I know it, and I am here to thank you
for the honor....
Let us now and here highly resolve to resume the country’s interrupted
march along the path of real progress, of real justice, of real equality for all of
our citizens, great and small. Our indomitable leader in that interrupted march
is no longer with us, but there still survives today his spirit. Many of his
captains, thank God, are still with us, to give us wise counsel. Let us feel that in
everything we do there still lives with us, if not the body, the great indomitable,
unquenchable, progressive soul of our Commander-in-Chief, Woodrow
Wilson.
I have many things on which I want to make my position clear at the earliest
possible moment in this campaign....
There are two ways of viewing the Government’s duty in matters affecting
economic and social life. The first sees to it that a favored few are helped and
hopes that some of their prosperity will leak through, sift through, to labor, to
the farmer, to the small business man. That theory belongs to the party of
Toryism, and I had hoped that most of the Tories left this country in 1776.
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But it is not and never will be the theory of the Democratic Party. This is no
time for fear, for reaction or for timidity. Here and now I invite those nominal
Republicans who find that their conscience cannot be squared with the groping
and the failure of their party leaders to join hands with us; here and now, in
equal measure, I warn those nominal Democrats who squint at the future with
their faces turned toward the past, and who feel no responsibility to the
demands of the new time, that they are out of step with their Party.
I cannot take up all the problems today. I want to touch on a few that are
vital. Let us look a little at the recent history and the simple economics, the
kind of economics that you and I and the average man and woman talk.
In the years before 1929 we know that this country had completed a vast
cycle of building and inflation; for ten years we expanded on the theory of
repairing the wastes of the War, but actually expanding far beyond that, and
also beyond our natural and normal growth. Now it is worth remembering, and
the cold figures of finance prove it, that during that time there was little or no
drop in the prices that the consumer had to pay, although those same figures
proved that the cost of production fell very greatly; corporate profit resulting
from this period was enormous; at the same time little of that profit was
devoted to the reduction of prices. The consumer was forgotten. Very little of it
went into increased wages; the worker was forgotten, and by no means an
adequate proportion was even paid out in dividends—the stockholder was
forgotten.
And, incidentally, very little of it was taken by taxation to the beneficent
Government of those years.
What was the result? Enormous corporate surpluses piled up—the most
stupendous in history. Where, under the spell of delirious speculation, did those
surpluses go? Let us talk economics that the figures prove and that we can
understand. Why, they went chiefly in two directions: first, into new and
unnecessary plants which now stand stark and idle; and second, into the callmoney market of Wall Street, either directly by the corporations, or indirectly
through the banks. Those are the facts. Why blink at them?
Then came the crash. You know the story. Surpluses invested in unnecessary
plants became idle. Men lost their jobs; purchasing power dried up; banks
became frightened and started calling loans. Those who had money were afraid
to part with it. Credit contracted. Industry stopped. Commerce declined, and
unemployment mounted,
And there we are today....
Never in history have the interests of all the people been so united in a single
economic problem....
My program.. is based upon this simple moral principle: the welfare and the
soundness of a Nation depend first upon what the great mass of the people wish
and need; and second, whether or not they are getting it.
What do the people of America want more than anything else? To my mind,
they want two things: work, with all the moral and spiritual values that go with
it; and with work, a reasonable measure of security—security for themselves
and for their wives and children. Work and security—these are more than
words. They are more than facts. They are the spiritual values, the true goal
2
The Americans
© McDougal Littell Inc.
FROM ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
toward which our efforts of reconstruction should lead. These are the values
that this program is intended to gain; these are the values we have failed to
achieve by the leadership we now have.
Our Republican leaders tell us economic laws—sacred, inviolable,
unchangeable—cause panics which no one could prevent. But while they prate
of economic laws, men and women are starving. We must lay hold of the fact
that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings.
Yes, when—not if—when we get the chance, the Federal Government will
assume bold leadership in distress relief. For years Washington has alternated
between putting its head in the sand and saying there is no large number of
destitute people in our midst who need food and clothing, and then saying the
States should take care of them, if there are. Instead of planning two and a half
years ago to do what they are now trying to do, they kept putting it off from day
to day, week to week, and month to month, until the conscience of America
demanded action.
I say that while primary responsibility for relief rests with localities now, as
ever, yet the Federal Government has always had and still has a continuing
responsibility for the broader public welfare. It will soon fulfill that
responsibility.
Out of every crisis, every tribulation, every disaster, mankind rises with
some share of greater knowledge, of higher decency, of purer purpose. Today
we shall have come through a period of loose thinking, descending morals, an
era of selfishness, among individual men and women and among Nations.
Blame not Governments alone for this. Blame ourselves in equal share. Let us
be frank in acknowledgment of the truth that many amongst us have made
obeisance to Mammon, that the profits of speculation, the easy road without
toil, have lured us from the old barricades. To return to higher standards we
must abandon the false prophets and seek new leaders of our own choosing.
Never before in modern history have the essential differences between the
two major American parties stood out in such striking contrast as they do today.
Republican leaders not only have failed in material things, they have failed in
national vision, because in disaster they have held out no hope, they have
pointed out no path for the people below to climb back to places of security
and of safety in our American life.
Throughout the Nation, men and women, forgotten in the political
philosophy of the Government of the last years look to us here for guidance and
for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth.
On the farms, in the large metropolitan areas, in the smaller cities and in the
villages, millions of our citizens cherish the hope that their old standards of
living and of thought have not gone forever. Those millions cannot and shall not
hope in vain.
I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. Let us
all here assembled constitute ourselves prophets of a new order of competence
and of courage. This is more than a political campaign; it is a call to arms. Give
me your help, not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore
America to its own people.
3
The Americans © McDougal Littell Inc.
PROM AccEPTANcE SPEECH
Source: The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, vol. 1 (New
York: Random House, 1938), pp. 647—659.
4
The Americans C McDougal Until
Inc.
from
FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS
1933
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The Great Depression of the 1930s devastated the American economy and left
many feeling hopeless about a better future. In 1933, the year that Franklin D.
Roosevelt (1882—1945) was sworn in as the 32nd president of the United States,
1,000 homes were foreclosed (reclaimed by banks because owners could not
afford to make mortgage payments) each day, and one-fourth of the workforce
was unemployed. Roosevelt used the occasion of his First Inaugural Address to
introduce a plan to revitalize the economy through a combination of new
legislation and new federal programs collectively referred to as the New Deal.
THINK THROUGH HISTORY: Forming and Supporting Opinions
What does Roosevelt mean when he states that he might, as president, “depart
from the normal balance of public procedure,” and do you think such action is
justified? Why or why not?
I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my introduction into
the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the
present situation of our Nation impels. This is preeminently the time to speak
the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from
honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure
as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my
firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless,
unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat
into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness
and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves
which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support
to leadership in these critical days.
In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties,
They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to
fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all
kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are
frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on
every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years
in thousands of families are gone.
More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of
existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish
optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no
plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered
1
l’he Americans © McDougal Littell Inc.
FROM FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS
because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful
for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is
at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the
supply. Primarily this is because rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods
have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have
admitted their failure, and have abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money
changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and
minds of men.
The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our
civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure
of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble
than mere monetary profit.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of
achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of
work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These
dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is
not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men....
Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks
for action, and action now.
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable
problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by
direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat
the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment,
accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of
our natural resources....
If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never
realized before our interdependence on each other; that we cannot merely take
but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a
trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline,
because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes
effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to
such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger
good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon
us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of
armed strife.
With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great
army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common
problems.
Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of government
which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple and
practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in
emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our
constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political
mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress of vast
expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world
relations.
2
The Americans © McDougal Littell Inc.
FROM FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS
It is to be hoped that the normal balance of Executive and legislative
authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us.
But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action
may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public
procedure.
I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that
a stricken Nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures,
or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and
wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy
adoption.
But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses,
and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the
clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the
one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad Executive power to wage a
war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if
we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.
For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that
befit the time. I can do no less.
We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of national
unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values:
with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by
old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent
national life.
We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the
United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that
they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction
under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In
the spirit of the gift I take it.
In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He
protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.
Source: The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D, Roosevelt, vol. 2 (New
York: Random House, 1938), pp. 11-16.
3
The Americans © McDougal Littell Inc.
Name
Date
PRIMARY SOURCE
Section 2
Letter from a Dust Bowl Survivor
The following letter was written by a survivor of the Dust Bowl
in McCracken,
Kansas. What problems does she attribute to the drought in the
Great Plains?
March 24, 1935
Dear Family,
Did some of you think that you had a dust storm? I’ll tell you what it was,
it was
us shaking our bedding, carpets, etc.
For over a week we have been having troublesome times. The dust is someth
ing
fierce. Sometimes it lets U enough so we can see around; even
the sun may shine
for a little time, then we have a frenzied time of cleaning, anticipating the
comfort
of a clean feeling once more.
We keep the doors and windows all shut tight, with wet
on the sills, The
tiny particles of dirt sift right through the walls. Two different times it has
been an
inch thick on my kitchen floor.
Our faces look like coal miners’, our hair is gray and stiff with dirt and we
grind
dirt in our teeth. We have to wash everything just before we eat it and make
it as
snappy as possible. Sometimes there i fog all through the house and all
we can do
about it is sit on our dusty chairs and see that fog settle slowly and silently over
everything.
When we open the door, swirling whirlwinds of soil beat against us unmer
cifully.
and we are glad to go back inside and sit choking in the dirt. \Ve couldn
’t see the
streetlight just in front of the house.
One morning. early 1 went out during a lull, and when I started to return
I
couldn’t see the house. I knew the direction, so I kept on coming. and
was quite
close before I could even see the outline. It sure made me feel funny
There has not been much school this week. It let up a little yesterday and
Fred
went with the janitor and they carried dirt out of the church by the scoopful. Four
of them worked all afternoon. We were able to have church this morning,
but I
think many staved home to clean.
A lot of dirt is blowing no hut it’s not dangerous to be out in it. This dirt is
all
loose, any little wind will stir it, and there will be no relief until we get rain.
If it
doesn’t come soon there will be lots of suffering. If we spit or blow our noses
we get
mud. ‘We have quite a little trouble with our chests. I understand a good
many have
pneumonia.
As for gardens, we had ours plowed, but now we do not know whether we have
more or less soil. It’s useless to plant anythin
g.
Grace
©
fnmi Deb Mulvev, ed.. “Wi’ Had Etenjtliiug But Mmiey (Green
dale.
Cd)
Wis.: Reiman, 1992), 43.
Discussion Questions
1. According to Grace’s letter, what prol)lelns dd Peopl( living in the
’
Dust Bowl encounter?
2. How would von describe Grace’s attitude about the (lust?
3. What qualities or traits do you tliink helped Grace and her family
survive the difficulties that they faced?
44
UNIT
6,
ChAPTER
22
NAME
CLASS
DATE
(continued)
The “Forgotten Man
The two letters that follow are examples of many letters written by “forgotten
Americans to President Herbert Hoover and members of his administration.
Such letters from ordinary people (printed here with original spelling and
grammatical errors) provide a unique understanding of life during the Depression
H
A
As you read the letters, think about how most American laborers probably viewed their
President and the economic breakdown of the country.
22
Denver, Cob
[November 1930]
Col. Arthur Woods,
Dear Sir:
I am writing you as a laboring man to let you know what I think of the way
this situation is being handled.
Why don’t the big corporations dig down and donate a little? It’s always the
poor devil that has to fork over. Of course some of the companys are donating
a certain per cent of what the employes raise and that’s fine. It is what they all
should do. Of course they couldn’t pay high dividends if they donated actual
money and I suppose that’s what they are worrying about more than the un
employed. If they would only open up their shops and factories and put these
men to work that would give people money to spen and create a market, but
no, the big bugs horde their money away and it’s never touched to help the
under-dog. A working man puts away a little, sticks to his job and the first
thing he knows he’s got to donate to releive a situation he did not create.
The big moneyed men created it by juggling with the market.
They preach to the small guy, get out and spend. Well, all our money put
together wouldn’t come up to some capitalist’s bank-roll. So why not preach to
the big guy to spend some of his millions? If they would only keep their shops
and factories open none of us would have to give up part of our earnings.
The first thing that should be done is stop immigration. let the other countries
take care of their own un-employed. Of course the big corporations wouldn’t
like this either for then they couldn’t get any cheap labor.
It seems that the big companies should be preached to more than the little
fellow as they control thousands of jobs. A few odd jobs won’t help the
situation much with thousands of men out of jobs.
People that are working are those that can spend money, which creates a
market, which creates business, that makes times better. People out of work
tighten up, spread gloom to others, thus scaring those that have money and
of course then they tighten up too.
I wish you success in your endeavor and hope that the situation will be
relieved before the winter is over.
Yours for Better Times
A Laboring Man
Now is the time for all RICH MEN to come to the aid of their country.
© Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Chapter 22 Primary Source Activity
•
67
NAME
I
DATE
CLASS
PRIMARY SOURCE ACTIVITY
(continued)
[Pottstown, Pa]
October 30, 1930
A
P
[President Herbert Hoover
The White House
Washington, D.C.]
R
22
Dear Sir:
I am persuaded to write to you, concerning aid to unemployment.
I hope this movement will be speeded up so people in Pottstown will
feel and know the results before Cold weather comes upon us, the
struggling starving working class under nourished Men. women, and
children. It really is alarming that this so called prosperous Nation that
we must suffer on acct of a few men seeking power and rule and have
laws pass to suit themselves.. I am one of the men out of work but
the rich dont care so long as they have full and plenty.
.
.
I hope relief will be coming soon and some action not Just paper talk.
Oh the People have been so much belied that you cannot believe any
thing only what you can see. I hope that Wall St will never have the
power again to cause such a panic upon the people money tied up
hoarded up Is a crime. I hope the guilty gang will be punished before
they die. I say this whole panic was brought on by dishonest group
which I hope will be punished....
[Anonymousl
Reprinted from DOWN AND OUT IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION: LETTERS FROM THE
‘FORGOTTEN MAN,” edited by Robert S. McElvaine. Copyright © 1983 by the University
of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher.
I
RESPONDING TO PRIMARY SOURCES
Imagine that you are a member of President Herbert Hoover’s White House
staff. Your job is to answer the letters addressed to the President. Write your
response to the “forgotten man.” In your letter, address the “laboring man’s”
opinions about big business and his suggestions for relief and reform.
68
•
Chapter 22 Primary Source Activity
© Prentice-Hall, Inc.
NAME
CLASS
DATE
Hard Times in Oklahoma
Studs Terkel, a writer and radio commentator, compiled Hard Times, An Oral
History of the Great Depression by getting people from all walks of life to talk about
their experiences during the Depression.
Peggy Terry was living in Oklahoma City when she realized that “hard times” had struck
her family. Here is how she remembers the Depression.
first noticed the difference when we’d
come home from school in the evening.
My mother’d send us to the soup line.
Then we’d go across the street. One place had
bread, large loaves of bread. Down the road just a
little piece was a big shed, and they gave milk.
My sister and me would take two buckets each.
And that’s what we lived off for the longest time.
I can remember one time, the only thing in
the house to eat was mustard. My sister and I put
so much mustard on biscuits that we got sick.
And we can’t stand mustard till today.
There was only one family around that ate
good. Mr. Barr worked at the ice plant. Whenever
Mrs. Barr could, she’d feed the kids. But she
couldn’t feed ‘em all, They had a big tree that had
fruit on it. She’d let us pick those. Sometimes
we’d pick and eat ‘em until we were sick.
Her two daughters got to go to. college.
When they’d talk about all the good things they
had at the college, she’d kind of hush ‘em up
because there was always poor kids that didn’t
have anything to eat. I remember she always felt
bad because people in the neighborhood were
hungry. But there was a feeling of together.
When they had food to give to people, you’d
get a notice and you’d go down.
They were
giving away potatoes and things like that.
I
.
.
.
.
.
But they had a truck of oranges parked in the
alley. Somebody asked them who the oranges
were for, and they wouldn’t tell ‘em. So they said,
well, we’re gonna take those oranges. And they
did. My dad was one of the ones that got up on
the truck. They called the police, and the police
chased us all away. But we got the oranges.
It’s different today. People are made to feel
ashamed now if they don’t have anything.
I think the rich were as contemptuous of the poor
then as they are now. But among the people that I
knew, we all had an understanding that it wasn’t
our fault. It was something that had happened to
the machinery. Most people blamed Hoover, and
they cussed him up one side and down the other
Our system doesn’t run by just one man, and
it doesn’t fall by just one man, either.
I remember it was fun. It was fun going to the
soup line, ‘Cause we all went down the road, and
we laughed and we played. The only thing we
felt is that we were hungry and we were going to
get food. Nobody made us feel ashamed....
Today you’re made to feel that it’s your own
fault. If you’re poor, it’s only because you’re lazy
and you’re ignorant, and you don’t try to help
yourself. You’re made to feel that if you get a
check from Welfare that the bank at Fort Knox is
gonna go broke.
From HARD TIMES by Studs Terkel Copyright © 1970 by Studs Terkel.
Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
QuEsTIoNs TO Discuss
1. The author appears to have been in unexpectedly high spirits for the condition
in which she and her family found themselves. How would you explain this?
2. According to Terry, how have attitudes toward welfare recipients changed
since the Depression?
I
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C)
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28
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Primary Source Activity
Chapter 22 Survey Edition
Chapter 12 Modern American History Edition
NAME
CLASS
DATE
çàiqpAnING?nIMARvquRcEsj
On Ending the Depression
The presidential campaign of 1932 was a contest not only between two men,
but also between two contrasting views of government.
As you read the passages below, try to identify the arguments for and against a
“new deal” for Americans.
6
C
I
C-)
RoosEvELT’s VIEw OF GovEMENT
HoovER’s VIEW OF GovEiuMENT
In a campaign address on October 13, 1932,
Franklin Roosevelt explained how he viewed the
duties and responsibilities of the federal govern
ment. Below is an excerpt from the speech.
In a campaign speech delivered at Madison Square
Garden in New York City on October 31, 1932,
President Hoover set forth his view on the causes of
and cures for the Depression.
The first principle I would lay down is that the
primary duty rests on the community, through
local government and private agencies, to take
care of the relief of unemployment. But we then
come to a situation where there are so many peo
ple out of work that local funds are insufficient.
It seems clear to me that the organized society
known as the State comes into the picture at this
point. In other words, the obligation of govern
ment is extended to the next higher unit.
It took the present Republican administration
in Washington almost three years to recognize
this principle. I have recounted to you in other
speeches, and it is a matter of general informa
tion, that for at least two years after the crash, the
only efforts made by the national administration
to cope with the distress of unemployment were
to deny its existence.
I have constantly reiterated my conviction
that the expenditures of cities, states, and the fed
eral government must be reduced in the interest
of the nation as a whole. I believe that there are
many ways in which such reduction of expendi
tures can take place, but I am utterly unwilling
that economy should be practised at the expense
of starving people.
We must economize in other ways, but it
shall never be said that the American people have
refused to provide the necessities of life for those
who, through no fault of their own, are unable to
feed, clothe, and house themselves. The first
obligation of government is the protection of the
welfare and well-being, indeed the very existence,
of its citizens.
We are told by the opposition that we must have
a change, that we must have a new deal. It is not
the change that comes from normal development
of national life to which I object but the proposal
to alter the whole foundation of our national life
which [has] been [built] through generations of
testing and struggle, and of the principles upon
which we have [built] the nation....
Our economic system has received abnormal
shocks during the past three years, which tem
porarily dislocated its normal functioning. These
shocks have in a large sense come from without
our borders, but I say to you that our system of
government has enabled us to take such strong
action as to prevent the disaster which would
otherwise have come to our nation. It has enabled
us further to develop measures and programs
which are now demonstrating their ability to
bring about restoration and progress.
Our system is. founded on the conception
that only through ordered liberty, through free
dom to the individual, and equal opportunity to
the individual will his initiative and enterprise be
summoned to spur the march of progress.
It is in the further development of this coop
eration and a sense of its responsibility that we
should find solution for many of our complex
problems, and not by the extension of govern
ment into our economic and social life. The great
est function of government is to build up that
cooperation, and its most resolute action should
be to deny the extension of bureaucracy.
.
.
C
ci)
©
Chapter 22 Survey Edition
Chapter 12 Modern American History Edition
Comparing Primary Sources
•
29
NAME
CLASS
DATE
(continued)
As you read the passages below, think about how each candidate might have refuted
the other’s accusations.
RoosrvELT’s VIEW OF HOOVER
In another campaign speech, Roosevelt made the
folio wing accusations about his opponent.
HoovFR DEFFNDs HIS RECORD
In the last days of the campaign, President 1-loover
tried to refute charges that he was a “see-nothing,
do-nothing’ President.
Finally, when facts could no longer be ignored
and excuses had to be found, Washington discov
ered that the depression came from abroad.
Not for partisan purposes, but in order to set
forth history aright, that excuse ought to be quiet
ly considered. The records of the civilized Nations
of the world prove two facts: first, that the eco
nomic structure of other Nations was affected by
our own tide of speculation, and the curtailment
of our lending helped to bring on their distress:
second, that the bubble burst first in the land of
its origin—the United States.
The major collapse in other countries fol
lowed. It was not simultaneous with ours.
Moreover, further curtailment of our loans, plus
the continual stagnation in trade caused by the
[Hawley-Smooti tariff, has continued the depres
sion throughout international affairs.
So I sum up the history of the present
Administration in four sentences:
First, it encouraged speculation and over
production, through its false economic policies.
Second, it attempted to minimize the crash
and misled the people as to its gravity.
Third, it erroneously charged the cause to
other Nations of the world.
And finally, it refused to recognize and cor
rect the evils at home which had brought it forth:
it delayed relief: it forgot reform.
We have fought an unending war against the
effect of these calamities upon our people. This
is no time to recount the battles on a thousand
fronts. We have fought the good fight to protect
our people in a thousand cities from hunger
and cold.
We have carried on an unceasing campaign
to protect the Nation from that unhealing class
bitterness which arises from strikes and lockouts
and industrial conflict. We have accomplished
this through the willing agreement of employer
and labor, which placed humanity before money
through the sacrifice of profits and dividends
before wages.
We have defended millions from the tragic
results of droughts.
We have mobilized a vast expansion of public
construction to make work for the unemployed.
We have battled to provide a supply of cred
its to merchants and farmers and industries.
We have fought to retard falling prices.
We have struggled to save homes and farms
from foreclosure of mortgages: battled to save
millions of depositors and borrowers from the
ruin caused by the failure of banks: fought to
assure the safety of millions of policyholders
from failure of their insurance companies: and
fought to save commerce and employment from
the failure of railways.
And, above all, we
have fought to preserve the safety, the principles,
and ideals of American life. We have [builtj the
foundations of recovery.
.
I
.
.
ACTIVITY
The year is 1932 and you are a radio commentator. Summarize for your
listeriets the major differences between the candidates in the presidential
election of 1932. Then state your opinion about the election. Whom would
you support and why?
0)
0
©
30
•
Comparing Primary Sources
Chapter 22 Survey Edition
Chapter 12 Modern American History Edition
Frederick Lewis Allen
the huge pyramid of capital rose.
While supersalesmen of automobiles and ra
Gradually
dios and a hundred other gadgets were loading the
ultimate consumer with new and shining wares,
supersalesmen of securities were selling him shares
of investment trusts which held stock in holding
companies which owned the stock of banks which
had affiliates which in turn controlled holding com
panies—and so on ad infinitum [without end]. Though
The years immediately following World War I in
the United States would be remembered as the ‘Roaring
Ttven ties.” Things were booming. Most people were
earning more money than ever before, and they had
many netv gadgets and products on which to spend
their money. People soon began to look for new ways
to participate in the great prosperity. Many invested
in stocks as a way to get rich quick.
By mid-1929, investments in the stock market
were at an all-time high. Business and industry earn
ings and profits skyrocketed. People became million
aires—at least on paper—overnight. There seemed
to be no end to the excitement. But it could not last
forever. The beginning of the end came on Thursday,
October 24, 1929, when the stock market crashed.
As you read the following excerpts from Frederick
Lewis Allen’s description of the Great Boom and Jona
than Leonard’s account of the Big Crash that followed,
try to determine the cause of the crash,
The Great Boom and
the Big Crash
(1928—1929)
Eyewitnesses and Others: Readings in American History, Volume 2
From Only Testerday by
Frederick Lewis Allen;
and Three Years Dawn by
Jonathan Norton
Leonard.
230
.
.
.
the shelves of manufacturing companies and jobbers
and retailers were not overloaded, the shelves of
the ultimate consumer and the shelves of the distribu
tors of securities were groaning. Trouble was brew
ing—not the same sort of trouble which had visited
the country in 1921, but trouble none the less. Still,
however, the cloud in the summer sky looked no
bigger than a man’s hand,
How many Americans actually held stock on
margin [money or collateral deposited with a broker
to help insure the broker against loss on transactions
undertaken for a buyer or seller of stocks] during
the fabulous summer of 1929 there seems to be no
way of computing, but it is probably safe to put
The addi
the figure at more than a million.
stock
common
held
who
of
those
number
tional
outright and followed the daily quotations with an
interest nearly as absorbed as that of the margin
trader was, of course, considerably larger. As one
walked up the aisle of the 5:27 local [train], or found
one’s seat in the trolley car, two out of three newspa
pers that one saw were open to the page of stockmarket quotations. Branch offices of the big Wall
Street houses blossomed in every city and in numer
ous suburban villages. In 1919 there had been five
1 by October, 1928, there were
hundred such offices
1,1 92 and throughout most of 1929 they appeared
in increasing numbers. The broker found himself
regarded with a new wonder and esteem. Ordinary
people, less intimate with the mysteries of Wall Street
than he was supposed to be, hung upon his every
word. Let him but drop a hint of a possible splitup in General Industries Associates and his neighbor
was off hot-foot the next morning to place a buying
order.
The rich man’s chauffeur drove with his ears
laid back to catch the news of an impending move
1 he held fifty shares himself on
in Bethlehem Steel
a twenty-point margin. The window-cleaner at the
broker’s office paused to watch the ticker, for he
.
231
Branch offices of
the big Wall
Street houses
blossomed in
every city
The Great Boom and the B Crash
was thinking of converting his laboriously accumu
lated savings into a few shares of Simmons. Edwin
Lefèvre told of a broker’s valet who had made nearly
a quarter of a million in the market, of a trained
nurse who cleaned up thirty thousand following the
tips given her by grateful patients
1 and of a Wyoming
cattleman, thirty miles from the nearest railroad,
who bought or sold a thousand shares a day,—getting
his market returns by radio and telephoning his or
ders to the nearest large town to be thnsmitted to
New York by telegram. An ex-actress in New York
fitted up her Park Avenue apartment as an office
and surrounded herself with charts, graphs, and finan
cial reports, playing the market by telephone on
an increasing scale and with increasing abandon.
Across the dinner table one heard fantastic stories
of sudden fortunes, a young banker had put every
dollar of his small capital into Niles-Bement-Pond
and now was fixed for life
1 a widow had been able
Eyewitnesses and Others: Readings in American Histosy,_Volume 2
A desperate man tries to
sell his late—model car
for $ioo after losing all
his money in the stock
market crash.
232
Jonathan Leonard
That Saturday and Sunday Wall Street hummed with
week-day activity. The great buildings were ablaze
with lights all night as sleepy clerks fought desper
ately to get the accounts in shape for the Monday
opening. Horrified brokers watched the selling orders
accumulate. It wasn’t a flood, it was a deluge. Every
body wanted to sell—the man with five shares and
the man with ten thousand. Evidently the week-end
cheer barrage had not hit its mark.
Monday was a rout [retreat] for the banking
pool, which was still supposed to be “on guard.” If
it did any net buying at all, which is doubtful, the
market paid little attention. Leading stocks broke
through the support levels as soon as trading started
and kept sinking all day. Periodically the news would
to buy a large country house with her winnings in
Kennecott. Thousands speculated—and won, too—
without the slightest knowledge of the nature of
the company upon whose fortunes they were relying,
like the people who bought Seaboard Air Line under
the impression that it was an aviation stock, Grocers,
motormen, plumbers, seamstresses, and speakeasy
waiters were in the market, Even the revolting intel
lectuals were there: loudly as they might lament
the depressing effects of standardization and mass
production upon American life, they found them
selves quite ready to reap the fruits thereof. Literary
editors whose hopes were wrapped about American
Cyanamid B lunched with poets who swore by Cities
Service, and as they left the table, stopped a moment
in the crowd at the broker’s branch office to catch
the latest quotations
1 and the artist who had once
been eloquent only about Gauguin laid aside his
brushes to proclaim the merits of national Bellas
Hess. The Big Bull market had become a national
mania.
In September the market reached its ultimate
glittering peak.
The Great Boom and the Bq Crash
233
.
.
fate.
•
circulate that the banks were about to turn the tide
as they had done on Thursday, but it didn’t happen.
A certain cynicism developed in the board rooms
as the day wore on. Obviously the big financial
interests had abandoned the market to its fate, proba
bly intending to pick ui5 the fragments cheap when
the wreck hit the final bottom. Very well,” said
the little man, “I shall do the same.”
When the market finally closed, 9,212,800
shares had been sold. The Times index of ‘25 industrials
fell from 367.42 to 318.29. The whole list showed
alarming losses, and margin calls were on their way
to those speculators who had not already sold out.
That night Wall Street was lit up like a Christ
mas tree. Restaurants, barber shops, and speakeasies
were open and doing a roaring business. Messenger
boys and runners raced through the streets whooping
and singing at the tops of their lungs. Slum children
invaded the district to play with balls of ticker tape.
Well-dressed gentlemen fell asleep in lunch counters.
All the downtown hotels, rooming houses, even flophouses [cheap hotels] were full of financial employees
who usually slept in the Bronx. It was probably Wall
Street’s worst night. Not only had the day been
bad, but everybody down to the youngest office
boy had a pretty good idea of what was going to
happen tomorrow.
The morning papers were black with the story
of the Monday smash. Except for rather feeble hopes
that the great banks would step into the gap they
had no heart for cheerful headlines. In the inside
pages, however, the sunshine chorus continued
as merry as ever. Bankers said that heavy buying
had been sighted on the horizon. Brokers were loud
with “technical” reasons why the decline could not
continue.
It wasn’t only the financial bigwigs who spoke
up. Even the outriders of the New Era felt that if
everybody pretended to be happy, their phoney
smiles would blow the trouble away. jimmy Walker
Eyewitnesses and Others: Readings in American History, Volume 2
the big
financial
interests had
abandoned the
market to its
234
[mayor of New York], for example, asked the movie
houses to show only cheerful pictures. True Story
Magcizine, currently suffering from the delusions of
grandeur, ran full page advertisements in many papers
urging all wage earners to buy luxuries on credit.
That would fix things right up. McGraw-Hill Com
pany, another publishing house with boom-time
megalomania [delusions of grandeur], told the public
to avert its eyes from the obscene spectacle in Wall
Street, What they did not observe would not affect
their state of mind and good times could continue
as before.
These noble but childish dabbles in mass psy
chology failed as utterly as might have been ex
pected. Even the more substantial contributions of
U.S. Steel and American Can in the shape of Si
extra dividends had the same fate. Ordinarily such
action would have sent the respective stocks shooting
upward, but in the present mood of the public it
created not the slightest ripple of interest. Steel and
Can plunged down as steeply as if they had canceled
their dividends entirely. The next day, Tuesday, the
29th of October, was the worst of all. In the first
half hour 3,259,800 shares were traded, almost a
full day’s work for the laboring machinery of the
Exchange. The selling pressure was wholly without
precedent. It was coming from everywhere. The wires
to other cities were jammed with frantic orders to
sell. So were the cables, radio and telephones to
Europe and the rest of the world. Buyers were few,
sometimes wholly absent. Often the specialists stood
baffled at their posts, sellers pressing around them
and not a single buyer at any price.
This was real panic. It was what the banks had
prevented on Thursday, had slowed on Monday.
Now they were helpless. Reportedly they were trying
to force their associated corporations to toss their
buying power into the whirlpool, but they were
getting no results. Albert Conway, New York State
Superintendent of Insurance, took the dubious step
The Great Boom and the Bg Crash
235
236
3.
ple from all walks of life made investments
in the stock market during the 1920s’
Great Boom period. What do you think
was the biggest mistake made by most
people?
Using Your Historical Imagination. Peo
as a remedy for falling stock prices, ac
cording to Leonard?
2. What did publisher McGraw-Hill suggest
market?
1. What caused the Great Boom in the stock
REVIEWING THE READING
of urging the companies under his jurisdiction to
buy common stocks. II they did so, their buying
was insufficient to halt the rout.
When the closing bell rang, the great bull mar
ket was dead and buried. 16,410,000 shares had
changed hands. Leading stocks had lost as much
as 77% of their peak value. The Dow Jones index
was off 40% since September 3. Not only the little
speculators, but the lordly, experienced big traders
had been wiped out by the violence or the crash
and the whole financial structure of the nation had
been shaken to its foundations. Many bankers and
brokers were doubtful about their own solvency,
for their accounting systems had broken down. The
truth was buried beneath a mountain of scribbled
paper which would require several days of solid work
to clear away.
Eyewitnesses and Others: Readings in American History, Volume 2
I
I
n August, down towards the Rio Grande, the rays
of the sun beat vertically upon the sandy
stretches of land, from which all tender vegetation
has been scorched, and the white, naked land glares
1 the only palpitating [moving] things
back at the sun
discoverable between the two poles of heat are heat
devils. The rattlesnakes are as deeply holed up and
as quiet as in midwinter. In the thickets of brush
the roadrunners, rusty lizards, mockingbirds, and all
other living things pant. Whirlwinds dance across
the stretches of prairie interspersed between the
thickets of thorn. At six o’clock it is hotter than at
midday. Seven o’clock, and then the sun, a ball of
orange-pink, descends below the horizon at one
Shelling Corn by Moonlight
Lfe was hard for the rural Mexican Americans who
lived on the Texas-Mexico border in the early I 900s.
While groups were fighting for the rights of women
and blacks, worrying about worldwide war, and en
joying the benefits of growing industrialization, the
Spanish-speaking Hispanics led a life far removed
from these concerns. They had to work hard simply
to make a living in the harsh desert land of the
Southwest.
Writer Jovita Gonzalez grew up in this environ
ment. Later, she tvrote about her childhood and the
people who made up her close-knit community. As
you read the following three stories from Gonzalez’
book, think about why these people meant so much
to her, and the things they did to create such lasting
bonds.
Sketches from the
Hispanic Southwest
(1920s)
237
From Tone the Bell Easy
by Jovita Gonzalez.
Sketches from the Hispanzc Southwest (1920s)
•
.
.
the pulmotor [breathing apparatus] of the Border
lands, springs up from the south.
Down in the canada [brook between mountains],
which runs by the ranch, doves coo. Out beyond,
cattle are grazing and calves are frisking. In the cot
tonwood tree growing beside the dirt tank” near
the ranch house the redbird sings. Children shout
and play. From the corrals come the voices of vaque
ros [cowboys] singing and jesting. Blended with the
bleatings of goats and sheep are the whistles and
hisses of the pastor (shepherd). The locusts complete
the chorus of evening noises. Darkness subdues them
1
then, as the moon rises, an uncounted mob of mon
grel curs set up a howling and barking at it that
coyotes out beyond mock.
It was on a night like this that the ranch folk
gathered at the Big House to shell corn. All came:
Tio julianito, the pastor, with his brood of sunburned
half-starved children ever eager for food
1 Alejo the
fiddler, juanito the idiot, called the Innocent, because
the Lord was keeping his mind in heaven, Pedro
the hunter, who had seen the world and spoke En
1 the vaqueros, and, on rare occasions, Tio Este
glish
ban, the mail carrier. Even the women came, for
on such occasions supper was served.
A big canvas was spread outside, in front of
the kitchen. In the center of this canvas, ears of
corn were piled in pyramids for the shellers, who
sat about in a circle and with their bare hands shelled
the grains off the cobs.
It was then, under the moonlit sky, that we
heard stories of witches, buried treasures, and ghosts.
I remember one in particular that sent chills up and
down my spine.
“The night was dark, gloomy, the wind moaned
over the treetops, and the coyotes howled all around.
A knock was heard, the only occupant limped across
the room and opened the door. A blast of cold
wind put out the candle.
stride. The change is magical. A soft cooling breeze,
Eyewitnesses and Others: Readings in American History, Volume 2
we heard
stories of
witches, buried
treasures, and
ghosts.
238
Pedro the Hunter
Pedro was a wonderful person among all the people
of the ranch. Besides being the most renowned
hunter, he had seen the world, and conscious of
his superiority, he strutted among the vaqueros and
other ranch hands like an only rooster in a small
barnyard. Besides, he spoke English, which he had
learned on one of his trips up North. Yes, Pedro
was a traveled man, he had been as far away as
Sugar Land and had worked in sugar-cane planta
tions. Many strange things he had seen in his travels.
He had seen how the convicts were worked on the
plantations and how they were whipped for the least
offense. Yes, he, Pedro, had seen that with his own
eyes.
He did not stay in the Sugar Land country
long, the dampness was making him have chills.
So he hired himself as a section hand. His auditors
should have seen that big black monster, el Tren
“‘Who is there?’ he asked, looking out into a
night as dark as the mouth of a wolf.
“‘just a lost hermit,’ answered a wailing voice.
‘Will you give a stranger a lodging for the night?’
“A figure wrapped in a black cape entered, and
as he entered, a tomblike darkness and coldness filled
the room.
“‘Will you take off your hat and cape?’ the
host asked solicitously of his mysterious guest.
“‘No—but—! shall—take off my head.’ And
saying this, the strange personage placed his head,
a skull, upon the table nearby.”
Then the pastor told of how he had seen spirits
in the shape of balls of fire floating through the
air. They were souls doing penance for their past
sins, As a relief to our fright, Don [a title of respect]
Francisco suggested that Tio Julianito do one of
his original dances to the tune of Alejo’s fiddle. A
place was cleared on the canvas, and that started
the evening’s merriment.
Sketches from the Hispanic Southwest
239
240
The Mail Carrier
No people of the North feel cold more than do
the Border people when the winter norther sweeps
Volador [the Flying Trainj. It roared and whistled
and belched fire and smoke as it Hew over the land.
He would have liked being a section hand on the
railroad had it not been for the food—cornbread
and salt pork.
He had been told that if he ate salt pork, he
would soon learn to speak English. Bahi What a
lie! He had eaten it three times a day and had only
learned to say ‘yes.” But being anxious to see a city,
he came to Houston, As he walked through the
downtown streets one Saturday evening, he saw some
beautiful American ladies singing at a corner. And
that made him homesick for the ranch. He stopped
to listen, and the beautiful ladies talked to him and
patted him on the back, They took him with them
that night and let him sleep in a room above the
garage.
He could not understand them but they were
very kind and taught him to play the drum, and
every evening the ladies, after putting on a funny
hat, took the guitars and he the drum, and they
went to town. They sang beautifully, and he beat
the drum in a way that must have caused the envy
of the passers-by, and when he passed a plate, many
people put money in it. During the winter he learned
English. But with the coming of spring he got home
sick for the mesquitales [mesquite trees], the fragrant
smell of the huisache [desert flowers], the lowing of
the cattle at sundown, and above all, for the mellow,
rank smell of the corral, What would he not give
for a good cup of black, strong ranch coffee, and a
piece of jerky broiled over the fire! And so one
night, with his belongings wrapped up in a blanket,
he left south by west for the land of his youth.
And here he was again, a man who had seen the
world but who was happy to be at home.
Eyewitnesses and Others: Readings in American Histoiy, Volume 2
241
down. In the teeth of one of these northers we left A water vendor peddles
Las Viboras ranch just before dawn, bound for the his wares by donkey
nearest railroad station, Hebbronville. The day
cart in the lower Rio
proved to be as dreary as the dawn, and I amused
Grande valley of early
myself counting the stiff jack rabbits that crossed
twentieth—century
our path. At a turn of the road the car almost collided Texas.
with a forlorn-looking two-wheeled vehicle drawn
by the sorriest-looking nag I had ever seen. On
the high seat, perched like a bright-colored tropical
bird, sat a figure wrapped up in a crazy quilt. On
seeing us he stopped, motioned us to do the same,
and in mumbled tones bade us good morning, asked
where we were going, what might be the news at
the ranches, and finally, were we all right. He seemed
to ask these questions for the sake of asking, not
waiting for a reply to any one of them. At last,
having paused in his catechism [series of questions]
:4
‘4
Sketches from the Hispanic Southwest
242
long enough for some sort of reply to be given, he
put out one of his hands gingerly from under his
brilliant cape to wave us good-bye.
“That’s Tb Esteban, the mail carrier,” grand
father said, And that is how I met this employee
of Uncle Sam, Six months later, suitcase and all, I
rode with him twenty miles as a passenger, for the
sum of two dollars and fifty cents. That summer
we became intimate friends. He was tle weather
beaten, brown-faced, black-eyed Cupid of the Com
munity. Often when some lovesick vaquero did not
have a two-cent stamp to pay for the delivery of
the love missive [letter], he personally delivered the
letter. Not only did he carry letters, but he served
as secretary to those who could not write. He pos
sessed a wonderful memory and could recite ballads
and love poems by the hour. If the amorous [roman
tic] outburst was in verse, his fee was double. He
was a sly old fellow and knew all the love affairs
of the community. I am not so sure of his honorableness as a mail carrier. I am afraid he sometimes opened
the love missives. Once as he handed a love letter
to Serafina, our cook, he said in a mellifluous [sweet
and smooth] voice, “My dear Serafina, as the poet
says, we are like two cooing doves.” Poor Serafina
blushed even to the whites of her eyes. Later she
showed me that very phrase in the letter.
Tb Esteban knew not only all the love affairs
but also all the scandal of the two counties through
which he passed. And because of that, he was the
welcome guest of every ranch house. He made grand
father’s house his headquarters and could always have
a bed with the ranch hands. He needed little encour
agement to begin talking. He usually sat on a low
stool, cleared his throat, and went through all the
other preliminaries of a long-winded speaker. Ah,
how we enjoyed his news! What did he care for
what the papers said? They told of wars in Europe,
of the Kaiser’s surrender [the surrender of German
armed forces at the end of World War I]. But what
Eyewitnesses and Others: Readings in American History, Volume 2
do you think the people in “The Mail
Carrier” had so little concern for what
was going on in the rest of the country?
3. Using Your Historical Imagination. Why
a living?
2. How did the people in the stories earn
do that built lasting bonds between them?
1. What things did the people in the stories
REVIEWING THE READING
was all this compared with what Tb Esteban had
to tell us?
Did we know Chon had left his wife because
she did not wash her face often enough? And about
Felipe’s hog eating all the soap his wife had made?
Pablo’s setting hen, which had all white Leghorn
eggs, had hatched all black chickens. A strange event,
but not so strange if you remembered that Pablo’s
sister-in-law had black chickens. And with such news
he entertained us until the roosters began to crow.
Sketches from the Hispanic Southwest
243
hat fall a man we’d never seen before come to
our house. He was riding a mule. He talked
to Mama about how us children ought to go to
school. He said, “The government’s spending a lot
of money trying to fix schools for these children
and you ought to let them go. Why, it costs thirty
dollars a month just to pay the teacher.”
Mama said, “Yes, but the government ain’t
gonna buy the slates and slate pencils, is they?”
The man said, “Well, are you so poor you can’t
buy your children a slate and pencil?”
Mama drawed her little bitty self up as tall as
she could and stuck her face up at that man and
said just as nasty as she knowed how, “The ones
that’s old enough’ll be there when school starts.”
And she whirled around and marched back in the
house. Liza stayed to give the man our names, but
I followed Mama.
T
In 1 852 IVlassachusetts became the first state to require
students between the ages of 6 and 1 6 to attend
school. By 1918 school attendance was required in
every state, In those days, African American children
were not allowed to attend the same schools as white
children, and in many states, especially in the South,
very little effort was made to ensure that African
American children attended school at all. Thefollowing
selection is excerpted from a book written by the
Reverend C. C. White, a black man who grew up
in Texas. As you read from White’s account of his
childhood in Texas during the early 19005, and
about his chance to go to school, think about the
obstacles he had to overcome to obtain even an elemen
tary education,
A Black Texan’s
School Days (1920s)
Eycwitnesses and Others: Readings in American History, Volume 2
From NoQuittin’Sense by
the Reverend C. C.
White and Ada
Morehead Holland.
244
.
“And what about them books you’re gonna be
needing later on? Who’s gonna pay for them?” she
grumbled. I didn’t say nothing. I sure did want to
go to school. But now wasn’t the time to say it.
“Po’, is we?” snorted Mama.
Mama had stopped working for the Smith family
in Shelbyville. She wasn’t doing housework now be
cause we were trying to make a crop on the shares
and we all had to work in the field. But once when
it come a rainy spell she went back over there and
worked a week so’s Mr. Smith would let her have
slates and pencils and a dinner bucket for us out
of his store.
School didn’t start till the middle of the winter.
They just had four months a year. Had two in the
winter and two in the summer. They tried to have
school when it wasn’t the right time for the children
to be working in the fields. I could hardly wait for
it to begin.
Mama worked every night now, carding, spin
ning, knitting, and sewing—to have clothes for us
to wear to school. I was always there watching,
and one day she said, “Charley, if you’re bound to
be under foot, you might as well help.” So she taught
me to card cotton. After while I learned to spin,
too.
Mama knitted us some socks. We didn’t have
no shoes, but when it got real cold we could put
on our socks and tie a piece of old tow sack or
something around our feet. I liked to watch Mama
knit. She could make them little needles just go—
clickety, clickety, click.
Liza and me was up early the first day of school.
Mama had made us bring the washtub in the night
before, and put warm water in it, and take us a
bath. Now we put on our new clothes and Mama
fixed us some corn bread and cane syrup and a couple
pieces of fried fatback to put in our dinner pail As
we walked to school other children come along,
too, and several of us went together. Part of the
A Black Tc,xans School Days
245
246
way we walked along the road, but we went through
the woods, too, across fences and along trails. A
squirrel jumped out of our way and run up on a
limb and shook his tail at us And one of them
great big black woodpeckers, that’s as big as a cow
and has a red topknot, was pounding on a big old
oak tree. Liza said, ‘There’s a Old Lord Cod over
there, trying to chop down that tree.”
When we got almost underneath him, he took
off saying “Kuk, kuk, kuk, kuk, kuk.”
Everybody was laughing and having fun. I sure
was glad Liza and me was there.
I knowed where the school was. I’d seen it
when we’d been to visit Aunt Big Lucy. She was a
big fat woman that was one of Mama’s friends, and
us children liked to go there because she always
had more to eat than we did. You always got some
thing good to eat at Aunt Big Lucy’s. And the school
was just across the road from her house.
The schoolhouse was a old log building, just
one room. It had one door and one window, and
in the end was a big fireplace that was made out
of sticks and mud, like the fireplaces in the houses
we’d lived in. That’s the kind of chimneys and fire
places they used then, They called them “stock and
cat” chimneys. They made a framework of sticks
and daubed it good with balls of mud they called
“cats”
There was a blackboard at school. And in one
corner the teacher had a barrel where he kept lots
of switches, of all sizes. He used big ones on the
big kids and little ones on the little-uns. We didn’t
have no desks. We set on anything we could get.
There was some benches. The boys set on one side
of the room and the girls on the other. We put
our dinner buckets down in one corner. There was
a old wooden water bucket there, with a couple of
gourds that we drunk out of.
The teacher wrote the ABC’s on the board and
made us say them over after him. Then we had to
Eyewitnesses and Others: Readings in American History, Volume 2
I
write them on our slates. He made us do that every
day, and after we got so we could write them pretty
good he started making us learn them by heart,
forwards and backwards. I got to where I knowed
what every one of them was when he pointed to
it, but seemed like I just couldn’t say them in the
right order. The teacher thought I wasn’t trying.
He said I couldn’t start learning to read till I got
through with the ABC’s. But he did start me doing
a little arithmetic.
Some of the other children had been to school
before and they already knew their ABC’s so he
was teaching them to read, and spell. He’d put a
word on the board and they’d have to tell him what
it was. Then he’d wipe it off and tell them to spell
it. Sometimes they couldn’t, I just loved to watch
them. I got so I knowed a lot of words, just to
look at them, and I could spell some of them,
too.
I made up my mind I was gonna learn them
ABC’s somehow. It was hard. Couldn’t nobody at
home help me. Mama couldn’t read. And Liza didn’t
know as much as I did. She wasn’t much interested
in learning.
I practiced reading in the evenings, too. I’d
put pine knots in the fireplace, to make it blaze up
so I’d have light to see by. We didn’t have no light
except the fireplace. Mama sewed by light from the
247
In the common school
districts of the rural
South, blacks, whites,
and Hispanics (when
present) usually at
tended separate schools.
Sometimes boys and
girls had separate en
trances.
A Black Ttwanr School Days
fireplace. Sometimes I’d write words in the ashes
with a stick, like ‘cat,” or ‘dog,” or “house,” and try
to teach Mama to read a little. But I never did get
very far with that. She tried to act interested, but
she’d always be so tired, or some grownup would
come in and she’d have to talk to them.
Uncle Ossie bought me a pair of shoes to wear
to school. When he bought shoes for his own chil
dren he bought Frank and Liza and me some, too.
This was my second pair of shoes, first ones since
the little red boots. Now I had a new book and
new shoes, too. I thought I was rich.
School started out real good [his second year].
The teacher said he could tell I’d been studying
because I read better than the others. Going through
the woods on the way home that evening, seemed
like I was so full of myself I didn’t know what to
do.! run, and jumped, and kicked, and felt all bouncy,
like a ball. I punched Frank so many times, just
playing, that he finally went crying home and told
Mama, and she said, “Charley, I’m warning you, if
you don’t behave yourself I’m gonna wear you out.
I don’t feel like putting up with no foolishness.”
That night, after I went to bed, I got to thinking
about school, and remembering some of the stories
I’d heard the others reading out of the third reader.
Maybe if I worked real hard at learning I could
get promoted to the third grade by next year. Boy
Mama really would be proud of me then.
Before we left for school the next morning we
got in plenty wood and water. Mama hadn’t been
feeling too good, and she’d had trouble stooping
to pick up anything. But we didn’t think much about
it. Mama had had rheumatiz off and on about as
long as we could remember. It didn’t stop her. It
just made her fuss at us more.
But on the third day of school that year Mama
couldn’t get out the bed. I know she tried, but she
just couldn’t make it, Everybody said it was the rheu
matiz, and I suppose it was.
Eyewitnesses and Others: Readings in American Histo,y, Volume 2
The teacher
said he could
te
een
studying
248
4‘a
I
I
What made Charley’s mother agree to
allow him to attend school?
Using Your Historical Imagination. Al
2.
3.
though the public school Charley at
tended was free, his family had to make
many sacrifices so that he could attend.
What sacrifices did Charley’s mother make?
What obstacles did Charley have to over
come in order to do well in school? Why
did he have to quit school at the age of
ten?
1.
REVIEWING THE READING
She called me and said when I got through
eating breakfast to come there she wanted to talk
to me. I went and leaned against the wall at the
foot of her bed, all pleased with myself because I’d
had Frank help me and we’d got in lots of wood
and water while Liza cooked breakfast, so Liza
wouldn’t have nothing much to do but take care
of Mama till we got home. I figured we’d already
done what she was going to tell me to do. I sure
wasn’t ready for what come.
She said, “Charley, it looks like you’re gonna
have to quit school and go to work.”
I pushed my hands hard against the wall behind
me, and tried not to let her see how my insides
was churning up and down.
She said, “Mr. Tom Barlow talked to me the
other day about getting you to work for him, but I
said no, I wanted you to go to school. Now I can’t
work, so I guess you’ll have to. You can do it. You’re
a big boy now. You’re ten years old.”
O-o-o-oh, I hated to quit school. And just now
when everything was going so good. But I’d a done
anything for Mama, of course. So I went to work
for old man Barlow.
A Black Texañ School Days
249
ith assets of perhaps twenty dollars and some
nine years’ experience as a reporter in New
England I came to New York to find a job. The
round of newspaper offices and news bureaus netted
me a series of polite but firm statements to the effect
that “there’s nothing open just now, but you might
leave your name and address.” After two weeks of
this I set myself to what I believed would be the
much easier task of securing a clerical place, or even
something like ushering in a theater, “hopping the
bells” at a hotel, or running an elevator in an office
building.
Innocently enough, I followed the crowd to
the agencies in Sixth Avenue. Visions of being sent
to a position where a percentage would be taken
The Roaring Twenties, and the belief that there was
no end to the spiraling growth in business and industry,
came to an abrupt and devastating end with the
crash of the stock market in October 1929. In just
a few short days millionaires became poor, and people
who had invested their life savings in the market
found themselves penniless. Within a few months,
businesses failed, unemployment soared, and people
from all walks of life were forced into the streets,
homeless, hungry, and with no hope of finding a
way to earn a living. People looked to soup kitchens,
breadlines, and lodging houses for food and shelter.
In the following excerpts from a magazine article
written in 1930, journalist Karl Monroe describes
the agony felt by many during these hard times. As
you read his account of life in the breadlines, try’ to
imagine the hopelessness Monroe must have felt.
Life in the
Breadlines (1930)
Eyewitnesses and Others: Rsadings in American Histoy, Volume 2
From “No Men Wanted”
by Karl Monroe, The
Nation, August 6, 1930.
L
250
•
•
.
251
from the first month’s salary for a fee were quickly
dissolved in the face of the cold fact that any position
must be paid for in Full and in advance. I learned
from one young man that he had paid $10 for a
job at which he had worked only four days, receiving
$13.50, or a net profit of $3.50 for his four days of
work. He and other victims told me, apparently from
experience, that many of the agencies make a regular
practice of sending men to jobs for which they are
obviously unfitted, so that the same job might be
sold several times. Many of the men, I learned, real
ized this, but were willing to “take a gypping” in
order to earn a few dollars.
My Funds were getting low, and rather than
spend any more of the bit of cash I still had I resolved
I resolved
to ride the subways for the night. Not only did I
to ride the
find this fairly easy, but I found that hundreds of
subways for the
others were doing it. Experts at the game—men
who lived a hand-to-mouth existence by panhandling night.
and petty racketeering—told me that the most satis
factory system was to ride the B.M.T. trains which
run from Times Square to Coney Island, swinging
around a loop and returning. The trip consumes
nearly two hours if a local train is taken. A good
corner seat gives the rider a change to get a fair
nap, and the thing can be repeated endlessly, When
morning came I went to the Grand Central Terminal,
where I washed for a nickel.
Sleeping in the parks, I found, was much less
satisfactory than the comfort offered by the rapidtransit companies. Tired, hungry, and cold, I
stretched out on the bench, and despite the lack
of downy mattress and comforter eventually fell
asleep, The soles of my feet were swollen with blis
ters, because my shoes had not been removed in
at least seventy-two hours and I had tramped the
sidewalks for three days. Suddenly I was awakened
by a patrolman who had swung his night stick sharply
against the soles of my Feet, sending an indescribable
electric pain through my hunger-racked body.
Lie in the Breadlines
.
.
.
For three nights I slept in an institution on
Twenty-third Street maintained for the benefit of
released prisoners, who were given food and lodging
until they found work. Along with others, I was
given a hearty breakfast in the morning and a good
meal at six at night, but none but jail-birds were
aided in finding work. When I entered the place,
on recommendation of a social-service agency, 1 had
walked the streets for two days and nights, and my
first real pleasure came when I found I could wash
with hot water and soap. At the end of the three
days the superintendent told me I must leave, explain
ing that the institution was maintained solely for
ex-prisoners.
Finally, I stood in the bread line in Twentyfifth Street.
To my surprise, I found in the
line all types of men—the majority being skilled
craftsmen unable to find work. One of them told
me he had been a civil engineer and had earned
$8,000 a year. Since losing his job almost a year
ago, he had drifted from bad to worse, occasionally
picking up odd jobs, until he had sunk to the bread
line. The professional bums usually found at such
a place were conspicuously lacking. True, there were
several unemployables—men in the sixties, who
stood no chance in competition with the thousands
Eyewitnesses and Others: Readings in American Hiftory, Volume 2
Cooks serve a meal to
some of the more than
200 jobless and home
less men housed in a
New York City church
during the Great
Depression.
252
.
.
How did Monroe try to solve the problem
of having no place to sleep?
2.
3. Using Your Historical Imagination. Peo
ple from all walks of life found themselves
unemployed and homeless in the 1930s.
Which group of people—young, old, pro
fessional, skilled, unskilled, and so on—
do you think would find it the most diffi
cult to cope with the circumstances? Ex
plain your answer.
Why did Monroe come to New York?
What was he told by the newspaper offices
and news bureaus he visited
1.
REVIEWING THE READING
.
of younger healthier men. There were also a number
of middle-aged men who had long since given up
the idea of finding work. Having started honestly
enough in a sincere effort to get placed, they had
met disappointment so consistently that their ambi
tion was broken.
Such men never think of the
future in terms of more than one or two days.
Perhaps more to be pitied than this class
is the young family whose ambition has been
stilled.
There are many men who still hope despite
months of failure. Of a dozen men in the park of
nights, at least eight will tell you that they have
something in mind for the following day, and they
actually convince themselves. A few nights later a
casual search will reveal the same men, still with
‘something in mind for tomorrow.” For most of them
that tomorrow is many months ahead, Perhaps it
will never come. In the meantime, they read, under
the arc lights in the park, in second-hand newspapers,
predictions that business will be normal again within
sixty days.
Life in the Breadlines
253