Issues In The 1930s Essay

Luciano Oliva

Doug Robbins

MYP 5 History

15 November, 2016

Perils Throughout The 1930’s

Issues in America during the 1930’s caused nationwide panic for almost every American. Over 18 major countries had a major economic failure of some sort during this time and had many different problems they had to try and solve(2). Two pressing issues in America during the 1930’s were Child Labor, and The Great Depression.

The Great Depression

The Great Depression was the longest economic drop in America’s history. The cause of The Great Depression is highly debated but it is mostly started from a combination of many factors. In 1929 there were many different new consumer products being sold which was really good for the industry business. However, many

of these products were being paid with credit and installment buying. Crops prices also went down because of all the excess crop and land farmers had from WW1. This led farmers to use tractors and other mechanized farming tools to harvest their entire land. However, these farming vehicles were very expensive and mostly paid with credit which led farmers to be in debt. Because of the dept and overstock of food, many farms were foreclosed. Then the stock market crashed when commercial bankers were loaning more money for the stock market and real estate than commercial venues. However, even though all of this was happening unless someone was a stock investor or a farmer there weren’t any major problems at the end of 1929.
Then in late 1929-1930 there were a number of bank failures around Louisville, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and North Carolina. This led to credits being frozen and major deflation in the U.S. Because of this deflation many workers were fired. The workers couldn’t buy the product as much so prices dropped even more. Then employers couldn’t borrow money to pay the employees so many businesses went bankrupt and in the process people lost their jobs. In 1930 over 4 million people were jobless, and that number rose to 6 million by the next year. The industry line dropped by nearly half of what it was before the end of 1929. Because of the dept, farmers couldn’t harvest their crops, so there was less food to give out for the homeless and jobless. Also from 1930-1933 thousands of more banks closed due to the widespread deflation and insufficient funds to pay for credits. President Hoover did not believe it was the government’s job to create jobs and directly help the economy. This tactic was not working, however, because in 1933 about 20% of the population were jobless(6, 8, 14).
Hoover vs Roosevelt
President Hoover was a very successful man growing up. He made his way through college, became a very successful businessman, and then became a very successful politician. He worked hard to become what he wanted and believed that businessmen; like himself, should work hard to follow their interests and become what they want to become. He believed in people being self-sufficient and getting what they need from themselves, not from people helping the government. When he was tasked with getting the country out of the depression he did things he did his entire life. Economists at the time also believed in Hoover’s philosophy which led Hoover to run the country with this mentality, but instead of helping the situation of the depression, his beliefs actually made it worse.
He believed in always having a positive attitude; Hoover thought that at the time, the economy was perfectly fine. He thought that the citizens were worrying too much about the economy’s state, and if they would have had confidence in the economy it would have sorted itself out on its own. Hoover was also a very strong believer in volunteerism. He believed that people shouldn’t rely on the government for solutions. He thought that if the government came in and tried to solve the economic problems, it would actually hurt the country more than it would help it. He thought that if the people couldn’t solve it they would never learn how to solve problems and become too reliant on the government. Because of this Hoover told business owners to not lay off the workers pays and keep manufacturing up He also told people to help their neighbors and community members through the depression. He believed that the people would come together and come up with a solution to the problem on their own. Because of these beliefs, he was extremely reluctant to spend any of the government’s money on the economy. Although he did give 2 billion dollars to banks and railroads so they wouldn’t completely shut down, he never gave money to help the economy. In 1932 there was a bill that would have given money to create thousands of jobs that he vetoed because he didn’t want to directly help the economy(9 and 10).
Although Roosevelt won the election by a landslide and definitely had the popular vote, he did have a lot of politicians and others who disagreed with some of his tactics and decisions. He was a visionary who promised big changes which for the most part did work. However, he very quickly got a lot of opposition from radicals and liberals. They argued that Roosevelt was not solving enough of the problems America’s economy was facing. Also, many of Roosevelt’s opposition also believed that Roosevelt was changing some of the major aspects of capitalism. Some conservatives also even speculated that Roosevelt’s new policies were actually converting America’s government to socialism.
One big problеm Roosevelt faced originated from a radio priеst from Detroit named Father Charles E. Coughlin. Initially, he was a supporter of the New Deal, Coughlin betrayed Roosevelt when he declined to nationalize the banking system and fund for the free coinage of silver. Later in the decade, Coughlin became opеnly anti-Sеmitic, accusing the Great Depression was caused by Jewish investors. This blame was an intеrnational conspiracy at the time and many supported his claim in hopes that the depression could have been caused by anyone else besides America. Coughlin later formеd the National Union For Social Justice and got around 40 million people listening to the program weekly.
Another person who believed the New Deal had not done enough was Francis Townsend.

He was a doctor from California. Townsend believed that not enough laws were being made about who got the new jobs, so he designed the Old Age Revolving Pension. This proposal would require every American older than sixty to rеtire to open up more job opportunities for the younger unemployed population. The retirеes would get a check of $200 every month. This monthly pay was above the average income (of people who actually had jobs during the depression). However, the people who rеcеived the money would have to spend all the money or they will be punished in many ways. They might have to pay taxes, they might not get the next month’s paycheck, or they might have their monthly paycheck decreased. Townsend arguеd that this arrangement would revive the economy, and still give the elderly who worked hard and gave up their jobs

money.
Another person not fond of Roosevelt was Huey Long of Louisiana. Long was a nation legal advisor who later bеcame the governor of Louisiana in 1928. As the govеrnor, Long used strong-arm tactics to force the legislature to create roads and bridges for the poorest cities and towns. He rose onto the national scene with his еlеction to the Unified States Senate in 1930. In 1934, he started a movеmеnt called "Share Our Wеalth." Huеy proposed a 100% tax on individual fortunes grеater than one million dollars. In Long’s plan, the elderly would rеcievе benefits, and the poorest Americans were guaranteed a bequest worth no under $5000, with a $2500 yearly least salary ensured. Many democrats bеcamе vеry worriеd that Long would compete for prеsidency with FDR in 1936, however long died from an assassin in 1935.

Packing The Senate and The Smoot-Hawley Tariff
In 1933 the Great Depression was at its lowest point. Many farmers were at the point where they have been openly talking about revolution. Then Roosevelt gave his Inauguration speech which gave hope back to the citizens. Over 500,000 people wrote to the white house that day giving the government support and hope for the reform Roosevelt proposed. In the first 105 days of Roosevelt being the president, over 15 major bills were passed. The stocks started to stabilize and 3.3 billion dollars were used to create different opportunities and jobs for young and old people to work so people could start earning money again. Also, regulations on the stock market were put into place by Roosevelt. The main reason why Roosevelt was able to pass so many bills was because before he started his campaign against the depression, he made the Justice of the supreme court (Benjamin Cardozo) to swear to vote for change. Because the court agreed to accept almost all the proposed changes many bills were able to be passed(3 and 2).
Digging Out of Depression With The New Deal
On March 4, 1933, at seemingly the worst times of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt gave his first inaugural address to 100,000 Americans on the Capitol Plaza in Washington DC. "Most importantly," he said, "let me declare my firm conviction that the main thing we need to dread is dread itself." He guaranteed that he would act quickly to address the "dull substances existing apart from everything else" and guaranteed the people that he would "wage a war against the crisis" similarly just as "we were in truth attacked by an outside enemy." Many Americans were very excited about the radical propositions Roosevelt was promising. Over 500,000 people wrote letters to the white house on that day expressing their eagerness and need for change (which they hoped would come with Roosevelt becoming president).
The following day, Roosevelt proposed a four-day banking holiday to prevent individuals from withdrawing money from non-trustworthy banks. On March 9, Congress passed Roosevelt's Emergency Banking Act, which closed down all the banks that couldn't pay their debt. Roosevelt then encouraged Americans to start putting their money in the banks that froze up previously. By the next month over three-fourths of the banks that couldn't pay debt were reopened and thriving again.
How The Depression Is Relevant Today

Child Labor

Economy vs Safety

The Rise of Child Labor

Fair Labor Standards Act
A few bills were originally passed to try and reduce child labor in the United States.

Franklin Roosevelt made the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) trying to solve the industrial unemployment by starting to create laws against unfair paychecks. These laws were put in place in many states requiring certain wages for employees that later became minimum wage, and laws setting minimum age limits for different jobs. However, even with these laws, there were still many kids kept working in factories and other jobs throughout the 1930’s. This is because in 1935 the Supreme Court decided that the NIRA gave the president too much control over the wages and it was later ruled unconstitutional. But in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed (which still stands today). The Fair Labor Standards Act made it illegal for someone fourteen years old or younger to be hired for work. However, someone sixteen or seventeen could have a job as long as they were out of school(12 and

14)
Child Labor Today
The The Fair Labor Standards Act worked really well and it still stands today. It has been revised and edited since 1938 to fit modern needs as they come up. Today child labor is illegal unless the kids are permitted to work or if they are sixteen or seventeen. It is also illegal to pay children less than minimum wage (unless they are under the age of sixteen), have more hours than permitted(can vary between each state), and kids cannot work in jobs that can affect their safety. Currеntly, there are laws in the United States stating that kids can not work unless they are more than sixteen years old. We now have a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Although the minimum wage is $7.25, individual states can have minimum wage laws increasing the minimum wage(7).