Robert Hastings Digging In Analysis

“Growl, Growl.” The time is the Great Depression, and many people are penniless and starving. Because of this, may people had to be cheapskates and even the government had to step in with the New Deal. Many people lost their jobs and were forced to scour every penny during the Great Depression, and the crisis was burned into the brains of those who lived through it.

In in every 3 people were unemployed, and any job, no matter how weird, was beneficial. As Robert J. Hastings states in the article “Digging In,” It was not so much a matter of finding a job as filling in with odd jobs whenever and whenever you could…” Not only did people have to find jobs, they had to fill in as fast as they could so that they could support their family rather

than another person. According to the article, “My diary shows that Dad sold iron cords door to door, ‘worked a day in the hay,’ bought a horse to break gardens,” “picked peaches, raised sweet potato slips,” “hung wallpaper,” etc. This demonstrates that people took the job no matter how terrible or backbreaking the job was, and furthermore, people were willing to work hard so they wouldn’t starve. Because many were unemployed, they took any job in sight so their family wouldn’t die.
In addition, because a multitude of people were penniless, they were forced to be frugal, conservative, and resourceful.

In a snippet from “Digging In,” “…We cut back on everything possible. We stopped the evening paper, turned off the city water and cleaned out our well, sold our for-door Model T touring car,” “stopped ice/milk delivery, and disconnected our gas range…” It also states that they lived without toothpaste, toilet paper, snacks, newspapers, etc. But they did keep their Metropolitan Life Insurance Policies. This shows how many sacrifices it took so they wouldn’t starve to death. They even had to sell their car! It is nothing like these days where a kid might whine, “Mommy, please, can I get that toy?” Kids in the Great Depression wouldn’t even dream of that because people had to be so frugal. However, above all else, they kept their life Insurance. It ended up paying off, as their house did not go into foreclosure. They even had to take a light bulb from from room to room, and that is unheard of these days. Being frugal and conservative was an essential part of every day life so that one could have food on the table the next

day.
To counteract the crisis, F.D.R.

created a program called the “New Deal.” As Ira Katznelson states in the article “The New Deal,” “His first act as president was to declare a 4-day bank holiday, during which the congress drafted the Emergency banking bill of 1933, which stabilized the banking system…” “The Civil Conservation Corps was one of the New Deal’s most successful programs. It addressed the problem of unemployment by sending three million single men from age 17-23 to the nations’ forests to work.” The article also declares the Deal employed 8.5 million people to build bridges, roads, public buildings, parks, and airports. Some of the buildings one sees today was likely built by the New Deal. The article demonstrates that F.D.R. addressed the complications thoroughly by proceeding little by little. For example, he closed the banks for four days to stabilize them, and passed many bills and laws. Before anyone knew it, millions of people could sustain an income. Moreover, there is a sense of dignity with having a job that gave people ambitions and hope. In addition, there was a bill passed banning child labor, thus letting more children go to school and learn. All in all, without the New Deal, I would likely not be here today. The New Deal strengthened our country and eventually relieved us from the Great

Depression.
In spite of having no money, many people were forced to be cheap and be happy with what they had. During the Depression, many people lost their jobs and had to be frugal, and the crisis will never be forgotten by those who lived through it. Many people were penniless, and even F.D.R. had to assist with creating new jobs and getting people out of poverty. We will always remember the Great Depression for one reason, so that it never happens again.