The Causes of the Wall Street Crash and Depression

The Causes of the Wall Street Crash and Depression

For this statement, there will be evidence provided to support the

statement

and criticisms from historians on the policies of the US Government.

However, this

answer will also include reasons for the Crash and Depression that

were at the fault of

others rather than the US Government.

The US Government began to put tariffs on foreign goods during the

Boom

years. This was done to protect the profits of their own products and

therefore, all or

most foreign competition were dealt with as their prices had risen

with the

introduction of the tariffs to a price which the average American

could not afford and

then therefore would prefer the American product due to its cheaper

price. The

introduction of tariffs, which at first benefited the US Government,

began to turn on

the US as the angry and disappointed foreign countries decided also to

introduce their

own tariffs on US goods. There was a major change in the import/export

goods

industry as the US began to fall in the export industry as foreign

people would not buy

American goods because of the high prices. This fall in the export was

entirely the

fault of the US as they only introduced the tariffs to protect their

own goods but

instead it turned onto them causing damage to them.

During the war the United States government had paid an unheard of $2

a

bushel for wheat, but by 1920 wheat prices had fallen to as low as 67

cents a bushel[1].

Farmers fell into debt; farm prices and food prices decreased heavily.

Although there

were some attempts to help farmers were made in 1923 with the

Agricultural Credits

Act, farmers were generally left out in the cold by the government.

Farmers also

produced more than actual demand throughout the boom years and this

eventually led

to prices in farmer produce dropping so that farmers could actually