The Great Depression by Benjamin Roth, James Ledbetter, Daniel B. Roth Read Free Book Online
continue to send my family in for dental work even tho we could not pay promptly. This was a very unusual thing for him to do but people have simply stopped worrying about dental needs. If a tooth aches they have it extracted but neglect all other dental services that might be expensive.
Today’s Legal News recites that vacant lots on Main St. in Wickliffe sold for taxes at $25 each. I did not bid on them because each carries future special tax assessments of $200. I suppose I will be sorry 10 years from now.
10/30/41
I am not sorry I did not buy the lots. Vacant residential lots in Youngstown have not been a good investment unless you build on them at once and get a return on your investment. If those Wickliffe lots had been purchased at $25 each in 1931 they would be worth less today than the original $25 investment plus accumulated taxes and interest for 10 years.
AUGUST 19, 1931
Another large bank in Toledo closes its doors today. This leaves only two open banks in this hard-hit city. The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland announces that it will back these two banks to the limit and rushes 11 million in gold down there to meet the steady withdrawals.
EDITOR’S NOTE
The strain on charitable organizations, in Roth’s Youngstown as elsewhere, was tremendous. Without public assistance programs to help the poor and out of work feed their families in the 1920s, charities stood on the front lines. Until the Great Depression, joblessness was usually perceived as a temporary setback; if a man tried hard enough to get another job, his need for charity would end. Family members, ethnic communities, or neighbors came to his aid until he “got back on his feet.” Neighbors or relatives would contribute a dollar apiece to feed a down-and-out family; churches or private charities provided meals.
But the sheer volume of the needy in the first few years of the Depression tapped the normal capabilities of these organizations. In Youngstown the Allied Council, the local charity, handed out relief to 100 people in August 1931. By September 4 they handled 1,150 desperate calls. Furthermore, initiatives that raised funds in the past had dried up: A fund in Detroit that needed $3.5 million in 1931, for example, could raise only $645,000. On this score, President Hoover was tragically out of touch. In the winter of 1930-1931 he felt the country’s unified “‘sense of voluntary organization and community service’ could take care of the unemployed,” according to Arthur Schlesinger Jr. About a year later, in late 1931, President Hoover did create the Organization for Unemployment Relief to help drive the wealthy to donate money to private charities, but he simply did not believe the government needed to directly assist the unemployed. For one, Hoover considered it the responsibility of local communities to handle and feed their own out-of-work citizens. But he was also afraid that any federal assistance would provide an excuse for the wealthy in America to stop providing charity and funds to the needy “have-nots” in their communities. Amazingly, many Americans sided with Hoover on this topic in the early days of the Depression.
AUGUST 20, 1931
The Allied Council—the charity organization of Youngstown—has been busy during the depression handing out grocery orders. When I came to work this morning I counted about 50 of them coming down the steps that lead to the office. The elevator man tells me this happens every day and that people start drifting in at about 7 A.M. Many of them look well fed and are probably taking advantage of the situation. The city is planning a bond issue to provide for relief needs this winter. Hold-ups and killings are becoming more frequent and it becomes dangerous to walk the streets after dark.
AUGUST 20, 1931
This morning a client 65 years of age came into the office and we had a long talk about his personal affairs. He had
Today’s Legal News recites that vacant lots on Main St. in Wickliffe sold for taxes at $25 each. I did not bid on them because each carries future special tax assessments of $200. I suppose I will be sorry 10 years from now.
10/30/41
I am not sorry I did not buy the lots. Vacant residential lots in Youngstown have not been a good investment unless you build on them at once and get a return on your investment. If those Wickliffe lots had been purchased at $25 each in 1931 they would be worth less today than the original $25 investment plus accumulated taxes and interest for 10 years.
AUGUST 19, 1931
Another large bank in Toledo closes its doors today. This leaves only two open banks in this hard-hit city. The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland announces that it will back these two banks to the limit and rushes 11 million in gold down there to meet the steady withdrawals.
EDITOR’S NOTE
The strain on charitable organizations, in Roth’s Youngstown as elsewhere, was tremendous. Without public assistance programs to help the poor and out of work feed their families in the 1920s, charities stood on the front lines. Until the Great Depression, joblessness was usually perceived as a temporary setback; if a man tried hard enough to get another job, his need for charity would end. Family members, ethnic communities, or neighbors came to his aid until he “got back on his feet.” Neighbors or relatives would contribute a dollar apiece to feed a down-and-out family; churches or private charities provided meals.
But the sheer volume of the needy in the first few years of the Depression tapped the normal capabilities of these organizations. In Youngstown the Allied Council, the local charity, handed out relief to 100 people in August 1931. By September 4 they handled 1,150 desperate calls. Furthermore, initiatives that raised funds in the past had dried up: A fund in Detroit that needed $3.5 million in 1931, for example, could raise only $645,000. On this score, President Hoover was tragically out of touch. In the winter of 1930-1931 he felt the country’s unified “‘sense of voluntary organization and community service’ could take care of the unemployed,” according to Arthur Schlesinger Jr. About a year later, in late 1931, President Hoover did create the Organization for Unemployment Relief to help drive the wealthy to donate money to private charities, but he simply did not believe the government needed to directly assist the unemployed. For one, Hoover considered it the responsibility of local communities to handle and feed their own out-of-work citizens. But he was also afraid that any federal assistance would provide an excuse for the wealthy in America to stop providing charity and funds to the needy “have-nots” in their communities. Amazingly, many Americans sided with Hoover on this topic in the early days of the Depression.
AUGUST 20, 1931
The Allied Council—the charity organization of Youngstown—has been busy during the depression handing out grocery orders. When I came to work this morning I counted about 50 of them coming down the steps that lead to the office. The elevator man tells me this happens every day and that people start drifting in at about 7 A.M. Many of them look well fed and are probably taking advantage of the situation. The city is planning a bond issue to provide for relief needs this winter. Hold-ups and killings are becoming more frequent and it becomes dangerous to walk the streets after dark.
AUGUST 20, 1931
This morning a client 65 years of age came into the office and we had a long talk about his personal affairs. He had
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