The Great Depression and Politics

The economic meltdown has prompted several people to write stories about the depression. We each have different memories and I will share mine.

I was only 4 years old when the banks failed so I have no memory of the shock this brought about. My earliest memory was of parties given in the lodge building that adjoined our living quarters.

My grandmother was an accomplished musician and had used the money she made leading the orchestra for silent movies and for giving music lessons to purchase a cottage court. The lobby was a large room; so large that the Church used to hold dances there and, ultimately, depression parties. (See photos. Click on them to enlarge them you will see where I grew up.)

People were getting by on very little and entertainment was not an item in most budgets. Not only was the economy depressed, but so were the people. My grandmother decided to do what she could to help and started holding depression parties every Saturday night in the lobby. These were always potluck dinners with each family bringing what they could and my grandmother furnishing the main dish.

There was usually a theme to the parties. I remember one party was to be a costume ball and people were told to dress as hobos or in raggedy clothes. (Obviously, costumes would have been too expensive). It was called ‘A Tacky Party’. When there was no entertainment planned, my grandmother would play the piano for dancing and she was sometimes joined by a banjo player or another musician. Entire families were invited so I was allowed to attend. I remember looking forward to Saturday night. I am sure I was not alone because it was a time for neighbors to laugh and forget their troubles.

Sad incidents stand out as memories of economic hardships. A little girl in my class named Harriet, wore glasses. Her glasses were broken in a playground mishap; several bullies were harassing her. She was in tears saying the welfare people told her to take care of them because she wouldn’t get another pair. She left school right after that so I don’t know whether she got another pair of glasses or not.

One Halloween a group of us were trick or treating and we stopped at a very small run down house. The man invited us in and offered us each an apple from a barrel containing rotting apples. I didn’t want to take one because there were about six small children there. They were obviously very poor and I think those apples were the most food they had.

Men came to our back door regularly asking if there was any work they could do for food. None left our house hungry. Sometimes my grandmother would give them a small job, but if she didn’t have work she still gave them food. Men came to the front door selling all kinds of gadgets and one of the kitchen drawers overflowed with can openers purchased from them. Other men made rustic furniture out of bent branches and our lodge became furnished with the blasted uncomfortable pieces. (you can see those miserable chairs and couches in the photos. The had nails that snagged your clothes.)

Another memory I have is of the dust storms as piles of silt banked against our house. That fine silt was the top soil blown all the way from Kansas farms to our home in Colorado Springs. The farmer’s themselves soon followed their top soil and stayed at the cottage court en route to California. (John Steinbeck’s classic novel, The Grapes Of Wrath paints an accurate description of this mass migration.) Some of the people didn’t have money to continue on their way. They stayed camped on the area of the cottage court that was set up for tents. Many stayed until they got a small job to earn the money to move on. Some 'tenters' never could pay the rent and my grandmother always sent them on their way telling them to send what they could after they got back on their feet. For years after my grandmother died checks were still coming in from California. I believe every single one repaid their debt.

Because my grandparents were the only ones in our family with an income during those years, she supported my mother and me, my Uncle and his family and half the neighborhood. Because of that I didn’t fare any better than other children and my birthday presents were always new hair ribbons and underwear. When school started I got a new pair of shoes for Sunday and the old ones became my school shoes. I don’t remember feeling deprived, but I'm afraid that's selective memory. (Now when I see the closets of my granddaughters I am amazed at the size of their wardrobes. If things continue to get worse, that may change.)

The impoverished elders suffered the worst. Widows were cruelly evicted from their houses when they were unable to pay the property taxes. Unscrupulous men who had money became wealthy on this despicable practice. If the elders had no place to go they ended up in the Poor Farm. Charles Dickens could have written a scathing novel about the indignities they suffered.

Anyone who would like to abolish Social Security never witnessed the fate of a bankrupt Elder prior to the enactment of that legislation. And those who belittle welfare, as Ronald Reagan did in his infamous lie about the Cadillac driving welfare queen, have never been down on their luck through no fault of their own.

So don't preach to me about 'Socialized' government. Conservatives love to paint the poor as lazy louts lacking in ambition. Ironically, it's okay for the government to pay large agri-businesses to not grow crops, give large corporations hefty tax breaks, and give large tax cuts to the already wealthy. I call that Socialized help for the upper crust.

I hope we never have to go back to those bleak times, but we will all have to tighten our belts. The trickle down voodoo economics is now in tatters. It didn't work and another depression looms large.

Now for the winner of the Sarah Palin's future job contest:

THE WINNER IS:

Ugich Konitari who thinks Sarah will star in a film called "I Betcha."

RUNNERS UP ARE:

Sylvia who says Sarah will vent her anger on the Moose and Polar Bears in Alaska.
(I think she is already doing that , Sylvia)

Cop Car who has a fantasy of Sarah working for one of the physics high-energy particles labs and explaining to us average folks what it is they're doing. (Huh?)

Kenju and Joy think she will run for the Senator from Alaska.
(Sadly, you're probably closest to being right.)

Thank you ladies for your entries. The contest is over.