The Great Depression of the 1930s in Canada
The Great Depression of the 1930's is a benchmark for all depressions and recessions in the past and in the future. In the booklet "The Great Depression of the 1930s in Canada" , Michiel Horn gives an intellectual dissection of the events that occurred during the Great Depression. Michiel Horn's approach leaves the reader with a foul taste for the Dirty Thirties. This essay will summarize Michiel Horns key points as well as discuss the ability of Michiel Horn to report his findings.
Michiel Horn is currently the Chairman of the History Department at York University. His interests in the Great Depression revolve around the history of taxation. Therefore, he is interested in making
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As people were having fewer children at this time, the population growth of Canada slowed. In an effort to keep jobs for Canadians, the government decided that it would reduce immigration. The first group targeted was the Jewish people. Some Canadians even decided to go to the United States in search of "greener pastures" . The movement of people from the country to cities also slowed. This was because it was easier for people to subsist in the country where they could chop their own firewood and live off the land. Life on the farm was actually not much better than in the city, as a drought cost many farmers, particularly those in the west, their crops.
The political scene was dominated by a Liberal party that would not "commit a five cent piece towards the cost of unemployment relief" . This eventually led to their defeat in the summer of 1930. The winner of the election was the Conservative party. Their goal was to get Canada back up and running. In an effort to do so, they raised tariffs on imports and tried to protect national interests. This actually had the opposite affect on the economy and pushed the country further into economic hardship. The government around this time was also trying to balance the budget. In order to balance the budget, they increased taxes which also had a detrimental affect on the economy. After five years, the Conservatives were defeated due to unorganized leadership. The Liberals won the election in 1935. Although
The conservatives introduced the unemployment relief act, giving the provinces $20 million for work-creation programs. This, however, did not aid economy much. Also, Bennett tried to raise tariffs in order to protect Canadian industries and get into the world market. He raised the tariffs by an average of more than 50 percent, which did protect some businesses, but it actually caused more harm than good. These tariffs made other nations set up trade barriers against Canada. He introduced the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act in 1935, which helped farmers build irrigation systems and reservoirs, but by this time, because of drought, poverty, and locusts, most families had already left their farms to go to other places. Finally, he created a national network of work camps for unemployed single men who needed work and shelter. These work camps allowed men to work for them (roads, clearing land, digging ditches, etc) for a pay of 20 cents a day. They were also given a place to stay and food to eat, but the food was terrible and the bunks were often bug infested. In spite of these conditions, 170 000 men spent time in these camps, which reflects the desperation that some of these people had.i
Badger, Anthony J. .The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933- 1940. 1989. Reprint. Chicago : Ivan R. Dee, 2002. Print.
In 1919, World War I had finally come to an end, leaving most of the world in a post war depression. However, in countries like Canada, the decade ahead would be filled with amazing growth and change in many ways. The 1920s were an exciting time in Canada because of the economic prosperity, technological, social and cultural revolutions and growing political responsibility and change in policy that country experienced. These economic, social and political changes really made the 1920s in Canada “roar”.
The America in the 1930s was drastically different from the luxurious 1920s. The stock market had crashed to an all time low, unemployment was the highest the country had ever seen, and all American citizens were affected by it in some way or another. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal was effective in addressing the issues of The Great Depression in the sense that it provided immediate relief to US citizens by lowering unemployment, increasing trust in the banks, getting Americans out of debt, and preventing future economic crisis from taking place through reform. Despite these efforts The New Deal failed to end the depression. In order for America to get out of this economic
Canada in the 1930s was in a state of economic depression and the people, notably living in the west, were finding it difficult to secure a source of income. R.B. Bennett was elected as Prime Minister by Canadians in 1930 on the basis that he would end unemployment, but by 1932 his government was seemingly overwhelmed by the persistence of the Depression and was becoming
The book “Taking Sides: Clashing Views in United States History” by Madaras, Larry and James SoRelle draws attention on controversial issues. James and Madaras wrote the book in a debate-style format, which intrigues many students, hence supporting them in enhancing their critical thinking skills. James and Madaras ensured that every issue in the book has a summary, introduction, challenge question and postscript. Therefore, the paper will focus on issue 10, which debates on whether the new deal prolonged the great depression. The great depression refers to an era in US history, which happened from 1929 to 1941 during president Franklin Delano Roosevelt era, and it made the US citizens face economic hard times. The great depression era had much overproduction, inequality in wealth distribution and over borrowing. Consequently, the president implemented the new deal with the aim of saving American citizens from the great depression. However, people had different feelings regarding the effectiveness of the new deal, which brought up the debate in the book. For example, Burton Folsom believed that the new deal was not effective because he thought that it prolonged the great depression. On the contrary, Roger Biles alleged that the new deal was effective, and it did not prolong the great depression (Madaras and James 227).
Politically during the 1930’s was not great because of a few different things. Firstly, there is the Hands-off policy by Mackenzie King who believed that the Stock Market Crash was temporary in the business cycle. During the 1929 winter, many provincial governments asked for help to deal with
The Great Depression also is known as the Dirty Thirties happened in the 1930s. It left Canada and the world in shock. Millions of Canadians were without jobs, and many became homeless. Countries across the world were affected by the Depression, such as the U.S.A. The USA was hit the hard which affected Canada. USA rely on Canada for fish and wheat when the U.S economy goes down Canada suffers. The U.S didn’t buy any more fish,wheat,minerals,pulp and paper from Canada. Many countries put high tariffs on goods,trading slowed down,people had to pay back their credit money they had borrowed from the government.Farmers were hit the hardest in Canada because if you could not pay for the land you would get evacuated. Droughts and grasshoppers infection started to happen which brought more suffering. Meat prices went up,some stores were closed down,Immigrant dropped 90% violence and crime went up. Men that didn’t have houses were sent to reliefs camps,the military setup 20 000 men to work sometimes works was useful,other times they would make work projects. They got 3 daily meals, work clothes,medical care, and 20 cents a day.The men would work 44 hours of cleaning brush,building roads,planting trees and constructing the public building.On April 1935, 500 men went on strike for better living conditions,more pay and fewer hours this has been just like the Winnipeg general strike. This depression made Canada what it is today,the economy is in better shape,people can find jobs and immigrants are taking over
The Great Depression of the thirties remains the most important economic event in American history. It caused enormous hardship for tens of millions of people and the failure of a large fraction of the nation’s banks, businesses, and farms. The stock market crash in October 1929 is believed to be the immediate cause of the Great Depression, but there were many other factors and long-term causes that developed in the years prior as chain-of-events leading to the depression. For instance, inequality of wealth within the U.S. itself was the major concern for the country. The lower class people including farmers and labors income was only to where they can barely afford their living expenses, moreover, people’s wages stayed the same even as prices for goods and services sky rocketed.
The decade known as the Great Depression was an era filled with both hardship and tribulation. Historians continue to debate the root causes of the collapse of the stock market which led the country into depression. Other deride the ineptitude of the Canadian government’s response to the crisis. At any rate, the “Dirty Thirties” was a period of time unlike any other. While those who suffered through it are largely gone, the memory of those dark days remains to this day.
The great Depression was a significantly dark economic period in American history that was marked by the stock market crash, which occurred in 1929. The subsequent years that followed this period were anxiety filled and were accompanied by record high levels of unemployment and a number of failing banks. Much has been documented about the effects of the Great Depression but not much has been documented about the general perspective of those who were directly affected by the Depression. An exploratory look is going to examine the perspectives of the American people during the great depression, the way in which new legislation allowed President Roosevelt to use the government to meet people’s needs and subsequently how President Roosevelt was critiqued.
Many people speculate that the stock market crash of 1929 was the main cause of The Great Depression. In fact, The Great Depression was caused by a series of factors, and the effects of the depression were felt for many years after the stock market crash of 1929. By looking at the stock market crash of 1929, bank failures, reduction of purchasing, American economic policy with Europe, and drought conditions, it becomes apparent that The Great Depression was caused by more than just the stock market crash. The effects were detrimental beyond the financial crisis experienced during this time period.
The author in, “The Great Depression” provides various articles that were written during the Great Depression of 1929 and most of them published on the New York Times. Shannon chose to put the focus of this book on the human terms of the depression, and how it affected many individuals and families.( Intro., x) He wants readers to understand what people went through during these hard times because he believes that the present generation does not understand the struggles the Great Depression brought. A great deal of these documents come from contemporary newspapers during this time that focuses on the confusion people had and the problems they had to face. Shannon organizes these documents in different sections, such as, “ Crash!, The Farmer in the Depression, America’s Shame: The Crisis of Relief, Nomads of the Depression, The Middle Classes: Bank Failures and Unemployment, The Depression and Education, Will there be a Revolution?, and Some Case Histories.” (Contents, xi-xiii)
It is debatable as to what extent the Great Depression was the result of American policies in the 1920s. Many historians may argue that the cause of the Great Depression cannot be easily defined and identified due to the fact that there are many other factors which must also be taken into consideration. Some historians may argue that American policies were the largest contributing factor towards the Great Depression for many reasons, such as the underlying weaknesses in the US economy in general, which could be identified many years before the depression began in late 1929. Many examples of this can be identified, such as the Republican policies that President Hoover believed in and specific taxes that were introduced during the 1920s which resulted in international trade eventually coming to a standstill. However, it can be argued that there are many other factors which are also linked with one another when attempting to understand to what extent a certain factor contributed towards the Great Depression. For example, there were many underlying issues in 1920’s America that were indicating that the boom was under threat many years before the Depression had actually began. This can be seen through identifying just some of the many problems in USA at the time, such as when people were ‘buying on margin’, ‘buying on credit’, the banking crisis and the issues with ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ eventually leading to unemployment and lastly the ‘stock market crash’ in late 1929.
In the 1930s, the United States of America (USA) fell into one of the most severe economic depressions in American history. Nearly one-fourth of its workforce was unemployed and American confidence in itself was deeply shaken. At this time of crisis, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) introduced the New Deal. The New Deal was a series of projects and programmes, designed to bring the economy out of depression between 1933 and 1938. This essay will assess the significance of the New Deal in the 1930s and beyond.