Working Conditions in Late Nineteenth Century
From New Era to Great Depression, 1920-1932
The Great Depression is a global financial crisis that affected developed nations in 1930. Although nations started experiencing its onsets towards the end of 1929, most developed countries felt its impacts in 1930. However, when it ended different countries experienced signs of recovery in the late 1930. Most importantly is the occurrence of Wall Street Crash that took place in 1929, where it was seen as the interchangeable term that used for Great Depression. Apparently, this event emanated from the US and is considered as one of the causes of the Depression. Although, the occurrence of the depression took place after the collapse of the stock market exchange, the depression did not arise because of the collapse of the exchange. Therefore, this paper seeks to illustrate the causes of the Great Depression.
Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a critical issue that resulted in the Great Depression. Apparently, the challenge did not affect industrial producing companies only, but also the Agricultural sector. In the early 1920s, farmers in the US were producing much less food that could not sustain the entire population. Because of the drop in the prices of land, the agricultural sector started to fail resulting in a decrease in food production because of a fall in demand. For this reason,
unemployment rose in the US. On the other hand, industries were affected because they could not
Workers conditions in the late 19th century were unacceptable. There is an endless list as to why this is. Whether it is how they did not get payed much as they should have, or whether it is how they worked in dangerous factories/businesses. Workers were always men, while women stayed home. They would work in dangerous factories where they had very little knowledge of what they were working with which made it even more dangerous. They were paid little to no money while working over 14 hours a day. Any money that they did get went towards rent, food, water, etc. The families had poor living conditions. If they lived in the city, they would live in small houses or tenements(apartments). The streets were crowded, there was more than one family
The rural depression was a primary component in the Great Depression, as bank advances turned sour, credit became scarce, and banks across the nation shut down. All through the 1930s, more than a million acres of land were influenced in the Dust Bowl, a large number of agriculturists lost their jobs and property, and mass relocation patterns started to arise as ranchers left rustic America looking for work in urban areas. This relocation, or migration, added to Great Depression unemployment hardships, stressed alleviation and advantages programs, and made in many vast American urban areas (The Great Depression Causes).
The Great Depression originated in the United States with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929. The depression was the biggest economic fall in American’s history. This crash stretched throughout the globe and affected the rich as well as the poor. There were many causes that assisted in bringing the depression into existence. However one of the main causes was the disproportionate riches during the nineteen-twenties. The gap between the rich and the working class people was the enlarged industrialize production during this period. Also in this period production cost fell quickly, wages rose slowly and prices remained steady.
The great Depression was a major crash in the history of the United States. The crash of the stock market in October 1929 was the significant cause of the great depression. People began to panic and big businesses were not able to handle the outcome. As a result, many companies dismissed workers, which left the workers with no money. People halted to purchase goods and businesses were running in loss. Furthermore, after the world war one, many European nations owed huge amount of money to the United States. The economy of these nations was shattered and had no way of paying back the
During the 1920s the American people led themselves to their economic demise. In America, the Great Depression occurred during the 1930s after the crash of the stock market. “The Roaring Twenties”, which occurred before the Great Depression, was a time when the assembly line created more jobs and money to be used. This new economic prosperity, brought about the stock market, in which hundreds of Americans put in their money in hopes of their company making profits. The Great Depression was caused by stockholders using more money then they could pay back, workers using the non-shameful credit to buy products, which led Americans into debt, and the lack of demand, when there was an increase in supplies.
The Great Depression was a time of great economic tragedy during the 1930’s. October 24, 1929 was the day of the stock market crash, causing economical shortage everywhere, even globally, and this scared everyone, including the rich. This day was/ is known as “Black Thursday”, where over 2.9 million shares were traded. On “Black Tuesday”, five days later, more than 16 million more shares were traded in another wave of panic. Many investors then lost confidence in their banks and demanded deposits in cash which forced the banks to liquidate loans in order to supplement their on hand cash reserves. By 1933, around 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. This stopped Americans from purchasing which then led to less production of goods and decreased the amount of needed human labor. In the end, millions of shares ended up worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks with borrowed money were wiped out completely.
The economic expansion of the 1920’s, with its increased production of goods and high profits, culminated in immense consumer speculation that collapsed with disastrous results in 1929 causing America’s Great Depression. There were a number or contributing factors to the depression, with the largest and most important one being a general loss of confidence in the American economy. The reason it escalated was a general misunderstanding of recessions by American policymakers of the time.
Once the rebellions and strikes settled down in the nineteenth-century people could continue working and could have the ability to have major success while working. There were favorable outcomes in terms of money, workers needs, and the ability to spread the political power around so it was not concentrated and owned by one person or company for each prospective market. While the decrease in strikes, eight-hour workdays, and compensation for some workers looked to have made gain in the labor workforce, it actually was the opposite. Problems still surfaced like the division of the workforce ethnically and racially, increase in immigrants, and the enlargement of wealth for the big political figures and the people in command.
Uneven distribution of wealth serves as another cause of the Great Depression. America was wealthy in the 1920s, but this wealth did not extend to all segment of the society. The gains made by wealthy Americans in the 1920s far outstripped gained made by the working class. By the time of the stock market crash, the upper one percent of the population controlled over sixty percent of the nation’s savings. On the other hand, over three quarters of American families made less than $3000 a year. Problems that could develop from this situation were obvious. The bottom-line three-quarters of families were too poor to purchase much to help the economics to flourish. Underconsumption, in the long run, was a vicious circle to the economy. People had no money to spend. The income of many firms dwindled. More people were laid off or cut hours and thus further cut their spending. The economics became stagnant.
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.
Could it be said that the Great Depression is both a good and bad thing that happened in the world? Good because it moved forward the cause of women’s rights; bad because of the economic problems? Perhaps but I doubt the evidence could support this idea very well so the focus of this paper will be the three biggest things that likely caused the Great Depression. Protectionism, Stock Market Speculation, and then buying on margin.
America’s Great Depression is believed as having begun in 1929 with the Stock Market crash, and ending in 1941 with America’s entry into World War II. In order to fully comprehend the repercussions and devastating effects of the Crash of 1929, it is important to examine the factors that contributed to the catastrophic event which led to The Great Depression. The Great Depression was the worst economic slump in U.S. history, and it spread to most of the industrialized world. Many factors played a role in bringing about the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920s, and the
The Factory Act, 1833 was an attempt to set up a normal working day in
The Great Depression is a defining moment in time for not only American, but world history. This was a time that caused political, economical, and social unrest. Not only did the Great Depression cause a world wide panic, it also caused a world wide crisis unlike any before it. This paper will analyze both the causes and the effects of the Great Depression in the United States of America.
What would it be like to be forced to work long hours for little pay? What feelings would you have after being treated horribly at your workplace? Many workers had to face hardship while working in the factories of 19th century Europe. This was caused by careless government and factory owners. The workers had terrible lives because of low wages and inability to advance in social class. According to an article written by Louise Curth, ”In many cases, the factory owners tended to consider their employees as little more than commodities. The men, women, and children who filled those roles were generally subjected to long hours, low wages, and poor working conditions”. This shows how the factory