The Great Depression

1. The Great Depression

2. Black Tuesday • October 29, 1929 – stock market crashes and takes with it many peoples homes, money and dreams. • Many people had borrowed money from banks to buy stocks and could not repay debts. • People everywhere in dire problems. A “Bear” Market

3. Causes of Great Depression • Over Production and Over Expansion • Canada’s Dependence on a Few primary Products • Canada’s Dependence on the United States • High Tariffs Choked Off International Trade • Too Much Credit Buying

4. Over-Production and Over-Expansion • With booming economy, many industries reach high levels of production. • Large profits spent expanding • But Canadians can only afford SO much – and stockpiling begins in warehouses • Soon, owners panic, lay off workers and slow production • Wages just not high enough to buy everything produced!

5. Canada’s Dependence on a Few Primary Products • Canada’s Economy depended on a few staple products • As long as world demand for these staple products was high, Canada was prosperous • As Depression hits world, demand for Canadian goods drops • Also, over production causes costs to decline • Causes problems in agriculture and industry

6. Canada’s Dependence on U.S.A. • Canada buys 65% of imports from Americans • USA largest buyer of Canadian products • When USA gets sick, Canada also suffers • “When the United States sneezed, the rest of the world got pneumonia.” • As industries collapse in USA, no need to buy raw materials in Canada

7. High Tariffs Choked Off International Trade • 1920’s, Europeans recovering from devastating war and need many of surplus manufactured goods of North America • Tariffs developed and emphasized to encourage buying domestically • Tariffs choke off international trade

8. Too Much Credit Buying • Just like the Stock Market Game……

9. The 1930s • Few people were prepared for the depression; by 1933, over 1/3 of Canadians did not have work • By 1933 more than 1.5 million Canadians needed relief • By 1936, 2/3 of graduates could not find a job • There was no money for food, clothing, and other necessities. Items bought on credit were being recalled

10. Many people lived near starvation and suffered from malnutrition • People couldn’t afford to buy new clothes…worn out clothes were patched; old flour sacks were used to make dresses, underwear, and shoes in the winter • No unemployment insurance; no welfare system; no gov’t supported medical care; no family allowance • Those without money were depending on the government for relief • Unfortunately, there was no system for relief…in the past, charities and city councils dealt with relief; however, with so many unemployed they could not handle it alone

11. The PM William Lyon Mackenzie King was the LIBERAL Prime Minister at the beginning of the Great Depression and remains Canada’s longest serving PM of all time.

12. Mackenzie King talks to the people • Despite demands for help, the federal gov’t was slow to react. • William Lyon Mackenzie King felt that the best thing to do was wait out the depression…he thought it would be short lived and that better times were coming soon • He insisted that social welfare was the responsibility of the provinces • States he will not give a “FIVE CENT PIECE” to any non-liberal provincial government • Conservative Leader Bennett accuses King of ignoring the plight of the people

13. R.B. Bennett R.B. Bennett, in the 1930 election, kept the memory of the “Five Cent Piece” Speech alive and used it to attack PM Mackenzie King.

14. Bennett’s Platform • Promised to find work for all who are willing to work • Promised the provinces $20 million in emergency funds for relief payments • Promised to deal with foreign trade policies that were impeding Canadian exports • Promised to “blast our way” into the world markets • Hoped to boost Canada’s manufacturing by raising tariff on imports

15. R.B. Bennett – Canada’s Next Conservative P.M. • Bennett said all the right things • Unfortunately, when he came into power, his policies did not help the economic crisis • His emergency funds and highest protective tariffs in Canada’s history eased the pain, but did not cure the symptoms

16. Problems with Relief • No uniform way to distribute the money • Distribution of funds given to Municipalities to decide how to deal with the large numbers of needy • Should you have to live in a city a certain amount of time to get relief? • Who qualifies as needy? • To get relief, people often had to prove that they could not pay their rent, and that their phone, water and electricity services had been stopped. Ontario made them turn in their driver’s licenses. Some unmarried and widowed women, or those with husbands in jail, could not qualify for money

17. More Problems with Relief… • In some provinces, a family with 2 children was expected to live on food vouchers that amounted to less than $10/month • Many suffered from scurvy and TB as a result of poor diet • Many were forced to line up to receive bread and soup from private charities • Anyone on relief in Saskatchewan who was caught buying alcohol automatically lost their relief

18. Relief Camps or Slave Camps? In 1932, Bennett’s government set up relief camps across the country for single, unemployed men. Men worked 8 hours a day cutting brush, moving rocks, and building roads for food, shelter and 20 cents a day.

19. “Riding the Rods” • Thousands of people did what was known as “Riding the Rods/Rails” trying to find jobs in other cities • They would hop on freight trains as they pulled out of the station…they couldn’t afford the fares • Although it was illegal, there were not enough police to stop them

20. Difficult Times • Times were so bad that people couldn’t afford to buy new clothes and worn-out clothes were patched and re-patched • Old flour sacks were used to make dresses and underwear • Some people tied flour sacks around their feet in winter because they had no overshoes • Some children used old socks for mittens

21. The On-to-Ottawa Trek In June of 1935 many British Columbian men fed up with life in relief camps boarded freight trains bound for Ottawa to protest to government. The men wanted clear economic reforms, such as minimum wages and a genuine system of social and unemployment insurance.

22. The Regina Riot • Bennett sends the RCMP to stop the Trek, calling it a “Communist uprising”. • When confronted, a riot ensues • Dozens injured and a police officer killed

23. Bennett asked the people to be patient • He believed the government could not spend more money than it collected in taxes • Believed the government should not borrow money to give to the poor • Bennett believed that the rich and the fortunate should give money to help the poor…Bennett, himself, gave thousands of dollars to many who wrote him

24. People blame Bennett • “Bennett buggies” • “Bennett boroughs” (shacks where the unemployed camped around cities) • “Bennett coffee” (roasted wheat or barley, a cheap substitute for the real thing) • “Bennett blankets” (newspapers used as covers by the homeless) • “Bennett barnyard” (abandoned farm)

25. Ways to forget… • Many people looked for a way to forget their hardships • 1930s were the “golden age” of Hollywood. For 25 cents people could see a movie • Films, radio shows, songs, and magazines provided a brief escape from reality

26. Children were given a great deal of attention because many Canadians could not afford to start a family of their own • On May 28, 1934, the Dionne Quintuplets were the first quintuplets in the world to survive and they became the wonder of the world • Over a million people came to their hometown to see them. They were Canada’s biggest tourist attraction

27. Grey Owl • An Englishman who was half Native • Decided to live the life of a Native and then began to publish writings that heralded himself as pure Indian • He wrote books and gave talks in England about his experiences in the wilderness • Eventually, his true heritage was revealed and it caused a huge scandal in Canada

28. Movies • Great film extravaganzas such as Gone with the Wind, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Mickey Mouse were popular box office attractions • Gangster films and horror films, like Frankenstein, were also popular – good always winning over evil

29. Radio • Radio also provided an escape • People listened to big American bands and radio shows • Most popular shows came from the U.S. including “Jack Benny” and “The Lone Ranger” • Tremendous power of radio was seen on Oct. 30, 1938 when Orson Welles broadcast “War of the Worlds” • Millions of listeners actually believed that the earth had been invaded by creatures from mars

30. It’s 1935 and there’s still a depression… PM Bennett knew that Canadians were growing increasingly angry with the gov’t over the economy. The depression was dragging on and it seemed as if the gov’t was doing nothing about it. Bennett accused of creating Band-Aid solutions or solutions that made things seem better short term but in fact did nothing to help the larger problems

31. The New Deal In 1935, just before the election, Bennett introduced radical reforms – his “New Deal” which calls for more minimum wages, limited working hours, fair treatment of employees, control of prices so that businesses cannot make unfair profits, and social and unemployment insurance. Hmm…Sounds like familiar stuff….