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THE DIRTY THIRTIES

THE DIRTY THIRTIES. THE DARKEST OF YEARS http://adamsmith.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/11739/. REASONS FOR DEPRESSION . STOCK MARKET CRASH buying on margin (buying shares with 10% down and using stock profits to repay loans

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THE DIRTY THIRTIES

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  1. THE DIRTY THIRTIES THE DARKEST OF YEARS http://adamsmith.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/11739/

  2. REASONS FOR DEPRESSION • STOCK MARKET CRASH • buying on margin (buying shares with 10% down and using stock profits to repay loans • Loans very easy to obtain • Stock prices over inflated • October 29, 1929 New York Stock Exchange collapsed and others followed • Investors bankrupt in a day

  3. REASONS FOR DEPRESSION • PRICE OF WHEAT FALLS • 1927 price of wheat plummets globally • Farmers unable to pay mortgages and loans • Leads to decrease in production, economy slows, layoffs occur • US tariffs (taxes on imported goods) and protectionism slows trade • Canada dependent on export of primary resources (wheat prairies, newsprint BC, Ontario, Quebec)

  4. REASONS FOR DEPRESSION • REPARATION PAYMENTS • Germany burdened with reparation payments • France and Britain have major loans to United States (money to rebuild after WWI)

  5. REASONS FOR DEPRESSION • DROUGHT • 1928 – 1936 • Wind blew topsoil away – constant dust storms • Grasshopper infestation • No irrigation systems and reservoirs

  6. EFFECTS OF DEPRESSION • MIDDLE CLASS WIPED OUT • Canadians lost their jobs, homes, farms, businesses, high suicide rate • Pogey, relief, dole, welfare, vouchers, soup kitchens • Reliance on charities and gov’t aid not enough

  7. EFFECTS OF DEPRESSION • ANGER AND DESPAIR • 1933 – ¼ of Canadians unemployed • Young, homeless, jobless men drifting, hopping trains (riding the rods), looking for work • Arrested for vagrancy for not having addresses • Shanty towns (jungles)

  8. EFFECTS OF DEPRESSION • DISADVANTAGED HURT EVEN MORE • Fewer jobs for women (domestic service) • Aboriginal families expected to ‘live off land’ so received less relief • Chinese population: starvation not uncommon • Immigrants viewed with hostility as seen as threats to jobs • Jewish anti-Semitism (no Jews allowed signs)

  9. POLITICAL RESPONSE TO DEPRESSION • William Lyon Mackenzie King – Prime Minister at start of Depression • Would not give “a five-cent piece” to help a Tory (Conservative) provincial government • Not in favour of relief

  10. POLITICAL RESPONSE TO DEPRESSION • 1930 King lost to Conservative R.B. Bennett • Not in favour of relief • Raised tariffs (failed) • Gave money to provinces (failed) • Feared communism • Created work camps • Hated by many Canadians (was a millionaire) • Ousted in 1935 by King

  11. SOCIAL RESPONSE TO DEPRESSION (WORK CAMPS AND PROTEST) • Horrible conditions in work camps for 20 cents a day • 170,000 men in camps

  12. SOCIAL RESPONSE TO DEPRESSION (WORK CAMPS AND PROTEST) • 1935 – 1000 men left BC to protest (On-To-Ottawa Trek) • Stopped in Regina; leaders went on to meet RB Bennett • When RCMP cleared out trekkers, 1 man killed, many injuries, 130 arrested

  13. PROTEST POLITICS • 1932: creation of Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) • JS Woodsworth leader • Became popular as socialist and its Regina Manifesto platform wanted more power in public’s hands

  14. PROTEST POLITICS • 1935: Social Credit Party won in Alberta • William (Bible Bill) Aberhart leader • Capitalism is a wasteful economic system • Prairie protest party

  15. FEDERAL/PROVINCIAL TENSIONS • Rowell-Sirois Commission 1937 • Recommended federal gov’t have more taxation power • Federal gov’t give poorer provinces grants called equalization payments • King acts on two of Rowell-Sirois Commission recommendations. • Creation of national Unemployment Insurance program 1940 • Family Allowance 1944

  16. THE END AT SUCH A COST • Workers find jobs as country gears up for war • Men enlist for service, decreasing unemployment • World War II is on its way…

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