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Underlying Causes of the Great Depression. over-production and over- expansion high tariffs killed international trade dependence on too few primary products only natural resources for export. Underlying Causes continued.
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Underlying Causes of the Great Depression • over-production and over- expansion • high tariffs killed international trade • dependence on too few primary products • only natural resources for export
Underlying Causes continued • Low standard of living for many – not everyone prospered in the 1920’s • Canadians and businesses overly optimistic about the future • Overuse of credit – buy now, pay later • Stocks bought on margin (credit) <>
Immediate Causes – Drought/Dustbowl • On top of dropping prices and increasing costs, farmers faced droughts for 10 years which resulted in dustbowl storms • This is one of the reasons for the decade being called “The Dirty Thirties”
Dustbowl Storm • Day turned to night
Dustbowls • Not rotating crops also contributed to dustbowls • Farmers only planted wheat because that was what earned them the most • But, • Wheat erodes the top of the soil and in dry conditions, the soil blows away in a dust storm
It finally rained, no soil left to hold the moisture – too late for this farmer
Impact of Great Depression • This iconic image is of a migrant farm worker and mother in the U.S. • What is the impact of the Great Depression on her and her family?
No where to go • Not necessarily 1930’s • Can be seen any day in downtown Toronto, 2009
What about impact on Immigrants? • “In my search for employment I was free to range the whole of commercial Winnipeg and nobody denied me a job from any ulterior motive. This did not hold for the Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews. … As much as two-thirds of it (Winnipeg) was barred and bolted against them.”