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... helped people survive this trying time. 11 Religion during the 1930 's in Prairie Canada was aiding people with their troubles. People realized that situations were not good. They turned to an almighty being for guidance and assistance. Lloyd C.
Douglas minister of St. James United Church (1929 - 1933) had a message which said, "Religion works: it provides the key to success, peace of mind and a worthwhile life" 12 There was an overproduction of wheat and industrial goods. The war had created changes in the structure in the economy as well as damage in the international trade. Wages were always falling behind. Economic theories of John Maynard Keynes were helpful and suggested that if private investment failed to produce full employment, the statement initiate public investment through deficit spending to create jobs. Keynesian economics became part of the government policy, and it waste to the large sum of state expenditures necessary for the war which helped to reduce unemployment. "Prairie wheat economy $ 1. 60 a bushel price 1929 -. 38 in 2 and a half years" 13 The hardest hit area was Saskatchewan "Per capita income fell from $ 478 in 1929 - 29 to $ 135 in 1932 -a 71 % decrease" 14 People could not afford to purchase products produced because there was a lack of purchasing power.
Also the wages were not sufficient to buy products because producers had to consider prices for overhead, the high cost of credit and the profits into the sale price ofthe product. In some areas, prices dropped to almost zero. Wheat was being sold for 35 cents a bushel, butter was sold for 10 cents a pound, big turkeys for $ 1 and small turkeys for 50 cents. 15 In the late 1920 's the farmers created the wheat pools. These pools handsome problems in the marketing system because there was only one economic investment and a single crop to export. Instead of yielding the farmers profits the wheat pools made the farmers poor. In Alberta, economic depression was the worst with the combination of prices, debts, and interest.
It got so bad that the Social Credit Revolution of 1935 was formed. Partly Canadian collapse in prices that followed Wall Street's Black Thursday was the high cost of mechanization, exorbitant interest rates and boom-bust grain prices. 16 Employers were particular about who worked for them. Some of them would prefer to have a person work for them at a lower wage. These employers would fire their employees as soon as they could offer a lower wage to somebody else to do the same job.
They squeezed every possible amount of labour out of the employee for the least amount in wages. Other employers felt sad when people had were laid off. People also set up employment agencies to help everyone get a job. "In Canada ten to twenty five percent of the labour force was unemployed throughout the Depression. " 17 Before the Depression it was different, since anyone who was dissatisfied with his job could leave the existing company and go to work for another one. Since women worked for less thames, they didn't have to go on relief programs since employers would fill their job openings with women.
Since local governments refused to help single homeless men during the years 1932 and 1936, the federal governments established Unemployment Relief Camps. These camps were run by the Department of Defence. The camps paid the men 20 cents a day for heavy work such as construction. In 1935 there was a protest in Regina against the conditions of the camps.
It was called the Regina Riot. It was one of the most violent events of the 1930 's and included 130 people being arrested, many men injured and one policeman killed. The camps did help as the men did not starve to death and had a little bit of food in their stomachs. For some men support through the relief camps meant total humiliation as they were fathers and had been hardworking wage earners a couple of years ago.
The camps served the purpose feeding the men, clothing them, and paying them 20 cents a day. The relief camps "kept them in the hills, in the mountains, far from civilization and far from communists. " 18 Some of the duties the men would perform would be to clean park areas, help with building of bridges, cleanup hiking trails, learn work habits and to keep out of trouble. Some ofthe men were grabbed from the streets and forced into these camps. The conditions of the camps meant for the workers a monotonous life, dirty conditions to cope with, and non-productive work to do.
One explanation of the treatment in camps: "In relief camps we weren't treated as humans, we were treated as animals and we were just statistics. " 19 Other forms of aid were given by the volunteer agencies. The churches helped distribute clothing, bedding and fed the hungary and the homeless. Canadian Red Cross was another agency who contributed by supplying clothing, blankets and bedding as well as collected money for medical care. In 1935 the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Association was formed to help out the worst areas of the agricultural economy.
The homeless rode the boxcars from one city to another, begging fourfold and clothing. In labour camps the men received shelter, three meals any, worked 48 hours per week and had to deal with conflicts. Anyone who tried to protest faced expulsion and this may have led to explosive riots. "Political effects of the Depression were that capitalist system failed. " 20 Prime Minister R. B. Bennett introduced unemployment insurance and minimum wages after he was defeated by W. L.
Mackenzie King, when it waste late. Both Bennett and Mackenzie King refused to give work to the jobless and insisted that the provinces should be responsible for them, which resulted in insufficient care for the homeless. In 1934 Bennett helped establish the Bank of Canada. The Canadian Wheat Board was established in 1935 which helped promote minimum price for wheat. In 1940, the federal government introduced Unemployment Insurance. Among the reform movements which took place during the depression were: The Social Credit theories of Alberta Premier William Aberhart, and democratic Socialism of J.
S. Wordsworth as well as the New Democracy movement of W. D. Her ridge. 21 R. B. Bennett extended raw material processing and the use of tariffs and trade preferences to protect and encourage employment.
In 1939, there was a Prairie Assistance Act, which gave tremendous protection to the small producers as well as an insurance plan against crop failures. In 1930, R. B. Bennett promised to end unemployment, but did not.
Prime Minister Bennettdeveloped the Farmers Creditors Arrangement Act which "cleared more than$ 200 million in farm debts to banks and mortgage companies, and business who joined the reconstruction Party in 1935 to try and reorganize our chaotic enemy. " 22 R. B. Bennett tried to help out with the unemployment problem through higher tariffs and unemployment benefits. This still did not work because the jobless rate kept increasing. Bennett thought the problem of the 1930 's was a seasonal and temporary one. Bennett also believed that sharply boosting the protective tariff would stimulate confidence, create jobs by reducing reliance upon imports and force other nations to lower their trading barriers against Canadian exports. " 23 The first priority of government was to reduce the deficit so it couldn " treated jobs.
His unemployment policy included eliminating the deficit, balancing the federal budget, and keeping expenditure on the jobless down to a low level. His government would pay only one third of the cost of direct relief in any town or city and contribute nothing to cost of administration. 24 On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler gave orders to start World War Two. On September 10, 1939, Canada declared war and so everyone was at work forthe next 6 years. Great Depression ended with World War two, "courtesy of Adolf Hitler" 25 Among all the hardships during the Great Depression, "People were more united than any time in the past" 26 This is because they helped eachother out during this period of struggles and tribulations.
The Great Depression was as Barry Broadfoot claims: 10 years that were the most traumatic in our nations history, the most deliberating, the most devastating and the most horrendous. 27 Starting with the New York Stock Market Crash in 1929 until World War II began in 1939, the Prairie provinces experienced many changes which had a crushing impact upon the people and economy. The Great Depression in the Prairies was of extreme importance as it affected the entire region until World War II began. Bibliography:
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