hard times

[Dave Mellor NJ]

At first I thought this was an A by the door post. Then I saw the wood wheel,the diamond plate runnijng board and no seam in the cowl and I realized it's a T. The raggedy girl shows the times

 

[keiser31]

She's trying to catch a bit of shade. She looks absolutely wilted.

Edited January 7 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Rata Road]

That picture tells such a story and highlights what poverty really looks like.

Thanks for posting

[Lee H]

No doubt a great photograph, but Dorothea Lange did work for one of Roosevelt’s New Deal agencies, and was known to have staged some of her work.

[dodge28]

Great photography

[EmTee]

Looks like a dust bowl era photograph.  A poignant picture of a dreadful time...

[JRA]

Thanks for sharing, Dave Mellor NJ.

Impressive image, indeed.

[8E45E]

I've seen that photo (along with several others to portray the personal heartaches of the Great Depression).     I believe it is part of the Time-Life magazine collection of photos.

 

Craig

[Walt G]

1 hour ago, EmTee said:

A poignant picture of a dreadful time..

That very few people now who know what happened . Groups today focus on their issues, and activities and do not look back to appreciate the era that our grandparents had to endure.

Hardships for the most part today do not equal what it was like in the 1920s/30s.

Edited January 7 by Walt G (see edit history)

[edinmass]

 

Photos like this were published in Russia.......showing how bad our economic system was compared to the " perfect communist system." When shown in movie theaters, the Russians asked why did the poorest Americans have cars when vertuilly no one in Russia did. It actually caused riots and civil unrest.........obviously they stopped showing pictures of the poorest Americans. How tough were the times? My father suffered his entire life from malnutrition........makes being poor in America today with cable tv and cell phones look like paradise. 

[Bhigdog]

Scrub her up, shave her legs, a nice hair do, some make up and she'd be a knock out. I always was a sucker for a girl with an over bite............Bob

[TAKerry]

1 hour ago, Walt G said:

That very few people now who know what happened . Groups today focus on their issues, and activities and do not look back to appreciate the era that our grandparents had to endure.

Hardships for the most part today do not equal what it was like in the 1920s/30s.

Walt, you hit the nail on the head. My grandparents lived through that (like most on here) my parents born in 35 and 38 were raised with that mindset. Likewise my parents raised me the same way. By the time I came around things were eased a bit, my children were spoiled and theirs, well thats another story altogether. Too many generations removed to have any impact at this point. 

[8E45E]

20 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

Walt, you hit the nail on the head. My grandparents lived through that (like most on here) my parents born in 35 and 38 were raised with that mindset. Likewise my parents raised me the same way. By the time I came around things were eased a bit, my children were spoiled and theirs, well thats another story altogether. Too many generations removed to have any impact at this point. 

While growing up, money issues were always a topic of heated discussion between my mom & dad.  My dad handled money like it grew on trees, and would take on debt.  My mom, treated money like gold, and would never think of taking on debt, aside from the mortgage. It was their different backgrounds that gave them the opposite attitude over money.  My mom's parents were like the ones in the photos; out of work and had to rely on handouts and watch their day-to-day spending.  My dad's parents, on the other hand, were comfortable during the Great Depression, and one of the 60% you'll never read about in a history book.  My grandfather was a local sales representative for Nielson's Chocolates, and had small house and a company car. (nothing substantial, a base 1936 Chevrolet sedan).  I did ask my uncle, about chocolate bars being a 'luxury' item, but he replied "Everybody had money for chocolate bars!", especially when they were only 5 cents each. 

 

I'm certain everyone will have a 'grandparent' story over this post.

 

Craig

[1912Staver]

Not so far removed. My mother { now 91 and very hale and hearty } used to occasionally reflect on her early childhood. My grandfather saw his stationary engineer { steam } job undergo a very sharp cut back in work { circa 1934 }. As a result my grandfather decided to try to return to his farm roots around the time my mother was 2 or 3. Bought a small farm on Prince Edward Island where he was born and lived as a teenager.

 My mother tells me the three of them barely survived the couple of years on the farm. Starvation was only a small step away from what they had to endure.

 My grandfather started sending letters to his former employer in Winnipeg and finally business improved to the extent they offered him his old engineer job back. And the farm episode ended. But very tough times that left a deep mark.

 Her frugal ways rubbed off on me as well. 

Edited January 7 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[JV Puleo]

2 hours ago, edinmass said:

 

... How tough were the times? My father suffered his entire life from malnutrition........makes being poor in America today with cable tv and cell phones look like paradise. 

It makes you wonder when the biggest health hazard to the poor is obesity. My dad had very short legs...he suffered from infant rickets as a baby.

That was a rather stupid error on the part of the Reds...as poor as some Americans were they were far better off than the majority of the Russian masses and that would have been obvious to them but probably not to the party elite.

 

A good friend of mine on once commented that you could tell the people whose parents grew up during the depression. They had a distinctly careful and frugal way of doing things and that often carried on to the next generation. My family was lucky in  that no one was out of work though one grandfather was a letter carrier. Since they couldn't fire him from the civil service they kept cutting his pay. My other grandfather was a barber. He lost his house and had to move to the tenement he'd built on spec when times were good. When I was little my grandmother and two uncles still lived there. None of these people whined about their situation...they didn't embrace "victimhood". They went on with life and did the best they could. And...only one grandfather could drive and he owned only two cars, both used Chevy's. He never could stop on a hill. If he had to, he'd roll back and rest on the bumper of the car behind him to get it into gear. Apparently no one thought that was strange.

Edited January 7 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[dodge28]

I was born in March 1936  in a British colonial territory and grew up during the war.  Grocery was rationed (ration card) Lead pencils without erazer. At school we used sand boxes and slates. The teacher told us how people in Grease were starving and they were going through the dustbins of American soldiers. Linen was unavailable because all resources were directed to the war efforts. Consumer goods were sold at black market prices. I know what hard time is.  

[edinmass]

 

My family lost the house in 1931.......they were current on the mortgage working piece work at the local mill. The bank went bust, and the new bank called the mortgage........they lost all their cash savings, the house, and their equity. My grandparents wouldn't go "on the dole" and refused ALL assistance. My grandparents took their shoes off to walk to work to save them from wearing out so fast. Seven years later they had built a new custom home, 5 bedrooms, three baths and a two car garage WITH NO MORTGAGE. They never put money in a bank again. They saved every penny and had it in US silver coins, in the event the currency went bad they still had the silver. When we cleaned out the house in 1978 after they both passed there was almost TWO TONS of us silver coinage in the cellar. I was just 11 years old and humped very ounce up the cellar stairs, as my dad was so handicapped from the malnutrition that about 45 percent of his leg function didn't work. He was unable to bend over to tie his shoes his entire life. People have NO CLUE what hard times are today. None at all in this country. That's what makes America so wonderful. We are all blessed to live in the best country on the planet. 

Edited January 7 by edinmass (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

19 hours ago, edinmass said:

 

My family lost the house in 1931.......they were current on the mortgage working piece work at the local mill. The bank went bust, and the new bank called the mortgage........they lost all their cash savings, the house, and their equity. My grandparents wouldn't go "on the dole" and refused ALL assistance. My grandparents took their shoes off to walk to work to save them from wearing out so fast. Seven years later they had built a new custom home, 5 bedrooms, three baths and a two car garage WITH NO MORTGAGE. They never put money in a bank again. They saved every penny and had it in US silver coins, in the event the currency went bad they still had the silver. When we cleaned out the house in 1978 after they both passed there was almost TWO TONS of us silver coinage in the cellar. I was just 11 years old and humped very ounce up the cellar stairs, as my dad was so handicapped from the malnutrition that about 45 percent of his leg function didn't work. He was unable to bend over to tie his shoes his entire life. People have NO CLUE what hard times are today. None at all in this country. That's what makes America so wonderful. We are all blessed to live in the best country on the planet. 

More or less happened to me a few years ago, though I didnt loose my house, just everything else!

 

Both of my grandparents were blue collar. One was a farmer, the other was a carpenter. My grandmother supplimented the family income with a still.

Edited January 8 by TAKerry (see edit history)

[Rata Road]

This has turned into a really interesting thread. I've enjoyed reading all the posts.

 

[keiser31]

My mother-in-law is an infant in these shots from moving from Oklahoma to Oregon in about 1925-26. Talk about hard times....

[edinmass]

What’s really upsetting about the above photos, is it was before the depression or dust bowl. Farming was never easy, and you were guaranteed to be poor.

[28 Chrysler]

My Grand Father had bought a new tractor in the spring of 1929 with a big bag of silver dollars.

He lost all of the livestock and had crop the crops fail for a couple of years during the dust-bowl in the 30s.

He and the family moved from the farm outside of Pierre South Dakota to Durand Wisconsin with what they could store in or on the car.

Seven of the family members lived in a 12 X 12 house/cabin on an acre, he took a job with a lumber company at almost 50 yrs old.

My father with the catch of the day

[jensenracing77]

My Great Great Grandparents were Moller's and owned a few hundred acres on Moller road North of Indianapolis all through the early 1900's, they owned a dairy farm and delivered milk. Later my great grandmother married a Jensen and had a gas station/store on Moller road (was not called Moller road then). They seamed to have done ok through the depression. They had this gas station and a large farm till the government took their land under some kind of eminent domain and moved to Clay County where many of us still live. Maybe I should apply for some kind of "reparations" lol. This is the gas station my Great Grandparents owned. My grandfather and great uncle are the kids. 

 

Edited January 14 by jensenracing77 (see edit history)

[edinmass]

Difference was back then, people didn’t bitch about their difficulties. As my Pepe would say…..shut up and work. He retired from his daily job at 92, and lived to just short of 100.  Couldn’t read or wright, and worked seven days a week. Never complained, and when he passed all 38 of his grandchildren went to his funeral, many from half way around the world. Times have changed……..he was the oldest of 19 children. French Canadian stock……

Edited January 14 by edinmass (see edit history)

[Walt G]

17 minutes ago, edinmass said:

Difference was back then, people didn’t bitch about their difficulties

 

17 minutes ago, edinmass said:

. Times have changed

Indeed they have. When I first graduated from college with a teaching degree there were no jobs for art teachers ( each school had one art teacher plus 30+ regular subject teachers) so I worked as a laborer with a local contractor and one of the jobs was to float a new concrete driveway apron for a two car garage. long day, lot of physical effort but I had cash $ 40 for the effort doing so in 80 degree humid weather. No complaints. Used $7.00 of that to buy a color sales catalog for a 1933 Plymouth that I admired the art work in, absolutely beautiful air brushed artwork- yes I still have that catalog.