What Caused The Great Depression Essay Example For Students

What Caused The Great Depression Essay Though most Americans are aware of the Great Depression of 1929, whichmay well be the most serious problem facing our free enterprise economicsystem, few know of the many Americans who lost their homes, life savingsand jobs. Americans faced vast problems during the eleven years ofdepressions span. The paper primarily focuses on what life was like forfarmers during the time of the Depression. By the 1930s, thirteen millionworkers lost their jobs, which is 25 percent of all workers. The blacks andunskilled workers were always the first to be fired. Farmers had no money andwerent capable of paying their mortgages. Americans traveled throughout thecountry looking for a place to work to support themselves and their family. Farmers plight during the Great Depression and drought. When the rains failed tocome, the grass began to disappear. As the farmers watched their plants turnbrown and the dirt slowly turn to dust they began to fear what was to come. Inthe water-cut gullies the earth dusted down in dry little streams. We will write a custom essay on What Caused The Great Depression specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now As the sharpsun struck day after day, the leaves of the young corn became less stiff anderect; then it was June and the sun shone more fiercely. The brown lines on thecorn leaves widened and moved in on the central ribs. The weeds frayed and edgedback toward their roots. The air was thin and the sky more pale; and every daythe earth paled. The farmers were terrified that the government feed loanswouldnt be available to keep the livestock from dying. In many cases, the RedCross was making allowances for feed to keep live livestock. The small farmersof fruit trees and vegetable plants depended on others who ran canneries tobottle and can their produce. The people they depended upon were the same peoplethat hired scientists to experiment on the fruits and vegetables to come up withbetter tasting and yielding produce. Thus the small farmers were dependent onthese same rich landowners for almost everything. They couldnt harvest theirproduce on their own so they sold it to the rich landowners and thus made verylittle money on their produce. The farmers found themselves in debt caused bythe purchase of land, tools, animals and other items bought on credit. The GreatDepression was the end result of World War I. It affected the rich and pooralike, factory workers and farmers, bankers and stockbrokers. In short, itaffected everyone; no one was left untouched. But of all the people hurt,farmers were the worst off. The Great Depression is known to be the worsteconomic disaster in U. S. history.