[Mel]

How did people get th unemployment benefit in the depression of Britain?

Could anyone help me please? I was told but cant remember

[Mrs Faithorn]

Rather like now really ..... you had to 'sign on' as being unemployed and seeking work at what was called the Unemployment Benefit Office (I think) - like a Job Centre today - but instead of getting your benefit (known as the 'dole'*) by Giro Cheque you had to queue up each week to collect the money in cash.

It was called the 'dole' because the cash was 'doled out' (ie handed out in person) - and in a manner that was rather grudging and made the unemployed feel inferior and is being out of work was all their own fault - which during the 1930s Depression years was very rarely true. (just as it often is not nowadays as well)

I hope that answers your question?

[Jamie_humphs]

Ok I've had some home work 2 do by tomorro and its a mock exam on the great depression all my class doesnt like it and it gettin on my nerves i need 2 know the following...............
How important was new industry during the depression?

Explain the role of women during the great depression?

and this is a biggie
HOw far were the 1930s a period of depression

[MrJohnDClare]

Jamie
I fear we have failed you on this one.
Sorry.

The teachers who answer these questions do so in their own time, for free. I am afraid that we cannot promise that someone will be online to answer at such short notice - when you posted a question at 9.30 on Sunday night, all the teachers had shut down for the night and gone to wacth the TV!!
If you want help, the teachers who answer your questions are very happy to help, but I am afraid that you must plan a little further in advance, and give us a couple of days; someone usually manages to help you out.

The second thing is that, when you are a new member - until we trust you!!! - all your posts are 'moderated'. That means that they sit tere unseen by normal users until a member of the admin team can get to it and OK it. So - until you are fully registered, there is no need to post two or three messages; we got all three - your question was just waiting to be accepted by a moderator.

I hope the test wasn't TOO traumatic, and if we can ever be of help in the future, give us a little more notice and I am sure we will be able to help.

[claire5293]

My history assignment is to create a flow chart showing major international events which led to the Great Depression, and how these events led to the depression coming to Australia. Show the connection of the events and offer a brief explanation of the significance at each point. A limit of 5 stages/events. so far iv got world war one, how it boosted americas industry and economy, then the stock market fever, how everyone(who had the money)wanted to buy stocks. Then the uneven distribution of wealth, the usa's unstable economy(and on the side) the two major industries, car and radio production. I am not sure whether these events are major or if there in the right order!!and im not sure what to put for my last event. any help would be appreciated and please get back to me asap!!thanks xx claire

[MrJohnDClare]

All this seems quite fine, Claire, and it's really good that you're doing you're own thinking.
It's not quite the list of events I would have chosen, but it's a good enough list of events and I'd stick with it if I were you.

As I see it, you've chosen:

claire5293, on May 20 2007, 05:38 AM, said:

1. world war one
2. the stock market fever
3. the uneven distribution of wealth
4. the usa's unstable economy (including car and radio production)

First, have a think and see if you think they're in the correct order.
Personally I'd re-order them.
Especially, think which of them came just immediately before the Great Depression (was the trigger which set it off)?

Then all you're missing, surely, is the 'last step' which took the Great Depression from America to Australia?
When I googled

'Great depression' Australia

I found this:

At the time, privately owned banks controlled Australia's monetary policy and the country relied heavily on borrowing money from other countries to bring in new investment. When the banks refused to extend overdrafts to Australia the government began selling off gold reserves.

which strikes me as the answer, eh?

[star_x]

We have been asked by our teacher to do some background reading and research for the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression. I've looked through the textbook and some websites and understand the Wall Street Crash but have some questions about the Great Depression.

I know that different people such as farmers, bankers etc were affected differently by the Depression but why was this the case? And how would one go about explaining why everyone did not suffer equally? And also, how were the native Americans affected by it? (I found little bits of information on this but different sites said different things and only succeeded in confusing me).

Any help would be much appreciated.

[MrJohnDClare]

1. The Depression was worst in farming, and in the old industries (80% of steel workers were unemployed in Toledo. 'New' industries (such as films, electronics and airplanes) continued to expand and pay high wages.
2. Certain areas of the economy thrived. The Empire State Building was finished in 1931, and the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge was started in 1932
3. Many people who managed to keep their jobs were BETTER off, because prices were much lower.

THIS is a good page of interetsing fact about the vaying effects of the Great Depression.

Also read this summary of a recent book of essays edited by MarkWheeler, The Economics of the Great Depression - just read the summary of the first two chapters (esp Ch. 2).


This VERY DIFFICULT article suggests that the differences in 'depth' of the Great depression were caused by different thigs at different times.

In the period 1929-32 the authors say:
1. There is a little evidence that US states which had the most bank bakruptcies in the period leading up to the Great Depression experienced big drops in income (= the results of financial 'distress'), but in the end the authors reject this theory as being very important.
2. States which were already relatively 'poor' tended to get much poorer than the 'rich' states.
3. By far the biggest cause of differences, however, was the industrial make-up of the state - the biggest drops in income were experienced in those states which had most 'old industry'.
Note especially page 18:

For the contraction phase of the Great Depression, 1929-32, we find a statistically significant impact of industry structure on state per capita income growth. States that were highly concentrated economically in sectors that performed especially poorly during 1929-32, such as construction, farming, and mining, had significantly larger declines in income than did more diversified states. States that were concentrated in sectors that performed relatively less badly, such as services, finance and transportation, also had smaller income declines. Rosenbloom and Sundstrom (1999) found similar results in their study of state-level differences in manufacturing employment during the Depression.

Thing were different, however, the authors say, in the period 1933-1939. The authors say that:
1. US States which had the greatest New Deal spending on public works and relief experienced the least drops in income.
2. They suggest that New Deal spending was not based so much on need as on 'political productivity'(=political influence).
Note page 21:

By contrast, we find that differences in New Deal spending levels can help explain differences in state per capita income growth rates. The higher the level of Federal expenditures and loans within a state, all else equal, the higher the state’s per capita income growth rate ... we calculate that a $1 increase in New Deal spending per capita within a state would result in a 0.355 percentage point increase in per capita income growth ... New Deal expenditures had a rather large and statistically significant effect on state per capita income growth.

(This by the way is VERY important evidence supporting the argument that the New Deal worked.)


On minorities see this page.
On Native Americans, try this webpage, although Ntaive Americna remained a poor and excluded section of society..

[star_x]

thank you for your help! the links (esp the first one and the ones about the native americans and minorities) were really helpful. thanks.

[star_x]

Oh, i have one more question... why exactly were some industries (old industries like steel) affected more adversely than others (new industries) by the Depression? Didn't the wall street crash and overproduction affect these industries? And what abou the tariffs imposed on US good by European countries? didn't that affect them?

thank you for your help.

[MrJohnDClare]

star_x, on Jul 7 2007, 06:48 PM, said:

Oh, i have one more question... why exactly were some industries (old industries like steel) affected more adversely than others (new industries) by the Depression? Didn't the wall street crash and overproduction affect these industries?

The old industries were the ones where production methods were most inefficient and out of date, employing uge numbers of workers, and were there was world-overproduction as other countries began to catch up with the technology, and that's why they suffered most.

Quote

And what abou the tariffs imposed on US good by European countries? didn't that affect them?

Absolutely yes - particualry in wheat, which ruined American agriculture.

[castar]

How were the big city businessmen and the rich affected by the Great depression? Who else, other than minority groups were affected?

[Mr Field]

Have a look through these websites and see if you can discover this yourself:
http://www.johndclare.net/America7.htm - brilliant coverage, ideal for GCSE level.

http://www.historyle...treet_crash.htm - a great additional background

http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/lessons/usa...depression.html - interactive diagram (click on 'show hints' to get all the information)

Have a look through those pages and then post again if you need further help. Try to think yourself though - what was the Great Depression and how do you think it affected people? Businessmen and the rich are probably the least important group to look at.

[alekssaa]

Hello! I have been assigned 6 tasks for my homework and im really stuck on one task which is to explain the impact of the Crash and Depression on the rest of the world. I must find exaples of other countries in depression and state how they link with America. Could you please guide me somehow- maybe you know of any links that may help...your help will be much appreciated. Thanks

[MrJohnDClare]

That's a really hard question!
The Great Depression in the USA caused a great depression all over the world.
The US banks - to survive - called in their loans they had mae to people all over the world - causing a financial crisis and depression all over the world.
One country REALLY affected was Germany, where the US actions caused a depression and led to Hitler coming to power.
There were problems in Britain too. One good example was Palmers' shipyard in Jarrow. Because the US was in depression, world trade slumped - and because there wa no trade, no one needed ships any more. Palmers closed down, and Jarrow died ... check out the 'Jarrow Crusade' on Google.
But the US depression caused depression worldwide - miners were put out of work in the mountains in Peru because the US didn't need metal ore any more etc.

try this site - http://history-world..._depression.htm