The Great Depression
How Does it Feel to Get Fired? The Boys in Their Own Words
July, 1936
Pick up any newspaper: a twisted knot of strikes, unemployment, violence, and discontent. Sure, the government enchants us that the Depression loses momentum each and every day. Possibly we have seen some improvements but the gold at the end of the rainbow requires a long painful journey.
When I see an old guy snatch up a butt off the sidewalk, or watch a guy snipe a cigarette and drop it into his pocket, to me that means that the Depression still weighs on us. I've actually seen a fellow punch another because of a pack of Camels left on the bar - in a tavern you just never leave a pack of cigarettes on the bar and expect it to be intact when you return from the toilet. If we concern ourselves with such trivia as cigarettes, there's a Depression.
Let us now spotlight the men themselves. Let each man tell his story - his feelings, his job, his dreams how the Depression has affected him. Of course, we can expect much comment about work. So much of out lives revolve around out job. We can't eat or drink ten hours a day, nor laugh or cry ten hours a day, nor make love - too bad - ten hours a day. But we sure can work ten hours a day, six days a week. In fact, when we consider trolley time, lunchtime, etc., work eats twelve, even fifteen hours, each day. No small wonder people talk about work.
July, 1936
Pick up any newspaper: a twisted knot of strikes, unemployment, violence, and discontent. Sure, the government enchants us that the Depression loses momentum each and every day. Possibly we have seen some improvements but the gold at the end of the rainbow requires a long painful journey.
When I see an old guy snatch up a butt off the sidewalk, or watch a guy snipe a cigarette and drop it into his pocket, to me that means that the Depression still weighs on us. I've actually seen a fellow punch another because of a pack of Camels left on the bar - in a tavern you just never leave a pack of cigarettes on the bar and expect it to be intact when you return from the toilet. If we concern ourselves with such trivia as cigarettes, there's a Depression.
Let us now spotlight the men themselves. Let each man tell his story - his feelings, his job, his dreams how the Depression has affected him. Of course, we can expect much comment about work. So much of out lives revolve around out job. We can't eat or drink ten hours a day, nor laugh or cry ten hours a day, nor make love - too bad - ten hours a day. But we sure can work ten hours a day, six days a week. In fact, when we consider trolley time, lunchtime, etc., work eats twelve, even fifteen hours, each day. No small wonder people talk about work.