Hoover's Individualism
Today the government provides many forms of aid for farmers, the unemployed, the disabled, and others in need. However, at the beginning of the Depression these programs did not exist. President Hoover opposed direct welfare payments to people. Why was the government slow to help individuals at the beginning of the Depression? At the time of the Great Depression, the Federal Government had never done anything on such a large scale as to create programs like the Reconstruction Finance System (RFS) or the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). Furthermore, Hoover’s policy at the beginning of the depression was to let people help themselves, or “rugged individualism”. Therefore helping individuals was against Hoover’s philosophy and was seen as very radical at the time. Hoover, on the matter of government interference stated, “Any practice of business which would dominate the country but
…show more content…
its own selfish interests is a destruction of equality of opportunity. Government in business, except in emergency, is also a destruction of equal opportunity and the incarnation of tyranny through bureaucracy” (319). He strongly states through this quote that helping a citizen of the United States through the government would be a violation of their equal rights and creates a cruel, oppressive system of government. The government did not help individuals at the beginning of the Depression because it was not seen as an emergency situation, went against Hoover’s philosophy, and on a large scale had never been done before in history. 2. President Roosevelt was harshly criticized for the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. As a result of this act, farmers destroyed some of their crops and slaughtered their livestock. This was done to get rid of the surplus farm products. Farmers would benefit when the cast of farm products would rise. Prices did in fact go up. However, this program seemed insane to many Americans. In the middle of the Depression, when families went hungry, American farmers were destroying perfectly good food. Was President Roosevelt correct in promoting the AAA? Franklin D Roosevelt saw the Agricultural Adjustment Act as a way to help the farmer help himself. Destroying crop and slaughtering animals brought up the price of goods and achieved Roosevelt’s goal. However, the AAA created a surplus in one area and shortage in another. Raising the prices of food to help farmers made it nearly impossible for Americans to buy those goods. Lawrence W. Reed states, “Even if the AAA had helped farmers by curtailing supplies and raising prices, it could have done so only by hurting millions of others who had to pay those prices or make do with less to eat”(Phase III, para. 4). Sending surplus goods to the starving seems like a more practical and humane way to go about the issue, but in the end federal spending would have increased and farmers would be left with no crops and no money. Roosevelt’s intentions were good, but the Agricultural Adjustment Act left the country in even more debt.
3. Everyone in the United States during the 1930s felt the effects of the Depression, but some groups suffered more than others. Were farmers, industrial workers, or veterans hit the hardest hit the Depression? The Great Depression created hardship throughout the United States.
Farmers were crushed in debt, often forcing them to foreclose their farms. Veterans returned to the country jobless and homeless. Industrial workers were put out of work and in some cases could not afford nickel-a-night flophouses, forcing them to sleep in the streets. The group which suffered the most were the industrial workers, being put out of work which never paid enough in the first place. In 1933, one-quarter of citizens were unemployed, left with nothing to do but search for jobs. As stated by Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, “...the men and women for whom life had changed most drastically and immediately were no longer in the factories. They were among the masses of the unemployed, and their struggle had to take another form, in another institutional context”(para. 1). The newly unemployed industrial workers often got evicted from their homes, not being able to pay rent any longer. Every day there was a new struggle to find food, shelter, and warmth in the big cities as a jobless
American.
4. The Depression was a time of desperation for many families. Though no fault of their own millions were jobless, struggling and hungry. In broadsheet IV the president of Baltimore and Ohio said, “While I do not like to say so, I would be less than candid if I did not such that such circumstances, I would steal before I would starve.” If a person is hungry, homeless, or desperate, is it wrong for him or her to steal in order to survive? Stealing because there no longer was money to provide food and resources was necessary. To die following the law to the point of starvation is a form of cruel and unusual punishment. As stated by Will Rogers, a folk philosopher, “You let this country get hungry and they are going to eat no matter what happens to budgets, income taxes, or Wall Street values. Washington mustn’t forget who rules when it comes to a showdown”(Broadsheet IV, para. 18). It is not the man’s fault if he has been put out on the street from a bad economy and the government must realize that. Stealing is morally acceptable if one is on the brink of death from malnutrition.
its own selfish interests is a destruction of equality of opportunity. Government in business, except in emergency, is also a destruction of equal opportunity and the incarnation of tyranny through bureaucracy” (319). He strongly states through this quote that helping a citizen of the United States through the government would be a violation of their equal rights and creates a cruel, oppressive system of government. The government did not help individuals at the beginning of the Depression because it was not seen as an emergency situation, went against Hoover’s philosophy, and on a large scale had never been done before in history. 2. President Roosevelt was harshly criticized for the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. As a result of this act, farmers destroyed some of their crops and slaughtered their livestock. This was done to get rid of the surplus farm products. Farmers would benefit when the cast of farm products would rise. Prices did in fact go up. However, this program seemed insane to many Americans. In the middle of the Depression, when families went hungry, American farmers were destroying perfectly good food. Was President Roosevelt correct in promoting the AAA? Franklin D Roosevelt saw the Agricultural Adjustment Act as a way to help the farmer help himself. Destroying crop and slaughtering animals brought up the price of goods and achieved Roosevelt’s goal. However, the AAA created a surplus in one area and shortage in another. Raising the prices of food to help farmers made it nearly impossible for Americans to buy those goods. Lawrence W. Reed states, “Even if the AAA had helped farmers by curtailing supplies and raising prices, it could have done so only by hurting millions of others who had to pay those prices or make do with less to eat”(Phase III, para. 4). Sending surplus goods to the starving seems like a more practical and humane way to go about the issue, but in the end federal spending would have increased and farmers would be left with no crops and no money. Roosevelt’s intentions were good, but the Agricultural Adjustment Act left the country in even more debt.
3. Everyone in the United States during the 1930s felt the effects of the Depression, but some groups suffered more than others. Were farmers, industrial workers, or veterans hit the hardest hit the Depression? The Great Depression created hardship throughout the United States.
Farmers were crushed in debt, often forcing them to foreclose their farms. Veterans returned to the country jobless and homeless. Industrial workers were put out of work and in some cases could not afford nickel-a-night flophouses, forcing them to sleep in the streets. The group which suffered the most were the industrial workers, being put out of work which never paid enough in the first place. In 1933, one-quarter of citizens were unemployed, left with nothing to do but search for jobs. As stated by Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, “...the men and women for whom life had changed most drastically and immediately were no longer in the factories. They were among the masses of the unemployed, and their struggle had to take another form, in another institutional context”(para. 1). The newly unemployed industrial workers often got evicted from their homes, not being able to pay rent any longer. Every day there was a new struggle to find food, shelter, and warmth in the big cities as a jobless
American.
4. The Depression was a time of desperation for many families. Though no fault of their own millions were jobless, struggling and hungry. In broadsheet IV the president of Baltimore and Ohio said, “While I do not like to say so, I would be less than candid if I did not such that such circumstances, I would steal before I would starve.” If a person is hungry, homeless, or desperate, is it wrong for him or her to steal in order to survive? Stealing because there no longer was money to provide food and resources was necessary. To die following the law to the point of starvation is a form of cruel and unusual punishment. As stated by Will Rogers, a folk philosopher, “You let this country get hungry and they are going to eat no matter what happens to budgets, income taxes, or Wall Street values. Washington mustn’t forget who rules when it comes to a showdown”(Broadsheet IV, para. 18). It is not the man’s fault if he has been put out on the street from a bad economy and the government must realize that. Stealing is morally acceptable if one is on the brink of death from malnutrition.