With predictions of a depressed economy, super-heated inflation, soaring unemployment, collapsing stock market, and riots in the streets, many people, including me, are recalling the programs the federal government tried during the so-called Great Depression.
A question I have long had but have only recently asked is what was the difference between the Works Projects Administration and the Project Works Administration. Both were the Obama stimulus of that era.
The PWA came in 1934 with 3.3 billion dollars and was to focus on large national projects including roads and bridges. All the money was spent by 1935 and many of the projects were not completed for many years. The WPA was launched in 1935 and was supposed to help communities with local projects. It not only built roads and bridges but was to support artistic and cultural activities. Both agencies had the ultimate purpose of creating jobs. Jobs did happen and some projects were helpful, but employment in the private sector, from which the federal government had to obtain financial support, continued to worsen.
The depression affected everyone, including children of that time who are the only people living today who remember it. I will tell about some of my memories at times but today I am repeating a story I posted last July.
DELLA COMES HOME
When the bank failed to open its doors that black Monday in 1932, the entire proceeds of the cotton crop were lost. Daddy was forced to sell cows, pigs and everything we could spare, including our best mule, Della.
Farm youngsters form attachments to horses and mules and even some cows, and Della was more than an acquaintance -- she was a friend. When she was sold, I, a six-year-old, couldn't understand, and I was broken-hearted.
It was several weeks later that a mule came running through our yard and to the lot gate. Yes, it was Della. She had run along shighways, across roads and woods and made her way ovser 15 miles to the place she had known as home. I screamed, "Della came home. Della came home." My joy was soon smashed to bits as I learned she would have to be returned to her buyer.
For some weeks I lived with the hope that Della would come home again, but, of course she did not and I mourned for her a long time.
A question I have long had but have only recently asked is what was the difference between the Works Projects Administration and the Project Works Administration. Both were the Obama stimulus of that era.
The PWA came in 1934 with 3.3 billion dollars and was to focus on large national projects including roads and bridges. All the money was spent by 1935 and many of the projects were not completed for many years. The WPA was launched in 1935 and was supposed to help communities with local projects. It not only built roads and bridges but was to support artistic and cultural activities. Both agencies had the ultimate purpose of creating jobs. Jobs did happen and some projects were helpful, but employment in the private sector, from which the federal government had to obtain financial support, continued to worsen.
The depression affected everyone, including children of that time who are the only people living today who remember it. I will tell about some of my memories at times but today I am repeating a story I posted last July.
DELLA COMES HOME
When the bank failed to open its doors that black Monday in 1932, the entire proceeds of the cotton crop were lost. Daddy was forced to sell cows, pigs and everything we could spare, including our best mule, Della.
Farm youngsters form attachments to horses and mules and even some cows, and Della was more than an acquaintance -- she was a friend. When she was sold, I, a six-year-old, couldn't understand, and I was broken-hearted.
It was several weeks later that a mule came running through our yard and to the lot gate. Yes, it was Della. She had run along shighways, across roads and woods and made her way ovser 15 miles to the place she had known as home. I screamed, "Della came home. Della came home." My joy was soon smashed to bits as I learned she would have to be returned to her buyer.
For some weeks I lived with the hope that Della would come home again, but, of course she did not and I mourned for her a long time.
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