A Time for Entrepreneurs

About people like you and me who lived in that period...
And especially for those who did not

By: Roy Livingstone

I can admire the thought, but if I were you, I wouldn't wait around for our government to find me a job - That's OUR obligation!

If you have a small business, and go broke, no one is going to "bail you out". You will need to borrow money and pay interest on what you borrowed. If you can't, you go bankrupt, create another business, or find a job. That's what entrepreneurs do. They are the people who really founded the "economic miracle" (It's called "Capitalism.") - That is what made the United States of America the richest country in the world, and the "American Dream". Remember, the Government works for us? It's not the other way around.

Illustrator J. Gould's Amos(L) Andy(R) Image Shown Below

During the Great Depression it was the radio, with Father Coughlin, Herbert Hoover, and those unforgettable Fire-Side Chats with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. (We must not forget our First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt's famous cooking receipts) Also, the "New Deal", CCC, NRA, WPA, etc. (In the early 1930's on those cold winter evenings, my Dad and I almost always listened to Lowell Thomas and Amos and Andy). They were an important part of the Great Depression. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to share all parts of that period in our country's remarkable history; the good, and the bad.

If you lived in that era, you will remember:

WWI was over. The U.S. Navy flooded the streets of New York, and the "Roaring 20's" were in full swing. Across a crowded dance floor a young sailor caught the blue eyes and black hair of a young court stenographer, and asked her to dance. In two weeks they were married in Yonkers, NY and settled in Portland, Maine, where I was ushered into the world. A few years later, my Dad heard that work in Chicago was booming, so off we went to the windy city.

It seemed like my dad hit a goldmine when he got a contract to install weather stripping in one of the largest hotels in the city. (weather stripping was something new) My folks bought a house on Dennis Street. Life was great, even after the crash in 1929. No one knew what was going to happen, but every year things kept getting worse. The hotels began to lay off their contractors, and Dad lost his business, then their house. It was happening everywhere. In the city, breadlines were common. Unemployment hit a new high. Most of Dad's friends went to other cities, hoping to find work. America was now in the worse part of the Great Depression.

By 1933, as part of Roosevelt's "New Deal Legislation", thousands of young men were joining the "CCC". The Civilian Conservation Corps was a work relief program for young men from unemployed families. It was designed to combat unemployment during the Depression. The CCC became one of the most popular New Deal programs among the general public and operated in every state and several territories. The separate Indian Division was a major relief force for Native American reservations. The CCC built roads, parks, golf courses and other public work projects across the US.

Because money was scarce thirty or more states created their own bartering systems. They called it the "vallar paper". It was paper money in $5 denominations whereby people could legally trade for essential items - food, clothing, etc. It gave people a sense of independence and renewed confidence. Several cities also published their own newspapers.

I was pretty young at the time, but I knew what many of these families were going through. I saw women crying because they didn't have the money to buy groceries - men, too, who couldn't get a job, and cops chasing guys who had stole bread from a store. In cold weather, some went to churches hoping to find a place to sleep.

One cold night during a snow storm my father came home calling for my mother, "Flo, there are two guys outside with motorcycles, and they are freezing, and they can't get home because the roads are closed. They seem like pretty nice guys. Do you think we could help them out?"

Mom was against letting perfect strangers into the house, but after she learned that they had passed their tests to attend the Chicago Police Training School, they were invited to stay the night. Also by 1933 many parts of our country was changing. Even in the big city like Chicago, you could feel comfortable borrowing a cup of sugar from your next door neighbor.

A few weeks after that visit, my folks decided to go back East, and soon after, Dad landed a job with the VA (Veterans Affairs). Later, they made a small deposit on ten acres of land - then with another loan from the same bank, my folks built a seven room house. A year or so later, we received a letter from Frank Watts, one of the guys who spent that cold night with us in Chicago. Frank wanted us to know that he was now a police officer in Chicago, and so was his friend. (50 years later dad received a letter saying Frank had just retired as Chief of Police of another city. He would soon be driving to see my folks who were now living in Seminole, Florida in the winter - he never forgot that cold winter night when someone gave him and his friend a place to sleep).

Remember those guys who lost their jobs working at Hotels? We got word that they both were in business for themselves in different states. Guess what they were doing. The both had shops: Installing Weather Stripping!

January/February 2009 Times issue