In a way the Depression was the best thing that ever happened to this country. We were coming of age on the world stage and needed to be reminded times can be tough no matter how hard we try. IMO it shaped our reaction to WWII. My parents both grew up in the Depression and it definitely defined their outlooks. Waste not, want not. Be charitable not as a gesture but as part of ordinary life. Sacrifice for the good of the whole. My dad, whose Army unit was next up to be deployed to Korea when the war ended, went on to make a lot of money but to this day has not forgotten what an honest dollar is worth.


>It was almost standard for children to work (anywhere they could) during the depression. In some cases, it was the only thing keeping a family alive. I think this country was afraid that it would become the norm afterwards and did something to stop it.
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>On another note, I remember learning in school about the Du Pont and Morgan plan to overthrow Roosevelt with a military coup and then turn around and install a fascist government like Mussolini's. They were terrified of Roosevelt's wealth distribution policy. I don't think they teach that in school anymore.
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>>>>>So we need to export the labor movement, too. The conditions under which some workers around the world labor should be horrifying to anybody, as should how young some of those workers are.
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>>>>You can't judge other countries by American Standards. I've lived all over the world and the mores and cultures are different. In many countries, children are supposed to work, it's the norm. In many countries, the woman do the work, in others the males. When in Rome...
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>>>Yeah, but 100 or so years back, it was the norm for children (poor children, anyway) to work in this country. We finally decided that was wrong and fixed it. I believe in respecting other cultures, but not to the point that I think it's okay for an 8-year-old to work a 10-hour day instead of going to school. Some rights are fundamental:
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>>>"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
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>>>I put the right for children to be children and to be educated among those fundamental rights and consider it part of my responsibility as a living, breathing human being to do what I can to make that a reality.
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>>>Tamar
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>>In 1938 FDR signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which limited child labor. I have seen documentaries of young boys working in coal mines as late as the 1930’s. England began regulating child labor around 1802 and it was at least a start.
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>>Even today if you live on a farm a child will have chores. Living on a farm is hard work as my cousins can testify.