The Great Depression

The great depression was a rough time for many Americans, as well as many people in the world to where the depression spread. October 1929 marked the beginning of the great depression, where close to one in four Americans were unemployed. Many lost their homes, banks and businesses were crumbling, and the stock market was not at all what is had been in the past. Farming and agriculture was not what it was either; it was said to have dropped by 50 percent by 1932. During this time one of the main issues with agriculture, was that there was not a balance between what the country was producing, and what it was consuming. Innovations that were born out of the first world war, made it difficult and almost impossible for the regular wage earners, and the typical US farmers to survive the times financially. While the lower middle class and lower class were getting poorer, some of the rich were getting richer. Some of the rich and upper middle class also lost a lot of money, if they had invested in the stock market at the time. However, there were still many families that survived this time, such as the Outsen family. Many believed that the depression was caused by poor choices of the American government. An argument was that the economy was stable, but that it has been shaken by the repercussions of a worldwide depression. In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt, won the race for president by more than seven million votes. Americans were ready for change and at the time excited for what President Roosevelt had in store for the country, which was called "the new deal".

In 1933 bread lines were normal to see across the country, since so many millions of Americans were out of work. Thousands of people travelled the country searching for food. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was formed during this time, to help with the unemployment issue. It primarily affected men who were 18-25, who would be sent to work in camps across the country to work for a wage. They would plant trees, maintain national forests, help eliminate stream pollution; they created fish, game and bird sanctuaries, and they worked to conserve coal and other natural resources. Unemployment programs such as these, seemed to be favored by the government over welfare. In 1933, the Agriculture Adjustment Act (AAA) was also formed to help farmers, and the farming industry get back on its feet. The idea was to raise crop prices, by providing farmers with a subsidy to account for cutbacks. From the time the AAA was put into place until 1935, the farming industry was back up by 50 percent, and federal programs were partially to thank for this. After the AAA was dissolved in 1936, another act was created which made a mandatory regulation for farmers to implement soil erosion prevention techniques, and were also paid to follow specific farming practices. The increase in farming income helped many citizens across the country, to become more confident in the economic landscape, and future of the nation.

Beth Vanderhurst was born in San Francisco California, to proud parents Pearl and James Outsen, on February 24, 1926. Beth is my husband Jeff’s grandmother, on his mother’s side. Beth’s grandmother and grandfather Outsen met in San Francisco, after immigrating with their parents from Norway and Denmark respectively. Hans Outsen, Beth’s grandfather, started the Outsen Brothers Milling Company in 1874. When Hans passed away, Beth’s father James Outsen and his brother inherited the milling company. They owned the company until 1968 when her father sold the company, before he died a few years later. Their story is quite different than that of most local San Franciscans, and Americans really during the great depression.

Because Beth's father owned the mill during the depression, Beth and her family never felt the negative effects of the depression, unlike millions of others. The mill was the only one in San Francisco, and it provided grain to Honolulu, Hawaii. It also provided barley for beer to several breweries across the country. During the depression, even though people could barely feed themselves at the time, Beth said that people never let their animals go hungry. They were the main provider of grain for the local horse stables, and animal feed stores. James was the buyer and seller for the mill, during the time he owned it. This was an interesting twist on the time during the great depression; I was not expecting her to share this type of story, when I asked her about the first historical event that she lived through. Beth was an only child, and grew up like few other wealthy children of her time. When she was older she wanted her father to pass the mill onto her, rather than selling it. Her father would not let her take over the mill, even though she was confident she could run it. He would not pass it on to her at the time because, women were forbidden to go on the grain exchange, or work in the mill in any way. It was especially not allowed for women to be in management.  In 1933, there was a strike at the Outsen mill; the mill lost a lot of money during this time, mostly because they lost grain that spoiled, since they were forbidden to work the grain lines and ship to their customers. Beth's father had to be escorted to and from the mill, since people were very aggressive toward him at times. It amazed me after all the country was going through during the great depression and people scrounging for food and resources, Beth's family were among the few elite in the country during one of the worst economic times the United states had ever experienced. Beth’s mother’s father, Phillip Stolz, immigrated to the United States from Germany; he owned one of the first butcher and vegetable markets in San Francisco, on Grant and Sutter Street. He didn’t make it to the depression since his market was completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, and he died shortly after in 1914.