Country Facts and Folklore By Andy Reddick (2024)

Country Facts and Folklore
By Andy Reddick

DEPRESSION PRICES

A record number of Americans were without workduring the Great Depression. Banks failed, less money was in circulation, farmproduction and prices were at very low levels, and people with commodities forsale had difficulty marketing them as clients either didn’t have money tospend or were afraid to part with their money. Few people actually remember thedepression, although we are constantly reminded that then nearly all commoditiescould be purchased for a fraction of today’s cost.

During the past 70 years, the lifespan of people inthe US has increased from 59 to 79 years. As a result, people work many moreyears of their life time, although the average work week has dropped from over50 hours to just 33, and people enjoy a longer period of retirement.Unemployment has dropped from 15% of the work force in 1933 to about 5.4% in2005.

I recently ran across a comprehensive list of 1933prices in Waterloo, as published by the Waterloo Daily Courier, and I haveattempted to make a comparison with today’s prices wherever possible. Researchand field work were required to complete this project, but the results arefascinating and worth the effort.

For example, a new International Harvester 1/2-tonpickup truck cost $360 in 1933. The least expensive new cars ranged from $300for Ford, $395 for a Willys 77, $445 for a Plymouth 6, $585 for a PontiacRoadster, $595 for a Dodge 6 and $665 for a De Soto 6.

On the Internet I found that a 2005 GMC CanyonPick-up truck is $16,025. A Ford Focus 4 cylinder car begins at $13,005; a DodgeCaravan V6 is $18,330, a 4 cylinder Pontiac Vibe is $16,915 and a Cadillac CTSV6 is $30,365. What this means is that the cost of any new vehicle, whether itbe a little pick-up truck or a sedan loaded with gadgets has increased at least50 times in price since 1933!

Below is a list of jobs/careers and the salaries of1933 compared with 2003:

*from 2005 World’s Almanac (2003 listing) &current classified advertising (most are beginning salaries)

The average working person makes 20 times what theaverage worker made in 1933! However, he pays federal taxes, social securitytaxes, state taxes, has deductions for health plans and dental plans, so thatnet take-home pay is only 15 times higher than in 1933.

For matters of comparison, the 2003 dollar was worthonly 7 cents when compared with the 1935 dollar! However, the economy of thenation has totally changed in 70 years, thus it is sometimes difficult tocompare values.

“The good old days” really were sometimesbargain days for those that had a job. New cars today are 50 times higher inprice. Other comparisons, though, will reveal some surprising results with manyitems now days available at bargain prices:

Symbols: P: Penney’s; W: Walmart; S: Sears; M:Macy’s O: other

Gasoline was 9 cents per gallon at some stations in1933. Recently at Hy-Vee in Mt. Pleasant, gasoline sold for $1.52 gallon. Thusgas is now at least 17 times higher.

At the plush Hotel Taft, Budweiser beer sold for 10cents and a dinner of creamed chicken, mushrooms and asparagus tips was 90cents. Such a lunch in a nice hotel has only jumped about ten times to $9, whilethe beer is at least twenty times higher in price.

In New York, at Saks Fifth Avenue, boys’ plus-fourknickers were $2/pair, and knicker suits were $4.95. Men’s suits were $37.50and white buckskin shoes were $5. In 2005 Saks Fifth Avenue do not advertisechildren’s clothing. A pair of suede men’s loafers is $255 (up 51 times,)dress shirts start at $48, trousers at $165 and blazers $495, so as to make asport suit ($660,) some 18 times higher in price.

Farmers were hit hardest during the depression. Netincome in 1933 was 1/3 what it had been in 1929! Farmers got 2 cents/quart formilk, corn sold for 8 cents/bushel, and hogs were 2 cents/lb. Many formersburned corn for fuel because they couldn’t afford coal.

Those were the days of “Ten Cent Farm Sales.” Iffarmers couldn’t pay their mortgages or their taxes, farms were repossessedand sold at public auction. Neighbors would congregate and bid everything atridiculously low prices (ten cents for mules or horses, a nickel for a plow,$1/acre for land) and outsiders were rudely persuaded not to outbid them. Thenthe property would be given back to the farmer as neighborhoods stood togetherto withstand the crisis.

Results of this study are that since workers earnabout twenty times what they did seventy years ago, and the average net takehome pay is at least fifteen times greater, then prices should now reflect thatdifference. If you can buy an item for less than fifteen times what it cost in1933, you are now getting a bargain. Obviously then, items that now cost morethan 15 or 20 times their former value are no longer bargains. A closeexamination reveals almost as many bargains today as there were 70 years ago!

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Contributed to the Van Buren Co. IAGenWeb Projectby Andy Reddick
http://iagenweb.org/vanburen/