Dusting off some Depression terms

It’s now official: World Bank has said the global economy is worse than at any time since The Great Depression. And it may get worse. Unless, of course, our friends in Washington can give away enough money to fix it.

With that thought in mind this seems a good time to dust off some Depression terms, as we may soon have a need.

Hobo: The word, which may have originated as a contraction of “homeless boy,” was applied to Depression-era, out of work men who traveled from town to town by hopping on boxcars. Note the first two letters of “hopping” and ‘boxcars.” Hobos were honest, had a code of honor, and would take a job if given the chance.

Tramps: Hobos rode the rails, tramps tramped. They walked. They’d work, but only temporarily. Traveling was their career; asking for handouts was their livelihood.

Bums: Bums were looked down upon by both Hobos and Tramps. Bums didn’t travel much, rarely worked. They begged, they picked pockets, they burglarized. Baseball fans never called an umpire a hobo, or a tramp; they called him a bum.

Hooverville: Previously called shanty-towns and hobo jungles, these tar-paper shacks and tents sprang up in urban areas, usually near soup kitchens. The term “Hooverville” was coined by Charles Michelson, publicity chief of the Democratic National Committee, as a way of attaching blame to President Hoover.

Bread Line: Somewhat like food stamps, but with less variety.

New Deal: The “New Deal” was what President Franklin Roosevelt called his series of economic stimulus programs. Today they’d be called bailouts.

We find it interesting that during 1932, Hoover’s last year in office, 1,493 banks went under. FDR took over in 1933 and initiated programs calling for deficit spending and an expanded federal government. During his first year in office he created the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, signed the National Economy Act, formed the Farm Credit Administration, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the Tennessee Valley Authority, abandoned the gold standard, passed the Federal Securities Act, the National Cooperative Employment Act, the Home Owner’s Loan Act, the Farm Credit Act, and empowered the Federal Reserve to set interest rates. He pushed through the Emergency Railroad Transportation Act, the National Industrial Recovery Act, established a program whereby farmers were paid not to farm and, by executive order, created the Civil Works Administration.

All in just one year. By the end of that year 4,000 banks closed—2,507 more than had failed during Hoover’s last year. Federal programs helped so much things got worse. By 1937, four years into the New Deal, Roosevelt himself said that 1/3 of the nation was by then “ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished.”

There might be a lesson there, but then again maybe not. The important thing to remember as we move ahead is that a hobo is not a tramp, and a tramp is not a bum.