Category: The Great Depression (1930-1940)

Leisure Activities During the Depression in Yelm

In 1929, the stock market crashed leaving “over 9,000 American banks either went bankrupt of closed their doors to avoid bankruptcy between 1930 and 1933. Depositors lost over $2.5 billion in deposits.” This left 25% of Americans without a job, and unemployment never went below 15 percent until World War II. Of those who did not lose their jobs, “one-third of the work force experienced cuts in wages and hours both.” Not only the city workers, but also the agricultural community felt the hit. “Farm income declined by 50 percent between 1929 and 1932. A third of all American farmers lost land.” The government realized this atrocity and began to help. “The West received more federal grants per capita through New Deal relief programs than any other region” (US). This meant a family of five received $53 per year, and a single person received $15 in 1933 (Washington’s Emergency Relief). With the end of the economic boom of the 1920s, Americans spending changed, changing the lives of people all over the country. This brought the people of America and Yelm closer to their family and made them more creative. Some of the luxuries they could enjoy during the twenties, such as leisure activities, were not the same.

The children were probably most creative of all; the innocence of their youth could not realize the weight of the period. The youngsters would ride their “’wheels’, (not bikes)” to Olympia for ice cream sodas at noon and home for supper (Yelm his). Roger Eide and wife Lila when asked to remember the fun of their childhood remember playing “kick the can,” “swimming, “ skating up and down the street,” and wagons.” A common meeting place was Patterson Lake, between Yelm and Lacey; there was a skating rink there. They also say “kids” would play a lot of pranks such as tipping outhouses, soaping windows on cars and business buildings. The children were probably the least affected mentally by the Great Depression. They continued to play and being inventive to occupy the time.

Group activities were very popular during the Depression. People could relax, and forget about the hard times, or they could talk about their difficulties. The most common group past time was probably Baseball. People all over America and in Yelm played baseball quite frequently. Every chance they got; they would get together to play. Games would start up within families at picnics, with friends at school, and there were small community leagues as well. Lila Eide recalls a Roy team and a Yelm team would play near Lawrence Lake.

Another sport available was golf. There was a league at Lackamas (NVN). Other group activities for groups were ice cream socials, camping, fishing, hunting, and berry picking (Yelm his). And of course this would all lead to “lots of parties.” There were berry balls, street dances and carnivals to celebrate (Eide). Group activities were always available and were used to bring communities together.

Families were another important social structure. People would gather on Sundays or after work to relax and reflect. One home activity was reading. It became popular because the harshness of the Great Depression came through in the words. Roger Eide remembers doing a lot of “home things” including reading, and the radio. He believed that “people would sit and listen to the radio and the read probably more the average person” today. Radio provided Americans with their first direct access to important public events (us). Eide said his family listened to the “radio all the time” there were comedy programs, ball games, soap operas (which his mother listened to quite frequently), and music. Music consisted of “bands playing, horns and pianos, Lawrence Welk, and occasionally classical.” Radio plays were among the “most popular entertainments of the 1930s” (us). People would sit together on their front porches, and sit, talk, and dance. It seems like a solitary experience, but it turned into a community activity. The radio was an important part of American culture throughout the Depression.

Another experience all Yelmites could enjoy was going to the movies. Movies were one of the least expensive forms of entertainment, and with sound and soon color become very popular very quickly (us). Movies could be seen for 10 cents and the high school. And a man opened a theater on southwest corner of First Street and Yelm Avenue, the Eides remember. They said it was “some old garage” but then moved to where the bowling alley now is. It soon gave way to the more popular, future drive-ins and TV. Yelmites went to the theater to escape their everyday lives, and found themselves connecting to the rest of the nation.

Even though money was scarce, Yelmites and Americans in general found economic ways to entertain themselves.

By Mary Asher

Sources

• “Washington’s Emergency Relief Administration, Director’s Files, Plans & Reports, 1993”
• Robert Wolf interview
• Roger and Lila Eide interview
• Nisqually Valley News, May 22, 1935
• The Story of Yelm 1848-1948

Pranks and Crime in the Thirties

In the 1930s, the range of crime and pranks committed by Yelm citizens was much more limited than it is now. The only crime reported by Yelm Citizens interviewed by the Yelm History Project was speeding and a few robberies, but nothing as serious as it is now. The extent of the pranks was also very limited and only involved dismantling woodpiles and tipping over outhouses. These pranksters would then return the next day and help the owners rebuild the piles and return the outhouses to their upright positions. This probably reflects the overall good will people harbored towards each other in the ’30s. Residents reported a large difference between the general goodwill people held towards each other back then, and the bad feelings people harbor nowadays. During the depression people held a higher concern for each other’s wellbeing due to the extreme poverty caused by the depression.

The crime committed in Yelm was much less destructive in nature than it is now, consisting mostly of speeding and a few robbery offenses. Interviewees reported a decrease in speeding only after the Yelm deputies acquired vehicles that could out speed or even catch-up with the speeding culprits. Yelm Deputies were notorious for giving speeding tickets only to out-of-towners in an attempt to boost the local economy. There is no evidence that this technique ever actually boosted the local economy, but the interviewees were certainly not complaining.

(Source: Yelm History Project interviews)

Yelm and the New Deal

The sudden depression that followed the “Roaring Twenties” sent the United States spiraling in to a state of complete uncertainty. Instead of the average citizen having more time and money than they knew how to spend, they now had almost no money and spent their time looking for whatever available jobs they could find. Because of these unexpected and horrific circumstances, the government was in need of some adequate solutions, and fast. The result was the launching of the New Deal by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This program dealt with many of the problems facing the nation on both an agricultural and industrial level. Thanks to the New Deal, the nation was soon well on it’s way back to the comfortable lifestyle that it once knew. Surprising as it may be, our little town of Yelm did not escape joining the nation in this particular crisis, nor was it left out of the programs that helped this nation recover.

Yelm experienced all the mainstream problems that plagued the nation during the depression. Unemployment was obviously high, and even those who were employed made very meager amounts to live on. Bob Wolf’s family owned the local grocery store and he said that they extended enormous amounts of credit as well as being involved in “…bartering and exchanging food, but not a lot of cash was involved.” His mother wrote in his baby book, “The banks have crashed. We’ve lost everything that we had in the banks…we’ll never get that back.” It was a time of despair for the entire country and the situation was no different in the prairie town of Yelm.

The economy of Yelm during the depression was certainly reflective of the country as a whole. The decline in gross returns of the prominent berry industry that was a major economic influence in the district is evidence of the crisis as it occurred in Yelm. Despite the fact that in 1931 the district was estimated to have produced twice as many berries as in 1928, the gross return in ‘31 was notably less than the $35,000 revenue from ’28, as it produced a mere $30,000. Furthermore, property tax rates reflect the declining Yelm economy as well. The following chart shows the funds received by Yelm High School from levies on property taxes from the beginning of the depression to the very height of it.

As you can see the funding dropped dramatically over the first few years of the decade. That decline compounded with the fact that the needed funds for the year 1936 were approximately $15,605, and the district actually received $14,536 led to the demands of the superintendent for a new levy in ‘37. In all actuality, the fact was that property values had severely declined as a result of the national depression and there simply was no money for the schools, or for anything else.

The New Deal brought a new sense of hope for many Americans. Early New Deal developments included the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933. This set new standards for labor such as a minimum wage of $.30-$.40/hour, a standard work week set at 35-40 hours/week, and laws prohibiting child labor. This was great news for those who were fortunate enough to be employed. The Public Works Administration monitored and stabilized government spending. This was a helpful development considering that many theories attributed the unstable spending of the government to the numerous causes of the depression. The Glass-Steagal Act set up the FDIC and guaranteed up to $2500 of money invested in banks, which would prevent many tragic cases like that of the Wolf family in the future. All of these developments were fundamental in restoring faith in the government in its future endeavors. However, the people realized that, while in the future these developments would be incredibly stabilizing, the problem remained that people were poor, starving and in need of help right now.

The result was the series of work relief programs that would follow during the larger part of the 1930’s. Many of the programs implemented were focused on the immediate recovery of the economy. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a program that focused on re-growing and preserving the forest and was geared toward young men in somewhat urbanized areas. The CCC was present in Yelm in the form of a camp on the outskirts of Rainier. This site was funded by the government and employed a number of men from the area. In 1936 the farmers in the Yelm area were offered a chance for rehabilitation. Farmers were allowed to apply to the County Relief Agency for “temporary subsistence grants” until they could get their farms back at a profitable level. Also offered was a way to stabilize their farms and make them profitable by adjusting their debts and giving them loans for the goods needed to do it. Another program that was implemented in the early 30’s was the National Youth Administration (NYA) whose primary concern was the education of the youth of America. They sought to provide the necessary funds for students to continue the pursuit of their education. In Yelm the NYA presented many opportunities for the small farm town where children were needed to maintain the crops during this time of crisis. In fact, in 1935 the Nisqually Valley News reported that the government would be providing Yelm High School with $100 a month which would be given out to students whom the district felt were worthy and in need of it. Any student over the age of 16 was able to receive up to $6 per month and were required to do some type of designated job in order to earn the much needed money. Many students were able to remain in school because of this program in Yelm. Other types of relief programs available in Yelm and the rest of the nation included Mother’s Pensions and welfare programs with very specific income requirements. These programs helped tremendously in the area of Yelm; however, the biggest aid during the depression came from the many government-funded jobs that were implemented by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

The WPA was a larger version of the preceding Civil Works Administration (CWA). The CWA was a government-funded program that provided civilians with employment on government projects such as roads, bridges, dams, etc. The much broader WPA was apparent in many cases in Yelm. The government-funded Yelm Irrigation project, which focused on increasing the capacity of the main canal, was estimated to have employed around 25 men for 10 months in 1935. In November of that same year the government provided necessary funds for the $16,500 Yelm creek project. The goal of this project was to decrease the amount of flooding that was prevalent during the winter as well as providing work for 20-40 men over a period of 6 months. The $9,350 Yelm city streets project was commenced close to the same time. This project was designed to employ 12 men to finish making concrete sidewalks on Yelm’s main avenue and to improve the gravel sidewalks on the side streets of Yelm. All of these programs were essential in the recovery of the Yelm economy and the national crisis as a whole.

The impact of the depression on the economy of the United States is undeniable. The vast decline in employment, income, and the standard of living portrayed the immense crisis that plagued the nation and that certainly did not exclude Yelm. The New Deal programs implemented by Roosevelt were incredibly helpful in directing the nation toward recovery. In Yelm, programs such as the CCC, the NYA, and the many opportunities for welfare assistance were particularly helpful. Overall, though, the WPA was absolutely imperative in sending the city of Yelm back toward recovery. The experiences of Yelm with the depression and the New Deal were certainly reflective of the experiences of the nation as a whole.

Women desired to make lasting changes that they felt were necessary in society. They yearned to demonstrate their ability to be as effective and important as their male counterparts. The need to improve themselves was also a concern. The clubs that women organized often paid strict attention to parliamentary procedure. With parliamentary procedure they proved they were capable of being organized as well as executing programs and decisions with efficiency.

The main focus of the clubs was to better the community. Several clubs were founded solely upon the desire to improve Yelm while others were created to support an interest or hobby yet still held community service as important. The Garden Club, for example, participated in many floral competitions and shows but also took it upon themselves to make wreaths for each veteran’s grave and to landscape parts of the community. The Civic Club was the most service minded of the clubs in Yelm. Some of its activities were garbage disposal, making sidewalks and courtesy ramps, clean up days, erecting signs, playground improvement and landscaping. Another important service was provided by the Orthopedic Auxiliary. This Club provided care for the children in the community by treating them for their bone ailments, which often resulted in full recovery.

Patriotism was proudly displayed by the Navy Mothers of Yelm. These women volunteered countless hours at the recruiting booth, provided Christmas parties and meals for local troops and held bond drives. One of the most successful drives brought in six thousand dollars.

Women put a large amount of effort into each of the clubs that they founded or participated in. Women were effective in initiating and carrying out major civic programs in an organized manner. This was a quality of their work that proved they had the same business capabilities as men and were able to administer them. The good that resulted in the town of Yelm was a landmark to the women’s good character, hard working mentality and desire to give to society.

By Kara Lowe (2002)

(Source: The Story of Yelm: The Little Town With the Big History, 1848-1948)