American History: A Survey (Brinkley), 13th Edition

Chapter 23: THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Primary Sources

1
The years 1932 and 1933 were the hardest of the Great Depression. Even normally conservative, business-oriented Fortune magazine was convinced that extraordinary measures were necessary in the face of the collapse of existing relief agencies and the inadequacy of the $300 million Emergency Relief Act. The excerpt below is from Fortune's September 1932 issue. Consider the following questions: Why were existing relief programs so inadequate? Why is it especially significant that a business-minded publication like Fortune would, in the autumn of 1932, stress the magnitude of the crisis and the failure of the response? What do you suppose the writer meant by the statement "One does not talk architecture while the house is on fire…"?

Fortune September 1932

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