For the Great Depression, World War two interview I talked to one of the nicest elderly people you'd ever want to meet. Now he was not in the war in combat but he was among many who was fighting their own battles at home, against poverty, hunger, and fear.

Mr. Carroll Smith was born on December 28, 1915. Unlike most kids starting with an immediate home, Mr. Smith was an orphan. At a young age he was placed with a good family and gained a couple siblings (2 girls and 1 boy). Only his sister Helen is surviving but she is in the hospital with a stroke, his sister Ellen and brother George are deceased. When he was at an age to work (12) he began to help run the family farm. "Back then there was no machinery to help, you did things by hand and the summer of 1930 you were grateful to get a crop up to your knees because of the drought," Mr. Smith recalls,"Farmers were lucky if they had six horses and were envied by the other farmers who could only afford four." Mr. Smith told me how money was hard to come by "there was a lack of farm help because nobody could afford to pay anyone else," he said, "if you were lucky enough to get a job fifty cents was good pay and seventy-five cents had you jumping for joy."

Money was very hard to come by, there was no extra cash for clothes or things that we take for granted today. Around this time instead of having burlap feed bags for grain or sugar, manufacturers sent out feed bags with prints on them. These bags were ripped at the seam and when the product was used inside the bag the bag was made into clothing or curtains, even pillowcases and tablecloths.

Things weren't as crazy then as they are now a days. There were general stores and trading posts, sometimes a dozen eggs from your chickens could get you a bag of groceries from your neighbors. There was bartering and trading all over the place. Want an example of prices? Mr. Smith said that bread was five cents a loaf and eggs sold for twenty cents a dozen. Didn't feel like going to the store? ait till Saturday, Mr. Smith told me how he remembered Mr. Arnold and John Sauders, occasionally Old man Virts coming by with their milk cart where you could get cream, eggs and of course milk. Do you like the luxuries of refrigerators? Well, you wouldn't back then because refrigerators weren't around. Mostly in farm houses. There were only ice boxes. Just like the milk man there was an ice man, ice cost anywhere from fifteen cents to twenty five cents a block and cooled food for about three or four days give or take a few depending on the weather. "In the winter it was cheaper," Mr. Smith recalled, we'd go out to the river and take chunks of ice off it, then we'd bring it back to our ice house and pack it in straw or sawdust to keep it from melting. "Although the ice could keep food cool it wouldn't freeze anything so most meat was dried, and of course you did your own butchering, usually twice a year (once in the spring and once in the fall). Trapping was a good way to earn some extra money too.

Mr. Smith was able to remind me that we as people, used to show great kindness through little things. When soldiers came home from the war a lot of them had to hitchhike to get home, mostly if someone saw a solider they'd go out of their way to help knowing what they'd been through for our country. "There really wasn't all this violence like now people were glad to help one another," Mr. Smith said, "back then your doors could be unlocked and you didn't have to worry like you do now." He remembered how society ran: "There were USO clubs for soldiers to go dance and drink and the ladies could dance with them but that was all when the dance was over they went their separate ways, they couldn't leave together." "There was also a lot of interracial marriages with the U.S. soldiers, after all they could be stationed over seas for years."

By the time the war came Mr. Smith was working on a farm and he got deferred. But, I asked him about his spare time and what there was to do. He told me a lot. You probably didn't know that there was a streetcar from Braddock Heights, that was the "bees-knees" back then. ( it only cost ten cents to ride both ways. Because things were tight a lot of people found enjoyment in community picnics or festivals ( festivals are like carnivals without rides). Roller skating became really popular after all it wasn't expensive, it was fun and it's great exercise. More along the farming route people could take hayrides and have wiennie roasts.

" Well, around 1939, things started to look better right?" "People had no idea what they were in for,"Mr. Smith said. the economy started to look up but that's all. Want a new car? Well a 1939 Dodge was only $739, $750 if you wanted a 1940 Dodge. Women started to get paid more, fifteen dollars a week doing odd jobs in the summer and ten dollars a week in the winter ( this also included room and board). "Farmers started to get more too, seven dollars a week or even more when it came time to plow."

Then it happen ecember seven's neteen forty one in the morning a message was broadcasted across the radio. "I remember hearing how the Japs had bombed Pearl Harbor, but I don't remember what I was doing.""From then on all the men jobs in factories were starting to be done by women because most of the men went to war. Those were the days of Rosie the Riveter," Mr. Smith recalled,"that was the nickname for the women who worked in the factories." Mr. Smith recalled how there was rationing on almost everything,"we got books of stamps from the rationing board and when you used them up you didn't get anymore, and Roosevelt got these people together to try to help like the CCC and the WPA, I really don't think there was much Roosevelt could do but he tried to establish jobs for people and deliver a message of hope when all anyone could see was fear, I think he was probably one of the best presidents we've had."

along the farming route people could take hayrides and have wiennie roasts.

" Well, around 1939, things started to look better right?" "People had no idea what they were in for,"Mr. Smith said. the economy started to look up but that's all. Want a new car? Well a 1939 Dodge was only $739, $750 if you wanted a 1940 Dodge. Women started to get paid more, fifteen dollars a week doing odd jobs in the summer and ten dollars a week in the winter ( this also included room and board). "Farmers started to get more too. seven dollars a week or even more when it came time to plow."

Then it happen ecember seven'th: neteen forty one in the morning a message was broadcasted across the radio. "I remember hearing how the Japs had bombed Pearl Harbor, but I don't remember what I was doing.""From then on all the men jobs in factories were starting to be done by women because most of the men went to war. Those were the days of Rosie the Riveter," Mr. Smith recalled,"that was the nickname for the women who worked in the factories." Mr. Smith recalled how there was rationing on almost everything,"we got books of stamps from the rationing board and when you used them up you didn't get anymore, and Roosevelt got these people together to try to help like the CCC and the WPA, I really don't think there was much Roosevelt could do but he tried to establish jobs for people and deliver a message of hope when all anyone could see was fear, I think he was probably one of the best presidents we've had."

See even though Mr. Smith wasn't in combat and was a farmer there's a lot to learn from him. He's lived through things I wouldn't want to imagine going through, and hope I never have to. This was a very good assignment and made me realize just how much we have and how little time it would take to loose it all.

Kelly Loy
May 5, 1997