-Source: Author unknown from Vinland, NJ, Letter to Herbert Hoover, Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the Forgotten Man, 1930 “. . . Could we not have employment and food to eat. . . Why does Every Thing have Exceptional Value. Except the Human being— why are we reduced to poverty and starving and anxiety and Sorrow So quickly under your administration as Chief Executor Can not you find a quicker way of Executing us than to Starve us to death. . . how can we be Law abiding citizens and educate our children and be Happy Content with nothing to do nothing to eat. When your System has Every Thing under control and cant [sic] use It. nor will you give any thing [sic] a way [sic]. Why take more than you need, why make Laws and allow industry to take It all.”
The excerpt reflects many Americans’ belief at the time that the federal government was:
A. worsening the depression by intervening in the economy.
B. responding correctly and ensuring that the US economy will recover.
C. failing to address the immediate effects of the Great Depression.
D. prioritizing the plights of farmers over factory workers.