Great Depression Document Based Question
Industrious workers cried out for help from our government stating that they needed better working conditions, higher pay or relief from the seemingly hopeless situation. However, the government was apathetic towards these cries for help, often ignoring their desperate attempts to relieve their economic struggles. The letters continued to flood in, each one pleading for help about different situations.
Unsatisfied with the working conditions at his job in Plaquemine, Louisiana, R. J. wrote to Miss. Perkins describing the horrific situation and callous employers. Using imagery, he stated that “The bell rings at 2 A.M. in the morning when all should really be sleeping at rest. they work in the summer until 9 or 10 A.M. the reason they knock them off from the heat is not because of killing the labor from heat but they are afraid it kills the mule not the slave” (pg 172). The modern day resolution to this situation is that the government created it so if a worker works more than forty hours a week, the laborer will receive time and a half pay. Not wanting to pay the employee so much money, this causes the company to limit the hours they will work, resolving the issue of being overworked. …show more content…
cried out for the help from the government to increase the pay for these workers that needed to acquire skills for their job. Workers like this commonly worked for below the pay of unskilled laborers who did not work in factories such as The Brown & Williamson Company. To improve the worker's salary and answer their questions, the modern government created a minimum wage. By doing so, this made it so all employees, no matter where they work, must receive a set amount of dollars per hour. Therefore, the issue of being underpaid was