During the 1930's the Canadian economy was dependent on the export of raw materials such
as wheat, lumber, and minerals, all of which saw foreign markets plummet after
1929. Manufacturing companies in Canada were
forced to cut back on production and lay off workers because of the dramatic
slump in demand for the goods they made.
Unemployment skyrocketed. Young,
single men, frequently in search of their first jobs after leaving school, were
particularly affected. Many of them traveled
across the country, hitching rides on railway freight cars, in what was all too
often a vain search for work.
During the Great Depression, many desperate Canadian wrote directly to
Prime Minister Bennet, Appealing to him for assistance. There were few other places they could turn
at that time, since there were few social welfare programs in place, and the
need was so great. Bennet a Millionaire,
actually did answer many of these pleas for help, often enclosing a small
amount of money in his reply.
Post a comment in the form of a letter to Prime Minister Bennett as if you were either, an unemployed Canadian
man traveling across the country in search of work, or a mother with four small
children struggling to survive. The
letter should contain details of the problems the writer is facing along with
an appeal to Bennet for help. Remember,
Bennet, his government and many wealthy Canadians thought it was unacceptable
for people to get “something for nothing”.
41 comments:
Dear Mr. Bennet,
I write to you as a wife of a farmer and mother of four small children. My children and I have been alone on our farm for months now while my husband travels across country looking for a job. The topsoil in our fields has long since blown away, and we’ve had to sell majority of our livestock in exchange for food. It’s been weeks since I’ve received word or money from my husband and my children are starting to go hungry. Their clothes are worn through and constantly dirty from the dust. I’ve bleached and cut up the last of our potato sacks to make dresses for my two girls. The pogey payments we get at the end of the month don’t last long, for half of it is spent on feed for our horse and cow. Mr. Bennet, I know that as Prime Minister you have many other duties besides reading the complaints of a struggling mother. I plead that you at least open this letter and know that majority of your country is helpless. My husband is working, or trying to find a job when he isn’t. I request a small loan in order to feed my two girls, Mary and Liza, and my two boys, James and Pat. In about 3 to 4 months I’ll send you the money to pay it back when my husband sends us part of his earnings.
Regards, S.R.
Dear Prime Minister Bennet,
My name is Thomas Lore; currently I am looking for work in the Prairies, so that I can feed my wife and our three children. I had left my family after a dust storm ravaged and destroyed my farmlands, leaving barely any land to farm. The rain hasn’t fallen in months and I fear that it won’t for many years. Our crops had been plentiful before the tragic years of war, but now they are pitiful.
Mr. Bennet, if you could send a bit of money to feed my family and help them get by, until I find a job and send them money myself, it would be most appreciated. Please sir, don’t let my family starve, they are all that I have left in this world. I don’t mind that I sound desperate, but I need assistance from you for my family’s sake.
I know I must not be the only one who is writing to you, but this goes to show that our country is in trouble and people are in crisis. This country will lose people over here just like we did over in Europe, except this time we can avoid the tragedy. Please sir, as our great Prime Minister, please send my family help as soon as you can, I cannot bear the thought of not returning to my family and not holding my sweet angels in my arms.
From,
Thomas .J. Lore {K.M.}
March 6, 1932
Dear Prime Minister Bennett:
This has been the worst year since I can remember. I am a farmer on the prairies and the drought has been such a hardship on me and my family. The price of wheat has hit its all-time low at 54 cents. No one is buying or can buy from me. The wind blows everyday making are topsoil disappear. Dust storms happen constantly, the dust is everywhere. The dust even makes it a challenge to breath. I am so worried for my two children and wife. Since the drought we have not been able to grow any food. I fear that they will starve. Even the food I am able to grow the grasshopper swarms wipe it out. I am running out of ideas of what I should do. I even left my family to try to find work in a different city, but I’m having no luck. Every city I go to they threaten to throw me in jail for trying to take their jobs. I really do not intend to steal anyone’s job; I just want me and my family to survive. I have even collected the pogey, but it is still not enough for my family to survive. The vouchers I get are never enough, and they do not even cover things like tooth brushes and tooth paste. Now that I have collected it, I am severely discriminated against. No one will lend me anything. I am at a total lost what to do. All around me people are struggling to survive. While I have been travelling around looking for work I have met many other men in the same situation as I. I know many other man have asked you this but out of the kindness of your heart could you please spare me some money.
Sincerely, John Rutherford
M.M
To the honorable Prime Minister Bennett,
My name is Catherine, I live in Northern Manitoba, and am in major debt right now. My husband is the only one who supports the family right now because I am expecting a fourth child within this month. He was laid off last week as a lumberjack because of lack of work, and left town to search for more jobs. Yesterday he fell off a train and broke his leg and I have no money for gas to go pick him up. He is staying with some old friends in that town; however they cannot afford to take care of him for very long. On top of that we can’t even afford to pay for a doctor because I need to feed the children, so he may never be able to work again. The neighbors are giving me as much as they can afford but it will only go so far. My oldest child, Jack is only 9 years old and nobody will hire him with the shortage of jobs. With a husband in a different town who cannot work, 3 young children, and a pregnancy there is no way we will be able to last very long. We just moved away from our farm so there is no way to produce our own food now. I wrote you this letter because I need you right now. I am asking that you help me somehow because I know that deep down you have a good heart. My family needs you.
Sincerely,
Catherine and the children
(Jessica J)
Dear Prime Minister Bennett,
My name is Alice, I live in Saskatchewan and I am a young mother. I have four children, Bobby (2), Eric (4), Katherine (5), and Oliver (7). My children mean the world to me and we are on the brink of death at the moment. Three of my children have been pulled out of school because all of the teachers have fled from the area. In fact, we are the only family left in the neighbourhood because everyone has left for other provinces. My husband, Alexander was deported a few months earlier. Alexander has Jewish ancestry and while he was “riding the rails,” one of the towns he stopped at caught him and deported him. Alexander was the sole provider for the family, while I stayed back and took care of the children. The news came out of nowhere and I now have to take care of my children all by myself in a town where the soil does not stay on the ground. The sandstorms here are brutal, as a matter of fact, it is difficult to even see where you are going. I have considered moving out to a different province as my neighbours did, but there is no means of transportation left in the city, since we cannot afford a car, and no one is left in the town. Also, the trains and buses are stalled, which would mean that we cannot rely on a public form of transit either, however, we couldn’t afford it anyway.
I have shared with you some of the troubles we face here in Saskatchewan and I request your assistance. Prime Minister, please help us. I am not asking for you to give me $50 dollars, I am requesting a small loan so that I can leave this town and hopefully start somewhere new. If you could I am wondering if you could give us $8 so that my four children and I can leave town. We do have cattle here on the farm and you are welcome to have them. They can be the payment, but if this is not enough, I will find a job in a different town and give you back the money. I have never asked for charity and I never intended to, but you are my last resort.
Mr. Bennett, I hope you will find it in the kindness of your heart to help out my family and I. I will pray for you every day if you do take pity on me and help me out. I understand what I am asking for may seem absurd, because I am asking for money without working, but I really do need it. My husband obviously cannot help me out much now, but I am hoping that you will. If you do decide to help us, please try to quickly. I am running out of food for my children. In fact, we haven’t eaten for a day now because we are trying to conserve food, but I will die for my children. If I am not alive by the time you respond to this letter, please make sure my children make it out of this town safe and sound. God Bless You.
Sincerely, Alice Whitaker
KG
Dear Prime Minister Bennett,
My family and I are in a great danger of losing each other amongst everything else we’ve had to watch disappear from us. I’m a widow with four young children that I desperately need help to keep healthy and alive at this point. We live on prairie lands just outside of Palliser’s Triangle, our home, farm, and land has all been taken over by the dust. I crop my own fields and land as much as I can alone and I was working on using what I could for planting soil but the drought dried up everything we had, beginning from scratch once again I thought things were going alright. The day my youngest son walked into our kitchen as I was preparing lunch was the day it all changed, he spoke as the muggy wind drifts blew into the kitchen and slammed the cupboard door shut. I picked him up and peered out the window to see a heavy dark black cloud sweeping across the fields as far as we could see, it was coming closer and it was coming fast. I gathered the rest of my children from outside, watching the cloud rush up to our hectares of land getting darker and stronger as I could no longer run holding my boys but merely force my feet to even take another step forward. The dust was so thick it was like the sky was dropping dense blankets of dirt over top of us, the wind picked up rapidly and was tearing away the crops and structures one by one as I tried getting my family to safety. I didn’t know where to go at one point, I really thought that this would be it, I was going to lose my family and none of us were going to survive. I managed to bring all of us to safety, in one of our vacant old barns alongside the house I had dug down into the ground for a day of disaster like this. We sat there huddled together waiting, waiting for this storm of grey and black to blow away and pass. After praying and only hoping that this monstrosity would end I could then see across the paths to the house more clear now, the rapid wind had stopped and I took my boys inside of our house. My home is destroyed, there are sand piles taller than my children stacked up in every corner, cupboard doors and shelves ripped off and are nowhere to be found. Grasshoppers infested every inch of the floor boards and furniture, dead and alive they are everywhere. Please Bennett I am asking for help, I have worked my whole life to fend for my family first and myself second. I am now asking for help from you, my land had to be abandoned and I live every day more devastated than the next.
Sincerely, Elizabeth Burke
BK
Dear: Mr. Bennett
My name is Tyler Sanchez, and I’ve worked in a factory in Winnipeg since I can remember. A few months ago the factory I worked at shutdown due to over production. Without the factory I am unable to support my family whom I had to leave behind as I travelled west in search of work. So far my search for a new source of money has been fruitless, and the food and money I left with my family is going to be gone soon. I am asking as a working citizen of Canada that you please send money to my family while I search for work. It kills me to think of what my family is going through, and I wish I could be with them, but if I was to give up my search then there would be absolutely no hope for the survival of my family. I will not stop searching until I’ve reached the ocean, but that will take many days, days I fear my family back home does not have. This is why it is urgent that money gets to them as soon as possible. I have already sent all the money I intended to use for traveling, but the life of my family is more urgent than mine. I will be able to handle myself as there are many people I have encountered who understand my problem and are generous enough to let me rest at their homes and give me some of their rationed food. Please Mr. Bennett from where I stand now it looks like there may be no work for miles and miles and my family needs food.
T.S
To: Mr. Bennett
My name is J.G. I am currently unemployed and I have declared bankruptcy. I have been sending what little money that I collect from pogey home to feed my family and for this I am looked at as a criminal in the eyes of the currently employed.
I am writing to you now in my time of need. I have been away from home for more than two months searching for work and I have been unsuccessful. I have been as far away from home as the train would take me. I have slept on benches and under newspapers just trying to make it by long enough hoping that the next day I’ll find a job. I have met many good men that are just like me. We are all doing this so that are family’s may live.
My home is nothing but a building for the monstrous storms to tear apart and blow down. I am doing my best to move them to the town but I can’t afford it. So I am asking you to make a small donation to my family so we can at least be together for the last little bit we have. This would be very much appreciated and I would be forever in your debt if you can help me out just this one time.
Yours Truly:
J.G
Dear Prime Minister Bennet:-
Harsh times are these. Never before had I seen such a large black hole, swallowing everything in its way, along with our hopes and dreams. I am just a poor mother of four, struggling to keep my children alive; my husband was let go from the factory he worked at. We cannot scrap by on the pogey that my husband faithfully goes to receive, and I don’t think we can bear the humiliation any longer. Respected we were, the church knew and recognized us; now, when my husband steps outside the door it is followed with immediate snickers and hushed voices. Every month he goes just to yell out his financial grief, receive barely enough for our meals, and then come home with his head hung with shame. I am just a farm wife sir; I’ve no special talents or any real skill. I know only how to keep my family happy and my farm looked after, however, now that this drought has hit us so hard, I’ve no idea what I am to do. The ground is no longer able to support our crops and every day I listen to the hungry cries of my children. My husband, thinking only of us, left to find work elsewhere. Watching him walk away, through the dust, with the distant chirping of the grasshoppers was the harshest part so far. I’ve no way of reaching him until he has the time to send me a letter. I don’t know how I am to sleep at night anymore. Times are so hard that I am starting to fear for my mind; God forbid that my children’s mother lose her mind and become of no use to them. Timothy, Grace, Suzie, and Jonathon, those are the names of my beautiful children. They help as much as they can, but the oldest being only 14, they can’t do much. My poor children sir, they already look so homely I tear up when I see them. About three days now I have gone with no food so their tummies will be just a little bit fuller. I like to think that the extra food is helping, but I cannot go forever without eating. I am hungry sir; it is taking all of my energy just to write this letter to you. I know that you are a generous man, and will not allow my children to live motherless. They are far too long to fend for themselves, especially in these times. Now, with no one to do the heavy liftin’, and the farm rendered completely useless, I’ve no other option. Please sir, help us with some financial relief. I can no longer listen to my children cry themselves to sleep, I can no longer lift my spirits for the non-existent rain every morning, I can no longer lay awake every night listening to the grasshoppers. Please sir, anything will help us.
kp
March 6, 1931
To Richard Bennett, Prime Minister of Canada
Hello sir, my name is G.W and I would like to address a few problems that many of us Canadians are facing right now. I am currently on the road searching for work while my wife lives at home with my four small children. Times are really rough for us and I don’t know how long they can survive like this. There is no available work and where ever I go, and I am looked at as a criminal by trying to come and take their jobs.
The farm that I have back home is nothing but a wasteland because of all of the dust storms that come and blow every last piece of fertile soil away, there is no way to plant crops and that makes it even more difficult to live because aside from having nothing to sell, we have nothing to eat. I can assure you that I am not the only one living like this; thousands of men like me have had to leave the people that they love to come try and find work away from home.
If you can help get me back on my feet, I promise that I will do my best to either get my farm up and running again, or find another job that will help out with the situation we are in. I know these are bad times for everyone, but would you please be able to help me out? It would be most appreciated if you are able to help out with our cause.
Sincerely,
G.W
Dear Prime Minister Benet,
My name is Garrett Lakey and I live in Estefan Saskatewan, I own a farm and can barely pay off my debt which threatens to take it from me. The farms crops are what keep us from declaring bankruptcy. Times are getting worse now, there is a drought attacking the prairies and with the topsoil being abused from farming for the war it is useless to plant for nothing will grow. When the odd farmer who has plant able land goes to harvest their crops they are either destroyed by tremendous dust storms or ravaged by grasshoppers. There is no way to get a job out here for there are no jobs. Any kind neighbor around here is turned into stealers and murderers due to their need to survive. Our house is literally filled with dirt for its no match for the massive storms. Every night I go to sleep with the presence of sand in my sheets. It’s heart breaking to see my family this hungry and hopeless. The only thing I am able to feed them are animals I have shot for food if I have money for bullets. On most nights we live off snared small game or grouse. Even water is hard to find for the constant dirt infects every drop. I understand you as the Prime Minister are facing crisis everywhere and that other parts of Canada feel the depression as well but we are certainly the worst. I’m sure you certainly have your hands full with the depression in other parts of Canada but if you could send a small amount of money to my family we would be very grateful.
Sincerely Garrett,
March 6, 1931
Dear Prime Minister Bennett
I have been starving for 8 weeks, I have no job and I don’t know if it is going to get better. I thought this would all pass over within a couple of weeks. I didn’t believe that things would be this bad.
I like to say I live with my family but the sad thing is I don’t know where home is. I travel across Canada to search for work but the competition is fierce. I’m not the only one out here riding the rails day by day. I miss working on my farm in Saskatchewan with my boys but right now all I have is hope. I would like to think that nobody could take that away, but my patience and hope are tested. My days of happiness are numbered for my worries about my family are boundless.
However I have received a letter from my wife in Saskatchewan claiming that the skies are no more than grey pale haze. I have been told stories about the dust storms taken a toll on the prairies. How the dust gets into the cupboards and closets and every 9 hours you have to sweep a pail of dirt off the floor.
I worry about my family because I care about them. I starve myself so I can try to support my family. Days are rough, and life comes at you with tough times and hard choices. I believe that sometimes you have to do the right thing even though the wrong thing would be a whole lot easier. So I ask you what, do you believe in.
-AM
March 5, 1933
Dear Prime Minister Bennett,
My name is Joseph Carlson and this letter is from all the members of my family, my friends, and I. I have a wife and two children named Sydney and William. Our family and my ancestors have all been farmers – I was a very successful farmer just five years ago. However, this terrible drought has ruined my family’s life. Crops are not growing because the soil is completely useless. Huge, powerful winds come frequently, blowing most of my topsoil away. It seems as though these dust storms come every day. Right now, however, I am writing this letter on a train because I am forced to abandon my family and my home. Sydney and William are at home, starving, waiting for me to send food and money back. It has already been a week since I started riding the rails – I have already visited countless jungles but I am still homeless and jobless. Many other men that I have met in the train also have similar situations as me. This economic depression is not going away without your help, Prime Minister Bennett. You must bring change to this country. I fear that my family back home will die of starvation. My friends and I are desperate for change. My friend, Joseph, has also written to you and he has received a reply back with a small amount of money in the letter. I am aware that many people are writing to you at this moment – because we are all in need of your help. Rumors have it that you are a millionaire living in a gigantic, fancy house. I do not want any of that; all I want is for my family to survive. The fact that you read everybody’s letters and send them money demonstrates that you are a kind person. Please help my family by sending just a small fraction of your money – you have no idea how much that would help. More importantly, I wish you would think of a solution for this big economic depression in Canada. I have always been an optimistic person but even I do not know if things are going to be better soon. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
Sincerely,
Joseph Carlson
EL
Dear Mr. Bennett,
I am on the brink of insanity. Not only has my husband abandoned his wife and four children, but he has also left us with nothing. He’s taken our cows, horses, and wagon hopes of selling them for a decent amount of money so that he may find a job in the city and live there for the remainder of his life. He has taken all the pogey and food in our cupboards and left us with peanut shells, scraps of hay, a large debt to pay, and the sand from his boots. With five mouths to feed, a land as naked as a newborn baby, and air thicker than churned butter, I beg of you, sir, to give us what little food you have, even measly crumbs brushed off your breakfast table. I promise to do my very best to rejuvenate the land that has been blown away from us so that it may serve you and this country for future generations.
Looking at our current condition, I fear that my children and I will not survive. The dust and sand is much too dangerous for their lungs, and whatever valuables we have go to our debt collector.
Strangled, poisoned, or drowned, I'd rather have my children leave this way than by pneumonia or starvation.
Gretchen Curdle
B.C.
May 9, 1932
Dear Mr. Bennett;
My name is Johnathan Eric Maisey. I have been unemployed since September 16 of last year when the Jenson Paper Mill was shut down due to a lack of income. What money I had saved for myself during the late twenties has all but run dry. I had to leave my family to find work, which was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. I have a wife who is pregnant and two small children already. My daughter Lucy is three and my son is five, his name is Daniel. I only turn to you because my search for work has been almost entirely in vain. I know it must be hard running a country in these difficult times, but at least you have a job. Men need to work; we need our families. This depression has taken everything from us but the rich just sit in their houses sipping champagne and eating expensive chocolate with their friends while we are stuck riding the rails because the government, your government isn’t taking care of its people. The depression is not your fault. It is the war’s. Over production has caused our economy to collapse. Our fields have dried up. We’re not looking for someone to blame we just need help. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
Sincerely,
Johnathan Eric Maisey
Dear Richard Bedford Bennett,
I am a hardworking man trying to keep my family alive. I am reaching out to you for help on this day because of the dust storm that took away our families entire farm. This resulted in the loss of all our produce and our wheat for the year. All of it gone in the blink of an eye. This is a very tragic loss that has left me leaving my family to go in search of a new way to get enough money for my family to just survive. Our eldest son Johnathan has decided to stay and look after the farm and house while I go searching for a new job. We also have two other kids, Olivia and Margerett. Olivia is 11 and Margerett is 4. I fear that they will become very sick soon since they haven’t eaten in 3 days. They mean the world to me. If I lost just one of my children I don’t think I could go on living any longer. So I am reaching out to you for any help at all. I am pleading to you, Please Prime Minister Bennett help me and my family. And since I had over produced my land I had very little topsoil anyways the wind swept it all away. Along with the drought these are the worst conditions my family has ever experienced. So as i go across the country for work and some money at all, please Prime Minister Bennett help my family.
Sincerely Gordon Levitt,
B.A.R
My babies are starving and I cannot feed there hungry stomachs. I am a just one woman. My man has gone somewhere far in search of work. I have had heard no word from him of in in many mouths. I don’t think me and my babies can live off the old harvest much longer. We had hope that we would plant a small crop with what money we had left but no! A great storm had come blowing away our only chance at survival. It was horrible we went down to the seller and could do nothing but wait, as our whole lives work was scattered across the country. When we emerged from the protection of our simple four wall house there was naught a thing left. All the land had been striped, and all that remained was sand. Such as a dessert we could not even plant the hardest of turnips. My oldest a sweet girl of 12 is the only one who could even remember the rain. Oh how I prayed for rain, even the lightest of showers would bring me some hope for the better. So please any money would be greatly appreciated thank you for listening to my strife.
Sincerely
Loran Mark
L.S.
Dear Mr. Bennet,
I know that you recieve a large amount of these letters, or at least I can assume so. Times are tough, and they are only getting tougher. My husband has left me and our two boys to go to one of the work camps your government set up. He left our two boys and I to run the farm, or what is left of it. Our animals are dead or sold, we could not afford to feed them any longer. Fresh milk is now a long forgotten memory.
Mr. Bennet, its not only the depression that is killing us, it is this drought. Our crops are dead, and our soil is gone. The wind picked it up and blew it away. I watched one morning, as I washed our linens, as the wind blew out across the plains and spun the dry soil up into the air and carried it away.
So please, Mr. Bennet, send us some money. I know you recieve many of these letter, but Mr. Bennet, please. My boys need to eat. Please.
Sincerely,
Lucy Grey
C.M.
sup lewis
Dear Mr. Bennet,
My name is Cam Andrist, I’m from Northern Ontario, and I’ve been hopping on different trains and travelling across my country looking for work to support my family which I left behind about a month ago. I gave them all the money I had left when I decided to leave, even though it wasn’t much, it still gives them a chance to survive. I know you are very busy man and you have many letters being sent to you daily. I just want to know that you care. If you do help me or my family, I will ensure you have 5 votes coming to you in your next election. Please just give me or my family help. I hope to hear back from you about my situation. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Cam Andrist.
Dear Mr. Bennett
My name is Simone O’Donnell; I am a mother of two very beautiful children, a boy and a girl. My son is only of five years and has been diagnosed with pneumonia. He’s very sick. I have been out of work for a while now, my husband has gone off to the city to find work but I am doubtful he will succeed. I am left with nothing more than barren lands and unfruitful crops. We have no money, no way of providing for the family, or even for any care for my son. All around is peril and distraught families, discriminated against for things that aren’t their doing. You are to me a good and great man, and you would have a further place in my heart if you would help us. I know that if I go to anyone else I will be turned away immediately so I beg of you in good faith to please help.
Please allow this family to survive and prosper;
-Simone O’Donnell
Dear Mister Prime Minister Bennett,
I am a mother of two beautiful children and my husband has left to travel to find work. So far he’s found nothing, been to four towns and been arrested once already. Please help me feed my family, my son Adrian, he’s skin and bones, and his baby sister Alma-Rae, she’s sick and doesn’t have enough food or medicine. I’ve tried using the food stamps but my son, he’s a big boy, and my daughter can’t eat solids yet, she needs milk, which is never given away. Please find a way to help me, I’m not asking for money, I’m asking for a solution. I know there is not much you can do, but I trust in my heart you are a good person.
All my love and votes
Jennifer Marie Wattson
(Written By; J.Loney)
Dear Prime Minister Bennet,
Please take my letter into consideration for I know that this is one of many. I’m a single mother of four children due to the recent passing of my fifth child. My husband hasn’t returned home for months now and I have lost all hope in his discovery. I’ve been attempting to teach myself how to keep up the farming but it’s a lost cause. The harsh winds carrying sand and dirt have done nothing but turn my attempts into failures and destroy everything that has taken years to build up. I’m not looking to be just another charity case, but I have run out of options. The children are starving and exhausted. Their clothes are scarce and our fight for survival is dimming low. I’ve gone into town more than a few times searching for jobs but all are unavailable or non-existent. I’ve run out of options and you are the last hope for my small children. Anything, even just the smallest loan, would mean the biggest difference at this point. I will surely find a way to return the favor whenever you request it.
Sincerely, Katherine Lane.
J.W.
Dear Mr. Bennet,
It has been two weeks since the sandstorm hit us. We have lost everything and are starving. I have two daughters and a baby boy and can’t even afford to give them a spot to eat. All of our animals and crops were lost in the storm so we have resorted to anything we can catch or shoot. Which has only happened once in the last two weeks. My wife has left us for no apparent reason and left me to care for the children and I have not heard from her since. That was a week before the sandstorm hit us. Yesterday we were approached by the police in the market in town which we had to walk to because we are unable to afford gas for our vehicle. He asked us to leave because it was “obvious we could not afford anything here” I guess that all I am asking from you Mr. Bennet is a donation.. not for me but the children. I would be forever in your debt.
Sincerely
A.G
Dear Mr. Bennet
I am writing to you from Regina, Saskatchewan where the depression that has gripped our country has hit us hard. I am writing to you asking for your help in these tough times. I know that you, a wealthy decent man will help my family and I get through this. My boy, who has just turned 9 last month, has become ill due to the conditions that we are facing here in the prairies. A sand storm has hit our farm and destroyed what we had left of our farm. Without food and with the harsh conditions, my boy has been bed ridden and I fear for him. My wife believes that we should leave the farm and come to the city in hopes that we will have a better life. But I cannot leave my family’s farm, which I have looked after for generations.
I am employing you to help us in the conditions that we are in, to send us a little money so that we might nurse my son back to health and get back on our feet. We believe that you are a decent man and we have heard what our neighbors have been saying about you. But I believe that you are more a man than what they say that you are. Please, anything that you could send to help us get through this would be appreciated.
Sincerely
R.W
Dear Mr. Bennet,
I normally would not do such a thing as ask for money, especially not from a prime minister such as yourself. I have nothing but dust and rotting crops on my farm I cannot supply any food to my family of 6. My wife was hit by a giant sand storm yesterday, I came home to find there was little of my barn left, to put it clearly it had blown away. My home was covered in a thick layer of sand every attempt to dig it out more sand seems to appear out of nowhere. The other day I went to a nearby town to find work and as I hopped off the train I was confronted by the police who promptly arrested me for “vagrancy” the towns people shouted at me with anger, for there were no jobs and I had come in search of them. I am only trying to provide for my family, you do not know the pain it brings me at night when my kids look at me and all say “daddy! We are hungry!” most nights I can only give them soup my wife has made from some cabbage and water and a few spices. Our money has run out and our food supply shall soon follow in its footsteps. With Christmas fast approaching I don’t know how I will handle not being able to provide any gifts or food. I do not ask for much and I swear I will repay my debt to you. If only you could see the pain and suffering out here on the prairie’s, It is a vast land full of dust and suffering people, Please help us Mr. Bennet I so need it.
Signed,
Kieran Nadeau
Dear Prime Minister Bennet
My name is Webster, I am the mother of 4 young children, Ava K (2), Damian (3), Carleton (5), and Miguel (6). We live in the prairies and we have seen literally everything vanish before our eyes, our farm, house and all of our land has been covered in dust, it’s a miracle that we are still alive. My husband has gone looking for work and the other day he had fallen out of a moving vehicle and broken his pelvis, without our farm we have literally no income. We don’t have enough money to afford a doctor and without one I don’t know if my husband will ever be able to work again. I have no idea how long we will be able to live off of virtually nothing and I don’t know when or if my husband will return with any money. The neighbors have helped me out with food but I don’t know how much longer they will be able to help me and my family out. I am writing you this letter because I am in dire need of help and I know that deep down you are a good loving person, I don’t ask for much all I need is enough money to help pay for a doctor so that my husband will be able to work again and maybe enough to help get us back on track with food. I will be forever in your debt if you can help me out just this one time.
Sincerely yours
Webster.
J.R
Dear Prime Minister Bennett,
My name is Elizabeth Gordon. I am a mother of four young children, George (3), Thomas (5), Peter (7), and Kathleen (8). We are living on a farm in northern Alberta and are on the brink of starvation. Since the economic depression has hit so hard, no one is interested in buying our family’s crops anymore and my husband, Gregory, was forced to move into the city to search for a job to support our family. My children are becoming weaker as the days go on, my husband unable to find work to bring home an income so I can afford to feed my family. With the drought we are experiencing I am unable to even attempt to grow food for ourselves. Unfortunately this past week, my son Thomas was outside playing on the farm when he fell off the stable and injured his wrist. Because we have close to no money I am unable to take him to the doctor and pay for treatment. I have tried my best to treat him myself but it is very difficult when I have three other young children to look after. I am aware that you are a very busy man and am almost ashamed of myself to be pleading for your help, but I have run out of other options and until my husband finds work I’m afraid my family with wither away. If you send help our way you will be guaranteed another two votes from Gregory and I in the next election. Thank you Mr. Bennett for taking the time to read my letter.
Elizabeth Gordon {A.K.}
Dear Mr. Bennet,
My name is Colton, I have a wife named Micaela and a young son named Dallas. We live in a small home with nothing around us except our farm. The farm is starting to become a disaster, it is completely covered in dust and our family will no longer be able to produce food. We have started selling our livestock but who knows how long that will last. Dallas is nearly starving with little to no food for the past few days; we are poor and cannot live on like this. I have decided I will need to go away and try to find a job so I can send money back to my wife and kid; it is our only chance of survival. I am afraid that if I leave and don’t find a job soon that I will never see my family again; I am asking you Mr. Bennet for a small loan to be sent to my family for food and clothing. If you would do this for us it would be greatly appreciated by our family. I will acknowledge you forever and no that you were the one who saved my family; I will also repay my debt whenever possible.
Sincerly Colton
B.A
Dear Prime Minister Bennet, I knew things were going to be bad but I never expected things to get this bad, my farm in Manitoba has been ravaged by the draught and sandstorms, and I have been traveling all throughout Canada riding the trains in search of a job so I can feed my starving family. I have a wife and 4 children, named are Bobby who is two, John who is 4, Jacquelyn who is 5 and Sydney who is 2, none of them have seen a drop of rain since they have been born and I hope they live to. I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to my wife in months and I don’t know how they are doing now, the last time I heard from her she told me that she had been living off of pig grass, a plant that grows in the ditches. I’m not expecting to find a job anytime soon because of how little of them there are and how many people, but I haven’t given my hopes up yet. It doesn’t help that the police are arresting any vagrants, which gives me the impression that we are a threat to the local people. The other day I had to steal food from the market which I still don’t feel good about but when you’re starving you don’t have many other options. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this I don’t expect anything from you but I would appreciate anything at all.
Sincerely C.T.
Dear Mr. Prime Minister Bennett,
These past few weeks have been really tough for my family and I. During this depression my husband of four kids has died. He was our only income. My Husband and the father of my children’s death was very tragic. The children were so upset my youngest boy Jimmy stopped eating. I’m scared I don’t know where the next paycheck is going to come from. We have barley any food left and only a little bit of savings. I understand that you feel that people of Canada shouldn’t get money for nothing. But please Sir my family is in very much need of some cash. Words couldn’t explain many hours I spend away from my kids to find a job just to get food. I am a recent widowed mother of four kids and Jimmy isn’t going to last much longer. Please help me safe my child’s life. If you’d make even a small donation to my family and it would mean a great deal to us.
Yours truly, JL
Dear Prime Minister Mr. Bennet
I am normally not the kind to beg but in recent times my circumstances have not permitted me such pride. I humbly request your aid for I have nothing. I have left my family in search of work so that I may keep them and myself from starving. The bank took my house after I was fired because my employer could not afford to pay my salary. I have been riding the rails to get from place to place to find work but if I am not immediately turned away there is simply no work for me to do. I have been arrested for vagrancy and I honestly believe that prison has become a better place than my current situation. You are guaranteed at least one meal a day and a roof over your head. I am treated like a criminal but I have broken no law. I am looked down upon and chased away by authorities when I am just looking to provide for my family. I am not the only one with such problems and even so mine pale in comparison to what I’ve heard about life on the prairies. I met a man while hopping a train the other day who came from Saskatchewan. His farm had quite literally turned to dust and he and his family were forced out of their home by large storms of sand and wind. He tells me the horrors of a great black cloud standing taller than any building ravaging his and his neighbor’s lands. All that he owned including the land had been blown away. I would be sincerely grateful if you would aid me and my family and when I have earned enough I will return what I would owe.
Sincerely, Michael Burkitt
Dear, Mr. Bennett
It has been hard times for the Gill family. I Simarjot Gill have left my farm in hope to find work and bring my family out of our horrible times. So I ask for a little help financially to help put food in the mouths of my eight children and wife. They have not eaten in two and a half days. There have been so knarly sand storms in the last week and there is no longer any decent soil to grow food anymore. For this I will be grateful and greatly appreciated by my wife and kids.
Sincerely
Simarjot Gill
Dear Prime Minister Bennet,
I am a loving mother of four children, Estabon (10), Rick (7), Sam (5) and Emilia who is 2. I am in desperate need of help. My husband has left over a month ago in search for work, but has not returned yet. We are one of the few families that are left in the neighborhood; everyone else has fled to the city. I am struggling. I have tried taking a piece of fruit to share amongst us but I got chased down and the fruit did not make it back. I am very poor and do not have enough money to feed my children or support them, if I do not find a resolution soon, they will die. My youngest, Emilia, is very ill. I cannot even afford to buy her medicine that she is in much need of. I am begging for help Mr. Prime Minister. If you could send me something, anything that will help my poor children and my dog Arthur survive, we would be so grateful.
God Bless, TG
Dear, Mr. Bennett
It has been hard times for the Gill family. I Simarjot Gill have left my farm in hope to find work and bring my family out of our horrible times. So I ask for a little help financially to help put food in the mouths of my eight children and wife. They have not eaten in two and a half days. There have been so knarly sand storms in the last week and there is no longer any decent soil to grow food anymore. For this I will be grateful and greatly appreciated by my wife and kids.
Sincerely
Simarjot Gill (t.f)
Dear Prime Minister Bennet,
My name is Thomas Jamieson, at the moment I am looking for work, so that my family can survive. I have left my family to ride the rails in search for a job. I have failed to find one and I fear that I won’t be returning to assist them anytime soon. Our farm has been robbed of all of its soil, so now our crops will not grow. I have heard that there is many letters being sent to you, our country is in need. If you could send a bit of money to feed my family and help them get by, until I find a job and send them money myself, it would be most appreciated.
From: Thomas Jamieson
Dear Mr. Bennett,
This has been a hard time for me and my family. I’m a farmer on the prairies and the drought has filled mine and my family’s life with suffering. The price of wheat has dropped. I can’t even grow anything because the wind blows the soil away so I can’t grow anything. Even if I manage to grow anything the grasshoppers destroy all the plants. I have left my farm in search for a job. I have gone to many different towns in search for a job, but no luck finding one. Everywhere I go there is someone threatening me that they will send me to prison. I know many others have asked you for money but could you please lend me some.
Sincerely, S.G
Dear Prime Minister Bennett
My name is Jess Pettis and I have been scrounging for food for a month now. I have no job and it doesn’t look as if it is going in the right direction to go up hill. I was hoping after a couple of weeks went by I could have gotten over this issue. I didn’t believe it would have come to this. I have been all over the map traveling across Canada to look for work but nothing is coming together for me. I have been trying my all to support my family and make it the best for them. I miss working on my farm at home in Saskatchewan. I just received a letter from my family in Saskatchewan and all that is happening there is a massive sandstorm. My wife said when you look out the window all you see are big black clouds of dust, brownish haze and massive wind coming into your farm. The prairies have been taken a massive toll from the storms am very worried about my family, but I know if I try my hardest to support them now, it will pay off later. Once I have a steady job I can keep the food coming into the house and make it the best for them. Days are very long and very rough. Do you believe I am doing the right thing? Is there any way you can help? Greatly appreciated.
Oct 9th/13
Sicerely Jess
Dear Prime Minister Bennett
My name is Grace Pratt I am a mother of 6 beautiful childern. I am in some desprate need of help. I have nothing but dust and rotting crops on my farm I am not able to supply any food to my family. Last nigh a huge dust storm hit my farm and blew all my land away. All we have left is our house with no food.I have no job and it doesn’t look as if it is going in the right direction. I was hoping after a couple weeks even a month or so if i could have gotten over the issue of being deadbeat but i cant. I cant believe that it had to come down to this point. I am very worried about my family and i know if i try my hardest ill make it but im not to steady on what i have to do from here down in the dirt to be able to support my familys needs. Is there any kind of way that you Prime Minister Bennett could help my family and I out. Greatly appreciate your time.
Sincerely Grace Pratt
E.R
first letter home were in ypres now hope you guyd sre doing well theres so much going on our trenches sre full of water and everyone in the war hates it here we have to sleep in the mud everynight the artillery wont stop well i go to battle tomorow gotta get some sleep night i love you
second letter home we just came back from battle 1000 went 95 came back well thats it i guese love you
third letter home dear Mrs.grey this is the commanding officer for your sons regement we are sad to say that he has been killed in the line of duty i am very sorry for your lose Corperal Mergen. ben garcia
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