Introduction
Eric Strikwerda’s book, The Wages of Relief: Cities and the Unemployed in Prairie Canada 1929-39, is an economic historical book of the Canadian history. Strikwerda tells of the economic development during the British colonial era and how British ruling until Canada was a fully independent nation affected the Canadian economy. It is an interesting historical book aimed at equipping the readers with profound knowledge of the economic activities and developments under the influence of the British colonialism. Canada is the largest importer of timber products from Northern America today and from the book, the readers learn that the British initiated timber trade when they ruled in Canada, and thus the rule’s impact on the Canadian economy is alive even in the contemporary times. In addition, employment and labor unions started during the colonial era as the author indicates.
Relevance of the Book to the Course Commentary
The above illustration has great relevance to the course commentary since the Great Depression and its impact on labor and the Canadian economy is deeply discussed in the course commentary, though in a different dimension. The author carried out his research about the topic effectively as it corresponds to the historic reviews of the Canadian history concerning the events of the Great Depression. From the course commentary From Great War to the Verge of Great Depression, the depression allegedly occurred due to the post war stress, but Strikwerda (20) argues that the depression emerged from global economic recession emerging from the crash of the New York Stock Exchange system.
The Wages of Relief is one of the best books on the Canadian business and labor history and it equips the reader with knowledge of the Canadian economic history at large before the 1940s, which also corresponds to the aim of the course commentary. Strikwerda argues that the Great Depression of the 1930s had a great adverse effect on the Canadian economy whereby the majority of economic activities were at recess, which rendered many people jobless, and thus they ended up depending on the government’s aid. This argument supports the book’s title, The Wages of Relief, as despite the people’s ability to work for their economic gains, there were no job opportunities and thus they were forced to rely on aid. Hence, the book is of great importance for academic purposes since it is based entirely on the historical development of economic activities in Canada during the British colonial rule, thus adding great deal of knowledge to the course commentary.
Review of the Book’s Thesis
Going by the title of the book, The Wages of Relief: Cities and the Unemployed in Prairie Canada, 1929-39, Strikwerda’s main objective is to add knowledge to the past literature on the Canadian economic history during the events of the Great Depression. The author tells of the historical growth of the Canadian cities and economic activities that brought about vast employment opportunities to the majority of the population long before the events of the Great Depression. Canada’s economic growth and development was largely influenced by the British colonialism that brought forth the economic activities such as timber, fir, and wheat trade between Canada and overseas nations. Mining activities were developed later coupled with manufacturing activities both of which created numerous job opportunities in the country. These activities resulted in the growth of towns and cities in the regions of their location as the majority of workers settled around those regions. Consequently, transport infrastructure was developed to ease the transportation of goods and services around those areas. In a bid to boost the economic growth, political growth was initiated and it gave rise to growth of administration centers around the country.
According to the author, these events took place simultaneously, and according to economists, the argument is valid as the majority of the economies grew due to economic and political activities. However, the events surrounding the Great Depression, which followed the events of post-World War I, shook the economic activities and nearly grounded them despite the prolonged growth and development. The majority of people in the country lost job opportunities and thus they became dependent on the government’s relief funds, as cities were largely populated and they experienced little growth and the country had experienced a poor harvest in the previous autumn of 1929. Hence, the entire economy was in crisis.
Looking critically into the thesis, the author argues that wages of relief, which is the illustration that population earned relief wage due to unemployment, emerged from the global economic recession in answering the question, “Who had caused the whole economic problem that faced Canadians?” In answering the question, “What Caused the global economic recession?” the author argues that the crashing of the New York Stock Exchange systems in 1929 was responsible. He further argues that the crash caused economic stress in the international markets and hence the import market crashed, thus causing stress in the local economy. These questions have valid answers that accomplish the author’s goal as illustrated by the thesis. Hence, the thesis is effective for the book since it is historically supported by the real events that had taken place during the 1929-39 periods.
Review on the Authority and Perspective of the Book
Looking into the first chapter one, titled “The City of Relief Machines”, we find that it is about the rise of unemployment in Canada in the late 1929 courtesy of the Great Depression. Historically, Canada had experienced a bad harvest in the previous autumn, and hence it was short of food security for the vast independent population that rose exponentially. The author argues that there was a great rural to urban migration due to the economic crisis, which forced people to move to industrialized cities looking for jobs in the manufacturing sector and others to the mining towns to seek jobs in the mines.
Unfortunately, there were no jobs; instead, those employed were losing their jobs as well. Consequently, the majority of the Canadian population became jobless, and thus they faced a great risk of economic poverty. Hence, they could be referred to as machines that depended on the government relief rather than people who earned their wages (Bernanke 98). Therefore, the title “The Rise of the City Relief Machines” is not an abuse to the suffering population; on the contrary, it shows the great impact of Great Depression on the Canadian economy and population.
On the other hand, the title seems to have another meaning whereby it defines the mechanisms that the government used to distribute relief and aid to the dependent population. A meeting that was convened in 1930 sought the cause of the mass unemployment and it found that the New York Stock Exchange crash was the major reason. Hence, the government had no internal control mechanism over this vice. In addition, the government could not issue relief and aid funds to religious organizations and private sectors as public money could not have been entrusted on them alone due to the great pressure from the crisis. Instead, the government participated in the relief mission over the suffering population through relief machineries, which were ad hoc relief administrations in every province.
In addition, Strikwerda’s book is purely an economy historical book that stresses on the events of the Great Depression and the adverse effects on Canadian economy. In a bid to support this thesis, the author presents numerous arguments based on economic growth and development of Canada during the British colonial era long before the events of the Great Depression. Among the most notable arguments outlined in the book’s chapters include the rise of city relief machines by the government, the anatomy of city relief, building cities, unemployment at work, and local responsibility in decline.
Beginning with the argument of the city of relief machines by the government, the author argues that the government established relief machines that aimed at assisting the religious and private organizations in the issuance of relief to the suffering population. This argument shows the great effect of the depression to the Canadian economy whereby the population in need of aid created pressure on religious and private organizations, thus forcing the government to intervene. In addition, the argument adds value to the thesis by acting as a proof of the exerted pressure on the economy by massive unemployment, and hence the great dependence on the government.
Secondly, the anatomy of city relief is another crucial argument that adds value to the thesis. Strikwerda argues that gender and administrative challenges engulfed the relief mission in Canada during the events of the Great Depression. The author’s argument that relief mission was a hard task for the society is a fact according to the historians’ arguments on the behaviors of capitalist nations (Parker and Whaples 78).Social and political conflicts are the order of the day in a capitalist nation, and thus the Canadian relief machineries could not have evaded the vice. In a bid to support his argument, the author illustrates the reluctance by the poor to accept the systems as the ruling elites founded the relief machineries and they discriminated against the poor when executing their missions. Strikwerda explains of the external forces from social groups that challenged the poor, but they did not succeed to demolish their stand as they had been founded on government’s policies and were guaranteed of protection. This argument shows the social problems surrounded the relief mission despite the society being in need of relief, but the entire problem was largely contributed by the political developments in the social phenomenon. However, this argument is weak when judged against the book’s thesis as it looks into social and political problems hampering the relief mission, while the thesis holds that the crisis came from the events of the Great Depression.
The third argument is building cities in the Canadian economy. This argument takes the readers back to the history of the Canadian economic growth and development whereby cities were built due to rise in economic activities. Going back to the first topic, “The Rise of City Relief Machineries” on page 28, there is a photo of Saskatoon city in 1902 and Strikwerda (28) describes the image as a movie-set image than a city. On page 29 in the same topic, the author gives a photo of the same city that was taken in 1912 and it appears to have grown at a faster rate when compared to the previous image.
Strikwerda argues that the fast growth rate of the city was due to urban migration and booming business in the city. This argument is supported by other economic history theories, which illustrate that booming businesses and population inflow into a city contribute to massive growth of the city in terms of buildings and other infrastructural components. This argument has a great significance to the theme in the sense that looking back to where the Canadian economy was coming from before the events of the Great Depression; it makes the readers feel the adverse effects of those events to the Canadians. In addition, the usage of the images of Saskatoon helps in enhancing the readers’ understanding of the fast growth rate of the Canadian economy in relation to the fast growth and development of cities.
The fourth argument is unemployed at work in which the author argues of the case where the unemployed were offered relief after doing work. The author mentions a case in Saskatoon whereby the administrator of child relief, Mr. Charlotte Whitton had written to Mordaunt Tomlinson, who was the Saskatoon’s City Clerk, wanting to know how the relief mission was proceeding and got the reply saying that the authorities gave relief to those who had worked (Strikwerda 135). Tomlinson said that his idea meant to eliminate paupers who could have taken advantage of the situation. This argument is of great quality in illustrating that the country had plenty of jobs to the unemployed population, but could not have offered reasonable job opportunities due to economic risks and uncertainties posed by the Great Depression.
Lastly, the author argues that the local responsibility in the country was in decline. He explains this argument by saying that the Great Depression exerted pressure on the leaders as the majority in the population believed that leadership failure led to the crisis. In addition, there was social segregation between the ruling elites and the poor in the society, which resulted in political division. Hence, the politics in the poor society were gradually growing fierce against the ruling elites, as the events of the Great Depression became real. Consequently, the majority in the population lacked faith in their leaders, which then resulted in leaders losing their responsibilities. This argument makes sense as at the end of the Great Depression, Prime Minister Mackenzie King declared war on September 10, 1939, despite the challenges that faced the country for the last ten years, as probably he thought there was enough money for war. This argument is of great importance to the thesis since it depicts the leaders’ moral authority in increasing problems to a country. The ideas are well represented, and thus the author did good research on facts, which support the validity to the thesis.
Conclusion
Strikwerda’s book is an outstanding economic historical book based on Canada and the events surrounding the Great Depression. Strikwerda presents his arguments with sufficient evidence, which makes the book unbiased. In addition, he looks into the Canadian economic history in trying to explain the main causes of the Great Depression as well as enhancing the readers’ understanding of his arguments. The book hinges on valid arguments based on historical evidences and it complies with the course commentary, and hence a good reading for the knowledge of the Canadian economic history.
Works Cited
Bernanke, Ben. Essays on the Great Depression, New York: Princeton University Press, 2009. Print.
Parker, Randall, and Robert Whaples. The Routledge Handbook of Major Events in Economic History, New York: Routlegde, 2013. Print.
Strikwerda, Eric. The Wages of Relief: Cities and the Unemployed in Prairie Canada, 1929-39, Montreal: Athabasca University Press, 2013. Print.