heat the courthouse ‘cause it was cheaper than coal.” People were desperate. I remember that farmers were stopping milk wagons and dumping milk. Father told us that many farmers were refusing to ship their products to market. He said something about reducing the supply of farm products would result in higher prices, but that higher prices would certainly result in less food for our family. He spoke of farmers’ striking and of other things at his meetings, but I certainly did not understand that then.Finally, Father moved us to California. I was seven then. It was a much happier time because we were going to California for work. California or Bust was our motto. Father found work alright, but he would work long hours as a fruit and vegetable picker out in the hot sun there in southern California. I did not know it then because we finally had money, but later he told us that he was working for extremely low wages. We and the other migrant farm families were crowded into shacks near the fields. We were lucky, because lots of my friends were camping outdoors. The depression changed the attitudes of my family and thousands of other Americans toward business and the federal government. Before the depression, Father had a good job and a nice house. During the depression and afterwards, Father told us that the businessmen had caused the depression and the government had gotten us out of it. Afterwards, Father always felt that government - and not business - had the responsibility to maintain the national economy. Father always had believed that if he worked hard he would have a happy life and be able to provide for his family. The depression shattered that belief. I remember the nights he would hold Mother as she was sobbing and asking him why things had turned out the way they had, that there was no reason for any of it. In 1941 the War came along. Father tried to enlist in the Army, but he couldn’t ...
