Dateline: 28 December 2016
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| 1939 |
I was at government web site several months back and saw these old posters that were put out by the US Department of Agriculture. The government was encouraging American citizens to be self-reliant and frugal.
In other words, our government was encouraging the common people to do what common people did for several thousand years of pre-industrial civilization. That is, to tend a section of land, make it productive, and derive the bulk of their sustenance from the land. So many Americans had moved from productive farms and homesteads to the cities in the early 1900s that the government realized we were a vulnerable nation, especially when the World Wars and Great Depression came.
These days, our government isn't all that concerned about thrift or individual self reliance. Consumption and waste is, after all, what keeps our perverted economic system chugging along. And if you happen to be one of those rare individuals (or families) who deliberately eschew total dependency on the government, the industrial providers, the medical establishment, etc., there must be something wrong with you—like you are some sort of dangerous subversive.
Yes, we have certainly come a long way...
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| 1939 |
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| 1939 |
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| 1946 |
Fighting famine? In 1946? That was evidently a serious concern in America back then.
It turns out that famine was a serious concern in 1946 because Americans died of food scarcity and malnutrition during the Great Depression some years earlier. How many Americans succumbed in those lean and desperate years is unknown. Many of the deaths would have been due not to starvation directly, but to pneumonia and other such sicknesses that resulted from weakened immune systems.
Is the average American citizen concerned about famine here in 2016? I don't think so. Should they be? Well, time will tell. But learning to grow your own food just makes good sense no matter what happens in the world. That's the way I look at it.
Fascinating. I really enjoyed the vintage posters. I agree that learning to grow our own food is just plain good sense. There is just so much to gain from doing so.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth L. Johnson said,
ReplyDeleteYou know, it just makes sense, these days, to do exactly the opposite what the federal government (trying to be 'central') wants you to do! And really, non-sense has steadily been arising since the 1830s; very gradual progression. Individuals and the individual family should be depending on themselves for substance and sustenance; and let the federal government follow the mandate of the constitution to take care of the nation, as a whole. I see I'm waxing philosophical today.
Well said. I appreciate your philosophical waxings, Elizabeth.
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