During Great Depression I, unemployed WW I veterans sold pamphlets, to raise small amounts of cash. Similar in concept to the modern Street News sold by the homeless in New York City, this activity lent these veterans more dignity, than outright begging. Some of the pamphlets had prices on them, while others simply asked people to pay what they pleased.

Click on either cartoon, to see an enlarged version.

The below right photo is at an encampment of unemployed WW I veterans (labelled “Hoovervilles”), just outside Washington, D.C., in 1932. These veterans, known as the Bonus Army, were seeking early payment of a promised service bonus. President Hoover had them forcibly driven out of Washington, D.C., using troops and tear gas — an action which sealed Hoover’s fate that election year.

Click on the photograph below right, to watch Part 2 of the PBS documentary March of the Bonus Army, produced by Glenn Marcus & director Robert Uth, and narrated by Gary Sinise.

Above left, a cartoon by Vaughn Shoemaker, from before the veterans were chased out of D.C., when some were hoping the bonus would be paid early, and stimulate the economy.

Click here to find the prior Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons entries, and related I.T.C.H. posts.

Doug Wheeler

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