new deal

The Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act suspended mortgage foreclosures for three years, and moved farmers with small amounts of poor land to better areas. Trees were planted in the deserted areas in an attempt to prevent soil erosion and block the wind.
             Moving on from this, Roosevelt decreed that all privately owned gold be turned in to the Treasury and to be paid back in paper money. He then took the nation off of the gold standard and cancelled the gold payment clause for all contracts. After this, Roosevelt reduced the gold content of the dollar to 59.06 cents. All of these measures were taken as an attempt to control inflation and to start up businesses. .
             More difficult than either of the other problems addressed by Roosevelt was unemployment. Many Americans searched for jobs that simply did not exist. Poverty levels soared, especially in the mid-west, where many families lost their farms due to falling prices of crops and a drought that had lasted for years. The first bill passed by Congress to aid the unemployed was the Civilian Conservation Corps. About 3 million uniformed men were employed in such occupations as flood control, reforestation, swamp drainage, and fire fighting. In order to help the older of the unemployed, the Federal Emergency Relief Act was passed to form the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. This agency gave about $3 billion to states for wages, work projects, or direct dole payments. The Civil Works Administration was formed as a temporary source of jobs such as leaf raking during the particularly cold winter of 1933. All of these actions were still not enough to completely defeat the monster of unemployment. In 1935, the Works Progress Administration was formed, and spent about $11 billion employing people to construct public buildings, bridges, and hard-surfaced roads. Part-time jobs were also found for white collar workers; artists painted murals in public buildings and people like John Steinbeck counted dogs.