Bread Lines
Many New Yorkers lost their jobs, savings, and property. There was no unemployment insurance. Almost no government relief reached the people of New York. Some New Yorkers -- even those who had made a fortune in the stock market's heyday -- now struggled simply to survive. Many stood in bread lines. To get food for themselves and for their families, men stood four abreast forming lines that were as long as city blocks. The men were wedged so tightly together that no one passing by could squeeze through.All who stood in bread lines experienced humiliation. But those in the back of the line, who often didn't get anything to eat at all, experienced much more than humiliation. They experienced hunger, suffering, and fear for the survival of their families. Whenever garbage trucks came to the dumps near the river on the Upper East Side, hundreds of women and children would run out to scavenge for food in the freshly dumped refuse. Living in the city made food-gathering harder. In the countryside they might have had some luck gleaning something to eat, but not in New York.
