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Interesting Ebay Item - Louis Schrade letter
- Thread starter knifeaholic
- Start date
Codger_64
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April 12, 1930
Mr. O.E.G. Boker
Treasurer, Nickle Silver Committee
% Seymour Manufacturing Company,
Seymour, Conn.
Dear Mr. Boker,
Your kind favor of some time ago duly received, also your favor of April 11th, suggesting and requesting we contribute a hundred dollars in the cause of fighting the Federal Trade Commission’s decision, ordering the use of nickle silver discontinued. We would like very much to follow your suggestion and send you a contribution, but, to be perfectly frank, we have been spending so much money fighting our tariff matter during the last sixteen months, and business has been as rotten generally that we have been compelled to decline to participate in any outside expenses, and we hope that since you have made your request a second time, and we have been frank enough to write you on this subject that you will appreciate that while we are perfectly willing to give you all the moral assistance ..........the Federal Trade Commission..........we can afford to contribute.
Very truly,
Schrade Cutlery Company,
J. Louis Schrade
President
Look at the date.
Codger
Mr. O.E.G. Boker
Treasurer, Nickle Silver Committee
% Seymour Manufacturing Company,
Seymour, Conn.
Dear Mr. Boker,
Your kind favor of some time ago duly received, also your favor of April 11th, suggesting and requesting we contribute a hundred dollars in the cause of fighting the Federal Trade Commission’s decision, ordering the use of nickle silver discontinued. We would like very much to follow your suggestion and send you a contribution, but, to be perfectly frank, we have been spending so much money fighting our tariff matter during the last sixteen months, and business has been as rotten generally that we have been compelled to decline to participate in any outside expenses, and we hope that since you have made your request a second time, and we have been frank enough to write you on this subject that you will appreciate that while we are perfectly willing to give you all the moral assistance ..........the Federal Trade Commission..........we can afford to contribute.
Very truly,
Schrade Cutlery Company,
J. Louis Schrade
President
Look at the date.
Codger
Codger_64
Moderator
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Most obvious of course, is a signature of an important figure in American cutlery history. Also, a rarely seen ornate letterhead from the Schrade Cutlery Company. Next, we see mention of a clampdown on silver, and industrial opposition. Then the tariff that is mentioned. When reading the letter and the links, keep the letter's date in mind. It has a lot of historical significance in that it was written at a crucial moment in world history, and referred to lobbying efforts by industry on two fronts, as well as the financial condition of the company.
George Schrade had just left to start his own company competing with his brothers. Remington was bought by the Duponts. Schatt-Morgan Knife Company filed for bankruptcy. In 1931 New York Knife Company closed due to bankruptcy. In 1932 Schrade Cutlery Co. closed the Middletown branch factory. It was a tough time for most of the cutlery industry, not just an excuse from J. Louis in the letter deferring contributions.
http://www.futurecasts.com/Depression_descent-end-'30.html
Read what hapened to steel, commodity markets and jobs in general.
And here is the tariff that passed, and the effects it had.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/id/17606.htm
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of June 1930 raised U.S. tariffs to historically high levels. The original intention behind the legislation was to increase the protection afforded domestic farmers against foreign agricultural imports. Massive expansion in the agricultural production sector outside of Europe during World War I led, with the postwar recovery of European producers, to massive agricultural overproduction during the 1920s. This in turn led to declining farm prices during the second half of the decade. During the 1928 election campaign, Republican Presidential candidate Herbert Hoover pledged to help the beleaguered farmer by, among other things, raising tariff levels on agricultural products. But once the tariff schedule revision process got started, it proved impossible to stop. Calls for increased protection flooded in from industrial sector special interest groups and soon a bill meant to provide relief for farmers became a means to raise tariffs in all sectors of the economy. When the dust had settled, Congress had agreed to tariff levels that exceeded the already high rates established by the 1922 Fordney-McCumber Act and represented among the most protectionist tariffs in U.S. history.
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff was more a consequence of the onset of the Great Depression than an initial cause. But while the tariff might not have caused the Depression, it certainly did not make it any better. It provoked a storm of foreign retaliatory measures and came to stand as a symbol of the beggar-thy-neighbor policies (policies designed to improve ones own lot at the expense of that of others) of the 1930s. Such policies contributed to a drastic decline in international trade. For example, U.S. imports from Europe declined from a 1929 high of $1,334 million to just $390 million in 1932, while U.S. exports to Europe fell from $2,341 million in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. Overall, world trade declined by some 66% between 1929 and 1934. More generally, Smoot-Hawley did nothing to foster trust and cooperation among nations in either the political or economic realm during a perilous era in international relations.
Additionally, Canada passed some strong tariffs against American goods, as did much of Europe.
Codger
George Schrade had just left to start his own company competing with his brothers. Remington was bought by the Duponts. Schatt-Morgan Knife Company filed for bankruptcy. In 1931 New York Knife Company closed due to bankruptcy. In 1932 Schrade Cutlery Co. closed the Middletown branch factory. It was a tough time for most of the cutlery industry, not just an excuse from J. Louis in the letter deferring contributions.
http://www.futurecasts.com/Depression_descent-end-'30.html
Read what hapened to steel, commodity markets and jobs in general.
And here is the tariff that passed, and the effects it had.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/id/17606.htm
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of June 1930 raised U.S. tariffs to historically high levels. The original intention behind the legislation was to increase the protection afforded domestic farmers against foreign agricultural imports. Massive expansion in the agricultural production sector outside of Europe during World War I led, with the postwar recovery of European producers, to massive agricultural overproduction during the 1920s. This in turn led to declining farm prices during the second half of the decade. During the 1928 election campaign, Republican Presidential candidate Herbert Hoover pledged to help the beleaguered farmer by, among other things, raising tariff levels on agricultural products. But once the tariff schedule revision process got started, it proved impossible to stop. Calls for increased protection flooded in from industrial sector special interest groups and soon a bill meant to provide relief for farmers became a means to raise tariffs in all sectors of the economy. When the dust had settled, Congress had agreed to tariff levels that exceeded the already high rates established by the 1922 Fordney-McCumber Act and represented among the most protectionist tariffs in U.S. history.
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff was more a consequence of the onset of the Great Depression than an initial cause. But while the tariff might not have caused the Depression, it certainly did not make it any better. It provoked a storm of foreign retaliatory measures and came to stand as a symbol of the beggar-thy-neighbor policies (policies designed to improve ones own lot at the expense of that of others) of the 1930s. Such policies contributed to a drastic decline in international trade. For example, U.S. imports from Europe declined from a 1929 high of $1,334 million to just $390 million in 1932, while U.S. exports to Europe fell from $2,341 million in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. Overall, world trade declined by some 66% between 1929 and 1934. More generally, Smoot-Hawley did nothing to foster trust and cooperation among nations in either the political or economic realm during a perilous era in international relations.
Additionally, Canada passed some strong tariffs against American goods, as did much of Europe.
Codger
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2005
- Messages
- 491
I was born in 1936 and the depression was still going strong.In fact,what pulled the US out of the depression was WW2.
My Dad had a 151 acre farm and a 50-cow dairy herd at that time.I can still him talk about selling milk for 9 cents a gallon.
At least a farmer had food to eat,if he could hold onto his farm.Pity the poor city-dweller who had to rely a lot on the bread lines,etc.
Damn few of us who were impacted by the depression would go way in debt for one of those trophy houses that the young generation is buying today.We were taught to make it do - wear it out - or do without.
I can agree that $100 was a lot of money during the depression.
Ron
My Dad had a 151 acre farm and a 50-cow dairy herd at that time.I can still him talk about selling milk for 9 cents a gallon.
At least a farmer had food to eat,if he could hold onto his farm.Pity the poor city-dweller who had to rely a lot on the bread lines,etc.
Damn few of us who were impacted by the depression would go way in debt for one of those trophy houses that the young generation is buying today.We were taught to make it do - wear it out - or do without.
I can agree that $100 was a lot of money during the depression.
Ron