University of Wisconsin Madison - Badger Yearbook (Madison, WI)

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Recriiiiin.uioiis tilled tlic .ilr .ind tlic sword of D.imoclcs dangled picc.iriously. If this was not cnougli to keep all concerned on edge, along came the euphemism called the bank mora- torium, and greater indeed was the suffering. The key men, always sincere in their stand on the question of cuts, and the oung instructors, equalU sincere in their denunciation of it, united in the face of this common enemy. A credit exchange was set up to help out faculty men stuck with useless money in the banks. The moratorium healed, but it left noticeable scars; as a matter of fact this marked the beginning of a reign of restless suffering for the younger members of the faculty. The credit exchange developed into the cooperative Faculty Exchange for the distribution of clothes and necessities, and the lons siege was on. Let us see how the small salaried men and women fared. A pamphlet distributed by the Clothes Exchange of the University League to all connected with the administration read in part, Since October this committee has been able to place hundreds of good but unused or outgrown garments to junior members of the faculty where they were able to be used. They have also arranged for the loan of various pieces of furniture. Married graduate students, part- time appointees and many others in connection with the Univers ity have found these services helpful. This is not charity in any sense of the word; it is a friendly sharing and exchange. The response was unanimous and immediate. The older and comparativch ' more prosperous men on the faculty realized that an unprecedented stage of economic poverty had grown in their midst. In a short period of time over 5 00 suits were given out and countless shoes and blankets. The NRA might have been helping commerce, but behind the walls of this academy short rations were still in elTect. Case after case came up before the Exchange. Divorced from the slightest connotation of charity, the Exchange ferreted out the proud and the ailing and did trojan work in their behalf. One assistant lived in a tent on the outskirts of Madison and commuted on soleless shoes. The Exchange forced its attention on him. Another with a wife and child was unable to buy mi lk for his infant; the Exchange arranged for a daily delivery. Still others walked to classes without underw ' ear, with knees protruding; the Exchange arranged for suitable garments. Nor was this all. The list of all the needy among the small salaried men mounted. Far from aggravating the split between the faculty this cooperation acted as a palm. Necessity, always the mother of invention, in this case proved also to be the God-mother of cooperation. Among the key men life was b ' no means a bed of roses. Many professors, with pay re- duced, had not only to support their immediate families but near relatives and dependents. Homes were heavily mortgaged and what was the hardest psychological blow of all, after years of conscientious work, many found themselves gazing into a blank crystal ball. The future held little if anything, and against decades of effort was chalked up a question mark. Yet another factor that added its brunt to the suffering was the fact that professors had to cut out buying books, books that in several instances were necessar ' to their work. Others, dependent upon travel for the enhancement of their teaching in the social sciences, had to stay at home and satisfy their wanderlust vicariously. ' Department conventions, a necessary factor in the coordination of academic work, went by the boards and as there were no calls from other universities during this period of drought, the key men stayed home, living from pay check to pay check. 1171

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THE XOOSE Ol- ECONOMY [16]

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A Jack Pot ior Stuclt-nts For the second ma|or const.tuent of the umvers.ty commumty-the student body-depres- s.on bl t . con.plex.ty and diversity of problen s wh.ch hardened and n.atu.-ed young n.en nd ZJn bevond the. years. Never before on such a vast scale had a great modern un.ver.ty bl con.pelled to broaden ks role as educator to become provider ot the necessmes of hfe The lalstTckpot in un,vers.ty h.storv-well over half a milUon dollars-was thrown together by he ed ral .overnn.ent, the state, alun.n and student organizations .n a concerted can.pa.gn to ke P students .n school. Jobs, loans, meals, and clothing were parcelled out to an eve :n- eaZg thlg, whose contLed residence .n the un.vers.y depended m part or .n whole on assistance which they could not expect from their parents. The studv of student behavior durmg the depression leads along many cunous paths and intertwmmg roads, but most of all the anxious investigator vainly throws his quest or exa t information against an impenetrable wall of haphazard and inefticient recording - a But where the facts ar. available the following paragraphs are intended to tell the extent which students fought back the effects of depression on a dozen fronts. Examine, for instance, the employment situation. In the academic y ' l - ' l ' f ] per cent of he student bodv was wholly self-supportmg, and in 1933-194 the hgure had Lcreased by only one per cent. Obviously, as every university official J -. ; ; f Z a far greater number of dependent students today than there were in the dividend da, s of 19 9 The atiswer lies in the fact that many students who must have work cannot secure a ,ob and are thus thrown on the mercies of the loan fund and their house mother and do no app a on the meager records as working students. In 1929, for insnmce, the university emp oyn en office placed students in 4,640 iobs, ranging from a Saturday afternoon of window washing o regular part time iob. whereas in the academic year of 1932-1933 only 3,225 part time ,obs weie fiUed bv students, despite the greater demand for work. That the demand for work rose to an unprecedented height is indicated in the type of emplovment students were willing to take to stay in school. Consider some of the followmg lines of activitv which Dr. Jeykl the student was willing to pursue as Mr. Hyde b-dwinne. One medical student picked up stray cats, piled them into a gunny sack, sold them to the hospital, and collected fifty cents apiece. Several students applied for jobs as gigolos, some of them were willing to dispense with remuneration if the young lady paid .all the expenses of the evening. An ambitious English major asked for part time jobs writing sentimental sonnets and love letters for students who felt but could not express their love. A sophomore engineer gave birth to the idea that there was money in breaking in new pipes, and offered his patience at twenty-five cents per pipe. One extremelv versatile voung man taught tap-dancing classes, adagio dancing, played the piano tvped, rode horseback, taught figure skating, pressed clothes, and worked in a museum because he knew all about insects and beetles. Apparently, however, he forgot to go to classes in his spare time, and flunked out of the university. , ,■ r „„l The novel task of making tow ropes and wandering around highwavs looking for peop e whose cars were stuck and then offering to sell them a rope was the woJus operand, of a hard- pressed sophomore woman. [18]