1931

How Things Were · 1931

1931: Bank failures and a deepening Depression

Cheaper goods coexist with widespread joblessness, bank failures and the Model A’s final model year.

By 1931, the Depression was an unmistakable part of American life. Families worried about steady work, bank savings, rent and debt. Some relied on relatives, churches and local relief agencies. Food could be cheaper than in 1929, but that did little for a family without earnings. The year’s major construction projects and new products show that activity continued amid hardship; they should not be confused with prosperity shared by the whole population.

What everyday things cost

Sources: BLS, Retail Prices of Food, 1923–36, Table 9, p. 142

Gasoline and the cost of using a Ford

This historical series covers 50 representative cities and averages first-of-month quotations. Local taxes are excluded. It is a comparison series, not the pump price at every station. Fuel grade, place and price competition could produce a different local amount.

A ten-gallon purchase at that tax-inclusive average would cost about $1.70. This is a calculation from the series, not an advertised fill-up. A driver also needed oil, tires, maintenance and registration; the fuel bill alone did not describe the full cost of ownership.

Sources: Hillary J. Fisher, MIT thesis (1938), Appendix A, Table XI; Automobile Facts and Figures (1937)

A movie ticket

The Willamina Times of March 5, 1931 advertised a Sunday screening of Danger Lights, a two-reel comedy and a serial with a 10–30 cent admission scale. Children were free that Sunday if accompanied by parents. The advertisement is a named local example; its printed price range should not be converted into a supposed national average. Bundled short subjects and serials made the cinema a varied evening’s entertainment.

Sources: The Willamina Times, March 5, 1931, p. 8

Buying a new Model A Ford

These prices exclude accessories, transportation to the buyer’s locality and dealer additions. They are historical list-price examples, not guarantees of an unchanged price throughout the year. A used Ford might cost less, while financing added obligations. Some commercial body prices are not available in the cited list; no guessed pickup or AA truck price has been substituted.

Sources: Model A Ford Club of America: Prices When the Model A Was New

Ford continued to offer Standard and De Luxe Model As, including the Victoria and Convertible Sedan. The twenty-millionth Ford was built on April 14, 1931. Yet the wider market was shrinking sharply. The Henry Ford describes 1931 annual passenger-car production of about 541,000, roughly half the previous year’s level. Production totals differ with domestic versus worldwide scope and whether trucks or chassis are included, so they should not be mixed without explanation. The 1931 model year was the Model A’s last, with production continuing into early 1932 before the Model B and V-8 replacement.

Sources: The Henry Ford: Henry Ford, Post-Model T

Putting the price in household terms

A $490 Tudor was a major durable purchase, unlike a few cents spent on bread. The buyer had to consider the down payment, future installments, running costs and the chance of keeping a job. Even a price that looked modest beside a house could represent months of saving. Price tags alone do not tell us who could afford the car.

The differences between bodies mattered in daily use. A closed sedan could serve a family in bad weather; an open roadster traded some protection and passenger space for a different experience. Delivery and truck bodies put the same broad Ford family into business use. See the club’s Model A Body Styles page for pictures and descriptions of passenger and commercial vehicles.

Homes, rent and the cost of a place to live

A homeowner could be squeezed between a declining market and a debt contracted in better times. Lower prices did not automatically reduce the dollars owed. For a clearly dated comparison, the 1930 census’s nonfarm owner-home median was $4,778; this page does not relabel that number as a measured 1931 sale price. The census median rent of $27.16 a month is likewise a 1930 benchmark. Local 1931 transactions varied too much to justify a single unsourced national house cost.

Sources: 1930 Census, Population Vol. VI, Table 5, p. 7 · Sears Archives: home models and price ranges, 1927–1932

A catalog house package should not be compared directly with a finished house on its own lot. Freight, excavation, foundations, assembly, plumbing, wiring and local labor could change the total substantially. Renters faced a different budget: the monthly payment, heat and utilities, rather than the entire value of a building. Neighborhood and the condition of the property mattered as much as its floor plan.

Housing reference: the $4,778 figure on these pages is explicitly the 1930 census median reported value of owned nonfarm homes. It is not a measured annual national sale price for 1928, 1929 or 1931. The catalog ranges cover 1927–1932 and likewise should not be read as exact quotes for every model in every year.

What people did for a living

The reconstructed annual unemployment rate reached 15.9 percent: about 8.02 million people unemployed, compared with 1.55 million in 1929. The same series counts 42.4 million employed people, about 10.29 million in agriculture. A laid-off automobile worker might search for repair, hauling or day labor; a clerk might seek work in another shop; a farm family might have food to grow but little cash. Falling prices did not eliminate rent, debt or the need for money income.

Factory, construction and transportation workers were exposed to cuts in output and investment. Service and clerical jobs still existed, but applicants competed for limited openings. Work opportunities were further restricted by racial discrimination and expectations about who should hold a job. The occupations had not vanished; the number of people who could earn a living in them had changed.

Sources: 1930 Census: General Report on Occupations · Census historical employment table HS-29 · BLS: how Depression-era unemployment estimates were developed

The economy and the Model A’s place in it

Banking trouble became more widespread in the fall. Britain left the gold standard on September 21, and concern about the dollar prompted gold withdrawals from the United States. Domestic depositors also withdrew cash from banks. The combination strained credit and deepened the contraction. The New Deal and federal deposit insurance were still in the future; describing 1931 relief as a New Deal program would put later events into the wrong year.

Sources: Federal Reserve History: Banking Panics of 1931–33

Why cheaper goods did not always mean easier living

For a household with reliable wages, a fall in retail prices could increase what its money bought. For a household facing reduced hours, unemployment or lost savings, the lower price could still be out of reach. Deflation could also make an unchanged debt more burdensome relative to earnings. This explains why later Model A advertising and price changes cannot be judged only by the number printed beside a body style.

Crime, law and public life

Capone’s criminal empire did not end through a conviction for the St. Valentine’s Day killings. In 1931 the federal government prosecuted him for tax evasion; he received an eleven-year prison sentence. His widely photographed soup kitchen also served a public-relations purpose, showing that relief activity did not erase criminal conduct. Separately, the Scottsboro case began in March 1931 with the wrongful accusation of nine Black youths in Alabama. Their treatment exposes racial injustice in policing and the courts, an essential part of this era’s crime history.

Sources: FBI: Al Capone · National Archives: The Scottsboro Boys

Crime stories were prominent in the press, but a notorious case is not a statistical measure of ordinary life in every town. Organized crime, property crime, corruption and racial violence need separate attention. Nor should hardship be treated as proof that unemployed people were criminals. The early national reporting system’s limits make sweeping year-to-year claims particularly risky.

Sources: FBI historical timeline: national crime reporting in 1930

Facts and dates from the year

• May 1: The Empire State Building officially opened in New York. Its completion amid Depression conditions illustrates how major projects could continue while many workers lacked secure employment.
• April 14: the twenty-millionth Ford was built.
• September 21: Britain left the gold standard, intensifying financial pressures.
• Annual unemployment estimate: 15.9 percent.
• Model-year milestone: the final Model A model year; the Ford V-8 arrived in 1932.

Sources: Library of Congress: Empire State Building opens May 1, 1931 · FBI: Al Capone · Census historical employment table HS-29

A look at the original grocery record