Canadian History Readings Understanding Direct and Indirect Causes
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- Laissez-fair capitalism
| In the 1920s the styles of dress change dramatically for women. The “New Woman” wanted freedom. Less clothing encouraged easy movement. Skirts barely covered the knees, showing the long silk stockings that covered the legs. “Bobs” and short hair replaced long hair and hairpins. Many women smoked and drank alcohol in public. These “New Women” were called “Flappers”.
MEN: Men also moved into a more relaxed style of dressing. Baggy pants or “knickers” were worn along with a bright, snappy hat and bow tie. Men would also grease their hair. Businesses Enjoy the “Good Times” The 1920s were good times indeed. More Canadians than ever were able to afford the comforts of life. By 1928, Half of Canadian families had cars. By 1929, over 60% of Canadians had electricity in their homes. Stock Market The rich were investing in the stock market, and so were investors. Laissez-fair capitalism = the government did not regulate the economy. There were no laws protecting working conditions. Many businesses were too large to be owned by one person or family. When these companies needed money, they would finance themselves by selling shares of company stock to the public through the stock market. Share prices were determined by supply and demand: if the stock was popular, its price went up; if more people wanted to sell shares than buy them, its stock price fell. Stock values increased dramatically during the 1920s, and the stock market rose. As the excitement of buying and selling took over, shares were being traded at higher and higher prices. Investors made huge profits (on paper). However, the price of a company’s shares often was not a true reflection of its real value and earnings and profit. Everyone bought into the “get rich quick” idea. Canadians learned to “buy now, pay later”. People could buy cars with a small down payment, and pay the balance (with interest) over a 2 – 5 year period. People were buying more and more products. All of this was creating more jobs (and as a result there was more spending). Many Canadian farmers on the prairies took advantage of the boom in wheat, and bought expensive new equipment (most borrowed money from banks or bought the equipment on credit). Good Times for Everyone? While many White Anglo-Canadians were enjoying the Roaring Twenties, life was hard on new immigrants in the cities. Most of them did not speak English, and had very few job skills. Employers took advantage, paying as little as possible. Women were paid much less than men for doing the same work. Wages for a lot of factory workers stayed the same through the twenties and did not increase with the cost of living. Business owners priced goods as high as possible. Some workers could not buy the products that they were making. Unsold merchandise began to pile up in warehouses and stores. Most people thought the “booming” twenties would last forever. Some economists, however, saw danger signs. Unequal distribution of wealth: rich got richer, while some workers, immigrants and farmers did not have enough money to buy their share of the goods. Canadian Prohibition The United States was not the only nation to experiment with prohibiting the sale of alcohol. Many parts of Canada had introduced prohibition during WWI. The provincial Temperance Acts varied, but in general they closed legal drinking establishments and forbade the sale of alcohol for beverage purposes and its possession and consumption except in a private dwelling; in some provinces native wines were exempt. Alcohol could be purchased through government dispensaries for industrial, scientific, mechanical, artistic, sacramental (religious), and medicinal uses. This was a big difference from the United States, where the laws were much more restrictive. In Canada, alcohol manufacturers (distillers and brewers) who were properly licensed could still sell outside the province. Although enforcement was difficult, drunkenness and associated crimes declined significantly. However, home-brewed "moonshine" took off. Bootlegging (the illegal sale of alcohol as a beverage) rose dramatically, as did the number of unlawful drinking places known as "speakeasies" or "blind pigs". One way to drink legally was to be "ill," for doctors could give prescriptions to be filled at drugstores. Scandalous abuse of this system resulted, with large “epidemics” and long line-ups occurring during the Christmas holiday season. A dramatic aspect of the prohibition era was “rum running”. The US was under even stricter prohibition than was Canada from 1920 to 1933: the manufacture, sale, and transportation of all beer, wines, and spirits were forbidden there. However, it was completely legal according to Canadian law, to export liquor to the US that was legally produced in or imported into Canada. Smuggling, often accompanied by violence, erupted in border areas and along the coastlines. Prohibition in Canada was short lived. Québec rejected it as early as 1919 and became known as the "sinkhole" of North America, but tourists flocked to "historic old Québec" and the provincial government saw huge profits from the sale of booze. In 1920 BC voted "wet" and by the following year some alcoholic beverages were legally sold there and in the Yukon through government stores. Manitoba began a system of government sale and control in 1923, followed by Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1924, Newfoundland in 1925, Ontario and New Brunswick in 1927, and Nova Scotia in 1930. Prince Edward Island, finally gave up "the noble experiment" in 1948. 
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