Sāmoa’s Gethsemane (1930)

Author(s):  
Patricia O'Brien

This chapter explores the immediate aftermath of the Black Saturday Massacre through the experiences of Ta’isi. Though New Zealand forces tried to stop the Mau through exiling Ta’isi and then the killing Tupua Tamasese (which may have been intended or not) the Mau continued to disrupt New Zealand’s rule. The Women’s Mau, in which Rosabel played a prominent role, also came to the fore in 1930. Administrator Allen enraged these women, Ta’isi and Sāmoans generally, when he wrote in the annual report to the League of Nations that these women were of ‘light moral character’. The crisis of the Great Depression began to impact Sāmoa and for Ta’isi personally; his enforced absence from Sāmoa began to bite into his business operations. This chapter explores the New Zealand’s part in continuing attempts to publically damage Ta’isi’s status amongst Sāmoans. It also explores the impact on Ta’isi and the Mau with the death of Sir Māui Pōmare, who had been Samoa’s staunchest supporter.

Author(s):  
Patricia O'Brien

After the Black Saturday massacre and the limited repercussions for the New Zealand government as a result, the government stepped up its assault on Ta’isi who was outside the reach of new draconian laws in Sāmoa that criminalized almost every aspect of life and cultural practice. Rather than pursue Ta’isi, they pursued his firm that was put on trial for aiding and abetting a seditious organization. The chapter investigates the course of events around this trial and the impact it had on Ta’isi and his company that was already suffering enormously due to the Great Depression. It also explores attempts to prevent Ta’isi’s return to Sāmoa, the threat of a repetition of the Black Saturday massacre if he did return and the drastic impact this situation had on his family.


1992 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen H. Haber

This article employs previously unused accounting data and manuscript censuses to determine the impact of the Great Depression on Brazil's most important cotton textile manufacturers. It argues that the Great Depression, when viewed at the level of the individual business enterprise, had far more serious consequences than the previous literature, which relied on aggregate statistical data, suggests. The analysis presented here leads to the conclusion that Brazil's major cotton firms were in serious trouble prior to the 1929 Crash and that they took longer to recover than most other studies of Brazilian industrialization have indicated.


Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow

This chapter examines how Kansas experienced a long slide from being the “kernel of the country” to becoming a mere outpost far from the centers of national economic and political influence—a shift that was rooted in economic and demographic changes, but was primarily a matter of cultural redefinition. On those rare occasions in the nineteenth century when the Kansas Republican Party lost power, it regrouped and made a comeback in the next electoral cycle. The chapter first considers how the influence of Republicans and Methodists peaked in 1924, a banner year for the Kansas economy, before discussing the consolidation and further expansion of Kansas churches. It then describes the separation of church and state, along with the rise of fundamentalism and the impact of the Great Depression on Kansas churches. It also explores the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 and the emergence of smaller political and religious movements in Kansas.


Author(s):  
John Kenneth Galbraith

This chapter examines the impact of the Great Depression on classical economic ideas. When the Great Depression struck after the stock market crash of October 1929, economists in the classical tradition such as Joseph Schumpeter and Lionel Robbins chose to do nothing. They argued that the depression must be allowed to run its course. The chapter first considers U.S. economic policy under Franklin D. Roosevelt, focusing on how he addressed three visible features of the depression: deflation in prices, unemployment, and the hardship depression suffered by especially vulnerable groups. It also discusses the views of two scholars who belonged to the group known as the Roosevelt Brains Trust (later the Brain Trust), Rexford Guy Tugwell and Adolf A. Berle Jr. Finally, it explores how depression and price deflation led to two efforts to raise prices, one through the National Recovery Act and the other through agriculture.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Radiah Othman ◽  
Rashid Ameer

Purpose This paper aims to provide a historical understanding of the unemployment context experienced by the New Zealand population during the Great Depression, which might have caused people to commit financial crimes, such as fraud, to survive. Design/methodology/approach The main source of information is narratives from newspaper articles published by 42 newspapers from 1931 to 1950 that explore New Zealanders’ experiences during declined economic conditions. Findings During the period studied, New Zealanders suffered because of various challenges, mainly unemployment. The government’s response was criticised by the people who used the newspapers as a medium to unleash their frustration about the fairness of unemployment relief for the unemployed and taxation of those who were employed. Some people who struggled in between jobs, as well as some who found themselves being disadvantaged, turned to deviant behaviour such as fraud. The fraudsters might be thought of as the victims of the day, committing a crime of survival, not a crime of choice. Research limitations/implications This research promotes more historical studies to enrich fraud-auditing literature. The lack of detailed information reported in the newspapers during this period limits making specific links to individual circumstances. Originality/value Fraudsters have always been perceived as responsible for their destinies, but a wider social and political context is rarely examined in fraud cases. The period chosen for this paper represents the extreme condition in which the elements of motive, opportunity and rationalisation are all interwoven into one.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document