[BudP]

During 1932 and 1933 my grandfather's total sales for a week at his hardware store (founded in 1881 by my great-grandfather) were sometimes no more than several pounds of nails (about 50 cents). Local banker committed suicide. My mother, who had no electricity on the farm until sometime in the 1920's said there were no good old days. Her father, my grandfather, paid the farm bills in part by selling moonshine to Chicago gangsters. It took them a day to drive the 200 miles or so to the farm. They stayed overnight and took the "shine" back to Chicago the next day.