Document 9
…In an attempt to stimulate the economy, [President Franklin D.] Roosevelt announced a
massive Federal programme of ‘spending and lending’. Under the Emergency Relief
Appropriations Act [of 1938] $3.75 billion was allocated by Congress to public works and
industrial expansion. Two industries, textiles and steel, took immediate advantage of this ‘pumppriming’
(as Roosevelt called it), and saw a rise in production. The boot and shoe industry
followed, as did the building industry. By the end of the year [1938] the construction of
residential homes was breaking all recent records. Even the much-troubled railway companies
were able to take advantage of the Federal injection of cash, with the result that they were able
to abandon a 15 per cent wage cut already announced, that could only have added to hardship.…
Source: Martin Gilbert, A History of the Twentieth Century: Volume Two: 1933–1951, HarperCollins, London
According to Martin Gilbert, what was one effect of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policies on industry?
…In an attempt to stimulate the economy, [President Franklin D.] Roosevelt announced a
massive Federal programme of ‘spending and lending’. Under the Emergency Relief
Appropriations Act [of 1938] $3.75 billion was allocated by Congress to public works and
industrial expansion. Two industries, textiles and steel, took immediate advantage of this ‘pumppriming’
(as Roosevelt called it), and saw a rise in production. The boot and shoe industry
followed, as did the building industry. By the end of the year [1938] the construction of
residential homes was breaking all recent records. Even the much-troubled railway companies
were able to take advantage of the Federal injection of cash, with the result that they were able
to abandon a 15 per cent wage cut already announced, that could only have added to hardship.…
Source: Martin Gilbert, A History of the Twentieth Century: Volume Two: 1933–1951, HarperCollins, London
According to Martin Gilbert, what was one effect of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policies on industry?