'To all we wish a merry Christmas' Inter Lake editorial

This year as we celebrate Christmas in uncertain times, it is valuable to remember that times have been tough before, and the responses have been remarkably similar to what we see today.

Christmas Eve editorials in the Daily Inter Lake in 1930 and 1932 tell of good deeds by individuals to help each other and reliance on government to help us all, just as we see today.

In 1930, at the beginning of the Great Depression, the Inter Lake ran a story about an economic stimulus package similar to the one being planned by Congress today, and the next day, on Christmas Eve, ran an editorial under the heading of "Uncle Sam's Christmas Present." The writer optimistically saw the infusion of government spending as the answer to the nation's economic woes, and though that turned out not to be the case, the editorial itself is instructive of how problems and solutions don't really change much through the years. Here is how the editor saw the role of government in 1930:

"President Hoover has announced that the federal government will spend $724,000,000 for public works during 1931, which will be a very acceptable Christmas present to those out of employment, and business will also be a beneficiary, for much of the money will find its way back into the channels of trade and industry in the purchase of the necessities of life.

"Of the total amount, the President estimates that half will be expended for labor, and we believe the amount will be sufficient to take care of a large part of the unemployment.

"In the northern states work on highways, public buildings and other improvements cannot be started until spring, but in the southern and Pacific coast states there is no doubt that some work will be undertaken at once, or as soon as the funds are made available. We believe that by spring the unemployment problem will have disappeared, and in a year from today most people will have forgotten there was a depression.

"In one way the present depression differs greatly from the "panics' of the past. There is no stringency in the money market, and interest rates are lower than they have been for many years. This is favorable, for it will mean that legitimate industry will have no difficulty in financing its operations, and this will help to absorb much of the surplus labor."

Just two years later, it was of course quite obvious that economic stimulus alone would not end the depression. Just as today, a new president was about to enter office, and people were learning to pick themselves up by their own bootstraps. Thus, the 1932 Christmas editorial in the Inter Lake praised those kind citizens who helped the Mothers' Club provide a merry Christmas "for the children Santa Claus might overlook."

The editor of the Inter Lake noted, "In our way of thinking, this giving a little to those who have nothing has shown more of the true spirit of Christmas than the giving of expensive gifts to those who had no real need of them in the previous years of prosperity. Perhaps a period of adversity was necessary to bring out the best in human nature."

And the editor's conclusion then is a good way to end now as well:

"To those who have met with misfortune, we express the hope that another Christmas may see a complete return of prosperity, and to all we wish a Merry Christmas."