Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 4 The Great Depression

Colin's consciousness was constantly pulled by the green light.

There seem to be countless figures changing in the light, laughing or crying, or quarreling or fighting, these pictures are faintly visible but extremely unreal.

When Colin opened his eyes again, the surrounding environment was completely different.

From the cold concrete floor in the alleys of New York, into a warm interior.

"it is as expected……"

Looking at the scene in front of him, there was no unexpected expression on Colin's face.

In fact, such a situation Colin is experiencing every day.

Once he closes his eyes, his consciousness will be pulled by the light into another world. As Colin Luper, he will experience a completely different life.

It's not like Colin didn't doubt whether this so-called other world was just a slightly special dream.

However, as he continued to try, he was finally determined.

All of this is not just a dream that he imagined, but a real world that actually exists.

"Who would have thought that even time travel offers buy one get one free these days."

In this regard, Ke Lin complained more than once in his heart.

In this way, traveling between the two worlds frequently every day and night, even Colin, who was a traveler, gradually became confused.

Therefore, in order to be able to accurately distinguish the two worlds.

He called the world in front of him the normal world, a normal world without superheroes.

He also called another world where superheroes existed but was completely different from what he remembered, called the anti-world.

Of course, this so-called pros and cons is just a definition given by Colin's subjective consciousness, and its purpose is purely for the convenience of his own memory.

The dull pain coming from his chest pulled Colin's thoughts back to reality.

He looked down and saw that the fatal shooting had turned into a slight bleeding wound on his chest. If it wasn't for the occasional pain when he moved, who would have thought that Colin had just experienced a shooting incident just a few minutes ago.

"I just don't know, what will happen when I go back?"

Familiarly, he pulled out the straps from the room, and treated the injured part briefly.

Colin stood in front of the cabinet and skillfully put on a tie, then picked out a dark gray coat and put it on, and moved his arms in front of himself in the mirror, making sure that the bandages on the wound would not affect his normal actions , then picked up the bowler hat on the side desk and put it on.

Rubbing his cold palms and coming to the door, Colin stopped, hesitated for a moment, then went back to the desk to open the drawer, took out an old-fashioned revolver and stuffed it into his coat pocket inside.

Considering that he had just experienced a dangerous shooting incident not long ago, Colin felt that it was necessary to prepare a little security before going out.

Even if, the place where the incident happened is not the world in front of you.

However, no one can guarantee that it is not, after all...

Suppressing the thoughts that came to mind, Colin stood in front of the door and took a deep breath, reached out and pressed the top hat on his head, opened the door, and stepped out.

What caught my eye was the familiar yet unfamiliar metropolis——New York.

Or New York in 1931.

……

It's cold and windy in New York in November.

The haze of the Great Depression still hasn't dissipated. Walking on the road against the cold wind, you can see hurried pedestrians and homeless men everywhere. It's hard to imagine that just a few years ago, among these homeless men, The vast majority of people are still living a glamorous life, and many of them are farmers, engineers, school principals and even bank presidents.

However, under the impact of the Great Depression, everything disappeared.

Thousands of Americans watched their life savings evaporate in a matter of days.

According to the latest estimate of Fortune magazine in September, more than 3400 million adults, men, women and children were unemployed throughout the United States during the Great Depression (child labor was legal in this era), accounting for about 28% of the total population.

And it is a conservative estimate, because 1100 million rural households are not included.

The unemployment of workers also affects the unemployment of farmers, and in the end neither party can afford the other's products.

It's like being caught in some kind of vicious circle.

Farmers' hard work has been rewarded with severely unequal rewards.A wagon of oats can't buy a pair of low-quality shoes; Wheat grows at a loss of $1.5 per acre; Corn is more economical to use as fuel than to sell it for coal; Farmers can't make money feeding their livestock and would rather lose them than get it To sell; to pour the milk into the Mississippi.

Tens of thousands of people were evicted from their houses and lost the shelter they depended on for survival. In the same year, a large number of people died of famine and malnutrition during the Great Depression.

And all of this is just the most common sight during the Great Depression.

……

In the past, Colin's understanding of the Great Depression.

Most of them come from the records of various books and photos. It is difficult to resonate too much with a few black and white photos or simple text.

Now that he feels all of this personally, he truly understands that in this era, especially during the Great Depression, people are living in hardships. Under the huge unemployment tide, a stable job has become a luxury, and many people are exhausted. A day's wages earned by a living worker is not even enough to buy a loaf of bread.

And even for such a job, it often takes enough luck to find it, and it doesn't happen every day.

Walking down the street, Colin has seen beggars more than once.

At the same time, there were children in ragged clothes. Because of long-term malnutrition, they looked extraordinarily thin. These children curled up beside their mothers, relying on their mother's equally emaciated body to shield them from the cold wind coming from all directions. The mother herself raised one hand to her mouth, and looked into the distance, with sorrow in her eyes, a kind of lifelessness and numbness that could not see hope.

Seeing this scene, Colin couldn't help but slow down his pace.

He wanted to do something, but felt powerless.

Because, similar to the experience of women, throughout the Great Depression can be seen everywhere.

This is not a single issue, but a social incident that has swept across the entire United States and even the entire West.

Even, it was later considered to be the longest-lasting, deepest and most serious cyclical economic crisis in the history of capitalist economy.

Taking a deep breath, he looked away from the ragged woman.

Colin turned around and left the block quickly, crossing a deserted shop street, and finally stopped in front of an old house on the corner.

"Messenger Newspaper"

Looking up at the signboard in front of the house, Colin straightened his top hat and opened his mouth to cough.

Only then did he reach out and push open the door of the newspaper office.

　Newcomers and new books, please support~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)