Food Stamps During The Great Depression

In 1961, the Congress enacted a pilot program designed to help both poor people and farmers – the Food Stamp Program. The program was actually a revival of an idea that had been tried during the Great Depression. In both the 30s and the early 60s, farmers were producing more food than the nation could consume or export, and there was a large group of people who were going to bed hungry. On the one hand, food stamps were and are a sincere attempt to alleviate hunger, but on the other hand, the program is designed to help farmers as well.
During the Depression, people on "relief" – as welfare programs were called at the time – could literally buy stamps that could be used to buy food. A family on relief could buy orange stamps on a one-to-one