115: Hunt

The Great Depression had been one of the defining moments for anyone old enough to remember what it had been like before the stock market crash of October 1929. With both his father and brother and many family friends in banking and finance, Andrew had known that the problems that led to the Crash for industrialized world economies had been brewing on the horizon several years before that.

During the early 1930s, the devastating effects became widespread in the United States as banking institutions fell and manufacturing and business suffered in every industry. Cities were particularly hard hit, and New York City had been especially susceptible. Professionals, skilled workers and others used to enjoying good income found their salaries disastrously cut. Those who depended on savings, pensions or investment income for a living fared far worse.

In the world of banking and finance, interest from bonds or savings deposits soon depreciated to where they had no real value. Stocks paid meag