I'll clarify that I understand fully that many people suffered greatly during the great depression. The robber barons of the railroad dynasties and mining companies were often ruthless. Poor people were literally bought and sold. Ben Franklin began his career as an indentured servant to a brother. There was good opportunity in America, too. During Franklin's day, he described the poverty in England and Ireland and wrote that America afforded people a much more comfortable and profitable way of life. A lot depended on when someone arrived in this country and what education and skills they brought with them.

My ancestors were lucky, educated, fairly well-off from the start, and hard workers. I am sure that for many people things were not so rosie. Political considerations aside, the fashions of the day were, indeed, classy.