The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America

In the Shutts’ area, 100,000 other families struggle to make ends meet. The poorest families beg, while the richest try to borrow money to save “a bank or an industry” (151). Abner and Milly do not understand the basic laws of supply and demand, and Milly frequently scolds Abner and Daisy for failing to fetch better prices for the things they sell or pawn.

The Shutts soon cannot afford to pay their property taxes. However, because Ford’s plant has moved to River Rouge and a large number of employees put their homes on the market at once, houses in Highland Park are worth very little. Moreover, because of the financial crisis, potential buyers cannot secure loans.

Abner and Milly decide to rent rooms out in order to make money, but the poor working-men who rent their rooms are unable to pay the rent and find ways to scheme the Shutts out of free food and lodging. The one lodger who has a job sexually harasses Daisy, and when she refuses him he takes revenge by cheating her family out of $15.

Tom Shutt, Abner’s father, dies during the Depression’s first winter, and Abner’s mother dies the next year. The family is unable to pay for her burial, and Abner and Milly must take any of the ill-gotten money Hank can spare.