The world about the year 1920 and 1928 were enjoying a prosperous economy full of optimism, they were the so called " mad years ", and our country was not the exception. Our economy was resting principally in the north, where they were finding the offices ''salitreras'', but there happened the so called "Black Thursday" and everything went away below, the economy based on the speculation was ruined, concerning this way several parts of the world.
Chile, long and narrow country located to the end of a continent, might be said almost to the end of the world, would one see affected by this?, what so big serious the effect that would take place?, in what would it affect the people?
In this opportunity we want to refer to the topic from the social point of view:

In spite of being Chile a country removed enough wherefrom the crisis originated, it would be the country most struck by this one, according to the League and the Nations ( Revisión Mundial Económica 1923-33), (*) Chile during 1929 and 1932 in the volume of world trade had lowered 70 %, whereas the rest of the alone world was marking 26,5 % of decrease.
The economy of our country had very much of artificial since it was based on external lendings, and on having taken place the closing of the banks that they us were financing, we stay with a series of foreign debts that we could not pay. The government met obliged to suspend for the first time the payment of the foreign debt, also it increased the contributions and diminished the salaries.
The closing of the ''Salitreras'', (where there was centering most of the hard-working population), it meant that quite these people were remaining unemployed, producing a workers' migration to the ''salitreros'' towards the south and south center of our country, in search of work.
These cities to which there came the workers (who had lost almost everything, without money or with almost nothing of him, since in the salitreras they were paying with cards, and without relatives where to come) they were not also prepared to receive so many people, not to give them work, giving like proved a series of accumulations; they are created mention them or ''conventillos'', where they were sharing an enormous quantity of people only a room turnándose to see the one who was occupying probably the only mattress available, alone there was a drinking fountain, there was no sewer; provoking the perfect conditions in order that all kinds of diseases was generated and were propagating very rapidly, one of them in this epoch the tuberculosis (that even there was no treatment), there were enormous rows to be able to receive a portion of the common pots, in the neighborhoods there were lending the bones of the same chicken to do eaten credit if with it they were managing to give him little flavor since the rise of contributions and the fall of salaries were not reaching for anything, the people stroll for the streets asking for help, one was starving and of cold, so many people on not having had where to come, was sleeping in them be quiet or under the bridges.
It was the misery itself, but what we can rescue of this period is that at least it was a bit of social conscience and in this we nominate Alberto Hurtado, who together with a few companions was visiting the lodgings giving him a word of breath to the working poor, and then afterwards it was creating a place where to help these persons who were sleeping in the streets, or under the bridges.
As a conclusion we can say yes, Chile was the country most affectedly not only for the numbers since we it will see in the following topics, but for the whole misery in which one was finding the country, almost all the north, it had remained desolate, the people had had to leave his houses for the closing of the salitreras and divided in the southern part in search of improving his condition of life, and the whole disorder that had to mean to receive all these people without a preparation and do not also possess the possible ways to do it. Though clear, when too sunked it is not possible to do another thing but to rise, and for very bad that are the conditions one always must have the hope of which they can get improved taking as an example Alberto Hurtado who never lost the social conscience and in spite of the adversity it did something for extracting these people forward, probably instead of being worrying the one who has mas silver, gold, oil, or the one who is the principal power, we should worry of how to improve the quality of life of the persons, dividing from the sectors mas poor educating them and teaching them that if there is overcoming, but with work.
(*)Alwin Mariana, Bacuñán Carlos, Correa Sofía, Gazmuri Cristián, Serrano Sol, Tagle Matías,-Chile en el siglo xx, Edita y distribuye EMISION Ltda., 1° Edición, Impreso en Chile por VAN S.A.