A Bennett buggy was a term used in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 to describe a car

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 which had its engine and windows taken out and was pulled by a horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

. In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, such vehicles were known as Hoover wagons, and named after then-President Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

.

The Canadian term was named after Richard Bennett, the Prime Minister of Canada

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 from 1930 to 1935, who was blamed for the nation's poverty.

Cars being pulled by horses became a common sight during the Depression. During the boom years of the 1920s, many Canadians had bought cheap vehicles for the first time, but during the depression, many found they did not have enough money to operate them. This was especially true in the hard-hit Prairie Provinces. The increased poverty played an important role, as the farmers could not buy gasoline. The price of gas also increased. Gas taxes were also one of the best sources of revenue for the provincial governments. When these provinces went into deficit, they increased these taxes, making gas even harder to buy.

In Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

, badly hit by the depression, similar vehicles with an additional seat over the front axle were dubbed "Anderson carts" after Premier

Premier of Saskatchewan

The Premier of Saskatchewan is the first minister for the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. They are the province's head of government and de facto chief executive....

 James T. M. Anderson

James Thomas Milton Anderson

James Thomas Milton Anderson was Saskatchewan's fifth Premier and the first Conservative to hold the office....

.

External links

• University of Saskatchewan archives