Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Fall/Section018/Ed Walls

Overview
Ed Walls was a gambler and a businessman interviewed by Edwin Massengill on May 10, 1939 about his gambling experiences in North Carolina. Ed was born in Black County as a bastard child and his mother started to keep only her daughter and moved her son to a new place, so Ed spent most of his time within the poolrooms, and eventually learning to gamble and ruin his adulthood lifespan. Ed lived a lonely life, with no friends, wife, and did not know love, making him encounter a solitary life. He was behind with the rent of the house and may be put out of this place soon. A quote from Ed, "Aces and eights is the Dead Man's Hand".

Early Life
Ed Walls always had more spending money than the other boys in his family. As he grew up, his mother began to keep girls in the house. He was old enough to feel shame at that time and his mother arranged for him to live with a family in another part of town. His mother kept him well supplied with spending money. However, he did not like to go to school, and he was always playing hookey. He got to hanging around the poolrooms. Often the proprietors would run him out because he was under age, but finally he put on long pants and tney came to accept him.

Adult Life
When he was twenty years old after his mother died, he was pretty good at pool, and he could pick up a dollar or so most any day. If he was playing with a stranger he usually let him win the rirst game or so in order to get a bet up. He kept two coins in my pocket all the time. With those coins he could always win the toss, and he sometimes won money with them, pitching heads and tails. Ed spent most of his time within the poolrooms, and eventually learning to gamble. In the days of 1929, the US government believed in getting rich quickly through the stock market, just like gambling. The high stock market money felt like guilty cash, making them feel ashamed of creating public awareness regarding their progress. Therefore, just as Ed was rich in bankruptcy due to fast money, the American people encountered the Great Depression and people began to gamble to get rich. Ed does not want to let people know how many money his industries were making since they were ashamed to let the public know how much they were making, just felt 'guilty rich.'

The Great Depression Caused Problems in Entrepreneurship
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. A high percentage of the economic hardships that North Carolina tobacco farmers experienced during the Great Depression began in the 1920s, causing a crash in the economy and stock market (Stepek, 2017). In 1929, tobacco farmers experienced increased financial difficulties during the stock market crash, which led to more debt as they struggled to provide for their families (Griffith, 2009). Farmers could not rely on tobacco proceeds alone; hence they divided their energy and time between planting and selling this cash crop, waged labor, and substance work. Rural tobacco farmers continued suffering until the New Deal was passed in 1933 and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration was created (Griffith, 2009). AAA limited tobacco quantities that each farmer was allowed to plant, increasing their proceeds after selling it. The Farm-Relied Act replaced AAA after it was seen as unconstitutional and continued favoring the farmers. The introduction of the Farm Security Administration in 1937 helped farmers get loans at low-interest rates, enabling them to invest more on their farms and get better profits.During the depression, Ed's car was stolen and the house was behind the rent. Therefore, Ed was poor at that time.

Corruption
When Wells’ mother died, he took pool seriously and rigged in gambling. Wells bribed corrupt local officers when a federal ban was implemented against gambling so that he could not get arrested. This shows that gambling continued as corruption levels increased in the industry. Just like Wells, gambling operation owners bribed corrupt officials and continued with their businesses as usual (Makridis & McGuire, 2019). Another form of corruption emerged when he started collaborating with Dopey to rig games and swindle more money from his customers. He gained a lot of money that does not belong him which makes him "guilty rich".

Money does not always result in Happiness
While many in today's society strive for wealth, the pursuit of money and status appears to actively damage well-being. In the early 1900s in North Carolina, Blank County, Ed Wells was born to a single mother. He started gambling to make ends meet and get a lot of money (Binde, 2013). This helped him to save money to own an apartment and run illegal poker operations. He always took a small percentage of all his customers’ winnings to take care of his expenses, making it easy to increase his popularity. He could earn almost 1000 dollars per week; hence he accumulated a lot of wealth. However, he did not get the happiness he wanted as his greed increased, making his popularity and income dwindle significantly (Author, 2020). He faced a lot of economic troubles that led him to develop an addiction to gambling and alcohol while his debts increased. He also lost his car and was at risk of being evicted.