America - Boom, Bust and Recovery

Model T ford
1. Mass Production
  1. Techniques of mass production were adaptable and used to the production of radios, refrigerators and vaccum cleaners
2. In 1914 cars a Model T cost $850, by 1926 it was $295
  1. This explains why the number of cars on the road rose from 8 million in 1920 to 23 million by 1930
3. By 1925, half the worlds cars were Model T Fords
4. Working conditions
  1. 5th Jan 1914 Ford more than doubled their wages - reducing labour turnover meaning less money was spent on training
  2. Reduced the length of the working day to 8 hours
  3. These changes resulted in the increased stability of his work force
5. The peak year of production was 1924 when 1.6 million cars were made
6. Stimulated economic development
  1. 15% of steel output went into cars
  2. 80% of rubber production went to the car industry
  3. 75% of plate glass went to cars
  4. Stimulated servicing industries such as fuel stations
  5. Increased mobility meant more roads needed to be built
    1. In 1921 - 387,000 Miles of road, In 2929 - 662,000 miles of road
  6. In 1929 about 10% of of the work force were involved either in car manufacture or in supporting industries
  7. Car sales encouraged the growth of consumer creidit as not everyone could afford a car, even at lower prices
7. Social effects
  1. It increased the growth of suburbs
  2. More leisure activities as people could travel more freely
The Boom years
1. Urban development
  1. In the 1920's cenus it was revelead more popele were living in urban areas than the country for the first time ever
  2. 15% of the population were living in cities with more than half a million people
  3. Chicago had topped 2 million and NY 5 million
    1. In 1833 Chicago had a population of just 350
  4. Between 1920 and 1930 the % of families with inside toilets rose from 20% to 51%
  5. Central heating rose from 1% to 42%
  6. Electric lighting rose from 35% to 68%
2. Growth in production of consumer goods
  1. The concentration of population in urban areas was one of the reasons why it became possible for more people to acess electrical consumer goods
    1. Bt 1930 85% of homes in the cities had access to electricity
  2. The development in consumber goods was aided by technological advances
    1. First synthetic plastic - containing electrical products
  3. Vaccum cleaners owened by 30% of families in 1930
  4. washing machines - 24%
  5. fridges in 8%
3. Reasons for prosperity
  1. Favourable Government policies
    1. Coolidge believed in 'Free market'
      1. A system that allows the economy to run itself with minimal government inference
    2. Mellon (A banker) believed wealth filtered down to all classes in society
      1. allow the rich to continue making money to invest in industry
        industrial expansion mean more job oppoutnites
        in turn meant more employment, more wage earners more consumption more expansion
    3. Lassiez faire
      1. gov did intervene in 4 main ways
        1. High tarriffs
        Fordney Mcumber Act - 1922 raised tarriffs
        cheaper to buy American goods than foreign
        reduced level of foreign trade
        2. Tax reductions
        mainly benefitted the wealthy
        gov could reduce national debt
        3. Fewer regulations
        Businesses left unhindered
        No authority to stop child labour
        56 hour week common in the South
        Low wage
        4. foreign policies
        investors favoured profit over ethical concerns
  2. Technical advances
    1. Motor industry
  3. Easy credit
    1. By 1929 $7 bill worth of goods
      1. 75% CARS 1/2 applicences
    2. Led to debt
  4. Advertising
    1. Cinema
      1. 17,000 by 1928
    2. Radio
      1. By 1929 618 stations
Increased racial tensions
1. Reasons
  1. New Immigration
    1. Reasons for New Immigration
      1. Push factors
        Poor living conditions at home
        Escape the persecution
      2. Pull factors
        Lots of job oppotunites
        Better living conditions
    2. Result
      1. Massive emigration
      2. Americans were worried southern & eastern Europeans did not assimilate into US culture
      3. increased fear - bought dangerous ideas with them
        Communism
        Anarchism
      4. Americans feared they would take their jobs by working for lower wages
      5. Influxed to citites
        half Chicago population was foreign born
        80% of NYC
2. The KKK
  1. Influence
    1. Added glamour and purpose to humdrum lives
    2. By 1925 - 5 million members
      1. 100,000 followers by 1921
    3. Reborn in 1915
  2. WASP - opposed anyone 'submersive'
  3. Collapse
    1. David Stevenson
3. The Red Scare
  1. Sacco & Vanzetti
    1. Italian immagrants
      1. Anarchists
      2. All Italian car owners had to be reported
    2. arrested for violent robberries in 1919&1920
      1. Lied about possessing fireams
        Did not admit anarchist veiws
        Police took this as a 'consciousness' of guilt & arrested them
        Trial
        Judge was openly prejudice
        'I want those anarchist barstards hanged'
        22/33 eyewitnesses said S&V not there
        Sentenced to death in 1921
        Executed in 1927
  2. Palmer Raids
    1. 6000 arrests - lead by Mitchell Palmer
      1. He was a target for assasination
      2. Exposed communist activity
      3. Most released due to a lack of evidence
4. Results
  1. Quota Act - 1921 - Annual number of immigrants that could enter the country was 3% of those already living in the country
  2. Quota Act 1924 - 2%
Prohibiton
1. Why
  1. Businessmen saw drink as inefficacy in the workplace
  2. Women saw alcohol as a means by which men oppressed them
    1. e.g. Rockerfeller & Heinz
2. Volstead act banned the manufacture, sale & transportation 1917
3. Failures
  1. only 3,000 treasury agents
    1. Paid a very low wage - bribed easily
      1. 10% fined for corruption
  2. USA has 18,700 miles of boarder
    1. Bootlegging
      1. Smuggling alcohol across the boarder - only 5% was intercepted
      2. worth $215m a year
  3. 1500 bars before prohibition - 32000 speakeasies in mid 1920s
  4. Moonshine
    1. Dangerous - wood poisoning
      1. 30 people died in NY in 1 year
  5. Increased crime - gangsters
    1. Al Capone - $60m a year by 1927
    2. 227 gang led murders in Chicago
    3. Prohibition taught skills to criminals
    4. Made big money - gangs had turf wars to control the supply of alcohol in the area
4. Successes
  1. Rural areas supported the ban
    1. Marked decline in small-town America
  2. Promoted black musicians
  3. Decrease in road traffic accidents

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