Business of America

Objective: Analyze the growth of cities, production, and credit

Production – Red

City – BlueCredit - Green

APK

Importance

• Mass production techniques were used most successfully in the early 1900s in– 1. the automobile industry.– 2. the steel industry.– 3. appliance manufacturing.– 4. the mining industry.

Business of America

• “The chief business of American people is business…”

• Calvin Coolidge kept taxes down and business profits up

• Minimize government interference

Automobile

• Henry Ford with the use of the assembly line mass produced cars

• Created new jobs: gas stations, road construction, house building (garages), car maintence

• Allowed people to travel more than the typical 25 miles in their life time

One of the innovations of the 1920s was the assembly line. Instead of workers moving all over the place to build something, the assembly line brought the project to the worker. Oftentimes the employee stood in the same place all day, and performed the same task, such as putting tires on a car. This dramatically sped up production of consumer goods.

The number of cars in America went from 2,000,000 to 4,500,000 in 1929.

Effects of the explosion of the automobiles:

• Route 66 stretched from Chicago to Los Angeles. For the first time you could drive across the country.

•Millions of miles of new roads

• Thousands of new businesses; restaurants, gas stations, motels, campgrounds, etc.

• A new independence for young men and women, including “necking” and the emergence of dating

• “Urban sprawl” or people living further from the center of the city

Route 66

Urban vs Rural

• Rural – slower, farmers, shrinking, segregated living space, strict morals

• City – faster, growing, integrated living space, laid back morals

Fundamentalism & Scopes• Fundamentalism –

bible is word for word truth

• Against theory of evolution

• Scopes trial• Most followed trial• Found guilty • Showed culture clash

in America

Effect on cities

• Urban Sprawl• Suburbs• 1920s 80% of all

automobile resided in the US

• Status symbol for all• “I’ll go with out food

before I’ll see us give up the car”

Standard of Living

• Average income rose from $522 a month to $705

• Around 35% increase• Spend extra income• Increased Standard of

living didn’t effect farmers as much as cities.

Grab me something cold

• Electricity allowed people in the middle of nowhere to have appliances and light

• Refrigerators, cooking ranges, toasters, vacuum cleaner etc.

• Allowed people free time to do whatever they want

• Especially women working outside of house

Advertising

• New goods caused an advertising boom

• Psychologists were hired to explain how to make goods appeal to Americans

• Say it with flowers• “Necessities” arose

Superficial Prosperity

• Belief that Prosperity would last forever

• Produced 50% by end of the decade

• Stores expanded along with banks

• Companies merged• Income gaps increased• Farmers produced more

using new technology

Credit?

• “Dollar down and a dollar forever”

• Installment plan

• Low interest rate

• Focused on present despite paying into the future

How do Americans now purchase their goods even if they do not have the cash to pay for it at the time?

• The “Installment Plan” came about during this time. It’s kind of like an early credit card. “A dollar down and a dollar forever.”

• Banks provided loans at low interest rates while advertisers pushed the idea with slogans such as, “You furnish the girl, we’ll furnish the home,” or “enjoy while you pay.”

The following story illustrates how the installment plan worked:

Have you an automobile yet?

No, I talked it over with John and he felt we could not afford one.

Mr. Budge who lives in your town has one and they are not as well off as you. I know. Their seconds installment came due and they had no money to pay for it.

What did they do? Lose the car?

No, they got the money and paid for it.

How did they get the money?

They sold the cook-stove.

How could they cook?

They bought another one on the installment plan.

Importance

• Mass production techniques were used most successfully in the early 1900s in– 1. the automobile industry.– 2. the steel industry.– 3. appliance manufacturing.– 4. the mining industry.

Closure

• The phenomena known as “urban sprawl” can be directly linked the _____ industry.– 1. automobile– 2. airplane– 3. advertising– 4. farming

Closure

• The mass production of cars in the early 20th century exclusively influenced which aspect of American culture?– 1. The growth of new fads.– 2. The growth of the advertising.– 3. The growth of chain stores.– 4. The growth of radio.

Closure

• Which of the following is not considered a direct result of the growing popularity and availability of the automobile?– 1. Changes in American landscape.– 2. Changes in American politics.– 3. Changes in the growth pattern in cities.– 4. Changes in the advertising industry.

Closure

• Cities in the 1920s expanded with the development of all of the following except– 1. subways.– 2. skyscrapers.– 3. airplanes.– 4. bridges.