American people and the "Boom"

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economic boom

a rapid growth in a country’s economy within a short time period

why didn’t the farming industry benefit from the boom?

• Europe’s poverty after WW1 along with tariffs made US exporting difficult

• More land was harvested with higher efficiency, leading to overproduction

• Low demand meant plummeting prices and banks shutting down.

statistics to show the farming industry struggle

• 60million Americans in rural areas were affected from banks, displacement, etc

• Total US farm income dropped from 1919 $22 billion to $13 billion in 1928

exemption to the farming industry struggle

Rich people wanted fresh produce(fruit and veg)

• exports rose from 14k crates in 1920 to 52k crates in 1928

why didn’t the coal industry benefit from the boom?

• New industries(like electricity, gas and oil) became widespread

• Owners didn’t always sack miners, rather reduced work hours meaning lower wages

statistics to show the coal industry struggle

• In early 1920s, there were 12k mines and 700k miners.

• By 1929, the average wage of a miner was $100, 3 times less than a NYC bricklayer.

why didn’t the railroad industry benefit from the boom?

• huge growth in car ownership with passenger traffic decline

• rapid developments on national road networks

statistics to show the railroad industry struggle

• electrical railroads built before 1914 fared particularly badly

exemption to the railway industry struggle

• companies increased their carrying of freights(goods) by 10%

  • (it would’ve been higher if not for the road network)

sharecroppers

when a tenant gives a share of crop to their landlord due to rent agreements

why didn’t African-Americans benefit from the boom?

• they were sharecroppers

• whites-only factories prevented them from work

• less labor needed in urban areas

why didn’t Native-Americans benefit from the boom?

• the soil in “reservations”(areas they were forced into) was too poor for crops

• lack of education and high-income skills

general statistics on the economic boom

• The richest 5% of the country made 33% of the GDP

• 21 individuals were millionaires in 1921, the number went to 15,000 in 1927

republican

“laissez-faire”, staying out of people’s lives where possible

• lower taxes, business oriented, right-wing, conservative

democrat

intervening in everyday life if necessary

• helps those in need, left-wing, ordinary people, labor

the boom cycle

LACK PANTS

the driving causes towards the economic boom in the 1920s.

• L- Laissez-faire

• A- Assembly Line

• C- Credit

• K- Knowledge

• P- Position of USA(during WW1)

• A- Advertising

• N- New Consumer Goods

• T- Tariffs

• S- Share Confidence

Laissex-faire

In 1920s, all presidents were republican.

• Low taxes and regulations for businesses meant higher profit.

Assembly Line

Products were built bit by bit by different people, passed along a conveyor belt.

• automation meant increased supply for customer profitability

• companies are interdependent on each other so improve along with one another

Assembly Line Stats

• By 1925, a car was made once every 10 seconds by Ford

• 75% of glass production went to the motor industry

Credit

Buying a product and paying later over installments.(aka hire purchase)

• stimulates production as people can demand things with more flexibility

• continuous stream of income

Credit Statistics

• 8 out of 10 radios bought on credit

• Half of all goods during the 1920s were paid this way

Knowledge

New technological developments

• more customer profitability

Knowledge statistics

• In 1912, 16% of Americans had electricity. In 1927, the number rose to 63%. This meant more profitability in electrical goods

Position of America(in WW1)

The USA had plentiful amounts of raw material such as oil, wood and iron. Not entering the war until 1917.

• This meant they were leading manufacturers

• Exported lots, especially to Britain & France

Isolationism

USA government policy representing refusal to be involved in European Political Events.

Position of America Statistics

• Between 1914-8, iron and steel exports increased from $250million to $1.1billion

Advertisement

Companies realized the potential of advertising

• stimulated unnecessary demand

• deceptive language influenced others

• brand competition was a new thing

Advertisement statistics

• In 1921, the company that made Listerine invented the word “halitosis” as a fake medical problem

• Within 5 years, sales rose from 100k to 4 million bottles a year

New consumer goods

New recently invented gadgets meant more money circulating within the country

New consumer goods statistics

By 1929, America made nearly 50% of the world’s consumer goods.

Tariffs

Foreign produced goods were made more expensive.

• less leakage keeps money circulating within the USA’s economy.

• USA’s goods are more appealing due to lower costs

Tariff statistics

• The Fordney McCumber Tax(the tariff, basically) was introduced in 1922

• Taxes were kept low for businesses

Share confidence

People would buy shares in a company and sell them on.

• more revenue for companies

• collateral wealth grows for USA(citizens earn more while company earns more)

Buying on the margin

Many borrowed money to buy shares, repaying the loans and keeping the profit.

• this represents the confidence in the economy

Share confidence statistics

• 4 million people owned shares in 1920. By 1929, there were 5 times as many

• By the summer of 1929, people borrowed a total of $8.5 billion to buy on the margin.

Jazz

Originated in the Southern states from African-Americans

• opportunity for AAs such as Louis Armstrong & Bessie Smith

• Big Jazz Clubs located in Harlem NY (the north)

• Seen as corrupting the young

Radio

• 10 million had radios in 1929 compared to 60,000 in a decade ago

Sports

• 60 million people worldwide heard the coverage of 1927 world heavyweight

• Babe Ruth earned 80k a year(7 mil today) from NY Yankees

Cinema

• 100 million people went to the cinema weekly by 1930

• The first talking film “The Jazz Singer” debuted in 1927

• 500 films were made yearly in 1929

Worries about cinema

Sexual content and impact on the young

• Hay’s code was introduced so kisses only lasted 3 seconds & nudity was censored

• 36 states(many rural) threatened to place censorship laws

• Some stars (Theda Bara) were exclusively marketed as sex symbols

Working Women

10 million in jobs 1929, 24% more than 1920

• fired to open jobs once men returned

• reverted back into trad roles after marriage

Voting women

Got the vote in all states in 1920

• Poorer/colored women did not vote

• Political power was still inaccessible

• Only a handful were elected by 1929

Flapper girls

• beneficial for city-living, young middle class women

• films exposed a wide range of new role models

• still strong conservative elements in USA

Married women

100k divorces in 1914; twice as many in 1929

• domestic work made easier with new tech

• kissing in public without chaperones, societal expectations relieved

Immigrant stats

• 40 million people emigrated between 1850 & 1914

• Hispanics were paid $1.50 a day when building railroads

• Ethnic groups dominated areas, such as “Little Italy” in NY

The Red Scare

Russia’s establishment of communist government in 1917 + a small group’s attempt to seize power in Jan 1919 led to American stigma towards immigrants with foreign cultures.

Russian immigrants in America

June 1919, bombs set off in 7 cities, one nearly killing General Attorney Mitchell Palmer.

• J Edgar Hoover(appointed by Palmer) made files of 60k anarchist suspects, deporting 10k when only 556 were guilty.

Al Capone

• spent 30k on soup kitchen for the unemployed, generous tipper, regular at baseball/football games

• 60million from beer & liquor, 25 million from gambling dens

prohibition

stopped any american from selling, making or transporting any drink with more than 0.5% alcohol

• named the Volstead Act, passed midnight 16th January 1920

motivations for prohibition

• “temperance movements” found in rural areas agreed not to drink to prevent sinning & improve family life

• The dries(stan prohibition) bought powerful statistics (3000 infants smothered yearly by drunks)

• stigma from WW1 about German owned breweries

how prohibition improved lives

• prevented rural areas from being alcoholics

• over 280k illegal distilleries seized

• consumption fell about 30% in early 1920s.

how prohibition worsened lives

1 in 12 agents were corrupt with 3000 agents covering 18,600 miles.

• speakeasies opened up drastically, 32k in NYC alone in the 1930s whilst there were only 15k across US as a whole before.

• 800 dead in 1926 pre-prohibition compared to 98 in 1920.

The Jim Crow Laws

Anything that strips away black rights/autonomy

• allowed segregation with the concept of separate but equal

• disenfranchising- to stop AAs from voting. (poll tax, pay to vote, literacy tests pre-vote)

AA lives in the North

2 million(out of 12) left the Southern states for the North for education.

• Howard university was an exclusively black institution for higher education.

• Middle class was growing as blacked business owners increased via a successful boycott in Chicago

KKK(Ku Klux Klan)

Had 4.5mil members by 1924 with white supremacist aims. The film “The birth of a nation” 1915, glorified the KKK.

• Over 300 AAs died to lynching between 1919-1925

• Oregon & Oklahoma had governors belonging to the Klan. KKK especially dominant in Indiana.

AA life expectancy

increased from 45-48 between 1900. Whites were 54-59