USA Depth Study Flashcards
(102 cards)
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> USA had a growing population
123 million people by 1923 -> USA had a ‘Open door policy’ meaning entry to country was made as easy as possible and thus resulted in over 49 million immigrants (mainly from Europe) by 1919
- Most living in towns and cities -> working in industry and commerce (higher wages than fatming)
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> The first world war: isolationalism
Americans tried to stay out of fighting and lent money to the Allies (to be repaid with large interest rates) and sold arms and munitions to France aswell as massive amounts of foodstuffs -> this one-way trade gave American industry a real boost
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> The first world war: Countries in Europe
Busy fighting and so Americans were able to take over Europe’s trade around the world -> increasing America’s exports ($600 million in exports and $300 million in imports)
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> The first world war: Before WWI
Germany was the most succseful in chemical industries -> by the end of war the US had outstripped German production
-1927: Us produced 42% of world’s chemcical and Germany 16%
-USA had the main explosive manufacturer during the war + producer of plastics (Bakelite) and other new materials
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> Construction: industrial growth
Created a demand for new factories and the office building as number of banks, insurance and advertising companies, and showroom for cars and new electrical products, grew rapidly
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> Construction: increasing number of cars
People employed in building roads -> by 1930 miles of paved road doubled
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> Construction: skyscrapers
Sign of confidence from big companies -> demonstrated power and prestige
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> Construction: growth in health
Construction of hospitals, schools and other public buildings
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> The policies of republican presidents (4)
- Laissez-faire
- Protective tariffs
- Low taxation
- Powerful trusts
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> The policies of republican presidents: laissez-faire
Allwoed big businesses to expand without limits of governemnt intervention
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> The policies of republican presidents: protective tariffs
Made imports more expensive compared to American-made goods -> protected business against foreign competition and allowed American companies to grow even more rapidly
- In 1922: Harding introduced Fordney-McCunber tarif which made imported food expensive in the US
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> The policies of republican presidents: low taxation
Lowered taxes on income and company tarifs -> gave wealthy more money to invest in American industry and building + gave people more money to spend on American goods
- In 1925: top tax rate just -> 25% -> 65% in 1920
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> The policies of republican presidents: powerful trusts
Super-huge corporations which dominated industry -> republicans gave trusts freely saying ‘captains of industries’ knew better than politicians
- Woodrow Wilson and democrats: foought against trusts -> thought it was unhealthy for men such as Carneige (steel) and Rockefeller (oil) to have almost complete control of one vital sector of industry
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> New industries
By 1929: nearly 70% of all Americans had electric lights -> electricity consumed doubled in 1920s
The electrification of US:
Flush lavatories: 20% in 1920 -> 51% in 1930
Vacuum cleaners: 9% in 1920 -> 30% in 1930
Washing machines: 8% in 1920 -> 24% in 1930
Refrigerators: 1% in 1920 -> 8% in 1930
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> the car: 1900s
In 1900: only 4000 cars made -> slowly by blacksmiths and very expenisve
Henry ford Model T car:
- In 1913: set up world’s first moving production line -> Model T made in 1h33m
- In 1927: Model T of the production line at a rate of one every ten seconds
. More than 15 million produced between 1908 and 1928 -> most succesful car of all time
- 1908 price $850 -> 1925 price: $290
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> the car: by the end of the 1920s
The motor industry was the USA’s biggest industry -> employed thousands of people and kept workers in other industries in employment
- Glass (75%), leather (65%), steel (20%) and rubber (80%) were needed to build them -> petrol was needed to run them (90%)
. One car to five people: this was high compared with one to 43 in Britain -> this allowed people in US to buy house in suburbs (further boosted economy)
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> mass consumption
Cars: 1919 -> 9 million and 1929 -> 26 million
Radios: 1920 -> 60,000 and 1929 -> 10 million
Telephone: 1915 -> 10 million and 1930 -> 20 million
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> mass consumption: mass advertising
Advertisers had skills learnt from wartime propaganda -> setup agencies to sell cars, cigarettes, clothing and other consumer goods using poster and radio advertisements
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> mass consumption: Mail-ordering companies
Americans in remote areas could buy new consumer goods from catalogues -> by 1928 nearly 1/3 of Americans bought goods from Sears, Roebuck and company catalogue
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> mass consumption: higher purchase
Easier for people to buy goods as it meant the consumer could buy and pay later -> by 1929 $7 billion worth was bough on credit
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> mass consumption: chain stores
Same shop selling same products across US (eg. JCpenney)
On what factors was the economic boom based? -> confidence
Confidence amongst americans was sky high -> buy goods, invest in companies and try out new ideas
. Stock market: shares and stock prices continued to rise and ordinary people even bought shares on the Margin -> Bethlehem steel invested $157 million in stock market
Why did some industries prosper while others did not? -> Problems in farming industry: Declining exports, new competitors, overproduction, falling prices
Total US farm income dropped $22 billion in 1919 to $13 billion in 1928
. Declining exports: after the war, Europe imported less food from the US -> Europe poor + response to US tariffs
. New competitors: struggling against highly efficient Canadian wheat producers
. Overproduction: from 1900-1920 while farming was doing well more and more land was being farmed, and improved machinery (combine harvester) and improved fertilisers, made US agriculture very efficient -> by 1920 producing surpluses of wheat nobody wanted
. Falling prices:
- 1921: most farm prices fell by 50% -> bushel of wheat went from $183 in 1920 to $0.38 in 1929
- 1920s: hundreds of rural banks collapsed -> 5x as many bankruptcies as there had been in 1900s and 1910s + by 1924 600,000 farmers bankrupt
-> NOT ALL FARMERS affected by these problems (minority): rich Americans wanted fresh vegetables and fruit -> shipments to lettuce to cities rose from 14,000 crates in 1920 to 52,000 in 1928
Why did some industries prosper while others did not? -> problems in traditional industry: unemployment
Same number of people unemployed at peak of boom in 1929 as in 1920, yet amounts of goods produced doubled -> industry growing by electrification of mechanising production
