technology in the 1920s. calvin coolidge favored government policies that would keep taxes down and...
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Technology in the 1920s
Calvin Coolidge favored government policies that would keep taxes down and business profits up, and gave businesses more available credit in order to expand
Goal: keep government interference in business to a minimum & allow private enterprise to flourish
Most of the 1920s, Coolidge’s administration placed high tariffs on foreign imports
Reduce income taxes meant people had more money to spend
Laissez-faire: a policy or attitude of letting things run their course; without interference • Invisible Hand• Introduced by Adam Smith
In 1927, 15,077,033 Model T Ford’s rolled off the assembly line
Model A’s now came in two different colors “Arabian Sand” and “Niagara Blue”
Automobiles were becoming the backbone of the American economy
Automobiles changed the American landscape• Paved roads were constructed
Like Route 66, which went from Chicago to California
• Houses had a garage or carport and driveway
• Construction of gas stations, repair shops, public garages, motels, tourist camps and shopping centers started for the mobile population
First automatic traffic signal in Detroit The Holland Tunnel, first underwater
tunnel designed for motor vehicles opened in 1927, NYC to Jersey City, NJ
The Woodbridge Cloverleaf, first cloverleaf intersection was built in New Jersey in 1929
Liberated the isolated rural family• Travel to city for shopping & entertainment
Families could vacation in new faraway places
Increased the mobility of society
Urban Sprawl: the unplanned and uncontrolled spreading of cities into surrounding cities
Workers could live miles from their jobs
Cars became a status symbol
Began as a mail carrying service for the U.S. Post office
Established as a peacetime means of transportation
Pan American Airways (founded 1927) inaugurated the first transatlantic passenger flights
America owned about 40% of world’s wealth
Average annual income rose about 35%
People found it easy to spend their extra income and then some
Electricity transformed the nation Factories used electric to run
machines Development of alternating electrical
current made it possible to distribute electricity over longer distances• No longer restricted to central cities • Number of electrified households grew
More homes had electric irons Well-to-do families had electric
refrigerators, cooking ranges, and toasters
These appliances made the lives of housewives easier • Freed them for other community and leisure
activities
Average factory worker was producing 50 % more at the end of the decade
Wasn’t the economy & the stock market reaching new heights?
The industry provided a solution to the problem of luring consumers to purchase the large number of goods produced each year….easy credit
Installment Plan: an arrangement in which a purchaser pays over an extended time, without having to put down much money at the time of purchase
Banks provided the money at low interest rates
Some saw installment plans as a sign of fundamental weaknesses of a prosperous economy
New goods flooded the market Hired psychologies to study how to
appeal to people’s desire for youthfulness, beauty, health, and wealth
Brand names became familiar from coast to coast
Luxury items were now necessities
Power of advertising were applied elsewhere
Businesspeople formed service organizations such as Rotary, Kiwanis, and the Lions• Sang songs, raised money for charities, and
boosted the image of the businessman