A New Economic Era Chapter 19 Section 2 What role did the Ford Motor Company and Henry Ford play in revolutionizing American industry? Standard: 7.5- Recognize the new trends, ideas, and innovations of the 1920’s popular culture.

Morning Work March 17, 2015 1st Period Agenda Write questions What treaty ended WWI? What country became the financial center after WWI? Morning Work Lecture: A New Economic Era America the Story of Us Lecture: American Life Changes

Morning Work March 17, 2015 3rd/4th Period Agenda Write questions What treaty ended WWI? What country became the financial center after WWI? Morning Work Lecture: A New Economic Era America the Story of Us 19-1/19-2 Quiz

Ford Revolutionizes Industry Henry Ford Made cars simple/ identical Used interchangeable parts/ moving belts These ideas formed the first large-scale moving assembly line The first cars appeared in the U.S. in the 1800s, but only the rich could buy them, until Henry Ford began selling the Model T in 1908. Imagine how expensive cars would be if everyone were custom made! Ford began making cars identical and simple. That brought the cost down but not enough. So he studied manufacturing processes, from interchangeable parts you moving belts in meat packing plants that brought the meat to the workers. Ford’s vision combined three main ideas. Make cars simple and identical instead of doing highly expensive custom manufacturing. Make the process smooth, using interchangeable parts and moving belts. Determine how workers should move, and at what speed, to be the most productive. These ideas formed the first large-scale moving assembly line, a production system in which the item being built moves along a conveyor belt to workstations that usually require simple skills. On Ford’s assembly line, each worker had one of 84 specific jobs, often requiring simple skills. In its first year, Ford’s assembly line produced a car every hour and half. The car sold for under $500 half of the cost of the first Model Ts. The price wasn’t cheap in the day but most people cold afford it. By the 1920s Ford made a car every minute, dropping prices so that by 1929 there were about 22 million cars in America. Ford raised his workers’ wages to $5 a day, far above factory averages wages so they could also buy cars. Ford opposed unions dealt ruthlessly with anyone who tried to organize workers. Assembly lines were very boring and repetitive. Ford’s vision combined three main ideas: Make cars simple and identical Make the process smooth, using interchangeable parts and moving belts

Assembly Line

Henry Ford

$5 a Day!

Modern Day Assembly Line

The Effects on Industry General Motors /Chrysler improved on Ford’s formula. Other industries used assembly-line techniques= increase of productivity Success of business led to welfare capitalism A system in which companies provide benefits to employees to promote worker satisfaction and loyalty. The Ford Motor Company dominated auto making for 15 years. In the 1920s more than half the cars in the US were Fords. The entire industry grew when competitors like General Motors and Chrysler tried to improve on Ford’s formula by offering new designs, starting competition. Other industries learned from Ford’s ideas, using assembly-line techniques to make large quantities of goods at lower costs, raising productivity, or output, by 60 percent. The success of businesses led to welfare capitalism, a system in which companies provide benefits to employees to promote worker satisfaction and loyalty. Many companies offered company-paid pensions and recreation programs hoping employees would accept lower pay, which many did.

Industry Changes Society Car Effects: Demand for steel, rubber, glass, and other car materials soared. Auto repair shops/ filling stations Motels/ restaurants Every time motorists turned the crank handle to start their cars, other industries benefited. Demand for steel, rubber, glass, and other car materials soared. Auto repair shops and filling stations sprang up. Motels and restaurants arose to meet travelers’ needs. The simple engines ran on gasoline, a by product of petroleum. Landowners who found petroleum on their property became rich. Auto making put the city of Detroit, Michigan on the map. Henry Ford based his manufacturing operations there, and other carmakers followed. In 1910, fewer than 500,000 people lived in Detroit. Within 20 the population had tripled.

Industry Changes Society Cities and Suburbs Detroit, Michigan Akron, Ohio As cities grew so did their suburbs Tourism industry Detroit, Michigan, grew when Ford based his plants there, and other automakers followed. In 1919 fewer than 500,000 people lived in Detroit. Within 20 years the population had tripled. Growth in manufacturing caused a boom in other Midwest cities. Akron, Ohio, the center of the rubber and tire industry, grew from fewer than 70,000 people in 1910 to nearly 210,000 ion 1920. For the decade it was the fastest growing city in the US. Other Midwestern cities, like Akron, Ohio, boomed by making car necessities like rubber and tires. As cities grew so did their Suburbs, the smaller towns located outside urban areas. Many suburbs had been est. sine the late 1800s, thank to the part of the construction of trolley lines that carried workers back and forth b/w home and workplace. Car travel, however, allowed people to live at greater distance from their jobs. Freedom to travel by car produced a new tourism industry. Before the auto boom, Florida attracted mostly the wealthy, but cars brought tourists by the thousands. Buyers snatched up land, causing prices to rise. Some Florida swamps were drained to put up housing.

Detroit

Detroit

Michigan 1920

The New Consumer New Products Electrical appliances: refrigerators /vacuum cleaners Radio: by late 1920s 4 out of 10 homes had a radio Passenger airplanes During the 1920s, an explosion of new products, experiences, and forms of communication stimulated the economy. New factories turned out electrical appliances like refrigerators and vacuum cleaners, as more homes were wired for electricity. The electrification of new area of the country enabled more people to use the latest home conveniences. The favorite new at home technology was the radio. The radio connected the world, and by the late 1920s, 4 homes in 10 had a radio, and families gathered around it nightly to hear news from around the world as well as dramas and comedy shows. The first passenger airplanes appeared in the 1920s, and though they were more uncomfortable- some wearing goggles and helmets. They were uninsulated and unpressurized; they couldn’t fly over mountains or at night. In fact for cross country travel trains were more comfortable as well as cheaper. The thrill excited many Americans. .

The Radio

The New Consumer Advertising Persuasive advertising Advertisers paid for space in publications, and companies sponsored radio shows. Buy, Buy, BUY! On the sidelines of the great American spending spree, advertisers became the cheerleaders. During the 1920s, persuasive advertising gained a major role in the economy. Advertisers became the cheerleaders of the new consumer economy. Persuasive advertising gained a major role in the economy. Advertisers paid for space in publications, and companies sponsored radio shows such as Palmolive Hour and the Maxwell House Concert . Advertising money made these shows available to the public, and ads gave the products wide exposure Advertising money made these shows available to the public, and ads gave the products wide exposure.

Advertising

Advertising

Advertising

New Ways to Buy In the 1920s people turned to installment buying Paying for an item in small payments. They bought on credit In the early 1900s, most Americans paid for items in full when they bought them, perhaps borrowing money for very large, important, or expensive items like houses, pianos, or sewing machines. Setting the stage for today’s credit card society, the generation of the 1920s turned to installment buying. Borrowing was not considered respectable until the 1920s, when installment buying, or paying for an item over time in small payments, became popular. They bought on credit, which is, in effect, borrowing money. Consumers quickly took to installment buying to purchase new products on the market. By the end of the decade, 90 percent of durable goods, or long-lasting goods like cars and appliances, were bought on credit. Advertisers encouraged the use of credit, telling consumers they could “get what they want now” and assuring them that with small payments they would “barely miss the money.”

Weakness in the Economy The “Roaring Twenties” American Farmers: U.S. farmers entered hardships Demands slowed Boll weevil infestations ruined cotton crops. “ The Big Blow” Hurricane that killed 243 people in Florida. The era that bought the boom in cars, consumer goods, radio and advertising earned the nickname “the roaring twenties” The name captured a certain excitement of the times. Today, however, historians tend to avoid that nickname b/c it gives the false impression that all Americans were prosperous and freewheeling. In fact, many Americans suffered deeply in the postwar period. American farmers who had good times during World War I found demand slowed, and competition from Europe reemerged. As a result US farm prices plunged, and American farmers entered a decade of extreme hardships. Farm failures increased. The income of farmers and even the value of farm land declined. The government tried to help in 1921 by passing a tariff making foreign farm products more expensive, but it didn’t help much. In some places nature added to farmers woes. An infestitation of an insect called Boll weevil ruined cotton crops. The Mississippi River flooded in 1927, killing thousands and leaving many homeless. “The Big Blow,” the strongest hurricane recorded up to that time, killed 243 people in Florida. Few ppl heard the warnings on South Florida’s only radio station. The hurricane winds reached up to 150 miles per hour. The hurricane was one of the most destructive ever. As a result, Florida sunk into an economic depression even as other part of the nation enjoyed prosperity.