Chapter 14 The Jazz Age Section 1 Boom Times

Prosperity and Productivity After the period of demobilization, the economy soared under Republican leadership. {By 1930 more than 2/3 of all Americans had electricity}. Due to the availability of electricity and increased income, industry came up with new electric appliances and sales boomed Industry kept trying to come up with ways to keep up with growing demand {Businesses began experimenting with new ways of increasing productivity. One of these approaches was Scientific management} {Frederick W. Taylor explained scientific management was the idea that every kind of work could be broken down into smaller units}

The Growth of the Automobile Industry Scientific management practices lowered the price of automobiles {Henry Ford, car manufacturer and creator of the Model T, ran his factory on the assembly line production method} {The assembly line increased productivity} time in half. Since the factories were saving money with machines and time, the savings went to the consumer as well. The price of a Ford automobile dropped from $850 in 1909 to $290 in The number of people who owned automobiles rose from 8 million to 26 million- an average of 1 car to every 5 citizens {The auto industry was the nations biggest business in the 1920’s}

Tin Lizzie & Henry Ford

Changes in Work The assembly line was repetitive and made work dull, increasing turn over rates Henry Ford, concerned over the turn over rate, shortened the work day to 8 hours and doubled the workers salary to $5 a day But, to earn the full $5 a day, workers were required to meet company standards at work as well as home. Ford’s personnel dept. kept a close eye on his employees {Henry Ford said “It will cost a man his job to have the odor of beer, wine or liquor on his breath or have any of these intoxicants in his home.”

A Land of Automobiles By 1930 cars, trucks and busses had almost totally replaced horse-drawn vehicles To accommodate the increased traffic more than 400,00mi. Of new roads were built Many new structures- billboards, drive-ins restaurants, inns & filling stations appeared along the highways. Thousands of middle-class families moved to the suburbs which were more accessible with the automobile

Auto-tourism & Family life Seeking the fresh air of the country side {auto-tourism, a new vacation craze, swept the country} allowing Americans to see the country easier With the arrival of the automobile teenagers had a different way to spend their free time Some claimed that cars were destroying family values because nobody stayed at home on weekends {Cars had begun to cause pollution, traffic jams, parking problems and a rising accident rate}

Marketing Unlike Ford, GM owner Alfred P. Sloan, began to manufacture more expensive “luxury” cars To allow the average person to be able to purchase his cars he offered an {installment plan. By 1925 about 75% of cars were bought using this method of payment} This practice eventually spread to cover the purchase of many other items (appliances etc) Manufacturers also discovered that planned obsolescence- specifically designing a product to go out of style, then coming out with a new line- produced enormous profits This is when auto makers developed the trade-in policy Many single working women went into debt trying to keep up with the latest styles

Alfred P. Sloan’s “luxury” car

Advertising Advertising became big business in the 1920’s {the advertising industry grew from a $500 million industry before WWI to a $3 billion industry by 1929} {Most advertisements targeted women} and used psychology to play on the consumers hopes and fears Companies used jingles, slogans and celebrity testimonials to sell products Chain markets began to slowly replace the traditional corner markets. They used quick freezing techniques and cellophane to help preserve foods longer

Then and now

Review Questions By 1930 more than 2/3 of all Americans had this This is the idea that every kind of work could be broken down into smaller units Henry Ford, ran his factory on this production method The above method increased this What was the nations biggest business in the 1920’s By 1925 about 75% of cars were bought using this method of payment