(1a) Features of the Boom (economic prosperity)

Question 1

How did industry and business techniques change?

Answer 1

Mass Production;
The Assembly Line; Management science; Advertising;
the automobile.

Question 2

How did car ownership change from 1920 -1929?

Answer 2

Car ownership increased from 7.5 million in 1920 to 27 million in 1929.

Question 3

What had an impact on leisure?

Answer 3

Technological advances and time saving devices had an impact on leisure.

Question 4

How did the number of electrical goods change?

How where these bought?

Answer 4

Between 1912 and 1929 number of electrical goods sold per year went from 1.4 million to 160 million.

They were bought though Hire Purchase

Question 5

What was unemployment like during prosperity?

Answer 5

never rose above 3.7%

Question 6

1922 - 1929 Production of industrial goods rose by…

Answer 6

50%

Question 7

What was the republican government attitude?

Answer 7

minimal interference in the economy;
low taxes and limited government activity;
generally benefited big business.

Question 8

What were tariffs like?

Answer 8

They were high

Question 9

What is the Fordney-McCumber Tariff?

Answer 9

This tax on imports meant that US goods were cheaper in the USA, but made them more difficult to sell abroad. This limited foreign trade.

Question 10

What did the govt. encourage businesses to do?

Advantageous foreign markets:

Answer 10

despite high tariffs the government encouraged business investment abroad, particularly in terms of raw materials.

Question 11

What is Hire Purchase?

What did it mean?

Answer 11

easy availability of credit fuelled the economic boom. Ordinary people could by the latest technological goods. This meant that expensive and luxury goods became more affordable for Americans

Question 12

In 1929 how much worth of goods were sold using credit?

Answer 12

$7 billion worth of goods were sold using credit.

Question 13

What % of cars and household appliances were bought on credit?

Answer 13

5% of cars and 50% of major household appliances.

Question 14

What was the distribution of wealth like?

Give an example

Answer 14

Unequal distribution of wealth: 1920s prosperity was concentrated in the industrial North and far West. 60% of families lived on less than $2,000 a year.

Question 15

What was the limits of prosperity involving farmers?

Answer 15

Huge decrease in demand led to overproduction and devastating drop in prices.

Question 16

Why didn’t farmers have prosperity?

Answer 16

End of WW1
Prohibition
Production of synthetic fibres
Modern machinery
High foreign tariffs

Question 17

How did republican policy effect farmers?

What act?

Answer 17

Agricultural Credits Act 1923 tried to encourage small farmers to form cooperatives, but large farming businesses benefited.

Question 18

How did Black Americans not experience prosperity?

Answer 18

85% lived South and most were very poor sharecroppers. Migration North increased; ghettoisation of cities and discrimination.