New Economic Era

Mr. Williams10th Grade U.S. History

• How did you earn the candy (money) during the simulation? •Was this a fun simulation? Would

it be fun if you had to do this 8-10 hours a day 5-6 days a week?• How do you think workers feel

who work on an assembly line similar to the one we had today?

Henry Ford• Young Entrepreneur who

began selling his Model T in 1908• To do this, he used the

Assembly Line to increase amount of cars he could manufacture

• Production system in which item being built moves along a conveyer belt to various workstations•Workers had 84 specific jobs• “The man who puts on a bolt does

not put on a nut. The man who puts on the nut does not tighten it.” –Henry Ford

Model T•Car sold for under $500• In its first year, produced a car

every hour and half•By 1920, produced a car every

minute •By 1929, 22 million cars in

country

Cities Grow•Detroit population grew from

500,000 to 1.5 million from 1910 to 1930•Akron population grew from

70,000 to 210,000 from 1910 to 1920

Suburbs• Smaller towns located outside of

urban areas•Car travel allowed people to live

at greater distances from their jobs• Florida also grew as people were

more able to travel

Impact of assembly line on the Economy

• Productivity rose by 60%•Measure of output per unit of input

such as labor •Welfare Capitalism: system in which

companies provide benefits to employees in an effort to promote worker satisfaction and loyalty

Industry Changes Society•Demand for steel, glass,

rubber and other materials grew•Repair shops, filling stations,

motels, restaurants all grew during the 1920s

New Products of 1920s•Refrigerators, Vacuum

Cleaners, Radios•Dramas, Comedy Shows, News

shows, Advertisements •Between 1920 and 1930 60%

of all families had a radio

New Ways to Pay• Installment Buying: paying for

an item over time in small payments • Credit: Borrowing money to

make these payments • 90% of Durable Goods: Cars and

appliance bought on Credit

Roaring ‘20s?•American farmers experienced

hardship after WWI• Farm prices fell, Failures

increased, income of farmers and value of farmland fell

•What was the impact of the assembly line on the car industry? What about in America in general?