The car industry was not the only industry in the 1920’s that made the prosperity of the boom possible. There were other large and important industries at the time that made money for the country and improved the economy. The coal and steel industry had become massive after the First World War, mainly dew to technology, and the oil industry had become the leading producer in the world. Dew to a new state of mind of the American people after the First World War, the textiles industry had flourished greatly as well, producing 300 million stockings in the 1920’s. This new state of mind also meant that the American shopping industry was totally revolutionized. The American people after the First World War had developed a new state of mind. They believed that it was almost their right to be prosperous, to have a nice car, live in a nice house and wear nice clothes. Because of this shopping sales exploded in America. Grocery sales went up by 287% and clothing sales went up by 427%. Without the new shopping industry would the prosperity of the 1920’s have been possible?
Another industry that was very prosperous in the 1920’s was the farming industry. American agriculture had become the most efficient and productive in the world. Meaning no overseas imports were needed and America could keep its money in its country.
With more skyscrapers being built in New York in the 1920’s, than in any previous year, a huge workforce was needed and so unemployment dropped and more American’s were getting money to buy new goods from the new shops.
One of the smaller and probably less important industries, at the time, was the airline industry. People were learning more about the world and wanted to travel, because of this the civilian airline industry was literally taking off. But only for the rich.
As well as industry contributing to the boom there were also a number of other big factors. One of them was the loan being paid back to America after the First World War. America had sold large amounts of arms, ammunition and food stocks to the Allies, which were all being paid back at this time. While Europe had been at war America had taken over their trading links and so was earning money from that as well. Another factor was that America had only been in the war for a short time and so it’s resources had been drained very little, compared with countries like Britain and France, and so America was able to get back in the saddle very quickly and easily, where as Britain had to spend time licking their industrial wounds. Another gain that America got from the war was that Germany had been one of the world’s most successful chemical supplies, but their industry had been frozen, and by the end of the war America had completely taken over the chemical industry and so were making even more money for the country.
Another was the abundant amount of raw materials that America had. Combined with the new methods to extract these America could exploit them. They could easily provide enough for themselves, and didn’t need to export any as they had a large and growing population. Between 1920 and 1929 the USA produced around 152 million tones of steel, compared with the nearest country they produced at least 95 million tones more.
After examining the facts and figures I have looked at, and comparing them with other factors, I have decided that without the new automobile industry the prosperity of the 1920’s would not have been possible. This is because of many reasons. The automobile industry firstly provided hundreds of thousands of essential jobs after the rise in unemployment after the Fist World War was over. Because of the simplicity of the production line no single man had to be highly skilled, he only had to do one job and so any normal American could apply and get a job. Because cars needed many different components, other industries like the leather and glass industry then flourished too, and so even more jobs were provided. Because of all these new jobs people had more money to spend and so developed their new “state of mind” and people went and spent in the shopping industry. The automobile industry also allowed cities to expand as people could travel easily, and so suburbs were made. This then brought money to the housing industry and many other industries that set up where people moved, such as hot dog stands, advertising billboards and petrol stations. Being able to travel also started the tourist industry. As it was easier to transport things it meant big businesses could transport their goods up and down the country to other outlets, and without that it wouldn’t have mattered how much the public thought they had the right to own the thing, they wouldn’t have been able to get it, or bring it home in the boot of their car. With the invention of the car the public could bring home bigger more expensive goods.
I feel that the automobile industry wouldn’t have made the USA prosperous without the other factors, but without the automobile industry the other factors would have been useless as all the prosperity rippled out from the automobile industry. Although it needed raw materials to make the automobiles, transporting raw materials became easier because of automobiles. Without the automobile people wouldn’t have been able to drive to the airport to go on the new airlines, or go on holiday and bring their money to new areas. Cities would have become overcrowded and there would have been a lot of unemployment, and the farming industry was overproducing anyway, and so making the USA less prosperous.
