Essay On 1920s Economic Expansion

According to the textbook Experience History, the economic expansion was the culmination of expansion in the economy and a new era of republican control. It occurred from 1920 – 1929. This was a period of a time of higher wages, more business, and the new paradigm shift to consumerism.

A reason that economic expansion in the 1920s occurred was the view of businessmen that helped in supporting during the First World War allowing them to start mergers and less regulation. “The wartime contributions of business managers and the return of prosperity in 1922 gained them renewed respect. Encouraged by federal permissiveness, a wave of mergers swept the country. Between 1919 and 1920 some 8,000 firms disappeared as large gobbled small.

Oligopolies (a few firms that dominate whole industries) flourished in steel, meatpacking, cigarettes, and other businesses.” They were considered great by the people for their contributions so they were given passes as they became more powerful creating oligopolies. This explains why we started pushing for of republican views and less regulated government.
The events that occurred to produce the economic expansion began with first the support that companies had given during the First World War. This bringing a new paradigm shift that made business managers seem better and more wholehearted than they actually were. Next the government permissiveness to all the mergers monopolistic actions that business managers were doing. The final thing was the time because the country was economically booming from all the people working so big business was seen as a good thing that helped make the country better.
The paradigm shift in the country toward businessmen resulted in more oligopolies being created meaning that industries were controlled by big mergers causing less competition in the economy. Another resultant of this is that the mergers controlled all pricing so they could set the price without fear of losing customers since they were the only ones in that industry. The push for consumerism and economic expansion was created because the companies could market products to consumers and push for buying on credit without restraint.
The single reason the economic expansion during the 1920s occurred was because of predominantly Republican Party presence that made up the mindset of government during the 1920s “The Government is a servant and never should be anything but a servant.

The moment the people become adjuncts to the government, then the law of retribution begins to work, for such a relation is unnatural, immoral, and inhuman. We cannot live without business and we cannot live without government. Business and government are necessary as servants, like water and grain; as masters, they overturn the natural order.” This was a common view where the government didn’t regulate business but actually gave it more

power.
The steps that occurred to produce the economic expansion began with governments being filled with republic party presidents. These people began to limit the regulation that government was putting on business, doing this by either slashing acts like the Anti-Sherman Trust act or other laws similar to this. This lead into companies increasing in mergers and trust which focused on making money and controlling competition this caused money market to rapidly increase. Finally, there was a decrease in labor union strikes and protest since companies and trust had more power so no one could object to what they were doing because people needed to keep their jobs.
The decrease in government regulation led to more push in financial gains causing more people to invest in the stock market and companies having the ability to do whatever they wanted with people and their money. Therefore, more people was going through people’s hands making them spend more even if they didn’t have the money.
Another reason that economic expansion occurred was because wages were raised from what they were.

In a report made by the U.S. Department of Commerce from 1920 to 1930 prices of workers in the production slowly began to rise which because the automated car line caused workers to need more skill. They were also doing the same repeated job hours on end every day they went to work. This was started by Henry Ford when he started to pay his workers more for the production line jobs which was adopted by more factories employing the same automated system. This created higher wages giving people the ability to buy more consumer goods which caused companies to gain more profits and produce more

goods.
The steps/ events that occurred to achieve/produce the higher wages began with the creation of the automated factory system. This brought about a need for more skilled jobs that are also repetitive and tedious so men like Henry Ford decided to pay more to workers. Henry was one of the first company owners to do this. Henry found that paying your workers more will cause them to work with fewer strikes. Next companies started doing more automated factory work which involved more hiring. While doing this they followed Henry Ford’s business model increasing wages so workers won’t do strike back. This was important since the government stopped regulating companies as much as they used to so they were also trying to avoid as many potential issues as possible.
The higher wages resulted in major increase in consumerism. This leading to more people buying home goods, bringing more business to companies and a new sense of good times never ending.
According to my research and reflection, my second source correctly defines the events and actions that were presented by the assignment. Therefore, this is my defense of my selection.
According to my studies, the information about workers’ wages and the newspaper article provided me with a moderate understanding of the events and their impacts to the economic expansion in the 1920s. The information gave me an idea of how businesses, people, and the economy began to expand. The sources were very similar in the fact that they showed how America was turning toward more of the unregulated capitalistic economy. This change in mindset from regulated to unregulated government brought about the advancement in the economy. They were similar in that they described advancement in wages which help shape the expansion drastically. Though the sources differentiate when you look at how biased the sources are. The newspaper shifts more to the side of Republican Party mindset of unregulated government which is a bit bias, but it doesn’t detract from the value of the information. It is a strong depiction of how many powerful people viewed how the country should be brought up and the things they are willing to do to keep that position.