1920’s EconomicsJoin now to read essay 1920’s EconomicsEconomic growth in the 1920’s was impressive, many Americans would purchase new cars, houses and appliances, many of these were new products that had recently been invented. The other aspect of the economy was mass production on assembly lines; automobile manufacturing skyrocketed in part because of the assembly line, these new techniques and inventions to manufacturing led to more production and lower labor cost.
One of the items which would find its way into American households was the radio, in 1921 there was one radio station in the United States but by 1929 there was 606 this in part to the sales of radios which increased from 100,000 in 1922 to nearly 4.4 million in 1929, the same increase could be seen in automobiles, 1920 there was 1.9 million automobiles manufactured and by 1929 this number jumped to almost 4.5 million.
What caused these increases was in part new technology, but also the booming economy in the 1920’s allowed for the common American to purchase these items also which in turn would cause the government to increase spending on certain projects. One of these projects was the federal highway system, with so many people now owning cars and traveling the government started building roads to accommodate these cars, the number of miles created rose throughout the decade.
Within the population there was an increase in school enrollment, from 2.2 million in 1920 to 4.3 million in 1930 and this just in the secondary schools, this caused the government to build more schools to house these students.
During the 1920’s there was less need for foreign workers and this caused action by the federal government, the immigration act of 1921 limited the number of immigrants entering the U.S. by limiting the people coming from a specific nation to 3 percent of that nationality’s resident population in the United States, again in 1924 another immigration act was passed and it limited the number even further to only 2 percent. With the number of immigrants entering the country being limited the labor force grew more than the population but this was not simply because of the government limits but because the economies of other countries were also doing very well and less people wished to immigrate.
The Immigration Act of 1924 was a series of laws, legislation, and policies which greatly increased immigration in 1933. When this was passed the federal government also decided to restrict the number of immigrants to one percent as the “immigration” requirement was the only requirement for those who did not want to seek entry to the U.S.
When the federal government became aware of this issue and decided to limit immigration based on that requirement the U.S. government decided to implement a number of measures including, First Congress of 1937, Great Society Act of 1935, Great Society Commission on Immigration, Immigration to All Persons Act of 1940, and the Immigration Act of 1924.
After the enactment of this act the next measure that would have prevented people coming to the U.S. on their own without a permit was the “Act of 1924” which brought the total number of “Immigration Act permits” to two thousand in 1933 and that in the first year that the program became operational, there were around three million more visas issued, but it was still needed to collect between one and 2 percent of the total number of visitors who wanted to come to the U.S. and if the state, county, and city of the United States made those visas available in the same way as passports did they would provide for it (i.e., those who entered and paid the cost of making that passport or a travel document had the right to purchase the passport and have it returned to them in person rather than in person).[8b]
Although they were not the largest employers in Germany and the U.S. a similar system of visa programs existed in Japan, the most significant number of foreign nationals who wanted to enter the U.S. was made up of Germans who had not yet entered the country. Although this was considered “the best” number of citizens in their country no program or mechanism had been proposed that would ensure that people who wanted to enter the U.S., even if they did not want to, would receive a permit, they had to convince the local police, immigration authorities, and other national immigration officials not to allow anyone who entered Germany to apply.[8c]
However, the law that would have prevented people from working in Germany and from going out in the United States was also a major factor in the fact that for many workers the idea of working in one place was unthinkable. In 1938 and 1939 as other countries introduced higher levels of labor requirements, the federal government passed the “Act of 1924”, this was followed by the Great Society Act of 1935 which established the “Foreign Immigrant Registration Act”, with the requirement to make sure that Americans with lawful permanent residence could work within one year of coming to the States on their own.[8d] While the federal government was not yet enforcing the law,
The Immigration Act of 1924 was a series of laws, legislation, and policies which greatly increased immigration in 1933. When this was passed the federal government also decided to restrict the number of immigrants to one percent as the “immigration” requirement was the only requirement for those who did not want to seek entry to the U.S.
When the federal government became aware of this issue and decided to limit immigration based on that requirement the U.S. government decided to implement a number of measures including, First Congress of 1937, Great Society Act of 1935, Great Society Commission on Immigration, Immigration to All Persons Act of 1940, and the Immigration Act of 1924.
After the enactment of this act the next measure that would have prevented people coming to the U.S. on their own without a permit was the “Act of 1924” which brought the total number of “Immigration Act permits” to two thousand in 1933 and that in the first year that the program became operational, there were around three million more visas issued, but it was still needed to collect between one and 2 percent of the total number of visitors who wanted to come to the U.S. and if the state, county, and city of the United States made those visas available in the same way as passports did they would provide for it (i.e., those who entered and paid the cost of making that passport or a travel document had the right to purchase the passport and have it returned to them in person rather than in person).[8b]
Although they were not the largest employers in Germany and the U.S. a similar system of visa programs existed in Japan, the most significant number of foreign nationals who wanted to enter the U.S. was made up of Germans who had not yet entered the country. Although this was considered “the best” number of citizens in their country no program or mechanism had been proposed that would ensure that people who wanted to enter the U.S., even if they did not want to, would receive a permit, they had to convince the local police, immigration authorities, and other national immigration officials not to allow anyone who entered Germany to apply.[8c]
However, the law that would have prevented people from working in Germany and from going out in the United States was also a major factor in the fact that for many workers the idea of working in one place was unthinkable. In 1938 and 1939 as other countries introduced higher levels of labor requirements, the federal government passed the “Act of 1924”, this was followed by the Great Society Act of 1935 which established the “Foreign Immigrant Registration Act”, with the requirement to make sure that Americans with lawful permanent residence could work within one year of coming to the States on their own.[8d] While the federal government was not yet enforcing the law,
In 1937, the Federal Trade Commission decided to issue a directive to all American businesses or foreign nationals to cooperate with the Federal Government in the creation, operation, and maintenance of a German national national register that could be used by the Federal Government. The regulation required that any business, if conducted entirely within the scope of the Federal Government, would meet the requirements of the Act. However, it did not require businesses within the scope of the State of New Jersey to register (see the State Commission Act §1 §17.18(b)(2)). Instead, all businesses must obtain permission to engage in certain activities outside the United States, so long as those activities do not violate German law.[9a]
However, other states adopted similar regulations. A number of the regulations in New Jersey included a requirement that all U.S.-based businesses meet the requirements of the “Social Security Act.”[9b] Several state laws attempted to make a point of preventing any business having fewer than 40 Americans working in a state if there is one. The legislation stated that if there is an “undue reliance on work by nonresident aliens, it may create an exception under Section 822(a) or 822(b) of the Social Security Act for business that do not employ nationals.”[9c] This section does not explicitly state that businesses (whether those businesses are run by nonresident aliens or, for some smaller business, by persons who live in the country) may not be permitted only on a limited visa program.[9d] Instead, the state’s statute explicitly stated that any business, if conducted entirely in the same state as a State, could be subject to the requirements of the statute. But New Jersey did not have a statute that explicitly required such businesses to register, so some U.S.-based businesses tried to change that. In New Jersey, for example, in 1938 it provided that any business, either part of a foreign enterprise or a part-time enterprise, which was required to meet specific requirements in section 822(a) in accordance with its application, could not be deemed to be receiving a visa through the visa program.[10] Even states that did not have a statute like that have been able to enforce their own rules. Some state laws, however, have remained in effect that are less restrictive of what an employer can do than the federal laws in New Jersey. For instance, in 1938 the State of New Mexico enacted the U.S.-based law Sec. 14-1-1 (Section 822 of the Social Security Act). The statute contained language that said employers were not permitted to adopt the program unless:
(a) Employers are permitted to adopt or renew the program if the recipient is a State
During the years of 1925 to 1929, U.S. Manufacturing production represented more than 42 percent of the manufacturing that took place throughout the world and exports were nearly double the amount of imports for the entire decade, in fact the government had little to do with this, after the first world war ended the United States was one of the few countries which it’s infrastructure did not suffer the devastating effects of bombing and destruction. Even with the increase in output most workers did not see an increase in wages or jobs, with automation came need for less workers and profits for business increased, big business did very well in the 1920’s.
Big business had such power that unions did poorly in the decade, unions were weekend in the early 20’s, this in part because employers used “yellow dog contracts” to keep unions out, and this contract was signed by employees stipulating they had nor would associate with unions, the memberships in unions declined by half by 1930.
Both presidents Harding and Coolidge were considered pro business, they had been businessmen themselves before politics so often decisions made by government favored the business firms, Herbert Hoover also favored business, the Norris-La Guardia Act limited judicial intervention in labor problems, this gave an advantage to business, none of these men favored “big government” and the government regulations that were already in place at the time were limited.
The agricultural sector did not fare as well, in 1920 it was already in a slump, at the beginning of the decade income per farm fell drastically, farmers were losing their land by foreclosure, this led the federal government to create agricultural programs as farm production in 1919 was at $21.4 billion but by 1929, production had dropped to $11.8 billion dollars, this while farm land values declined 30 to 40 percent between those same years.
One of the government’s solutions to the agricultural problem was to extend the existence of the war finance corporation, this government agency was responsible for dealing with issues from the First World War and now would be responsible for making agricultural loans to farmers, and they continued operating through 1931.
Then in 1923 the feds passed the agricultural