Alina Davis
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Table Of Contents Group Editorial
page 3-4
Mass Production Has Arrived. And Mass Production Is Here To Stay. page 5-6 Toaster Ad
page 6
Movie Magic
page 7-8
Credit
page 9-10
Comic Strip
page 10
A New Industry
page 11-12
Phantom Of The Opera Ad
page 13
Citations
page 14
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Editorial Would you rather spend your Friday night alone on the couch, or be out with your friends in the clubs? I think we’d all rather be with our friends having a night of fun. This issue of the Savvy Consumer explores the new world of consumerism. Consumerism is the protection or promotion of the interests of consumers. We explore how the 1920s have changed consumerism and leisure time. You can read about mass production, radios, movies, credit, broadway, and more! There are many ways that consumerism has changed. One way is mass production. Mass production is having a major effect in regards to consumerism and how we spend are leisure time. One way mass production has affected the we spend our time/money is with the world of cars. For starters the price of the Ford Model T majorly dropped to prices as low as $300 due to the introduction of the assembly line that resulted in mass production of the car. This is allowing many people to be able to afford a car. This has majorly affected consumerism as now many more people are buying cars, Ford is now producing a car every 10 seconds! Also, many people are now able to afford products as prices decrease, wages increase, the economy growing, and the employment rate soaring. Another way that Americans have changed in regards to their leisure time is the radio. More Americans are spending their time going to movies and listening to the radio. We have been changing as a nation through the past several years. At least four different types of radios have come out. These radios broadcast elections, music and advertisements. Movies are also changing with us. Romances, comedies and mysteries all are coming out these days. Romances were giving women a different sense of love. Comedies brought us information about the war and other countries. Credit has also played a major role in consumerism recently. Credit allows you to pay money over time, so you can enjoy and pay at the same time. This caused a massive overuse of credit, especially in the stock market where most of the invested money isn’t actually real, this caused many banks to shut down, and eventually lead to the stock market crash in 1929. This major event has ruined the lives of many people and caused great issues for everyone because of credit. Sence credit started in the 1920’s to good of attitude has lead to the market crash simply because of overspending to “help” the economy. 3
Movies and musicals are another way that leisure time in America has changed. Americans spend much more money on activities in their free time. The show-business industry has changed in many ways in the past ten years. The amount of money Americans have spent on tickets have doubled in this past decade. Weekly attendance has also almost doubled in this decade. We have become the biggest fans of stars, changed this industry, and supported musicals. As you can see the 1920s is majorly affecting consumerism and how we spend our leisure time. First off movies and listening to the radio is changing the way we spend our leisure time. Movies have majorly changed as the times have progressed, we now watch romances, comedies and mysteries. Also the radio majorly affects us because it's where we here the news, advertisements, and music. Next, credit has has a major effect into consumerism. Now with credit you can pay for stuff over time, because credit was being overused it lead to banks shutting down and the stock market crash of 1929. This ruined many peoples lives. Thirdly we have show business. Obviously show business has had a big impact on the way we spend our leisure time because of the amount of time we spend going to shows and the amount of money we spend on tickets. Weekly attendance to shows and the cost of tickets have doubled this past decade! Finally we have mass production. Mass production especially in the car industry. Due to the assembly line that Ford introduced the Ford Model T’s price dropped to prices as low as $300! Ford was also able to produce a car every 10 seconds! This resulted in more cars being on the road, wages increasing, the economy increasing, and the employment rate increasing! So as you can see consumerism and the way we spend our leisure time has majorly change during the 1920s.
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Mass Production Has Arrived. And Mass Production Is Here To Stay. Hunter Shook’s review of mass production over the years and its effects on America and people like you. Mass production is doing great things for the United States, consumers, workers, and American industries. It is also majorly affecting products made right here in US of A in a good way. Today we discuss the pros, the cons, workers, consumers, and Henry Ford on this mass production edition of Savvy Consumer. First we will be discussing the pros of machines that allow for mass production. These new machines are being produced and used right as we speak, they are using oil and electricity to run. These machines are allowing industries to create products in a much quicker and more efficient way. The result of this is that we now have a stronger economy because of mass production. Next, because we believe in never lying and showing the whole story here at Savvy consumer we must go over the cons of mass production. Don’t worry it’s a pretty short list. First, in New England older textile and shoe producers were struggling to keep up with demand. Secondly, mining companies suffered from low returns and competition. Finally, many farmers in the midwest/the south are losing money as they could could not pay off the debt on there machines and/or land. Now we just want to remind you that this is not happening to all companies and farmers, just certain unfortunate ones. So with that in mind we would like to remind all our readers that the American Dream is not easy, but if you want to be successful, remeber, be smart with your money and invest wisely! American workers! Due to all this mass production, expanding industries, growing economy there are many pros when it comes to the American worker. First off wages for American workers has increased by 26%! While the unemployment rate is staying at a very low 2%. As of this year(1929) around 13% of all manufactured good are for the auto industry. The result of this is a increased employment rate in the steel, lead, petroleum, plate-glass, leather, and other industries that made car parts. There are a lot of things growing during these times, this includes but is not limited to, income levels, business growth, construction of buildings, and the stock market. 5
Henry Ford is a great person all around but he especially majorly impacted mass production in a great way. Henry Ford is the creator of the assembly line. He introduced it in 1913. By 1925 Ford was able to pump out a car every 10 seconds! How does this affect you? Well with the ever growing Ford company opened many new jobs for Americans like you and me. It also allowed many people to buy the Ford Model T as there were so many available at low prices, less than $300 to be exact due to the price reduction when the assembly line was introduced. So as you can you see mass production so far is doing brilliant things to help industries and helping people like you. Mass production is growing the economy, increasing people's wages, helping consumers because of lowered prices, opening more jobs, and helping businesses create products quicker and easier, this isn’t even all of the pros! So to conclude mass production is improving American products, workers, consumers, and industries.
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Credit You’ve probably heard of credit, but what really is it? Credit over the last few years has become huge recently, this is because credit is the ability to pay for something over time like a house or a car but instead for everything, a washing machine, a new vacuum, or even a radio. This new way of paying can get you what you want now, and pay for it while enjoying it, sounds perfect right? While no, because of the opinions about it are so positive it has and will continue to be abused by some people and cause them to go into debt, this also allows the government another way to control when and where to spend our money. Last but not least the market crash just over a year ago that has had such an effect on all of us may have just been caused by this new way of paying. When on paper credit sounds like an absolutely idea, now you are able to buy stuff you want before you can afford it, and pay for it while you have it. The “gotta have it feeling” also has been affecting they way people spend, because why not have the best version of something, if your neighbor can afford it surely you can to right? Another reason so many people are buying more than they used to is because now everyone has the ability to help grow our economy by buying stuff, benefits everyone, you get more stuff and help grow the economy. These “gotta have it” feeling along with the idea that your helping the economy means that people have been using credit all the time, maybe to much. Sadly for us through, credit isn’t buying and paying back the same amount later, banks always charge an interest fee for borrowing their money, seems like a normal way of controlling their banks right? Because we all buy when interest rates are low and wait when the interest rates are higher than normal the government has created another way that they can control your money and where you should spend it and when, all the way back in 1914, seems like a long time ago right, a whole 15 years is when they set up the central banks, and around 10 years ago they took control of monetary politics within the country to be able to control interest rates on credit.
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Now, to the most important part, the market crash that affected all of us just a little while ago, many people had lost millions of dollars in investments that would have helped them and their families greatly, so something horrible has had to of done this to them right? What if it was the thing everyone was so positive about, the thing that helped our economy and our personal lives, the way of paying that made it so easy to buy anything you wanted. The reason that credit could have had an effect is because most of the money invested in stock markets wasn’t actually real, just numbers written down on pieces of paper. Banks had made many mistakes of investing poorly in unsecured loans and maintaining inadequate amounts of resources, many banks because of this went out of business, and all of that money the people deserved was lost, this is because people had to good of a feeling about credit and often spend more than they could afford this over tripled the debt from 1920. Ever since credit started the national debt has been rising an average 1.4 billion dollars a year because of overspending and going into debt since the “gotta have it� feeling and the economic growth promise. Secondly, the government has another way to control our hard earned money, and thirdly credit had a large role in the market crash. With all of these reasons credit really is helpful to individual lives, making it easier and quicker to buy, but it hurts america on the larger scale by increasing debt, and helping the market crash.
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Anne Wu
Citations Works Cited (Hunter Shook) Chechar, Linda. "Toasters Of The 1920s." Delishably, 17 Feb. 2018, delishably.com/cooking-equipment/Toasters-of-the-1920s. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018. Ditlow, Florence. "A Toast To History Buffs." American History USA, 13 May 2013, www.americanhistoryusa.com/a-toast-to-history-buffs/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018. Hanson, Erica. The 1920s. San Diego, Lucent Books, 1999. Hart, Diane, and Bert Bower. History Alive!: Pursuing American Ideals. Student edition. ed., Rancho Cordova, Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2013. Lüsted, Marcia Amidon, and Jennifer K. Keller. The Roaring Twenties: Discover the Era of Prohibition, Flappers, and Jazz. White River Junction, Nomad Press, 2014. O'Neal, Michael. America in the 1920s. New York, Facts On File, 2006. Works Cited (Davis) Hart, Diane, and Bert Bower. History Alive!: Pursuing American Ideals. Student edition. ed., Rancho Cordova, Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2013. Movies of the 1920s. thing link, www.thinglink.com/scene/630081807601106945. Ms. Hall's 1920s Radio car ad. youtube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-nGvZgoic0. O'Neal, Michael. America in the 1920s. New York, Facts On File, 2006. Pietrusza, David. The Roaring Twenties. San Diego, Lucent Books, 1998. Works Cited (Sam Callahan) Hart, Diane, and Bert Bower. History Alive!: Pursuing American Ideals. Student ed., Rancho Cordova, Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2013. Lüsted, Marcia Amidon, and Jennifer K. Keller. The Roaring Twenties: Discover the Era of Prohibition, Flappers, and Jazz. White River Junction, Nomad Press, 2014. U.S.A. 1920s. Danbury, Grolier, 2005. Yancey, Diane. Life during the Roaring Twenties. San Diego, Lucent Books, 2002. Works Cited (Anne Wu) Hart, Diane, and Bert Bower. History Alive!: Pursuing American Ideals. Student edition. ed., Rancho Cordova, Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2013. Movies Become Big Business in the 1920’s. Learningenglish.voanews.com, Learning English, learningenglish.voanews.com/a/movies-become-big-business-in-the-1920s-111456524/131238.html. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018. Movie Theaters. 1920s-entertainment.weebly.com, Weebly, 1920s-entertainment.weebly.com/radiomovie-theaters.html. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018. Pietrusza, David. The Roaring Twenties. San Diego, Lucent Books, 1998. This Fabulous Century. Alexandria, Time-Life Books, 1987. UA Egyptian Theatres D-150 screen (75 x 30 feet). Cinematreasures.org, Cinema Treasures, 4 Aug. 2011, cinematreasures.org/photos/20107. Accessed 31 Oct. 2018. U.S.A. 1920s. Danbury, Grolier, 2005. 14