Automobile

The automobile affected the growth of the American economy more than any other invention in the 1920s because it lead to mass production of goods, started the idea of a travel, and it started the highway. This invention completely changed the way that the economy in America has evolved since the 1920s. It’s started a whole new way of life from a country that rode around on horses for many years. Economic ideas spread quicker than ever. The automobile helped goods get seen in the whole world and they helped to transport them. When the automobile came out it was the beginning of the economy we see today in America, a capitalist economy. The Assembly Line In 1910 the need for cars was steadily increasing, but the price of an automobile was around $ 4200. (Concept Carz) This made it very hard for the average American to purchase a car for their family. A world renowned invention was soon to be invented. As the need for cars was increasing, manufacturers were taking notice in that, but it was impossible to charge less with the few amounts of cars that they could make in one day. Henry Ford, then a president of a small company, heard much about a new way to produce cars. It became clear that the new technology had to be introduced into his factory immediately to increase profits. From 1913-1914, the first movable assembly line was built in Henry Ford’s factory in Highland Park, Michigan. "I believe that this was the first moving line ever installed. The idea came in a general way from the overhead trolley that the Chicago packers use in dressing beef.” (Ford Motor Company) Those are the words of Walter Flanders, the man who helped design the assembly line for Ford. The assembly was an invention for the people. It produced cars in shortly over an hour from 12 hours before. It allowed Ford to lower prices of cars from around $ 4,000 to about $ 500. The idea of an assembly line migrated quickly to other companies. Soon, many companies were mass producing their goods to the mass market. The assembly line had a huge positive impact on the consumer economy. People were able to afford things they weren’t able to buy before. The assembly line you could say is the reason Americans have things we don’t need. We are able to afford things because they’re mass produced so the prices can be lowered. The assembly line was probably the biggest factor of improving the economy and it started with the automobile. If it wasn’t for the automobile mass production would cease to exist for probably another 10-20 years. Travel Before the automobile, many Americans had never traveled more than 50 miles from their house. That was about to change. With automobiles being mass produced, more people had them and, people started drift away from their hometowns. People wanted to get away. So they started to travel. With traveling comes the need to stay in places overnight and make attractions that draw crowds from different parts of the country. In 1927 in Minnesota, the government there noticed the new amount of tourists that they attracted due to cars. They decided to make the week of May 1st 10,000 lakes week. The goal was to get ten thousand visitors that week. That summer about 1,800,000 tourists spent over 70 million dollars in Minnesota because they could drive there. Arthur Roberts of the Ten Thousand Lakes Association said, “Tourists are good business stimulators. Most of them are good buyers and they have cash” (Lorentzen). As you can see just because of the automobile the economy in Minnesota exploded upwards. That was just the beginning of the tourist boom in the country. People started to travel a lot more and hotels and motels started to arise. People were going to the beach; they were doing road trips, and many other things. The automobile also helped spread ideas across the country very quickly. When someone would travel somewhere they would go back home and let their friends and family know and that would then bring more people to that area. That increased the number of sales that area made.