1920s in the
* Post WWI Depression
- demand for ships, timber, grain, etc.
dropped fast
-> lead to
strikes like
* failure
to recover
- much of nation
recovered after the early 20s
-> production
of consumer goods increased
=> cars,
radios, washing machines, etc.
-> lots of
consumer credit available
=> people
loaded up on goods on credit
+> would cause problems later
-> lots of new
roads and buildings
-> stock market
also rose, which would be a problem later
- PNW did not benefit much from the 20s
-> not a lot of
local manufacturing industry
-> much of the
PNW was still rural and timber-dependent
=> chronic
overproduction on the farms
+> new technologies increased
productivity
+> a lot of new land brought into
production
+> crop prices sank, hurting
farmers badly
=> timber
also prone to booms and busts
+> new technologies also a problem
here (saws and trucks)
+> lack of war market caused problems
+> timber companies consolidated
and worked together to try
to
“stabilize the market”
* urban
growth and change
- new roads,
electric lines, and building in and around the cities
- held back some by local farming problems
- social changes
-> automobile
brought freedom
=> parents
had less control over kids “dating”
=> rural
people could meet each other and go to city
+> broke down isolation
-> radio and
movies changed world-view
=> everyone
hears the same news
=> common
heroes and music
+> Chaplin and jazz
-> beginning of standardized accents and
vocabulary
- Ku Klux Klan very powerful in the 20s
-> wanted to “Americanize” everyone in
public schools
=> worked to ban private schools
=> “One flag, one school, one
language”
-> defending busted farmers and those
not wealthy against
imaginary
enemies
=> problems
were real, but Jews, Blacks, and Asians were not
the real
root
-> part of the
1923 Alien Property Act which kept Japanese from
being able to
own land legally in