The Methods of American Business in Early 20th Century

One of the reasons for his victory at the elections in 1936 is said to be the support given to him by the American Labor. This encouraged the labor union in the hands of CIO to seek more power and even challenge the authority of one of the country's most powerful companies, General Motors. During this period, the company was one of the most profitable and probably the largest organization in the country. This was recognized by the magazines of the time also. The company had 110 manufacturing plants situated all across the country, employed over 250,000 people and was owned by more than 500,000 shareholders. Yet, the attitude of the labor unions irritated the management and made them hostile to both the unions and the New Deal. At the same time, there was the Second World War in progress. (Lichtenstein 2003) Thus to an extent, the development of industry was being hindered through political ideas, but it is difficult to say who won. After the passing away of Roosevelt, the attitudes changed and the unions ended up loosing most of their power. That was also probably due to the conflict of the American system with the Russians who had come up as the most powerful country in the continent of Europe. .

             Areas of Industrial Growth: .

             The growth of the industries of the country was of industrial products and the chief among them was the automobiles followed closely by radios, consumer appliances and development of suburbs. The situation can be understood when we understand that the country had enough vehicles on the road to say that it had more than one vehicle for every five in the population. This is an achievement which many countries cannot state even today. The reason for the development of the country was mass production and that also made it the richest society existing in the world. (Delong 1997) Though all the inventions were not made in the country, but it made sure that large numbers were produced here as it had both the capacity to produce and the purchasers for the goods.

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