3/7/18
basics as percent of
          disposable income
progressivism:

hope that technology would mean more wealth and less work
the 8 hour day became standard during WWI

mass production and economies of scale were recognized
switch from manual work to machine work
the term assembly line did not catch on until later
but Ford promoted the technology and offered factory tours
the public was excited about the progress of mass production
products like Q-tips were advertised as untouched by human hands
factory tours were available until recently at BMW

Ford's 1920 River Rouge plant was built for the assembly line
Flow chart of River
            Rouge plantFord kept focusing on lower cost production, other companies developed fancier, higher cost cars

mass production was adopted by many other industries
1919-1929 the number of factory workers declined by 1.8%
large increases in production needed fewer workers

how did workers react?
they felt a part of something exciting, new, and powerful
they didn't complain about being turned into machines in this period

the ideas of factory uniformity and speed influenced the arts
chorus line
1934 Machine Art exhibition
shows how pervasive these ideas were culturally
standardization was good