President Calvin Coolidge once said, "The business of America is business" (Napo lo 35).

During the 1920's, America saw a shift toward widespread business expans ion and economy prosperity. Economic expansion created new, booming businesses a nd thriving business profits which in turn raised the standard of living for man y Americans. During this time in America, businessmen advocated a return to lais sez-faire economics, less government regulation of business, and less government support for labor unions. The federal government supported big businesses by wa y of high tariff policies and cutbacks in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Fr om 1922-1929, the national income was up 40% from $60.7 billion to $87.2 billion (The Roaring Twenties). Also, the War stimulated a number of old industries, su ch as petroleum and steel, and helped create a host of new industries, such as p lastic and rayon production; nonetheless, the total annual expenditure of money spent on new machinery for industry in 1918 was $2.5 billion, compared to $600 m illion in 1915 (Schultz). Furthermore, the use of labor saving machinery in fact ories and on farms enabled workers to produce more goods faster and less expensi vely, which led to higher amounts of production and worker productivity, thereby raising the wages of workers (The Roaring Twenties). Many new businesses became preeminent and prosperous during the 1920's, such as the steel industry, depart ment stores, and the automobile industry. In 1920, for example, Woolworth had 1, 111 stores, and in 1929, they expanded to 1,825. J.C. Penney, on the other hand, expanded from 312 stores to 1,395 (The Roaring Twenties). During this time, dep artment stores also introduced installment payment plans to their customers beca use the idea of "Buy Now and Pay Later" became very popular (The Roaring Twentie s). Even more prominent was the automobile industry with the development of the inexpensive Ford Model-T by Henry Ford in 1908. Ford was one of the 3 big car pr oducers which also included Chrysler and General Motors. The Ford Model-T cost $ 1,200 in 1909 and dropped to just $295 in 1928. By 1928, about 20% of all Americ ans had cars (America's Economy in the 1920's). In addition, there were 6.7 mill ion cars on American roads in 1919 and more than 27 million?or nearly a car for every household in the United States?in 1929 (Mintz). In 1913, Henry Ford revolu tionized American manufacturing by introducing the automated assembly line, whic h reducing the assembly time for a Ford car from 12.5 hours in 1912 to 1.5 hours in 1914 (Mintz). Henry Ford also introduced a minimum wage of five dollars in 1 914 and shortened the workday from nine hours to eight hours (Mintz). Ford Motor Company employed one out of every twelve workers (Mintz). In 1919, automotive t itan Alfred Sloan set up the nation's first national consumer credit agency (Min tz). Economically, the effects of the automobile promoted growth of other indust ries, such as rubber, petroleum, and steel, helped fuel the creation of a nation al system of highways, and created new service facilities, such as restaurants a nd motels (Schultz). 20% of all American steel, 80% of all American rubber, 75% of all American plate glass, and 65% of all American leather went to the car ind ustry (America's Economy in the 1920's). Automobiles in turn stimulated the grow th of steel, glass, and rubber industries, along with the gasoline stations, mot or lodges, camp grounds, and restaurants (Mintz). The industries of the 1920's p roved vital to the growth of America and provided an enormous stimulus for the n ational economy.