orced to develop itself before it could worry about competing with the world. Hence, the amount of capital was far greater once available to be spent outside the United States. 1914 can be considered the point at which the United States would never be second in the world again. Europe was stricken with war and the United States was turned to for supplies. The wealthy European countries were ravaged by war because of casualties, economic losses, and expensed of war over four years. The United States only was in the war for a year and did not have its country damaged by the war. The United States emerged from World War I being owed billions of dollars for having financed most of the war and was acknowledged to be the leader of the Western world. The early 1920s were a time of booming industry, of soaring hope and confidence. The ups and downs of the stock market were hardly noticed by the average American. The average American was more concerned with their daily life than the state of the stock market. The economy was such that many new products and services were available to almost everyone, including the automobile, radios, and other products for the home. The stock market was controlled by professionals that worked for large firms who had good financial backing which made it easier to use the market advantageously. Small investors were never shut out of Wall Street but the professionals paid for stock tips and also rigged the market so that certain stocks would rise and fall. This gave small investors a much harder time in making money through the stock market. As the market began to grow more small investors entered the game and were really just gambling their money. Most were not successful but some got lucky or got a good stock tip and rode the rising market until they lost their money too with the Great Crash. At this time nobody had any reason to believe that the stock market would not keep rising. As the market grew, the stock market became a way of life and was a highly discussed topic among common Americans who were eager to get a piece of the pie. Americans no longer were connected by the common bond of making a life for themselves like at the birth of the nation. The 1920s were an era of revolution in ideas, beliefs, inventions, and ways of living. The nation was totally different after World War I than before. The United States experimented with Prohibition. The Jazz age rose from the streets of Harlem, NY. Women got the right to vote. The whole of society was convinced that anything was possible, not only in the stock market and finances, but also in every facet of life. Most of this is taken for granted now because what was considered a new idea seems commonplace and because the Stock Market Crash of 1929 overshadowed the great improvements in society. Society's attitude affected Wall Street, though. The large investing firms thought that the government should not be allowed to interfere with the speculation of finances. This is a common feeling when the economy is booming, that the government is always trying to oppress. The exact opposite is seen when the economy is in a depression and everyone turns to the government for help. The federal government was very limited in its control of the market and could not impose new control efforts at the time because the nation would not agree. As we know now, the stock market would have been better off if the government would have stepped in when the stock market became dangerously high. One of the main causes for the stock market to become dangerous was because large firms or groups of individuals practiced unfair techniques when buying and selling stocks. This was known as "rigging" the market. The stock market flows more smoothly through normal buying and selling activity but when certain groups tried to make money in an unfair way they hurt others in the process which concentrated capital. Large pools could control prices more than was healthy for the stock market. So

Some common words found in the essay are:
Wall Street, Market Crash, United Government, Roosevelt's Deal, Reserve Board, Roosevelt Hoover, America RCA, World War, Treaty Versailles, United United, stock market, stock market crash, market crash, wall street, crash 1929, market crash 1929, war united, federal reserve, stock prices, control market, federal reserve board, world war, reserve board, stock market life, stock market rising,
Approximate Word count = 3761
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)