cause in the late 1920s and early 30s, they were dealing with President Hoover and a federal government who were strong advocates of big business (Bernstein, 265). The government could frequently be seen issuing sanctions against picketing, rejecting requests for union marches, coercing immigrant strikers with deportation threats, and ending demonstrations with police force (Cohen, 51).Most unions by 1920 accepted that they had to increase ethnic cohesion among their organizations. Ethnics had an incredible bond with one another, and the bond was not created just because of people naturally wanting to be with similar people. In 1920, ethnic organizations began to offer charitable benefits to further increase ethnic solidarity (Cohen, 60). Ethnic associations were made stronger when they began offering life insurance. People still clung to mutual benefit societies and fraternal associations despite greater ease of getting life insurance from their employer (Cohen, 70, plate 8). Job stability was scarce in the 1920s, so when a person lost employment, he also soon lost his insurance. Ethnic benefit associations, therefore, offered stability.Banks were not blinded by race or ethnicity issues. World War I caused ethnics to rely heavily on banks. Ethnics during this time bought war bonds and used banks to transfer money to relatives in other countries (Cohen, 76). The commercial banks had great success with ethnic workers, so the ethnic business community began pursuing ethnic customers. It was not long before immigrants could go into banks that had tellers who spoke their native language (Cohen, 81). The business community was augmenting ethnic solidarity. Businesses were so successful that when one Jewish bank almost closed due to capital shortage, local Jews joined forces in order to keep the bank operational (Cohen, 82).By the mid-1920s, consumerism spread across America with a slightly homogeneous culture. Even though unemployment was hi...
