Lighting during the depression years.

Due to the 1929 depression, between 1930 and 1940 few people had enough money to spend on anything unnecessary, and certainly not Christmas lights. Therefore, they used what they had in order to save money. In an effort to relieve some of the effects of the depression, in 1933, President Roosevelt came up with an idea called the National Recovery Act. Any lights that were sold between 1933 and 1935 were required to carry the NRA symbol on the box. (Discussing this era in history sounds a lot like the economic downturn and near-depression of 2008-2009 that we have been experiencing.)

Electric tree lights - a status symbol

Those who were still using candles in the 1900's were doing so because the cost of having electric lights made it impossible for them. Others hung onto the candle lighted trees simply because they loved the tradition and didn't want it to end. Those who were able to switch over were quite delighted with the rainbow of colors in the room. They also enjoyed the fact that the lights could stay on all day and evening. Having an electrically lighted Christmas tree was considered a status symbol back then, and was why some people wanted to go with the trend.