A New Industrial Age: The Expansion of Industry Chapter 14, Section 1
US industrial boom due to: Wealth of natural resources Oil, iron ore, coal, lumber, etc. Natural Resources Fuel Industrialization Government support for business Growing urban population Cheap labor Market for new products
Oil 1840s, Americans began to use kerosene to light lamps Refining found how to get not only kerosene, but also: gasoline, lubricating oil, waxes, etc. Oil was referred to as black gold Oil prospectors were called wildcatters
Drake used steam engine to drill for oil near Titusville, Pennsylvania Neighbors questioned his sanity and called it Drake s Folly. Drake found oil and spurred a growth in oil seekers Oil: Edwin Drake
Elijah McCoy, son of a runway slave, invented a lubricating cup that fed oil to parts of a moving machine McCoy s invention allowed old and newer machines to work more smoothly and quickly. Oil: Elijah McCoy
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Steel: Bessemer Process Henry Bessemer, a British manufacturer, came up with a way of removing carbon from the iron. The process, injecting air into molten iron to remove the carbon, became known as the Bessemer Process. Later open-hearth process makes steel from scrap or raw materials Manufacturers could now produce in a day what used to take a week. The end result is: CHEAPER STEEL a ton of steel=$100 in 1873, $12 by late 1890s
Steel: Bessemer Process
Steel: New Uses Joseph Glidden s Barbed Wire McCormick s and John Deere s farm machines Construction: bridges, skyscrapers, apartment buildings
Steel: Birth of a Steel Town
Electricity: Thomas Alva Edison Edison invented many things in his Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratory Edison perfected the incandescent light bulb Electricity changes business; by 1890, runs numerous machines Becomes available in homes; encourages invention of appliances Allows manufacturers to locate plants anyplace; industry grows
Electricity: Thomas Alva Edison
Electricity: AC/DC DC Thomas Edison Direct Current: continuous current of electricity in one direction AC Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse Alternating Current: an electrical current whose magnitude and direction vary cyclically
Typewriter: Christopher Sholes Christopher Sholes invented the typewriter which allowed users to quickly produce easily legible documents Sholes keyboard design is still in use today Typing pools developed: departments were workers main task was to type
In 1875, Christopher Sholes with assistance from Amos Densmore rearranged the typewriter keyboard so that the commonest letters were not so close together and the type bars would come from opposite directions. Thus they would not clash together and jam the machine. The new arrangement was the "QWERTY" arrangement that typists use today.
Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone Telephone changed the communication needs of the world Also provided jobs for women to work as operators
Other Inventions Transportation Railroads: Horseless carriage (forerunner to the automobile): 1770; 1876 combustible engine version Airplane: 1903; Orville and Wilbur Wright of Dayton, Ohio
Communication Telegraph: 1837 Typewriter: 1867 Telephone: 1876 Other Inventions (cont.)
Inventions impact factory work, lead to industrialization clothing factories hire many women Industrialization makes jobs easier; improves standard of living by 1890, average workweek 10 hours shorter as consumers, workers regain power in market Some laborers think mechanization reduces value of human worker
A New Industrial Age: The Age of the Railroads Chapter 14, Section 2
Innovations Cheap steel provided by Bessemer process allowed for such significant railroad expansion (a ton of steel=$100 in 1873, $12 by late 1890s)
Dangers Turns, valleys, hills, etc. made it difficult for trains to keep high rate of speed (had to slow down for these things) Too many conductors went to fast and caused trains to come off the track To slow down, brake operator had to turn hand wheel on passenger train it was easy on cargo trains you had to climb over the load in any conditions George Westinghouse s compressed-air brake increased safety and speed by allowing all cars to stop at same time and do so from the engine car
Innovations
Dangers Speed (Casey Jones) Come all you rounders that want to hear The story of a brave engineer. Casey Jones was the rounder's name, On a six eight wheeler, boys, he won his fame. Casey Jones mounted to his cabin, Casey Jones with his orders in his hand Casey Jones mounted to his cabin, And he took his farewell trip to that promised land. The caller call Casey at half past four, He kissed his wife at the station door, He mounted to the cabin with the orders in his hand, And he took his farewell trip to that promised land. When he pulled up that Reno hill, He whistled for the crossing with an awful shrill; The switchman knew by the engine's moan That the man at the throttle was Casey Jones. He looked at his water and his water was low; He looked at his watch and his watch was slow; He turned to his fireman and this is what he said, "Boy, we're going to reach Frisco, but we'll all be dead." "So turn on your water and shovel in your coal, Stick you head out the window, watch those drivers roll; I'll drive her till she leaves the rail, For I'm eight hours late by that Western Mail. When he was within six miles of the place, There number four stared him straight in the face. He turned to his fireman, said "Jim you'd better jump, For there're two locomotives that are going to bump. Casey said just before he died, "There're two more roads I would like to ride." The fireman said, "Which ones can they be?" "Oh the Northern Pacific and the Santa Fe." Mrs. Jones sat at her bed a-sighing Just to hear the news that her Casey was dying. "Hush up children, and quit your crying', For you've got another poppa on the Salt Lake Line." Casey Jones (John Luther Jones from Cayce, Kentucky) conductor (thanks to a song) that got in fatal accident going to fast trying to make up time Jones became famous after his friend, Jimmie Jones, wrote a song about him Illinois Central Engineer William Leighton heard the song and told his brothers, Frank and Bert, who were vaudeville performers they sang it in theaters around the country. a popular song of the time
Cow Catchers Animals and other things would derail trains so they invented the Cow Catcher (pilot) device attached to front of the train to deflect obstacles from the track Telescoping getting hit from behind or hitting someone ahead caused the trains to crush (only wood cars) into each other like a telescope being put away Fire Coal Heaters in cars: bumps could cause coals to come out; flame debris going out and up could catch other part of train on fire, derailment or other accidents ended in fire from heaters Time Time was a large cause of many accidents (need to have accurate time to avoid trains behind and in front going same direction as well as trains going opposite direction) passing lines and main lines Dangers (Cont.)
Change in Track Design Double Sets: track laid side-by-side to allow for a company to run in two different directions Standard Gauge: set standard width between rails to allow trains to transfer to different tracks 4 ft 8½ in
Romance and Reality Railroads were only available due to hard work of employees Chinese and Irish immigrants, along with outof-work Civil War veterans, were hired to build the track across the dangerous terrain Chinese Immigrants treated unfairly (white workers for ten hour day received $40 to $60 dollars plus free meals; Chinese Immigrant worked dust-till-dawn for $35 and no meals) Thousands were killed and even more injured during the building of the railroad system
Railroad Time During this period, time in the US was based on high noon (set their clock to it when sun was directly overhead) a problem when uniformed timing was needed across entire country for train schedules Professor C.F. Dowd s system divided world into 24 times zones US was divided into four zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific World accepted in 1884 and US officially accepted in 1918
New Towns and Markets Previously isolated cities, towns, and settlements were now linked by the railroad thus promoting trade and interdependence Cities also started to specialize Chicago-stockyards Minneapolis-grain industry New towns also popped up along the railroad lines Flagstaff, Arizona Denver, Colorado Seattle, Washington
George M. Pullman Pullman was a successful railroad giant whose company built sleeping cars, dining cars, and luxurious cars for wealthy train passengers Pullman built a town for his employees that offered everything well-built homes (with a window in each room), shops, a church, a library, a theater, medical and legal offices, and an athletic field However, the residents remained clearly under company control no loitering on front steps or drinking alcohol, etc. Pullman cut wages for his factory but refused to lower rents or prices at the stores in town in 1894 the workers went on Strike and the American Railway Union (ARU) supported it.
Pullman, Illinois (Outside Chicago) George M. Pullman
Credit Mobilier Credit Mobilier was a construction company formed by Union Pacific Railroad executives This company was given many of the contracts to lay track for Union Pacific but the contract cost three times what the actual cost was the executives pocketed the profits They also donated about shares of stock in the construction company to about 20 members of Congress to gain influence and favorable legislation Among those implicated was Vice-President Schuyler Colfax, Congressman James Garfield, and the reputation of the Republican Party was tarnished.
Railroad Abuses Railroads sold land (given by government land grants) to businesses rather than settlers Railroads had formal agreement to fix prices (all charge the same rather than compete) Charged different customers different rates too often charging more for short distances (overall benefiting bonanza farming) Cheaper to ship from Chicago to England by boat than Dakotas to Minneapolis by rail The cartoon depicts how the farmers are at the mercy of the railroads, and their warnings are being ignored by businessmen and industrialists
Granger Laws Granger laws were laws that protected the rights of farmers especially against railroads Illinois authorized a commission to establish maximum freight and passenger rates and prohibit discrimination Railroads challenged it in Supreme Court case of Munn v. Illinois; however, the Granger laws won Set the president for federal government s right to get involved in private sector if it was in the best interest of the public
Interstate Commerce Act Interstate Commerce refers to traveling, trading, or transporting goods that either came from or was going to another state Supreme Court said that state laws could not govern interstate commerce, so Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 This act established a five-member Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate railroads traveling through states ICC was handcuff, however, because they were not allowed to set a maximum rate
Panic and Consolidation Panic of 1893 put pressure on smaller railroads which resulted in a consolidation Large financial companies, such as J.P. Morgan & Company, had begun buying up small troubled railroads By the 1900s, seven powerful companies held over two-thirds of the nation s railroad tracks
A New Industrial Age: Big Business and Labor Chapter 14, Section 3
New Capitalist Spirit Horatio Alger Jr. published stories based on rags-toriches these stories inspired many business leaders The new theme became self-reliant individualism Entrepreneurs set out to gain economic wealth by building industries
Laissez-faire Capitalism Many business leaders champion the laissez-faire capitalism no government intervention in the economy Free enterprise: businesses left free from government regulation and allowed to compete in a free market
Communism Many argued rapid industrialization of factory life without government regulation was harmful to the working class Karl Marx, a German philosopher, proposed a political system with no social classes Property and the means of production were owned by everyone in the community
Social Darwinism English philosopher Herbert Spencer used Charles Darwin s ideas of evolution to explain that society progressed through natural competition Economists used this to justify laissez-faire capitalism by arguing that success and failure in business were governed by natural law and no one (not even government) had the right to intervene Theory also appealed to the Protestant work ethic riches were a sign of God s favor and thus the poor must be lazy or inferior who deserved what they got
Corporations Corporations: organizers raise money by selling shares of stock (certificates of ownership)] Stockholders (those who buy the shares) then receive a percentage of the corporation's profits, knows as dividends Corporations had several advantages over small business Could raise large sums of money Stockholders enjoy limited liability Is stable because it is not dependent on specific owner or owners
Trusts Corporations in late 1800s faced difficulty with fierce competition To combat the instability, many corporations formed a trust Trust: a group of companies that turn control of their stock over to a common board of directors If a trust gained exclusive rights of an industry, it held a monopoly With a monopoly, trust held complete control over the price and quality of a product
Andrew Carnegie Born in Scotland to penniless parents He immigrated to the US in 1848, at the age of 12 By 17, he was working for a railroad company and saving/investing his money By 24, he had purchased his own iron and steel business Carnegie s success was in reducing production costs
Carnegie (Cont.) Reducing Cost Increasing Productivity Buying supplies in bulk Producing goods in large quantities Producing quality goods Hiring the most talented employees Vertical integration Acquiring companies that provide the materials needed for a product from beginning to end
Vertical Integration Carnegie s Vertical Integration He bought iron and coal mines Raw materials to run his steel mills Steamship lines and railroads to transport these materials
Carnegie (Cont.) Carnegie organized all of his companies into Carnegie Steel Company and sold it in 1901 to J.P. Morgan for nearly $500 million ($11 Billion today) In retirement, Carnegie believed it was his responsibility to be a philanthropist Gospel of Wealth : the rich are morally obligated to manager their wealth to benefit other citizens Carnegie donated more than $350 million to charity
John D. Rockefeller Born in New York and grew up in Strongsville, Ohio By 20, he started his own company At age 30, he founded Standard Oil Company in 1870 with several partners including his brother His business career was controversial; he was accused of monopolistic practices and was bitterly attacked by muckraking journalists Rockefeller s success was in eliminating competition, especially using horizontal integration as well as vertical integration
There is a stretch of Cleveland s Euclid Avenue (US Route 20) that was once known as the most beautiful street in America. It was also known as Millionaire s Row, because in the late 1800s to the early 1900s the street contained the homes of some of the richest and influential people in the city and the county. Some of the names of the families who lived on "Millionaire's Row" included those of industrialist and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller; banker and industrial distributor George Worthington; arc light inventor Charles F. Brush; mining magnate Samuel Mather; industrialist and politician Marcus Hanna; John Hay, personal secretary to Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State under William McKinley; and Jeptha Wade, founder of Western Union Telegraph.
Rockefeller (Cont.) Over a forty-year period, Rockefeller built Standard Oil into the largest and most profitable company in the world He was also the richest man in the world for a time He spent his last forty years focused on philanthropic pursuits, primarily related to education and public health (donated approx. $550 million to philanthropic causes) This 1900 cartoon, captioned "What a funny little government!" is a commentary on the power of the Standard Oil empire. John D. Rockefeller holds the White House in his hand.
Rockefeller (Cont.) Reducing Cost Increasing Productivity Rockefeller profits by paying low wages, underselling others and then raising prices when he controls the market Vertical Integration Acquiring companies that provide the materials need for a product from beginning to end Horizontal Integration Acquiring companies producing the same product Price Reduction Those competitors he couldn t buy, he drove out of business by offering his oil cheaper Back Door Deals Because of the large quantity Standard Oil shipped, he made deals with suppliers and transporters to receive cheaper supplies and freight rates
Rockefeller s Vertical Integration He bought Oil fields Oil-storage facilities Pipelines Railroad tanker cars Barrel factories Vertical Integration
Horizontal Integration Rockefeller s Horizontal Integration He bought companies that drilled and/or refined oil He drove down prices to drive competitors out of business Took a loss until rival company went out of business Was able to undercut rival because of deals he had with suppliers and freight carriers
Vertical-Horizontal Integration
End of Standard Oil In 1911, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court judgment, and forced Standard Oil to separate into 34 companies, each with its own distinct board of directors Standard's president, John D. Rockefeller had, by then, long since retired from any management role and became simply a shareholder in each of the new companies. They formed the core of today's U.S. oil industry, including: ExxonMobil (formerly Standard of New Jersey and Standard of New York) ConocoPhillips (the Conoco side, which was Standard's company in the Rocky Mountain states) Chevron (Standard of California) BP (Was Amoco, Antlantic, and Sohio before being bought out) Marathon (covering western Ohio and other parts of Ohio not covered by Sohio)
Robber Barons Critics call industrialists robber barons (industrialists also become philanthropists) Well known Robber Barons: Andrew Carnegie (railroads, steel), John D. Rockefeller (oil, the Standard Oil company), J. P. Morgan (banking), Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroads, shipping), Jay Gould (finance, railroads), John Jacob Astor (real estate, fur), Henry Ford (automobile) By 1890, just 10 percent of the population controlled close to 75 percent of nation s wealth
Robber Barons (Cont.)
Sherman Antitrust Act Sherman Antitrust Act Government thinks expanding corporations stifle free competition people feared monopolies would have no incentive to maintain the quality of their goods or keep prices low Sherman Antitrust Act: trust illegal if interferes with free trade Prosecuting companies difficult; law did not specifically define what constituted a monopoly or trust
Business Boom Bypasses the South South recovering from Civil War, hindered by lack of capital North owns 90% of stock in RR, most profitable Southern businesses Business problems: high transport cost, tariffs, few skilled workers Northern wages generally higher than Southern
New Working Class By 1900, 1/3 of country s industrial workers were foreign-born African Americans Thousands of African Americans moved to the north for jobs, however, most were not given jobs and those that were given the dirtiest jobs available. Women and Children Women and children worked to help support the family. By 1900, women accounted for 18 percent of labor force (doubling between 1870 and 1890) while 20 percent of children between age 10 and 15 were working (doubling between 1870 and 1890).
Labor Unions: Long Hours and Danger To survive, families need all member to work, including children Sweatshops, tenement workshops often only jobs for women, children require few skills; pay lowest wages Working Conditions Most people worked between 10-12 hour shifts Most people made less than $10 a week perform repetitive, mind-dulling tasks no vacation, sick leave, injury compensation there were many work related accidents & deaths and most employers took no responsibility. Some companies controlled all aspects of workers lives by building towns where company owned houses and businesses.
Early Labor Organizing Labor unions fight for better working conditions and for the closed shop: workplace where all the employees belong to a union National Labor Union first large-scale national organization 1868, NLU gets Congress to give 8-hour day to civil servants Local chapters rejected African Americans; Colored National Labor Union forms NLU focus on linking existing local unions
Knights of Labor was one of the earliest national unions, formed to seek workers rights for white native born skilled workers Knights support 8-hour day, equal pay, arbitration The Knights of Labor
Terence Powderly took over and sought to expand membership Knights soon accepted skilled and unskilled workers, women, and even eventually African Americans However, knights never accepted Chinese workers The Knights of Labor (cont.)
Union Movements Diverge Craft Unionism Craft unions include skilled workers from one or more trades Samuel Gompers helps found American Federation of Labor (AFL) AFL uses collective bargaining for better wages, hours, conditions AFL strikes successfully, wins higher pay, shorter workweek Industrial Unionism Industrial unions include skilled, unskilled workers in an industry Eugene V. Debs forms American Railway Union; uses strikes
Union Movements Diverge: Socialism and the IWW Some labor activists turn to socialism: government control of business, property equal distribution of wealth Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), or Wobblies, forms 1905 Organized by radical unionists, socialists; include African Americans Industrial unions give unskilled workers dignity, solidarity Other Labor Activism in the West Japanese, Mexicans form Sugar Beet and Farm Laborers Union in CA Wyoming Federation of Labor supports Chinese, Japanese miners
The Great Upheaval Great Upheaval: what 1886 is often referred to as for its intense strikes and violence By the end of year some 1,500 strikes involving more than 400,000 workers had swept the nation
The Great Strike of 1877 The Great Strike of 1877 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad strike spreads to other lines Governors say impeding interstate commerce; federal troops intervene
The Haymarket Affair Chicago workers joined a strike against the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company demanding an eight-hour day On May 3 a confrontation between the police and the strikers left two strikers dead in protest strikers called a meeting for the next day The meeting, in Chicago s Haymarket Square, was fine until 200 police arrived and a bomb was tossed into the police line causing police to open fire Violence ensues; 8 charged with inciting riot, convicted Public opinion turns against labor movement
The Homestead Strike In June 1892, workers upset over wage cuts struck against Andrew Carnegie s Homestead Steel Works in Homestead, Pennsylvania Managers locked out workers and hired 300 Pinkerton guards to protect plant Violent clash between two resulted in 16 deaths and caused plant to stay closed until National Guard opened it Union lost much of its support Steelworkers would not remobilize for 45 years
The Pullman Company Strike In June 1894, workers at the Pullman sleepingcar factory in Pullman, Illinois struck because he had cut wages but refused to lower rents or prices at the stores in this company town. This artist's rendering depicts the clash between striking Pullman workers and federal troops.
The Pullman Company Strike (Cont.) American Railway Union (ARU), led by their leader (Eugene V. Debs), supported the strike urging members to refuse to work or ride on all trains that included Pullman cars Railroad workers brought rail traffic to a halt throughout Midwest thus damaging the US s economy The president stepped in and ordered a mail car linked to all these trains and when train was stopped the government ordered strike to come to end arguing that it was a federal offense to prevent the delivery of US mail ARU officials ignored order and were jailed because of it This destroyed the ARU!
Women Organize Women barred from many unions; unite behind powerful leaders Florence Kelly was a reformer who helped form the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) Pauline Newman organizer for International Ladies Garment Workers Established in 1900 in New York City, it sought to unionize workers employed in sewing shops Mainly Jewish and Italian immigrant women
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City had a fire on March 25, 1911 The company had locked all but one door to prevent theft the unlocked door was blocked by fire 146 women died Caused great outrage among the public Led to New York legislature enacting the nation s strictest fire-safety code The bodies of seamstresses, who jumped from the factory floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company to avoid being burned alive, lie outside the building.
Mary Harris Mother Jones Mary Harris Jones most prominent organizer in women s labor works for United Mine Workers leads children s march organizer for the Knights of labor some opponents of union called her the most dangerous woman in American
Employers Fight Back After the numerous uprisings, employers and the government struck back at unions Employers drew up blacklists, lists of union supporters, that they shared and blocked out those on list Employers made job applicants sign agreements, called yellow-dog contracts, promising not to join unions Employers instituted lockouts, barring striking workers form plant and replacing them with strikebreakers (Scabs) Industrial leaders turned the Sherman Antitrust Act against labor
Union Growth Despite these pressures, workers especially those in skilled jobs continued to view unions as a powerful tool