The Expansion of American Industry (1850-1900)

1. The Expansion of American Industry (1850-1900)

2. A Technological Revolution • Indoor electric lighting did not exist in 1865. Instead, the rising and setting of the sun dictated the rhythm of a day’s work. • After dark, people lit candles or oil lamps if they could afford them. If they could not they simply went to sleep, to rise at the first light of dawn.

3. A Technological Revolution • Imagine summers without the benefits of refrigeration! • Ice was available in 1865, but only at great cost. • People sawed blocks of ice out of frozen ponds during the winter, packed them in sawdust, and stored them in icehouses for later use.

4. A Technological Revolution • Communication was also very slow in those days. • Most mail from the East Coast took ten days to reach the Midwest and three weeks to get to the West. • An immigrant living on the frontier would wait months for news from relatives in Europe.

5. A Technological Revolution • By 1900, daily life had changed dramatically in the United States. • Between 1790 and 1860, the Patent and Trademark Office of the Federal Gov’t issued just 36,000 patents (licenses to make, use, or sell an invention). • In contrast, b/w 1860 and 1890, 500,000 patents were issued for inventions.

6. Telegraph Telephone Phonograph Filament Light bulb Central Power Station (direct current) Transformer (alternating) Bessemer Process Brooklyn Bridge Complete a chart for each invention: what, who, when, and importance!

7. Electric Power • Thomas A. Edison (“There is always a better way to do something, find it!” He patented over 1,000 inventions! • Helped to make electricity widely available. • Improved stock ticker • Phonograph • 1882, Central power station • Westinghouse • 1885 George Westinghouse and alternating current. • Use of transformer made use of electricity in homes practical. • General Electric and Westinghouse Electric.

8. The Railroad gets connected! • In 1850, steam powered ships still provided much of the nation’s transportation. • Before the Civil War, most of the railroad tracks were in short lines that connected neighboring cities, mainly in the East. • There was no standard track width, or gauge, so each train could only travel on certain tracks. • As a result, goods and passengers often had to be moved to different trains, which caused costly delays. • To make matters worse, they were dangerous b/c trains could not communicate and brakes were unreliable….eeekkkk 

9. The Transcontinental RR • In 1862, a huge project began in Sacramento, CA by the Central Pacific RR company and in Omaha, NB by the Union Pacific RR company to connect one line. • On May 10, 1869, the project was complete with the final “Gold” spike being driven in by Leland Stanford at Promontory Point, Utah. • Most of the workers on the railroad were immigrants. Irish for the Union Pacific and Asian, especially Chinese, for the Central Pacific. • This railroad officially connected the east to the west.

10. Problems with the RR • Rails were not standardized, this caused a lack of mobility. • Trains were often noisy, dirty, and uncomfortable. • People feared for their safety and distrusted most trains. • And scheduling for the train to be “On Time” was a nightmare, b/c of the time differences from town to town. Each town set its time according to solar time.

11. Solutions for the RR • Steel rails replaced iron rails and signals and track gauges became standardized. • George Westinghouse developed more effective air brakes and Granville Woods patented a telegraph system for communicating with moving trains, thus reducing the risk of collisions. • In 1883, the railroads adopted a national system of time zones to improve scheduling. As a result, clocks in broad regions of the country showed the same time. • Four time zones were used: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific (we still use these today)

12. Changes brought forth by the RR Gov’t reg. of private industry Grow of towns and cities Rapid Growth of Railroads Creation of nationwide market Consolidation of RR Greed and Corruption

13. Section 2: The Growth of Big Business • The period of invention after the Civil War set the stage for the great industrial growth. • Still, it would take more than technology to change the U.S., it would take entrepreneurial people to make the difference. • These individuals became known as “Robber Barons!”

14. Robber Barons (Captains of Industry) • Robber Baron implies that these individuals build their fortunes by stealing from the public, and in turn drained the natural resources. • Captains of Industry paints a more positive image of hard work and success in the building of the business world as we know it. Andrew Carnegie John D. Rockefeller Cornelius Vanderbilt

15. 3 Major Players • Make a list of the three major players in the growth of big business and add all the details of their particular business. • Include a picture of the each man and a picture of his “business.” • Complete this for homework, it will be due on Monday, December 12th!

16. Big Business

17. Big Business Problems • Monopolies and Cartels • Monopoly: complete control of a product or service. • Cartel: a loose association of business that make the same product. • Trust: managing companies as a single unit. Ex. Standard Oil (John D. Rockefeller) • Sherman Antitrust Act: law that prevents any combination of companies that restrain interstate trade or commerce. • Social Darwinism: Those who were more “fit” would “survive” in the business world. (Carnegie really believed in this idea) • Methods of Industrial Control • Horizontal consolidation (same type of business bought by one company, ex. Rockefeller w/oil) • Vertical consolidation(different type of business bought by one company, ex. Carnegie w/steel)

18. Financial Darwinism rules, as "robber barons" battle for control of railroads and the petroleum, tobacco, coal and steel industries. The clashes of these titans of industry will result in a consolidation that forges a national industrial economy, along with managerial capitalism and the prototype of the 20th century corporation. Financier Jay Gould wins an epic battle with Cornelius Vanderbilt for control of the Erie Railroad in 1868. Shearman & Sterling, which takes over the resulting litigation from its predecessor firm, Field & Shearman, goes on to counsel Gould in his takeover of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1875.

19. Section #3“Industrialization and Workers” • The Growing Work Force • Immigration: • 1860 – 1900 14 million immigrants to U.S. • Contract Labor Act: 1864 law allowed employers to enter into contracts with immigrants. • Similar to Indentured Servants. • 8 – 9 million migrants entered the cities. • Look at the graphs on pg. #’s 419 & 420. • Write a brief statement describing what you leaned from each graph

20. Increasing Efficiency • In 1881, Frederick Winslow Taylor set out to improve worker efficiency in the steel plant where he was chief engineer. • He began to study the workers, trying to see how much time it took to do various jobs. • Then he broke down each task into a # of steps and determined how long each step should take. • He wanted more productivity from less time. • The workers hated Taylor’s ideas, they feared that increased efficiency would result in layoffs or a lower rate of pay for each piece of work.

21. Frederick Winslow Taylor • In 1911, he wrote, The Principles of Scientific Management. • Many people continue to use this formula in their business.

22. Factory Work • Factory workers were(are) ruled by the clock. When to start, stop, or break. • Factory work changed “work” from the days of being a craftsman. • A craftsman would traditionally make a product from start to finish, which required a variety of tasks. • Factory workers performed only one small task, over and over, and rarely saw the finished product. • This concept became known as “Division of Labor.”

23. Life in a Factory • Workers called “Hands” • Discipline was strict • Fined for being late, talking back, or refusing to do a task • Work was boring • Loud, dark, and ventilation was poor • Many fires from: fatigue, faulty equip., & carelessness • Many deaths on the job • In 1882, average # killed was 675 a WEEK, today it is around 120 week

24. Section #3 cont. • Working Families • Because of low wages, everyone in the family had to work. • Children left school at 12 or 13. • Mother’s worked in the factory. • Some boys after 13 stayed in school, but most girls went to work in the factory. • If a parent died, 6 – 7 year olds had to work. (no work, no food) • Social Darwinism = govt. aid did not exist.

25. Section #3 cont. • Women & Children • Women • No chance of advancement. • No training. • Excluded from higher paying jobs. • Children • 1880’s 5% of working population. • No child labor laws. • Stunted growth. • 1892 Jacob Riis wrote, Children of the Poor • By the early 1900’s, child labor legislation was implemented.

26. Section #4“The Great Strikes” • Rich vs. Poor • 1890 9% of pop. held 75% of nations wealth. • Socialism:economic and political philosophy that favors public (social) control of property and income. • Cooperate, not compete. • Karl Marx = “Communist Manifesto” • Labor Unions • Trade Unions • The Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers (shoemakers) • 1806, Outlawed for engaging in strikes. • National Trades Union

27. Section #4 cont. • The American Federation of Labor (AFL) • Samuel Gompers • Only skilled workers. • Three main issues for unions: • Higher Wages • Shorter Working Hours • Safer Working Conditions • Collective Bargaining: group bargains with employer for changes Samuel Gompers

28. Unions:EmployersForbade union meetings.Fired union organizers.“Yellow Dog” contracts – workers promised not to join or strikeRefused collective bargaining if strikes occurred.Refused to recognize unions as the workers’ legitimate representatives.

29. Four Major Strikes 1877-1894 • Railroad Strike – 1877 • Haymarket Strike – 1886 • Homestead Strike – 1892 • Pullman Strike - 1894

30. Railroad Strike - 1877 • When the B&O RR announced a 10% wage cut in the midst of a depression, workers reacted with violence. • The rioting spread rapidly from Baltimore to Pittsburgh, Chicago, St. Louis, and other cities. • President Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) sent in federal troops to put down the strike in W. Va. • Soldiers fired on the rioters, killing and wounding many. A crowd of 20,000 set fire to the RR company property. • From the 1877 strike on, employers relied on federal and state troops to repress labor unrest. • A new and violent era in labor relations had begun.

31. Haymarket Strike - 1886 • May 1, 1886, groups of workers mounted a national demonstration for an eight-hour workday. • Their slogan was, “8 hrs. work, 8 hrs. rest, 8 hrs. for what we will!” • This led to fight at Chicago’s McCormick reaper factory between strikers and scabs. • Scabs are workers called in by an employer to replace striking laborers. • Several of the workers were killed when police tried to break it up.

32. Haymarket Strike - 1886 • Union leaders called for a protest rally on the evening of May 4 in Chicago’s Haymarket Square. • A group of anarchists, radicals who violently oppose all gov’t, joined the strikers. • That evening someone threw a bomb into a police formation, killing seven officers. • A riot followed and over a dozen were killed. • Investigators never found the bomber, yet eight anarchists were tried for conspiracy to commit murder.

33. Haymarket Strike - 1886 • Four were hanged, another committed suicide. • Governor John P. Altgeld of Illinois decided later there was not enough evidence so he pardoned the remaining three. • To many unionists, the anarchists who took part in the Haymarket Riot forever would be heroes. • To employers, however, they remained vicious criminals determined to undermine law and order. • Much of the American public came to associate unions in general w/violence and radical ideas.

34. Homestead Strike - 1892 • Summer of 1892, while Andrew Carnegie was in Europe, his partner Henry Frick tried to cut workers’ wages at Carnegie Steel. • The union at the Carnegie plant in Homestead, PA called a strike. • Frick intended to crush the strike and he hired a private police force to do the job. • Again, several people were killed and many Americans were angry with the steel company, until…..

35. Homestead Strike - 1892 • Anarchist Alexander Berkman tried and failed to assassinate Frick. • Berkman was not associated w/the union, but the public connected him anyway. • This led to a huge distrust of unions in many Americans’ eyes.

36. Pullman Strike - 1894 • This strike involving the RR marked a shift in the Federal Government’s involvement with labor-employer relations. • Sleeping-car maker, George Pullman considered himself a caring industrialist. • He donated money to build schools, banks, and utilities in his hometown of Chicago. • But, when the economy took a nose dive in 1893, he had to lay off workers and cut wages. • A small group tried to protest to him and he fired them on the spot, causing the local union to go on strike.

37. Pullman Strike - 1894 • Pullman refused to bargain and shut down the plant. • The American Railway Union, lead by popular labor organizer Eugene V. Debs, called for a boycott of Pullman cars throughout the country. • By June of ’94 over 120,000 RR workers joined in the strike. • The strike got out of hand and the fed. Gov. was brought in to help. • The strike broke the Sherman Antitrust Act • On July 4, 1894 President Grover Cleveland(1885-89 & 1893-97) sent in 2,500 federal troops to enforce the law.

38. Pullman Strike - 1894 • The Pullman strike and its outcome set an important pattern. • In the years ahead, factory owners appealed frequently for court orders vs. unions. • The Fed. Gov. regularly approved these appeals and helped to limit the growth of unions for the next 30 years.