The Triumph of Industry 1865-1914 Chapter 9 The Triumph of Industry 1865-1914

Effects of the Civil War in industry Had to make products faster such as guns, ammunition and uniforms Food industry had to process food so it could be shipped long distance RR expanded and ways to get power got better Gov’t encouraged immigration

We got energy from coal, lumber, and in 1859, Edwin Drake drilled the 1st oil well in Titusville, PA. Now the oil industry grew exponentially.

And then there was light  JP Morgan: was a wealthy business man who financed a lab in NJ (Menlo Park) for Thomas Edison: who invented the light bulb along w/ 1000’s of other patents. (DC) George Westinghouse: the tech to send electricity over long distances and light up a city block. (AC)

"Ahoy, Hoy?" 1844 – Morse invented the telegraph 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell invented the Telephone and by 1900 there were more than 1 mil telephones. In 1896, Marconi invented the wireless telegraph which would become the radio.

Steel In 1850’s England, Henry Bessemer came up with the Bessemer Process which purified steel and made it strong and light. The US started mass producing steel and building skyscrapers, elevators and suspension bridges

Railroads Westinghouse made airbrakes for trains in 1869 Granville woods made a telegraph system for them and Gustavus Swift made a refrigerated train cars. A problem was time difference between towns so in 1884, 27 countries got together and set up 24 time zones which the RR used. Towns popped up and cities used trains for subways so people could live in the suburbs Industry boomed b/c they could transport by train cheaply and fast. This also cause our exports to increase…we exported grain, steel and textiles

Farms b/c mechanized so no longer a big need for workers Farms b/c mechanized so no longer a big need for workers. (Urban Migration) Some of those people moved to the city and worked in factories Industrial waste rose and Congress set aside land for National Parks…1872 – Yellowstone.

The corporation started to be used after 1870 b/c it was less risky than owning your own business and with it (ex. RR) you could expand your customer base. Same rights as an individual. They lowered the costs by paying workers very little and advertising; pooling capital Some corps. got monopolies or cartels (business’s making the same product limit their production to keep the prices high) Limited Liability

John D Rockefeller and Standard Oil Company Started using Horizontal Integration – buying up business’s that are your competitors…he used a trust –co assign stock to board who combine it into a new org Vertical Integration – buying all the business’s that make up the phases of producing the product…ie: In the case of oil buying the gas station, the oil pump and the refineries.

Other big businessmen Cornelius Vanderbilt – started in steamboats and then RR…got his competitors pay him to relocate b/c his fares were to low. Andrew Carnegie – In the steel business and also used vertical integration and wrote the Gospel of Wealth in which he preached that the rich should give away most gained wealth to the poor

Robber Barons v. Captains of Industry Big time capitalists who were hiking up prices and putting business’s out of business were called R.B. Some believed these entrepreneurs served the nation well and they called them C.O.I. b/c they provided jobs, universities, libraries.

Social Darwinism This was a belief put forth by a Yale professor that stated that wealth was a measure of ones value and the one’s who had it were more fit. It was a natural selection and those who were poor should not be helped; therefore unemployment was one’s own fault This theory was used to justify a lot as well as racism

Responses to unfair business Interstate Commerce Commission 1887 – The act of the same name created the I.C.C. under Grover Cleveland to oversee RR’s. It could only look @ RR that crossed state lines and it could not make laws or control the transactions but it could make the Co. send their records to Congress 1890 – Sherman Antitrust Act – outlawed any trust that restrained interstate trade or commerce...law had “no teeth”; was used against unions

Working Conditions Sweatshops – these were where factory workers worked 12 hr days, 6 days/wk and they were small, hot, dark and dirty. It was dangerous and workers were fined for breaking rules or working to slow. Children were working due to need (1 in 5)

Wage Slavery Some workers were forced to live near their work and the co. provided a store for them to shop at The co. would jack up their prices though so the worker was in debt to the employer and it was illegal to leave a job if you still owed $

Unions In the early 1800’s workers used collective bargaining to get better hours our wages…They would strike as one of the strategies The 1st union was National Trade Union 1834 open to all but it disappeared soon. Around that time, socialism was coming out which is the idea that the public should control property and income and that wealth should be distributed equally Karl Marx and Communist Manifesto

Knights of Labor 1869-1890’s Founded by Uriah Smith and in 1881 took over by Terence Powderly Actively recruited AA and by 1885 had 700k of all races Encouraged boycotts and negotiation to get out of dependence on wages but after several failed strikes (MO Pacific) and Haymarket it disbanded

Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor Founded in 1886 it was a craft union a loose org. of 100 unions devoted to a specific trade. He set high dues to create a strike and pension fund. Worked for better wages, working hrs and conditions Excluded women and AA

Haymarket Riot – May 1st, 1886 workers across the nation wanted a 8hr work week and on May 4th violence broke out in Chicago…dozens of protesters and police were killed, 8 were tried for murder and 4 executed Homestead Strike – Summer 1892 Carnegie plant cut wages and they went on strike. Carnegie’s partner, Henry Frick sent in the private police and an anarchist tried to kill him…public opinion turned and they called off the strike.

Eugene Debs and the Pullman Strike 1894 Pullman car company laid off workers and reduced wages so workers tried to negotiate but he fired them. They turned to the American RR union (a industrial union) led by Debs who led the strike. 300k left their jobs and it disrupted RR traffic and mail Pres Cleveland sent troops to end it and Debs refused so he was arrested for conspiring against interstate commerce. SC upheld decision in In re Debs