I. Inexpensive/readily available raw materials A. Inventors/entrepreneurs develop new products/methods II.Electricity’s Impact A. Changed the nature of business. B. New appliances made possible C. Grew cities/industries 1. Receptive markets & development of natural resources fuel boom. 2. Inventors made jobs easier but at a cost. III.Railroads & Abuses A. Pullman Co. provided housing for employees. 1. major resentment by employees B. Credit Moblier 1. Charged too much for RR construction 2. Kept extra $ for themselves 3. Paid off gov’t. officials C. The Grange 1. Farmers united to pass laws to protect them against the RR. D. Munn v Illinois 1. The gov’ts right to regulate private industry to serve public interest. E. Panic of Corporate abuses, etc…weaken many railroad companies. 2. Collapse of larger economy.

IV. Carnegie, Rockefeller & Big Business A. Management techniques 1. Efficient production methods. 2. Quality control. 3. Cost tracking. 4. Competition among competent workers B. Business strategies 1. Horizontal Consolidation 2. Vertical Integration C. Social Darwinism 1. Survival of fittest. D. Trusts & Monopolies 1. J.D. Rockefeller dominated oil industry w/trusts. E. Sherman Anti-trust Act (1890) 1. Outlawed trusts because of interfering w/free trade. V. Unions A. Poor working conditions/low wages forced workers to organize & demand fair treatment. B. Craft & Industrial unionism 1. Skilled and unskilled workers C. Haymarket Affair 1. Public opinion turned against labor movement D. Strikes challenged employers. 1. Females also struck. E Unions decline in 1890’s 1. Sherman Anti-trust Act made unions less effective. Standard Oil-The Monster Monopoly

The growth of trusts in the oil refining, steel making, and other industries created huge problems for Americans. Since the trusts had no competition, they had no incentive to lower prices. Second, the trusts forced other companies out of business by using unfair methods. One method was to lower prices until other companies could not compete. Then, when there was no competition, the trusts would raise prices as high as they pleased. Finally, the trusts used their massive wealth to interfere with government. As a result, more and more Americans came to believe that it was time for government to act against the trusts. This was a subject that many American cartoons dealt with around the beginning of the 20 th Century.