Chapter 18 THE INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY

“Robber Barons” or “Captains of Industry”?  Andrew Carnegie  Steel Pioneered vertical integration Pioneered vertical integration  John D. Rockefeller  Oil Created 1 st modern trust Created 1 st modern trust  J.P. Morgan  Finance

Major gifts given by Rockefeller (worth $900 million) by his death in 1937:  American Baptist Foreign Mission Society$6,845,688  American Baptist Home Mission Society$6,994,831  American Baptist Missionary Society$1,902,132  General Education Board $129,209,167  Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial$73,985,313  Rockefeller Foundation$182,851,480  Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research$59,931,891  University of Chicago$34,708,375  Yale University$1,001,000  YMCA$2,295,580 TOTAL$506,816,041 TOTAL$506,816,041

“It will be a great mistake for the community to shoot the millionaires, for they are the bees that make the most honey, and contribute most to the hive even after they have gorged themselves full.” -Andrew Carnegie

 Were people like Carnegie and Rockefeller “robber barons” or “captains of industry”?

Innovations Spur Growth  U.S. industrial economy based on expansion of the railroads Government helps fund construction Government helps fund construction  Telegraph (Samuel Morse) + telephone (Alexander Graham Bell) transformed communications  Electricity and light bulb (Thomas Edison)  Bessemer process of refining steel permitted mass production

International Steel Production, 1880–1914

Transcontinental Railroad  1869 – Union Pacific + Central Pacific RRs met at Promontory Point, Utah

Effects of Railroads  Ended rural isolation  Regional economic specialization  Mass production/consumption possible  Led to organization of modern corporation  Stimulated other industries

Federal Land Grants to Railroads as of 1871

Railroad Construction, 1830–1920

Railroads, 1870 and 1890

Patents Issued, by Decade, 1850–1899: A time of major innovation

Marketing in a New Consumer Society  Advertising became common  Chain store, department store, brand name, mail-order catalogs

Workers  Very low wages  Dangerous working conditions  Child labor common 10% of girls employed, 20% of boys 10% of girls employed, 20% of boys  Racial discrimination

Labor Unions  Knights of Labor worked to ensure all Americans received equal benefits from the system Open to all workers Open to all workers  1886: Samuel Gompers founded American Federation of Labor A.F.L. sought practical improvements for wages, working conditions A.F.L. sought practical improvements for wages, working conditions Skilled workers Skilled workers

Labor Unrest  Courts come down on side of owners with injunctions against strikes  An era of strikes: 1880–1900: 23,000 strikes 1880–1900: 23,000 strikes 1886: Chicago Haymarket riot 1886: Chicago Haymarket riot 1892: Homestead steel strike 1892: Homestead steel strike Dealt with harshly by employers Dealt with harshly by employers

Labor Strikes, 1870–1890