1. The Triumph of Industry
Chapter 13
The Triumph of Industry

2. Introduction What impact does a war have on industry and technology?
What specific impact did industry have on the Civil War?

4. 1. Technology and Industry
Post Civil War
Rapid industrial growth
Railroads expanded
Natural resources helped
Coal – steam power
Lumber
Rivers for shipping
Edwin Drake – first oil well (whales previously)
Workforce grows
New surge in immigration from Europe and Asia
Large and willing work force to fuel industry

5. Technology & Industry cont.
Growth of capitalism
Laissez faire – govt. stays out of business
Horatio Alger - “rags to riches” idea; the American dream
Entrepreneurship – invest money to make a profit; creates jobs
Protective tariffs

6. Innovation Electricity transforms life Communication Steel
Thomas Edison – light bulb
1,000 patents (grant giving exclusive rights to develop and sell for a limited time)
Communication
Samuel F.B. Morse – telegraph
Alexander Graham Bell – telephone
Steel
Henry Bessemer – Bessemer Process
Purified iron ore to create lightweight, strong steel
Suspension bridges held by steel cables (Brooklyn Bridge)
Westinghouse – air brakes; electricity over long distances
Swift – refrigeration cars (meat)

7. Innovation cont. The nation is linked by railroads
Adopted 24 time zones for scheduling
Streetcars, subways, commuter rails appear
Mass production
Growing link in world markets
Everything becomes mechanized
Impacts the environment

16. 2. Rise of Big Business
Most businesses privately owned – limited capital
Desire for profits, expansion, access to transportation leads to corporations
Many people share ownership
Huge amounts of capital for research, technology, reinvestment
Board of directors, some shareholders receive dividends (payments)

17. Big Business cont. J.P Morgan – banking
Cornelius Vanderbilt – steamboats then railroads
John D. Rockefeller – oil
Andrew Carnegie – steel
Some became monopolies where they bought out competition or drove them out of business
Cartel – people in same business agree on production to keep prices high
Trust – put business in other names or smaller companies

21. Corporate Giants – How? Horizontal Integration Vertical Integration
Consolidate (buy) many smaller companies in the same business
Rockefeller - bought small oil companies
Vertical Integration
Control all parts of the production process
Rockefeller did this also – controlled oil wells, pipelines, retail outlets, etc.
Standard Oil

22. Debating the Giants Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?
Unfairly kept high prices, paid workers little, stifled competition, swindled the poor
Captains of industry
Increased labor force, stimulated the economy, technology benefited all, shaped the U.S. into strong industrial power
Most men were philanthropists and donated millions

23. Giants cont.
Social Darwinism develops out of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection: “survival of the fittest”
Applied this theory to capitalism
The rich were the best because they earned it
The most rigorous and productive rise to the top
Reluctant to help poor – they were unfit
Government should stay out of it

24. Regulations
ICC – Interstate Commerce Commission – first federal body set up to monitor business
Regulated railroads
Long history of price fixing, unfair rates, etc.
Sherman Antitrust Act – Outlawed any trust that operated “in restraint of trade or commerce among the states.”
Both seldom enforced but at least an attempt

26. Factories Immigrants made up large % of work force
Long hours – hours, 6 days/week
Sweatshops – small, hot, dirty workplaces
Many women & children employed – 1 in 5 children worked rather than attend school – stunted physical and emotional growth – lost childhood
Strict regulation of employees
Dangerous – hearing loss from noise, accidents from faulty equipment, poor ventilation
Child labor

39. 3. Organized Labor Pros of industrial expansion:
Economy grew drastically, great wealth for industrialists, higher standards of living, availability of goods, access to public institutions (schools, museums)
Cons of industrial expansion:
People who worked in factories struggled to survive, immigrant workers faced discrimination

40. Labor Unions Form
Early attempts – collective bargaining – group negotiates for better wages, conditions
Socialism spreads in Europe 1830’s
Favors public (not private) control of property and industry
1848 – Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels Communist Manifesto – denounced capitalism and predicted workers would overthrow owners
Labor activists borrowed from these ideas

41. Labor Unions cont.
Knights of Labor – created for all workers of any trade, skilled or unskilled
Terrence Powderly took over, encouraged boycotts
Unsuccessful strikes led to its demise
AFL – American Federation of Labor founded by Samuel Gompers
Craft union of skilled workers
Required dues
Sought wages, working conditions, better hours
Opposed women – feared they would drive wages low

42. Strikes
Railroad strikes – caused destruction of property, militias called in to protect temporary workers, federal troops sent to stop strikers
Haymarket Square – wanted 8 hour workday, violence began, bomb killed policemen, several others killed
Knights of Labor died as people shied away from radicalism; employers associated unions now with violence

43. Strikes cont.
Homestead Strike - Carnegie cuts wages at steel plant; partner (Frick) hired Pinkerton agency, killed several
Workers ended strike but led to epidemic of other strikes
Pullman Strike – railway car workers required to live in company towns, wages cut; Eugene V. Debs organizes strike – shut down railroads, mail delivery
President Cleveland says strike interferes with free trade, sends troops; Debs arrested
*Used Sherman Anti Trust Act against WORKERS!

49. Impact of Labor Unions
Frequent use of troops citing “interference with trade”
Trend of contract negotiations & strikes
Splits within the union – radical, moderate
Mistrust and fear of labor; conflicts