1. Chapter 14 – A New Industrial Age

2. Section One – The Expansion of Industry
Natural Resources Fuel Expansion
a. The Growth of Industry
i. By 1920s, U.S. is world’s leading industrial power, due to:
- wealth of natural resources
- government support for business
- growing urban population
b. Black Gold
i. Pre-European arrival, Native Americans make fuel, medicine from oil
ii. 1859, Edwin L. Drake successfully uses steam engine to drill for oil
iii. Petroleum-refining industry first makes kerosene, then gasoline

3. c. Bessemer Steel Process
i. Abundant deposits of coal, iron spur industry
ii. Bessemer process puts air into iron to remove carbon to make steel
iii. Later open-hearth process makes steel from scrap or raw materials
d. New Uses for Steel
i. Steel used in railroads, barbed wire, farm machines
ii. Changes construction: Brooklyn Bridge; steel-framed skyscrapers

4. Inventions Promote Change
a. An Age of Inventions
i. Numerous new inventions change the landscape, life, work
b. The Power of Electricity
i. 1876, Thomas Alva Edison establishes first research laboratory
- 1880, patents incandescent light bulb
- creates system for electrical production, distribution
ii. Electricity changes business; by 1890, runs numerous machines
iii. Becomes available in homes; encourages invention of appliances
iv. Allows manufacturers to locate plants anyplace; industry grows

5. c. Inventions Change Lifestyles
i. Christopher Sholes invents typewriter in 1867
ii. 1876, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Watson introduce telephone
iii. Office work changes; by 1910, women are 40% of clerical workers
iv. Inventions impact factory work, lead to industrialization
- clothing factories hire many women
v. Industrialization makes jobs easier; improves standard of living
- by 1890, average workweek 10 hours shorter
- as consumers, workers regain power in market
vi. Some laborers think mechanization reduces value of human worker

6. Section Two – The Age of Railroads
Railroads Span Time and Space
a. Railroads Encourage Growth
i. Rails make local transit reliable, westward expansion possible
ii. Government makes land grants, loans to railroads
- to help settle West
- to develop country
b. A National Network
i. 1859, railroads extend west of Missouri River
ii. 1869, first transcontinental railroad completed, spans the nation

7. c. Romance and Reality
i. Railroads offer land, adventure, fresh start to many
ii. People of diverse backgrounds build railroad under harsh conditions:
- Central Pacific hires Chinese immigrants
- Union Pacific, Irish immigrants, Civil War vets
iii. Accidents, disease disable and kill thousands every year
d. Railroad Time i. 1869, C. F. Dowd proposes dividing earth’s surface into 24 time zones
ii. 1883, U.S. railroads, towns adopt time zones
iii. 1884, international conference sets world zones, uses railroad time
- Congress adopts in 1918

8. Opportunities and Opportunists
a. New Towns and Markets
i. Railroads require great supply of materials, parts
ii. Iron, coal, steel, lumber, glass industries grow to meet demand
iii. Railroads link isolated towns, promote trade, interdependence
iv. Nationwide network of suppliers, markets develops
v. Towns specialize, sell large quantities of their product nationally
vi. New towns grow along railroad lines
b. Pullman
i. 1880, George M. Pullman builds railcar factory on Illinois prairie
ii. Pullman provides for workers: housing, doctors, shops, sports field
iii. Company tightly controls residents to ensure stable work force

9. c. Credit Mobilier
i. Wish for control, profit leads some railroad magnates to corruption
ii. Union Pacific stockholders form construction company, Crédit Mobilier
- overpay for laying track, pocket profits
iii. Republican politicians implicated; reputation of party tarnished

10. The Grange and the Railroads
a. Railroad Abuses
i. Farmers angry over perceived railroad corruption
- railroads sell government lands to businesses, not settlers
- fix prices, keep farmers in debt
- charge different customers different rates
b. Granger Laws
i. Grangers sponsor state, local political candidates
ii. Press for laws to protect farmers’ interests
iii. Munn v. Illinois—Supreme Court upholds states’ right to regulate RR
iv. Sets principle that federal government can regulate private industry

11. c. Interstate Commerce Act
i. 1886, Supreme Court: states cannot set rates on interstate commerce
ii. Public outrage leads to Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
- federal government can supervise railroads
- establishes Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
iii. Legal battle with railroads; difficult for ICC to take action
d. Panic and Consolidation
i. Abuses, mismanagement, competition almost bankrupt many railroads
ii. Railroad problems contribute to panic of 1893, depression
iii. By mid-1894, 25% of railroads taken over by financial companies

12. Section Three – Big Business and Labor
Carnegie’s Inventions
a. Carnegie Makes a Fortune
i. Andrew Carnegie one of first moguls to make own fortune
b. New Business Strategy
i. Carnegie searches for ways to make better products more cheaply
ii. Hires talented staff; offers company stock; promotes competition
iii. Uses vertical integration—buys out suppliers to control materials
iv. Through horizontal integration merges with competing companies
v. Carnegie controls almost entire steel industry

13. Social Darwinism and Business
a. Principles of Social Darwinism
i. Darwin’s theory of biological evolution: the best-adapted survive
ii. Social Darwinism, or social evolution, based on Darwin’s theory
iii. Economists use Social Darwinism to justify doctrine of laissez faire
b. A New Definition of Success
i. Idea of survival, success of the most capable appeals to wealthy
ii. Notion of individual responsibility in line with Protestant work ethic
iii. See riches as sign of God’s favor; poor must be lazy, inferior

14. Fewer Control More
a. Growth and Consolidation
i. Businesses try to control industry with mergers— buy out competitors
ii. Buy all others to form monopolies—control production, wages, prices
iii. Holding companies buy all the stock of other companies
iv. John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil Company, forms trust
- trustees run separate companies as if one
b. Rockefeller and the Robber Barons
i. Rockefeller profits by paying low wages, underselling others
- when controls market, raises prices
ii. Critics call industrialists robber barons
- industrialists also become philanthropists

15. c. Sherman Antitrust Act
i. Government thinks expanding corporations stifle free competition
ii. Sherman Antitrust Act: trust illegal if interferes with free trade
iii. Prosecuting companies difficult; government stops enforcing act
d. Business Boom Bypasses the South
i. South recovering from Civil War, hindered by lack of capital
ii. North owns 90% of stock in RR, most profitable Southern businesses
iii. Business problems: high transport cost, tariffs, few skilled workers

16. Labor Unions Emerge
a. Long Hours and Danger
i. Northern wages generally higher than Southern
ii. Exploitation, unsafe conditions unite workers across regions
iii. Most workers have 12 hour days, 6 day workweeks
- perform repetitive, mind-dulling tasks
- no vacation, sick leave, injury compensation
iv. To survive, families need all member to work, including children
v. Sweatshops, tenement workshops often only jobs for women, children
- require few skills; pay lowest wages

17. b. Early Labor Organization
i. National Labor Union—first large-scale national organization
ii. 1868, NLU gets Congress to give 8-hour day to civil servants
iii. Local chapters reject blacks; Colored National Labor Union forms
iv. NLU focus on linking existing local unions
v. Noble Order of the Knights of Labor open to women, blacks, unskilled
Knights support 8-hour day, equal pay, arbitration

18. V. Union Movements Diverge
a. Craft Unionism
i. Craft unions include skilled workers from one or more trades
ii. Samuel Gompers helps found American Federation of Labor (AFL)
iii. AFL uses collective bargaining for better wages, hours, conditions
iv. AFL strikes successfully, wins higher pay, shorter workweek
b. Industrial Unionism
i. Industrial unions include skilled, unskilled workers in an industry
ii. Eugene V. Debs forms American Railway Union; uses strikes

19. c. Socialism and the IWW
i. Some labor activists turn to socialism:
- government control of business, property
- equal distribution of wealth
ii. Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), or Wobblies, forms 1905
iii. Organized by radical unionists, socialists; include African Americans
iv. Industrial unions give unskilled workers dignity, solidarity
d. Other Labor Activism in the West
i. Japanese, Mexicans form Sugar Beet and Farm Laborers’ Union in CA
ii. Wyoming Federation of Labor supports Chinese, Japanese miners

20. Strikes Turn Violent
a. The Great Strike of 1877
i. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad strike spreads to other lines
ii. Governors say impeding interstate commerce; federal troops intervene
b. The Haymarket Affair
i. 3,000 gather at Chicago’s Haymarket Square, protest police brutality
ii. Violence ensues; 8 charged with inciting riot, convicted
iii. Public opinion turns against labor movement
c. The Homestead Strike
i. 1892, Carnegie Steel workers strike over pay cuts
ii. Win battle against Pinkertons; National Guard reopens plant
iii. Steelworkers do not remobilize for 45 years

21. d. The Pullman Company Strike
i. Pullman lays off 3,000, cuts wages but not rents; workers strike
ii. Pullman refuses arbitration; violence ensues; federal troops sent
iii. Debs jailed, most workers fired, many blacklisted
e. Women Organize
i. Women barred from many unions; unite behind powerful leaders
ii. Mary Harris Jones— most prominent organizer in women’s labor
- works for United Mine Workers
- leads children’s march
iii. Pauline Newman—organizer for International Ladies’ Garment Workers
iv Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire results in public outrage
f. Management and Government Pressure Unions
i. Employers forbid unions; turn Sherman Antitrust Act against labor
ii. Legal limitations cripple unions, but membership rises