Industrial Supremacy

Chapter 17

Sources of Industrial Growth Cont’d

• New Technologies–

– Communication• •

– electricity – light and power (Charles F. Brush and Thomas A. Edison)

–

Sources of Industrial Growth Cont’d

• New Industries– Steel – Pittsburgh was at its center– Oil

• • • • • •

– Radio 1890s (Guglielmo Marconi)– Airplane 1903 (Wright Brothers)– Gasoline Powered Engine 1903 (Frank and Henry Duryea)

• • •

Sources of Industrial Growth Cont’d

• The Science of Production– “scientific management” (Winslow Taylor)

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•

•

– Many other companies began investing in ways to improve products and productivity

– mass production and the assembly line 1914 (Henry Ford)

Sources of Industrial Growth Cont’d

• Railroad Expansion– principal agent of industrial development in the late

nineteenth century– – – – – – most of nations rails came under the control of a very few

men– C. Vanderbilt ,James J. Hill, Collis P. Huntington, became

symbols of how the nation’s economic power rested in the hands of a few

Sources of Industrial Growth Cont’d

• The Corporation–

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– – –

–

–

Sources of Industrial Growth Cont’d

• Consolidating Corporate America– horizontal integration – combining similar businesses

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• – Consolidation as a remedy to “cut throat” competition

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•

– Pool arrangements and cartels

Sources of Industrial Growth Cont’d

• The Trust and The Holding Company– system similar to corporations, but investors give

their money to a group of trustees in exchange for certificates... company is then run by the trustees... who could own several companies

– – – –

–

Capitalism and its Critics

• “The Self Made Man” debate– –

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– Politicians demanding bribes*• • •

– rags to riches / riches to rags

Capitalism and its Critics Cont’d

• Survival of the Fittest– Protestant Business:

•

•

– Charles Darwin’s laws of evolution mutated by Herbert Spencer into “Social Darwinism”

– –

–

–

Capitalism and its Critics Cont’d

• The Gospel of Wealth– with wealth comes responsibility

• • •

– Horatio Alger • • •

Capitalism and its Critics Cont’d

• Alternative Visions– Lester Frank Ward – Darwinist who did not

believe in Social Darwinism•

•

•

– Early Socialists – Daniel De Leon– Henry George – – Bellamy –

Capitalism and its Critics Cont’d

• The Problems of Monopoly– very few Americans questioned capitalism,

but many began to question monopolies– People began to blame monopolies for

• • •

– 1% of all families in America controlled 88% of the wealth...

Industrial Workers and the Economy

• The Immigrant Workforce– Urban labor supply came from one of two places

• •

– 25 million immigrants 1865-1915, four times the amount in the fifty years before

– – – –

Industrial Workers and the Economy Cont’d

• Wages and Working Conditions– average American worker made $400 and $500 a

year...

– unstable jobs• •

– unsafe– – –

Industrial Workers and the Economy Cont’d

• Women at Work– –

– – – –

Industrial Workers and the Economy Cont’d

• Children at Work– – – – –

Industrial Workers and the Economy Cont’d

• The Struggle to Unionize–

–

–

–

–

Industrial Workers and the Economy Cont’d

• The Great Railroad Strike 1877– Strikers disrupt a rail service in Baltimore, destroy

equipment, and rioted in other cities– State Militia called out Pres. Hayes orders federal troops to

Virginia– 100 people die, – Symbolic

•

•

•

•

Industrial Workers and the Economy Cont’d

• The Knights of Labor 1869– Membership open to all who “toiled”– welcomed

–

–

Industrial Workers and the Economy Cont’d

• The AFL– did not admit anybody, but rather craftspeople

and skilled workers

– against women membership... But– Samuel Gompers

•

•

Industrial Workers and the Economy Cont’d

• The AFL Cont’d– Demand for an 8 hour day... threatened strikes and

demonstrations across the country if demand was not met

– Haymarket Affair: in Chicago, police move to harass strikers... someone throws a bomb:•

•

• found guilty, seven sentenced to death•

Industrial Workers and the Economy Cont’d

• The Homestead Strike 1892– Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers was

affiliated with AFL and was the most powerful trade union in the country... able to limit the power of employers because their level of skill was in great demand

– Carnegie decides to reduce wages in an effort to get rid of AA at Homestead... at first the workers accepted the conditions

–

– –

–

Industrial Workers and the Economy Cont’d

• The Pullman Strike 1894–

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– – Railway companies respond by firing workers who refuse to

handle Pullman cars, Laborers respond by walking off the job every time this happens to a colleague

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–

–

Industrial Workers and the Economy Cont’d

• Sources of Labor Weakness– Summary of labor upon the entrance of the 20th Century: despite

organizing efforts, few gains and many big defeats– Victories:

• • • • •

– Why did it fail?• • •