1865 (end of the Civil War) – 1914 (start of WWI)

Chapter 3

BUSINESS & LABOR UNIONS

Warm-up

• Imagine you own a railroad in the 1800’s where do you build a railroad? Why?

• Imagine you are a business in the west in the 1800’s – do you want a railroad in / through your town? Why?

What would be the challenges of building here?

Growth of Railroads• Before the Civil War – none west of Mississippi River• Why? – not interested in investing where few people live• Money from local business owners and farmers.• Wanted goods shipped quickly and easily

Where are all the Railroads?

Early Railroads• in Northeast• Short lines• Government helped build• Congress gave land grants – gifts of

land to rr companies who sold to settlers and used the $ to build

The Transcontinental Railroads

• Union Pacific – Omaha Nebraska– Through Great Plains– Hired Irish immigrants

RR that stretches across a continent10 sq miles of land for each mile of track

More track = more land = more $ from land sales

Central Pacific – Sacramento Ca-Up, over through Sierra Nevada mountains then across desert.-Low pay and dangerous-Hired Chinese immigrants

Railroads Spur Industry

• adopted the same gauge• join together in a network,

or system of connected lines

made railway travel safer and faster • George Westinghouse’s

air brake stopped all the railroad cars at once

• George Pullman’s sleeping car with convertible berths and bathrooms.

• added dining cars• To run more efficiently

companies began to consolidate• Larger companies bought smaller

companies• Cornelius Vanderbilt used

ruthless tactics to buy up most of the rail lines between Buffalo and Chicago.

• thousands of miles of new tracks• railroad companies built three

more transcontinental lines• James Hill completed the last one

—the Great Northern

Time Zone• No standard time• Noon in St. Louis but another time a few miles away• 1883 – American Railway Association divided US into 4 time zones• Clocks in every place in a time zone are set to the same time

Pullman Sleeping car

The interior of a Pullman car on the Chicago and Alton Railroad circa 1900. In this photo the car is configured for daytime operation

The first American sleeping car, the "Chambersburg" started service on the CVRR in 1839

Eliminating Competition

• secret rebates to their biggest customers - forced small companies out of business.

• Pooling - In a pool, several railroad companies agreed to divide up the business in an area. Then, they fixed shipping prices at a high level.

Overbuilding made railroad companies look for ways to get rid of the competition.

What would be the benefit of consolidation?

What would be the benefit of not consolidating?

• angered farmers - both practices kept shipping prices high for them.

• farmers joined the Populist party. The party called for government regulation of rail rates.

• Congress did pass laws regulating railroad companies, but the laws did not end abuses.

Reaction to rebates and pools

Railroads Contribute to the Growth of the American Economy

Created thousands of jobsfor steelworkers, lumberjacks, miners, and railroad employees

new ways of managing businessseparate shipping, accounting, and service departments

Other big businesses soon copied these management techniques

Opened every corner of the country to settlement and growth

Railroad companies were able to form a network of rail lines across the nation becausea) loggers cut down whole forests that were in the way of railroad building.b) railroads standardized the size of the track they used.c) many short lines served only local communities.d) northern lines and southern lines had different kinds of track.

Small farmers in the South and the West called for the government to regulate railroads becausea) railroad building gave jobs to miners and lumberjacks but not to farmers.b) the noise of air brakes was frightening livestock along the track.c) rather than competing for customers, railroads were dividing up the business in an

area, then fixing high shipping rates.d) James Hill was encouraging some farmers and ranchers to settle near his railroad by

helping them buy equipment.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Railroad companies were able to form a network of rail lines across the nation becausea) loggers cut down whole forests that were in the way of railroad building.b) railroads standardized the size of the track they used.c) many short lines served only local communities.d) northern lines and southern lines had different kinds of track.

Small farmers in the South and the West called for the government to regulate railroads becausea) railroad building gave jobs to miners and lumberjacks but not to farmers.b) the noise of air brakes was frightening livestock along the track.c) rather than competing for customers, railroads were dividing up the business in an

area, then fixing high shipping rates.d) James Hill was encouraging some farmers and ranchers to settle near his railroad by

helping them buy equipment.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE