Big Business vs. The Working Class

Lecture 10/31/12

John D. Rockefeller: Captain of Industry

• “self-made man”

• Sold cheaper product because he owned all steps of oil refining process “vertical integration”

• Standard Oil Company made him one of the richest men in the world

• Philanthropist- donated millions to charities

John D. Rockefeller: Robber Baron

• Standard Oil Company soon became Standard Oil Trust Rockefeller’s techniques allowed him to lower prices and eliminate and buy out competition

• Ida Tarbell wrote A History of Standard Oil, describing his unfair business tactics

• He soon dominated 90% of America’s oil market

Andrew Carnegie: Captain of Industry

• “rags to riches”- Scottish immigrant, self-educated

• Owned US Steel Company

• Philanthropist- believed in helping people help themselves so created libraries, universities

Andrew Carnegie: Robber Baron

• American Steel Trust was a near monopoly- he used shady business tactics to buy out competition

• He exploited his

workers

Henry Ford: Captain of Industry

• Pioneered early auto engineering

• Ford Motor Company was first to use the assembly line

• Ford Model T was the first car avaiable to middle class- nearly half of all cars were model Ts in 1918

Henry Ford: Robber Baron?• Introduced the $5

work day to keep the best employees

• Reduced the workweek of his employees

• Was opposed to labor unions- tried to squash organizing of his factory workers

Homestead Steel Strike

• Andrew Carnegie (robber baron, captain of the steel industry) owned a steel mill in Homestead, PA, near Pittsburgh.

• Union at the steel mill, the Amalgamated Association (AA), formed and won a couple of early strikes.

• Homestead was run by Henry Clay Frick whose goal was to break the union.

• When the union’s contract was up in 1892, Frick refused to negotiate a new contract and locked workers out.

• Frick hired the Pinkerton Detectives to provide security and break the strike.

• When the Pinkertons tried to enter the mill, there was conflict. The conflict lasted for 14 hours and left 16 people dead.