resources that fueled industrial growth coal & iron spur industry 1870 – 77,000 tons steel...
TRANSCRIPT
THE EXPANSIONOF INDUSTRY
Resources that Fueled Industrial Growth
Coal & Iron spur industry1870 – 77,000 tons steel1900 – 11.4 mil. tons steel
Black Gold1859 – Edwin Drake uses
steam engine to drill for oil○ Leads to the oil boom
Petroleum-refining industry○ Kerosene○ Gasoline (later)
Bessemer ProcessConverting iron into
steel
Steel is used for:RailroadsBarbed wireMachinesBuildings
○ Skyscrapers○ Brooklyn Bridge
Inventions Bring ChangeThomas Edison Most famous inventor of time
period – “The Wizard of Menlo Park”
Patents incandescent light bulb (1880)
Creates system for distributing electricityAllows plants (factories to be located
anywhereUsed in industry and homes to run
machines and appliances
Phonograph
Motion pictureKinetoscope
TypewriterChristopher Sholes
(1867)
TelephoneAlexander Graham
Bell & Thomas Watson (1876)○ By 1900 – 800,000
telephones in U.S.
THE GROWTH OF BIG BUSINESSCornelius Vanderbilt“The Commodore”
Gained early wealth through the shipping industry
Following the Civil WarSells ships and invests in the railroadNew York Central – ran from Albany to Buffalo
Became railroad tycoon; Self-made multi-millionaireWorth over $100 million at his death
The Growth of Big Business cont’d
Andrew CarnegieSearches for ways to make
better products more cheaplyGains control of almost entire
steel industry○ Carnegie Steel Company
John D. RockefellerFounded Standard Oil CompanyBy 1879 – controlled 90% of
U.S. refining of oil
Vertical integration
Buy out suppliers to
control materials
Horizontal integrationMerging with competing companies
Social Darwinism Grew from idea of Charles Darwin
Biological evolution“survival of the fittest”
Concept applied to businessesNo govt. interference
○ Laissez-faire economics
Trusts (monopolies) developed
Growth of Big Business cont’d John D. Rockefeller
Forms nations first monopoly (trust)○ Allowed for control of production,
wages, and prices
“Robber Barons”Rockefeller profits by paying
low wages and underselling others
Once competition was eliminated, prices went up
Critics called such industrialists “robber barons”
Sherman Antitrust ActGovernment concerned
about free competitionTrusts viewed as illegal if
interfering with free trade○ Prosecution of
companies was too difficult
Labor Unions Emerge
Lack of organization of laborersCigar makersPrintersCarpenters
IssuesUnsafe factoriesLow wagesLong working hours
○ 12 hour days○ 6 day work weeks
Early Labor Organizations:National Labor Union
○ 1st large-scale national organization
○ 1868 – worked for 8 hour workday
Knights of Labor○ Open to women, African
Americans, immigrants and unskilled workersDemanded an 8 hour workdaySupported equal pay
○ Violent strikes led union to dissolve
Labor Unions cont’d American Federation
of Labor (AFL)Founded by Samuel
GompersUsed collective bargaining
to get better:○ Wages○ Hours○ Conditions
Use of “strikes”
1886 – 150,000 members
1900 – over 1 million
American Railway UnionMostly unskilled workersHeaded by Eugene V.
Debs○ “the strike is the weapon
of the oppressed”
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)Called “wobblies”Radical unionists and
socialists
Strikes Lead to Violence
“The Battle of Homestead” Homestead Strike
Carnegie’s steel plant○ Homestead, Penn.○ Organized wage cuts
Managers hired “scabs” (strikebreakers) to work
Homestead workers organized○ Management hired Pinkerton Detective Agents to end
strike
Protests and violence led to over 8,500 National Guard being called in
Company cut wages by 25%○ No adjustment to living
expenses
American Railway Union (ARU)○ Eugene Debs tries to
negotiate with PullmanBoycott of trains
Strike turns violent and federal troops are sent by President Cleveland
Debs is jailed
Striking workers “blacklisted”
THE PULLMAN STRIKE