Rise of Industrial America

1
Rise of Industrial America

• Chapter 18

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The Gilded Age
Mark Twains Novel that satirizes the time
period, era of industrial expansion

• Happened due to
• Vast Coal Deposits
• New Technology
• Low production costs due to unskilled workers
  wages
• Rule by a few corporations (oligopolies,
  monopolies drive economy)

3
Industrial Statistics
Table 1 Percentage Distribution of the World's
Manufacturing Production, 1870 and 1913
(percentage of world total)
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Industrial Expansion
5
5) The Entrepreneur - Robber Baron v.
Philanthropist

• Robber Baron the Gilded Age entrepreneur takes
  away money from the economy through exploitation
  and illegal activities

• Philanthropist the Gilded Age entrepreneur
  gives money that they earn back to the economy
  and the community

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The Entrepreneurs of the Gilded Age

• With the entrepreneur you are given
• 1) What did he accomplish during the Gilded Age?
• 2) Was the person a robber baron or a
  philanthropist? Explain.
• Research using books and phones

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Railroad Innovations

1. Political bribed politicians, fought off
   government laws (rate discrimination, Interstate
   Commerce Act and ICC, Wabash v. Illinois)
2. Social communication and travel network
3. Economic controlled movement of goods, set
   rates on businesses and farmers, led way in
   consolidation of business, developed new
   accounting and managing methods

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Railroad Entrepreneurs
Collis Huntington
Jay Gould
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The Interstate Commerce Act
railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did
not empower the government to fix specific rates.
A failed attempt to control the railroads,
showing the political power that the railroads
had at the time
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Carnegies Steel
Carnegie attached himself politically to the
railroads and helped the railroads create their
social market network through his steel product
Carnegies use of vertical and horizontal
integration to dominate the industry was a new
economic tactic
11
Rockefellers Oil Trust
Creates the first trusts, which are politically
challenged by the Sherman Anti-trust Act
(ineffectively due to the US v. EC Knight case) A
trust affects economics by not only consolidating
companies but ruthlessly driving out competition
using aggressive policies involving adopting new
technology and claiming all of the resources
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Rockefeller and Standard Oil
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Sherman Anti-trust Act
Section 1 "Every contract, combination in the
form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in
restraint of trade or commerce among the several
States, or with foreign nations, is declared to
be illegal."
Section 2 "Every person who shall
monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine
or conspire with any other person or persons, to
monopolize any part of the trade or commerce
among the several States, or with foreign
nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony . .
. "
14
EC Knight Case
limited the government's power to control
monopolies.
That which belongs to commerce is within the
jurisdiction of the United States, but that which
does not belong to commerce is within the
jurisdiction of the police power of the
State. . . . Doubtless the power to control the
manufacture of a given thing involves in a
certain sense the control of its disposition, but
. . . affects it only incidentally and
indirectly.
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Inventions During the Gilded Age
Inventions such as the telephone by Alexander
Graham Bell helped grow the economy
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Thomas Edisons Inventions
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Aggressive Advertising
Specialized products and advertising also led to
economic growth and expanded sales of new products
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Pros and Cons of Gilded Age
Pros healthy economy, wide array of new
products, lower prices for consumers Cons
destruction of small businesses, exploitation of
workers, environmental destruction, inability for
money supply to keep up with economy
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The New South and the Creed

• The New South dealt with many obstacles regarding
  Gilded Age development
• Destruction of southern credit, capital during
  the Civil War
• Federal government policies that help factories
  up North, not agricultural South (high tariffs)
• Poor education and low literacy rate in South
• The New South Creed attempts to solve this by
• Providing tax exemptions, industrial fairs for
  businesses
• Using natural resources in the South

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Development of the South
Agriculture's Share of the Labor Force by Region,
1890
The New South Creed to bring industry to the
area was difficult due to agricultural labor
force, but the cotton mill economy was
relatively successful because it combined
agriculture and industry
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Southern Industry Results

• As well as the new cotton mill industry, other
  results were
• Increased iron, steel production in Southern
  cities
• Job increase for blacks and poor whites, but up
  to 50 less pay than Northern workers leading to
  debt problems

The South advanced much more slowly than the
North, and Northern companies like the Burlington
Coat Factory from Burlington, VT took much of the
Southern capital
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Discussion Question

• Is the economic growth during the Gilded Age
  worth the problems that it causes?

23
Industrial Labor Hardships
Child Labor
Railroad Workers - Chinese

1. Diseases (black lung)
2. Frequent accidents (long hours, children)
3. No workers compensation or laws

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory after the Fire
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Immigrants and Women in Industry
Immigrants had the lowest-paid, most dangerous
jobs Women were hired for unskilled work over men
due to lower pay (17 of workforce)
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Rags to Riches (Carnegie)
Student and Schoolmate published Ragged Dick by
Horatio Alger, a story about a poor boys rise to
wealth
In reality, 95 of executives came from wealth,
and the top 10 owned 73 of US wealth
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Labor Unions
American Federation of Labor seal
Knights of Labor Seal

• Unfavorable working conditions caused the rise of
  labor unions
• NLU (William Sylvis) first labor union but dies
  out quickly
• Knights of Labor (Terrence V. Powderly) pushes
  for new social reforms (equal pay, child labor
  laws, graduated income tax, etc.)
• AFL (Samuel Gompers) promotes skilled workers
  (wages, hours)

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Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
Labor union success was spotty, but they did
succeed in pushing for the Chinese Exclusion Act,
which kept Chinese from getting jobs However, the
union divisions of skilled v. unskilled,
religious, ethnic, goals, etc. hurt the overall
union agendas
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Labor Violence
Haymarket Riot The Bomb
Labor unions used violent strikes to try to
achieve their goals when other attempts failed
1877 Railroad Strike
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Yellow Dog Contracts
This agreement has been well named. It is yellow
dog for sure. It reduces to the level of a
yellow dog any man that signs it, for he signs
away every right he possesses in the Constitution
and laws of the land and makes himself the
truckling, helpless slave to the employer

• Businesses responded with
• Yellow Dog Contracts keep workers from striking
• Police Forces (Government forces, injunctions)
• Public Opinion (most people didnt like the
  violence, blamed it on labor)
• Lockouts, Blacklists

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Social Darwinism
Every progress of the whole must be preceded by a
partial weakening. The strongest natures retain
the type, the weaker ones help to advance it. To
this extent, the famous theory of the survival of
the fittest does not seem to me to be the only
viewpoint from which to explain the progress of
strengthening of a man or of a race.
Social Darwinists (Spencer, Carnegie in Gospel
of Wealth, Sumner, Smith) believed in
laissez-faire government and survival of the
fittest (no help to poor) Others believed that
human-made problems must be solved (Lester Ward,
Henry George, Edward Bellamy) through regulation
of business, tax reform, and cooperation Socialist
s (Karl Marx, Eugene V. Debs) believed in the
overthrow of capitalism to create an equal society
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Labor Essay Question

• Analyze the impact on labor of industrial
  development in the post-Civil War period. Your
  answer can include the effects on skilled,
  unskilled, southern, immigrant, and women
  workers.
• Have at least a
• 1) Thesis
• 2) At least two body paragraph opening sentences
  and two specifics listed for each
• 3) Concluding sentence