1870-1900 a BOOM in industrial growth Coal, oil, electricity, steel and railroads Inventions...
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Transcript of 1870-1900 a BOOM in industrial growth Coal, oil, electricity, steel and railroads Inventions...
INDUSTRY ON THE MOVE
RAPID ADVANCES 1870-1900 a BOOM in industrial growth Coal, oil, electricity, steel and railroads Inventions happening like wildfire Bessemer process key
Process of making steel, quicker and more efficient
Started in England, had to have it in US
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Explosion of inventive activity Goal to harness this and control it Invention factories established Thomas Edison key in this movement
Organize systemControl R&DProduce ideas in a efficient and profitable
way
COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORTATION Concept was key to success Scrambling to better communicate and
transport goods Telegraph: 1844, by 1861 lines covered
76,000 miles Soon outdone Telephone: 1876 Alexander Graham Bell
Proved to be a great invention
CHANGES TO BUSINESS PRACTICES The Corporation
Advantages of the corporation: raise large sums of money, outlive its owners, limited liability, separated owners from day-to-day management
By the turn of the century, corporations were making two-thirds of all manufactured products in the U.S.
An International Pool of LaborGlobal labor networkMigration chainsDomestic sources
CONT….. Hiccups in Railroad industry
Railroads saddled with enormous fixed costs: equipment, payroll, high debts
Pooling: informal agreements among competing companies to act together
The Challenge of FinanceNew ways of raising money; stocks Investment bankers advised companies
about their business affairs
STRATEGIES Horizontal combination
Eliminate competition by buying others out Vertical combination
Controlling all stages of production Trusts
Way to get around state regulations, did not actually “own” business
COST OF GROWTH Early on evidence of environmental
concerns Labor concerns arising
Unions on the rise Big business in the hands of a few
People fearing the worst Regulation limited