Chapter Six A New Industrial Age

Chapter Six

A New Industrial Age

Chapter SixChapter SixA New Industrial AgeA New Industrial Age

Life in the 1860s

• No electric lights

• No refrigeration

• In 1860, most mail from the East Coast took ten days to reach the Midwest and three weeks to get to the West Coast. A letter from Europe to a person on the frontier could take several months to reach its destination.

Life in the 1900s

• Between 1860 and 1890 the government issued almost 500,000 patents–licenses that gave an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, or sell an invention. Patents were issued for inventions such as the typewriter and the telephone. These inventions increased productivity–the amount of goods and services created in a given period of time.

• Power stations across the country provided electricity for lamps, fans, printing presses, and many other appliances.

• By 1900, there were 1.5 million telephones in use all over the country, and Western Union Telegraph was sending roughly 63 million messages.

People Develop New Forms of Energy

Struck oil in Pennsylvania in 1859. New uses for oil grew rapidly. Oil refineries sprang up around the country as oil became a big business.

Edwin L. Drake

An inventor from New Jersey who experimented with electric light. Developed a workable filament for the light bulb and the idea of a central power station to make electric power widely available.

Thomas A. Edison

Worked in Edison’s lab and patented an improved method for producing the filament in light bulbs

Lewis Latimer

Experimented with a form of electricity called alternating current, which was less expensive and more practical than direct current, which Edison had used. By using a transformer, he improved the capabilities of power stations to make home use of electricity more practical.

George Westinghouse

Thomas Alva EdisonThomas Alva Edison

“Wizard of Menlo Park” “Wizard of Menlo Park”

The Light BulbThe Light Bulb

The Phonograph (1877)The Phonograph (1877)

The Ediphone or Dictaphone

The Ediphone or Dictaphone

The Motion Picture CameraThe Motion Picture Camera

Alternate CurrentAlternate Current

George Westinghouse

George Westinghouse

Communication Advances

1. Samuel Morse perfects the telegraph and invents system of electrical impulses to use as the alphabet.

2. Alexander Graham Bell invented the

telephone in 1876.

Railroads a National NetworkOn May 10, 1869, the transcontinental railroad, extending from coast to coast, was finished with the hammering of a golden spike at Promontory Point, Utah.The growth of railroads led to the development of many towns throughout the western part of the United States.In 1883, the railroads adopted a national system of time zones to improve scheduling. As a result, the clocks in broad regions of the country showed the same time, a system we still use today.

• Railroads played a key role in revolutionizing business and industry in the United States in several key ways.– They provided a faster, more practical means

of transporting goods.– They lowered the costs of production.– They created national markets.– They provided a model for big business.– They encouraged innovation in other

industries.

1. The Bessemer Process was a way burn the impurities out of iron and a lighter, stronger more flexible product….steel.

2. Results-rail lines, sky scrapers, the Brooklyn Bridge

G. Activity Draw the Brooklyn Bridge. (pp.234-5)

Steel makes progress faster and cheaper

John A. Roebling:John A. Roebling:The Brooklyn Bridge, The Brooklyn Bridge,

18831883

John A. Roebling:John A. Roebling:The Brooklyn Bridge, The Brooklyn Bridge,

19131913

Robber Barons or Captains of Industry

A. John D. Rockefeller Creates Standard Oil.-

In 1863 Standard Oil began as Rockefeller bought his first refinery. Over the next few decades Rockefeller bought out all the competition refineries until he eventually owned 90% of the refineries in the entire US. This Horizontal control is a type of monopoly or trust.

Standard Oil Co.Standard Oil Co.

B. Andrew Carnegie built the first Bessemer steel factories in Pittsburg PA.

As his business grew he bought up all the steps of production from the Coal mines to the factories to the ships and rail roads. Like Rockefeller this Vertical Consolidation allowed Carnegie to keep his prices down and defeat the competition.

Chapter 13, Section 2

Horizontal and Vertical ConsolidationCoke fields

purchased by

Carnegie

Coke fields

Iron ore deposits

purchased by

Carnegie

purchased by

Carnegie

Coke fields

Iron ore deposits

Steel mills

purchased by

Carnegie

purchased by

Carnegie

purchased by

Carnegie

Coke fields

Iron ore deposits

Steel mills

Ships

purchased by

Carnegie

purchased by

Carnegie

purchased by

Carnegie

purchased by

Carnegie

Coke fields

Iron ore deposits

Steel mills

Ships

Railroads

purchased by

Carnegie

purchased by

Carnegie

purchased by

Carnegie

purchased by

Carnegie

purchased by

Carnegie

Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth” said people can make as much money as possible but then they should give it away.

C. Social Darwinism was the philosophy of survival of the fittest applied to business. As a result government did not interfere with business. It neither taxed profits nor regulated workers/ owner relations.

Many factors combined to make a new kind of business in the United States.

Larger pools of capital — Entrepreneurs had to invest massive amounts of capital or borrow from investors.Wider geographic span — Railroads and the telegraph aided in the geographic expansion of businesses.Broader range of operations — Big businesses often combined multiple operations and were responsible for all stages of production.Revised role of ownership — Owners had less connection to all aspects of their businesses because the businesses were too large. “Professional managers” were hired to run their business.New methods of management — Innovations were also necessary for controlling resources. Big businesses developed new systems of formal, written rules and created specialized departments.

E. The Government’s feeble attempt to regulate business came in the form of the Sherman Antitrust act. For 15 years it was too weak to regulate any monopolies

III. Workers

A. Industrialization meant an increased demand for labor. This demand was met two ways- farm workers moved to town for factory jobs and immigrants came from poorer parts of the world.

B. Factory work was hard and dangerous with low pay and no benefits.

C. Owners wanted to get as much production from their workers as possible so efficiency studies found the best way to get many cheap products was to use division of labor and have one work do a single job over and over again.

Working Families• In the 1880s, children made up more than 5 % of the

industrial labor force.• Children often left school at the age of 12 or 13 to

work.• Girls sometimes took factory jobs so that their brothers

could stay in school.• If an adult became too ill to work, children as young as

6 or 7 had to work.• Rarely did the government provide public assistance,

and unemployment insurance didn’t exist.• The theory of Social Darwinism held that poverty

resulted from personal weakness. Many thought that offering relief to the unemployed would encourage idleness.

A Struggling Immigrant Family

A Struggling Immigrant Family

Struggling Immigrant FamilyStruggling Immigrant Family

IV. The Great Strikes

• A. By 1890 9% of Americans owned 75% of the nation’s wealth. Many of these lived extravagant lifestyles. While the nation’s suffered.

• B. The Marxist philosophy of Socialism was gaining a following in Europe and it lured some workers to the ideas of collective ownership of wealth and means of production.

• C. Most workers chose to improve their lives within the capitalist system by forming labor unions.

Early Labor UnionsBecame strong after the Civil WarProvided assistance to members in

bad timesLater expressed workers’ demands to employer

The Knights of Labor A national unionRecruited skilled and unskilled workers, women, and African AmericansEmphasized education and social reform

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) Led by Samuel Gompers

Was a craft union of skilled workersA bread and butter unionUsed collective bargaining as a strategy

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)Known as “The Wobblies”Organized unskilled workersHad radical socialist leadersMany violent strikes

Knights of LaborKnights of Labor

Terence V. PowderlyTerence V. Powderly

An injury to one is the concern of An injury to one is the concern of all!all!

Goals of the Knights of Labor

Goals of the Knights of Laborù Eight-hour workday.Eight-hour workday.

ù Workers’ cooperatives.Workers’ cooperatives.

ù Worker-owned factories.Worker-owned factories.

ù Abolition of child and prison labor.Abolition of child and prison labor.

ù Increased circulation of greenbacks.Increased circulation of greenbacks.

ù Equal pay for men and women.Equal pay for men and women.

ù Safety codes in the workplace.Safety codes in the workplace.

ù Prohibition of contract foreign labor.Prohibition of contract foreign labor.

ù Abolition of the National Bank.Abolition of the National Bank.

How the AF of L Would Help the

Workers

How the AF of L Would Help the

Workersù Catered to the skilled worker.Catered to the skilled worker.

ù Represented workers in matters of national Represented workers in matters of national legislation.legislation.

ù Maintained a national strike fund.Maintained a national strike fund.

ù Evangelized the cause of unionism.Evangelized the cause of unionism.

ù Prevented disputes among the many craft unions.Prevented disputes among the many craft unions.

ù Mediated disputes between management and labor.Mediated disputes between management and labor.

ù Pushed for Pushed for closed shopsclosed shops..

The American Federation

of Labor: 1886

The American Federation

of Labor: 1886

Samuel GompersSamuel Gompers

A Striker Confronts a SCAB!

A Striker Confronts a SCAB!

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Reaction of Employers

Many employers disliked and feared unions. Some took steps to stop unions, such as:• forbidding union meetings• firing union organizers• forcing new employees to sign “yellow dog” contracts,

making them promise never to join a union or participate in a strike

• refusing to bargain collectively when strikes did occur• refusing to recognize unions as their workers’

legitimate representatives

E. Activity (pp.251-253) Search for the details for these three famous strikes

The Haymarket RiotHaymarket, 1886• On May 1, groups of workers mounted a national demonstration for an eight-

hour workday.• On May 3, police broke up a fight between strikers and scabs. (A scab is a

negative term for a worker called in by an employer to replace striking laborers.)

• Union leaders called a protest rally on the evening of May 4 in Chicago’s Haymarket Square.

• A group of anarchists, radicals who oppose all government, joined the strikers.

• At the event, someone threw a bomb that killed a police officer. • The riot that followed killed dozens on both sides.• Investigators never found the bomb thrower, yet eight anarchists were tried

for conspiracy to commit murder. Four were hanged.


Haymarket Riot (1886)

Haymarket Riot (1886)

McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.

Haymarket MartyrsHaymarket Martyrs

Strikes Rock the Nation

• Homestead 1892– In 1892, Andrew Carnegie’s partner, Henry Frick, tried

to cut workers’ wages at Carnegie Steel.– The union called a strike and Frick called in the

Pinkertons.– The union called off the Homestead Strike after an

anarchist tried to assassinate Frick. Even though the anarchist was not connected to the strike, the public associated his act with rising labor violence.


Governor John Peter Altgeld

Governor John Peter Altgeld

Homestead Steel Strike

(1892)

Homestead Steel Strike

(1892)

The Amalgamated The Amalgamated Association of Association of

Iron & Steel WorkersIron & Steel Workers

Homestead Steel Homestead Steel WorksWorks

Big Corporate Profits!Big Corporate Profits!

• Pullman, 1894– Eugene Debs instructed strikers not to interfere with

the nation’s mail.– Railway owners turned to the government for help.

The judge cited the Sherman Antitrust Act and won a court order forbidding all union activity that halted railroad traffic.

– Court orders against unions continued, limiting union gains for the next 30 years.

A “Compa

nyTown”:

Pullman, IL

A “Compa

nyTown”:

Pullman, IL

Pullman CarsPullman Cars

A Pullman A Pullman porterporter

The Pullman Strike of 1894


President Grover Cleveland

President Grover Cleveland

If it takes the entire army and navy to If it takes the entire army and navy to deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card

will be delivered!will be delivered!



Government by injunction!Government by injunction!

Bosses of the Senate

The Protectors of Our Industries

The Protectors of Our Industries

Chapter Six A New Industrial Age

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