Industry in America1865 - 1900

•Leading industrialists – “Captain of Industry” or “Robber Baron”

•Harsh working conditions and difficult life for workers

Andrew Carnegie•From Scotland•Was a “bobbin boy” in a textile mill and

earned $1.20 a week; worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad; then made millions in steel industry▫Necessity for railroads and booming

construction•Philosophy: “Watch the costs and the

profits will take care of themselves.”

Carnegie•Vertical Integration:

▫Control all portions of manufacturing process from raw materials to distribution

•Sold out in 1901 for half a billion; known for philanthropy

John D. Rockefeller•Formed Standard Oil in 1870; cut costs

and strictly managed use of resources•Undercut competition by lowering prices

and then raising prices after buying out rivals

•Never able to escape negative image even though he was a philanthropist

Rockefeller•Vertical Integration:

▫Purchased own tanker cars to transport oil to his customers

•Horizontal Integration:▫Controlled about 90% of US oil refining

capacity by 1879

Thomas Edison•Born in OH; invented phonograph, motion

picture camera; perfected the light bulb•Established “invention factory” at Menlo

Park, NJ•Leading research facility; different teams

allowed multiple inventions to be pursued•Came to symbolize inventive impulse of

Americans▫Work hard and you can be successful

Costs of Industrialization•US a major industrial power by 1900•Environmental degradation

▫Mining (coal, iron), pollution – air and water

•Factory life wasn’t always an improvement over life on a farm▫Dangerous, crowded, dehumanized

Labor• Workers and management on different terms• “Old” vs. “New” Perspective

▫OLD – laborers worked in small shops, took pride in their work and worked at their own pace

▫NEW – large factories were the norm; tasks were repetitive and pace was set by the “clock and whistle”

• average work week: 55-60 hrs.• Dangerous conditions:

▫1889 (first year of reliable statistics in RR) over 2,000 railroad workers died and 20,000 injured on the job

Wages•Skilled worker: (Bricklayer) earned $3.00

a day•General Laborer: $1.30/day•Southern mill worker: .84/day

Steel Industry•Very tough job

▫Furnaces had to be kept running•Shifts: 7 days/week; 12 hours/day•Shift change: night and days shifted once

a month so one group had an entire day off per month▫Other group had to work 24 hours straight

•Dangerous working conditions

Women and Children•Child Laborers

▫1900: almost 2 million children worked for wages

▫Very little supervisions, lots of accidents▫Able to work in small spaces and paid

lower wages▫Employed in textile mills and glass

factories, etc.

Women Workers•Sought out because could be paid less

than male counterparts•1900: 17% of workforce•1890s – typewriter and telephone provide

opportunities for safer jobs for women with high school education

Unions•Laborers unhappy with conditions and

began to organize into unions•Knights of Labor (1869)

▫Open to all laborers▫1880s over 700.000 members▫Goals: equal pay for women; end child

labor; limit Chinese immigration

K of L•Saw Chinese immigrants as competitors

for jobs•1880s movements against Chinese in WA•Allowed blacks and women to join•Pushed for an 8 hour work day•Graduated income tax

K of L•Haymarket Square Riot (May 4, 1886)

▫Background: Laborers in Chicago held a general strike and ended up fighting with police

▫Strike sympathizers held a rally near Chicago’s Haymarket Square and a bomb went off

▫Seven police killed; four demonstrators killed

▫Lost support because of association with violence

American Federation of Labor•Formed in 1884; headed by Samuel

Gompers•Union of skilled workers•Goals: eight hour day; employer liability

for injuries on the job•1.6 million members by 1904

Labor Unions•Origins of modern unions set by late

1800s•Only included about 5% of workforce by

late 1800s•Many emplorers, like Carnegie, fought to

break unions

Advertising•As nation industrialized we also see

growth of advertising•Encouraged people to buy their products

Quaker Oats, Ivory Soap, Kodak Cameras

•Few regulations in place by govt.

Conclusion•US became an industrial power and was

led by people like Carnegie, Rockefeller and Edison; however, it was often on the backs of individual laborers who worked under difficult conditions

Respond in your journal:•By 1900 the US was a major industrial

world power but it came at what cost?

US in 1900•Daily life

▫African Americans▫Farmers▫Immigrants

•Domestic Policy ▫Panic of 1893 and 1896▫Presidential Election▫Spanish American War

African Americans•9 million in US in 1900•90% lived in the South

•Exodusters – left deep south to Kansas to establish homesteads

•Sharecropping developed as a compromise between former slaves and landowners

Sharecropping•Landowners subdivided plantations into

50 acre plots•Families responsible for raising crops on

plot•Sharecroppers handed over 50% of their

crops as “rent” for the land•In the deep South, 75% of the land was

sharecropped

Barrow Plantation

Crop-Lien•Merchants advanced sharecroppers

supplies on credit▫Seed, tools, livestock, furniture

•Interest rates: often 50% or more because no collateral