Expansion of Industry Natural Resources Inventions Railroads
Big Business & Labor Labor Unions
Slide 2
Natural Resources We went from an agricultural nation to an
industrial power Black Gold: Indians used it for fuel &
medicines, Americans used it to light kerosene lamps Big Break came
in 1859 by Edwin L. Drake
Slide 3
Natural resources: Black Gold In 1859 Drake successfully used a
steam engine to drill for oil in Pennsylvania This breakthrough
started an oil boom that spread to Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois,
Indiana and later Texas. At first oil was transformed into kerosene
But with automobile, gas became the most important form of oil
Slide 4
Natural Resources: Coal & Iron Coal production skyrocketed
33 million tons in 1870 to 250 million tons in 1900 Steel is made
from removing the carbon from iron Steel is more flexible and
durable Henry Bessemer developed a cheap & efficient
manufacturing process to do this Known as the Bessemer Process
Slide 5
Slide 6
Uses for Steel Steels biggest customer became the railroads
used it for laying tracks Barbed wire Farm machinery Used on
construction sites: Brooklyn Bridge, skyscrapers (with steel frames
you could build as high as you wanted)
Slide 7
Slide 8
Inventions Change the Way People Live & Work Thomas Edison:
light bulb, electricity Electricity completely changed the nature
of business in America Electric power ran all types of machines
Soon became available in homes & appliances for the home
Streetcars made travel cheap & expanded the outward growth of
cities Industries grew as never before could locate anywhere they
wanted
Slide 9
Slide 10
Inventions Change Lifestyles Typewriter invented by Christopher
Sholes changed how we work Telephone invented by Alexander Graham
Bell changed how we communicate Created more jobs, especially for
women In 1870: women made up 5% of workforce, by 1910 they
accounted for 40% of the workforce
Slide 11
Slide 12
Inventions & Working Conditions Jobs that were previously
done at home were now being mass produced in a factory Some jobs
became easier with the help of machinery Standard of living
increased: due to machinery & inventions the workweek was
reduced by 10 hours Urban expansion allowed for new inventions
& products
Slide 13
Slide 14
Product Demand An industrial explosion created a demand for
shipping routes for both raw materials and finished products and
increased the demand for rail networks. Technological advances in
the production of steel made rapid expansion of the railroads
possible.
Slide 15
Section 2 Objectives To identify the role of the railroads in
unifying the country To list positive & negative effects of
railroads on the nations economy To summarize reasons for, and
outcomes of, the demand for railroad reform.
Slide 16
Railroads: A National Network In 1869 Central Pacific &
Union Pacific Railroads met at Promontory, Utah It was a linking of
the first transcontinental railroad a gold spike marks the spot
where they connected In 1861 the nation had 30,000 miles of track.
By 1890 it had 210,000 miles of track.
Slide 17
Railroads: Romance and Reality Railroads brought a romance to
travel by bringing dreams of adventure, unsettled land & a
fresh start to many Americans Reality: The workers, who made the
above possible, had harsh and stark lives Central Pacific hired
Chinese immigrants Union Pacific hired Irish immigrants Accidents,
pneumonia and diseases killed thousands of workers each year In
1888, 2,000 killed, 20,000 injured
Slide 18
Railroad Reality cont All railroad workers-surveyors,
tracklayers, engineers, firemen & brakemen- faced difficult
conditions & numerous hazards. Were paid very little for a
tremendous amount of hard work Whites were paid $40-$60 a month
with free meals, Chinese were paid $35 a month and had to supply
their own food
Slide 19
Railroads: Unify Nation & Time Laborers worked hard to
transform the country from disconnected & individual locations
into a united nation. Each city worked on its own time so no two
stops had the same time. Each city/town said noon arrived when the
sun was overhead In 1870, Prof. C.F. Dowd suggested that the earths
surface be divided into 24 time zones & that the U.S. should
have 4 time zones (Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific) By1883,
everyone adopts a standardized time system
Slide 20
Discuss 1 st Objective How did the role of the railroad unify
the country?
Slide 21
Opportunities Iron, coal, steel, lumber & glass industries
grew rapidly trying to keep up with the railroads demand for raw
materials & parts Growth of railroads led to a growth in towns,
helped establish new markets & offered opportunities
Slide 22
Opportunities: New Markets & Towns Isolated cities became
linked due to railroads Trade was promoted among cities/towns a
network of suppliers nationwide Towns began to specialize in
certain products Chicago = stockyards, Minneapolis=grain,
Pennsylvania=steel Towns prospered due to mass production &
mass selling of goods
Slide 23
Opportunists: Pullman George Pullman manufactured rail
cars/sleepers Required a large & steady workforce Built a town
for his employees: brick houses/apartment buildings, medical &
legal offices, shops, church, library, theatre & an athletic
field Town was controlled by Pullman. He didnt want employees to
make the company look bad. He wanted a stable workforce & more
profits Workers became dissatisfied and went on strike
Slide 24
Opportunists: Credit Mobilier Stockholders in the Union Pacific
Railroad formed a construction company called Credit Mobilier Gave
their own company a contract to lay tracks at 3 times the costs
Kept the profits and paid off government officials Pocketed $32
million in stocks, bonds & cash
Slide 25
Opportunists: Railroads Railroads themselves took advantage of
farmers Would charge outrageous prices for hauling goods of farmers
Price fixing Would charge different customers different rates
Wanted to keep farmers in their debt
Slide 26
Granger Laws Grangers were poor farmers Took political action
against railroads They sponsored state & local political
candidates, elected legislators *&* pressed for laws that would
protect their interests Due to the Grangers persistence: Illinois
first to establish maximum freight & passenger rates Ended
discrimination against farmers
Slide 27
Munn v. Illinois States challenged the Granger laws on
regulation Supreme Court upheld the Granger laws States won the
right to regulate the railroads for the benefit of farmers &
consumers Established an important principle: the federal
governments right to regulate private industry to serve the public
interest. (Is this good or bad?)
Slide 28
Big Business and Labor: Objectives To identify management and
business strategies that contributed to the success of business
tycoons such as Andrew Carnegie To explain Social Darwinism and its
effects on society To cite methods used by ruthless businessmen to
eliminate free competition To describe the reasons for the slow
industrialization of the South
Slide 29
Carnegies Innovations Rags to riches story At age 13 worked 12
hr days at a cotton mill Then worked as a messenger for telegraph
service. Worked his way up the ladder Thomas A. Scott hires him as
a personal secretary at Pennsylvania Railroad Was given a chance to
buy stock in the company When he earned his first dollars from
dividends off that stock he said, Heres the goose that lays the
golden eggs!
Slide 30
Carnegie cont Made so much off dividends he left PR and opened
up his own steel company
Slide 31
Carnegies Management Techniques Continually sought for ways to
make better products more cheaply Used detailed accounting systems
to track the cost of every item and process he used Hired the best
of assistants and encouraged competition among them Offered them
stocks in the company Increase production cut costs
Slide 32
Carnegies Business Strategies Attempted to control the entire
steel industry Vertical Integration: bought out all of his
suppliers (coal, iron, freighters & railroads) Controlled every
aspect: raw materials, transportation, & manufacturing process
Gave him total power over the quality & cost of his
product
Slide 33
Carnegies Business Strategies cont Horizontal Consolidation:
Buying out competing businesses. (a merger) Controlled both his
supplier & competitors Carnegie was producing 80% of the steel
business Almost a monopoly
Slide 34
Social Darwinism & Business Social Philosophers explained
Carnegies success like this: No government regulation of business
Free competition in the market place Survival of the fittest
companies Success & failure in business were governed by
natural law (free market) & that no one especially the
government- had no right to interfere
Slide 35
Social Darwinism cont Made sense to the millionaires Also
appealed to the working class: if they worked hard, they too could
become rich Stories of rags to riches success became popular
Slide 36
Growth and Consolidation Oligopoly: a market in which only a
few sellers provided a particular product Usually resulted when
businesses with similar products merged Monopoly: When a business
bought out all of its major competitors and had complete control
over its industrys production, quality, wages paid & prices
charged
Slide 37
Growth & Consolidation cont Holding Companies: A
corporation that did nothing but buy out the stock of other
companies Trust agreement: Participants in a trust turned their
stock over to a group of trustees people who ran the companies as
one large corporation. In return those companies would receive
dividends on profits earned by the trust Trusts were considered
illegal but had many gray areas & loopholes
Slide 38
John D. Rockefeller First job was a produce clerk at the age of
16 Started his first company at the age of 19 & grossed
$450,000 Took advantage of trusts and gained control of the oil
industry in America (Standard Oil) In 1870 controlled 2-3% of the
oil industry, by 1880 controlled 90%
Slide 39
Rockefeller cont Instead of passing on the savings to
customers, Rockefeller kept the profits He paid his employees low
wages, drove his competition out of business by selling his oil at
a lower price than it cost to produce it. When he had control of
the market he hiked the price up far above the original price to
gain back lost profits Because he dominated businesses he received
rebates and kickbacks
Slide 40
Robber Barons Due to their ruthless tactics, some business men
are called Robber Barons Carnegie & Rockefeller defended their
wealth by pointing out they gave a large percentage of their
profits/wages to charities. Sherman Antitrust Act: Formed by the
government to prevent big businesses from interfering in free
competition or forming monopolies Was hard to enforce &
eventually the government stopped trying to enforce it
Slide 41
Current Monopolies Utility companies (gas & electric)
Comcast (now there is AT&T, Direct TV) Microsoft Pharmaceutical
drug companies National Healthcare????
Slide 42
Business Boom Bypasses the South South was still trying to
recover form the Civil War Lacked money to invest Had few major
cities Southern economy remained agricultural farmers were at the
mercy of railroad rates & going into debt Northerners
controlled 90% of the railroad business
Slide 43
Business Boom Bypasses the South cont Southern businesses had
to compete with not only well established Northern companies, but
also had to fight for the skilled workers Some businesses
prospered: forestry, textile, tobacco, furniture Exploitation of
both the Southern laborers & the Northern wage earners drew all
American workers together in a nationwide labor movement demanding
their rights
Slide 44
Chapter 14, Section 4 Objectives To describe the exploitation
of workers including women & children To summarize the
emergence & growth of unions To explain the violent reactions
of industry & government to union strikes To identify the
influence of women in the labor movement To describe the role of
the government in opposing union activity
Slide 45
Workers Are Exploited Workers Are Exploited Industrial
innovations diminished workers skills & accomplishments Most
factory workers worked 12 hour days or more and 6 days a week Steel
mills often demanded 7 days of work No vacations, or sick leave No
unemployment compensation No reimbursement for injuries sustained
on the job, yet injuries happened frequently
Slide 46
Workers exploited cont Hazardous working conditions Factories
were dirty, poor ventilated & poorly lit Dangerous or faulty
equipment Workers had to perform repetitive, mind- dulling tasks
hour after hour with this poor equipment Workers had little choice
but to put up with these conditions because they needed money
Slide 47
Women and Children Most families could not survive on the
little pay one person received in the household. Everyone in a
family had to work In 1890: 4 million women worked In 1910: 8
million women worked 20% of boys under the age of 15 held full time
jobs 10% of girls under the age of 15 held full time jobs Some were
as young as 5 years old Many worked from dawn to dusk
Slide 48
Women and Children cont Children went hungry & were
exhausted by the long hours Many had crippling or fatal accidents
Worked so many hours that there wasnt anytime for school Forfeited
there own future to help their families Many of the work was
tedious & tiresome Paid the lowest wages: 27 cents for a 14
hour days of work.
Slide 49
Typical Yearly Wages in 1899 Women: $269 per year Men: $498 per
year Andrew Carnegie made $23 million per year with no income
tax.
Slide 50
Why Fight for a Labor Union? Unsafe working conditions
Extremely long hours of work No benefits Low, low wages On the job
injuries with no compensation Tedious jobs that required no
skills
Slide 51
Labor Unions Emerge National Labor Union Knights of Labor
Slide 52
National Labor Union Small unions existed since the early 1800s
The NLU was the first large scale union to organize in 1866. Formed
by William H. Sylvis Had 300 local unions from 13 states To make
the NLU most effective he encouraged women & blacks to join
Some did, others did not leading to: Colored National labor Union
(CNLU)
Slide 53
National Labor Union cont Grew to 640,000 members Convinced
Congress to legalize an 8 hour work day for government workers
Formed its own political party The Labor Reform Party Main goal was
to link existing unions together
Slide 54
Question How would forming their own political party help them
in their quest to gain better wages and working conditions?
Slide 55
Knights of Labor Focused its attention of industrial workers
Organized in 1868 Its motto: An injury to one is the concern of all
Open to all workers regardless of race, gender or degree of skill
Supported an 8 hour work day & equal pay for equal work
Slide 56
Knights of Labor Advocated arbitration before striking Strikes
were a last resort Terrence Powderly became head of Knights of
Labor in 1881 Under Powderlys leadership expanded membership from
28,000 in 1880 to 700,000 in 1886
Slide 57
Union Movements Diverge Labor activism diversified Different
movements within the union emerged Received support from socialists
and social reformers
Slide 58
Craft Unionism & Samuel Gompers All skilled workers from
many different industries organized unions Led by Samuel Gompers,
the Cigar Makers International Union joined with other trade &
craft unions in 1886 Formed the American Federation of Labor (AFL)
AFL focused on collective bargaining (group negotiations) to reach
written agreements AFL used strikes as a major tactic to achieve
its goal
Slide 59
Craft Unionism cont AFL had successful strikes that helped them
win higher wages & shorter work weeks for skilled workers
Weekly wage in 1890: $17.50 Weekly wage in 1915: $ 24.00 Average
work wee fell from 54.5 hours to just under 49 hours
Slide 60
Industrial Unionism & Eugene Debs Wanted to reach beyond
just skilled laborers and include all laborers who worked in a
specific industry Eugene Debs made the first attempt to form an
industrial union the American Railway Union (ARU) In 1894 he won a
strike for higher wages Membership climbed to 150,000 Due to losses
suffered due to major strikes this union didnt last long, but it
made its mark
Slide 61
Socialism and the IWW Some activists thought there was an
underlying problem that had to do with a capitalist system Private
ownership and free competition make the rich richer and the poor
poorer Turned to socialism: government control of business &
property and equal distribution of wealth Appealed to the poor
workers felt that they could be empowered
Slide 62
Socialism & the IWW cont Threatened the wealthy whose
wealth it could confiscate In 1905, an extremist group organized
the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Headed by William Big
Bill Haywood & included miners, lumberers, & dock workers
Membership never exceeded 150,000 included women & black
workers Gave dignity & solidarity to unskilled workers barred
from other groups
Slide 63
The Great Strike of 1877 Began in July, 1877 in Martinsburg, WV
Workers for the Baltimore & Ohio railroads went on strike due
to reduced wages President Rutherford Hayes intervenes and calls
the militia and Federal troops to get involved Strike quickly
spreads from coast to coast Railroads were stopped in their
tracks
Slide 64
The Great Strike cont Riots broke out and violence erupted In
Baltimore the militia shot and killed 10 people including a 16 year
old student and a newsboy Striking workers burned a town, and sent
a part of a train crashing into freight cars. In Pittsburgh,
Federal troops fired and killed 20 civilians Across the country
over 100 people died Eventually strikers retreated. Strike lasted
for almost two weeks
Slide 65
The Haymarket Affair On May Day 1886, the workers at the
McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. in Chicago began a strike in the
hope of gaining a shorter work day Knights of Labor represented
these workers On May 3, police were used to protect strikebreakers
and a scuffle broke out; one person was killed and several others
injured. The following day, May 4, 2,000 gathered for a rally
Slide 66
The Haymarket Affair cont The gathering was peaceful until
police sent units into the crowd to force it to disperse At that
point, a pipe bomb was thrown into the police ranks; the explosion
took the lives of seven policemen and injured more than 60 others
The police fired into the crowd of workers, killing four. Knights
of Labor reputation was tarnished and they never recovered from the
bad press Mood was hysteria
Slide 67
The Haymarket Affair 8 men convicted 7 sentenced to death 1
killed himself in prison, 4 others killed hanged themselves In 1892
clemency was granted to the remaining 3 that were still in jail All
in all it was a setback for labor unions and the labor
movement
Slide 68
The Homestead Strike Work conditions at Carnegie Steel Co were
poor Steelworkers went on strike on July 6, 1892 after the plant
manager Henry Frick announced he was cutting wages Frick hired
guards to protect the plant Hired scab workers Riots erupted and
the National Guard had to be called in. 3 guards and 6 workers dead
Union lost much support & the workers gave in
Slide 69
The Pullman Strike Began May 11, 1894 Workers walked out of the
Pullman Palace Car Co. due to declining wages & stalled
negotiations ARU supported these workers & stood by them
declaring they would no longer work trains of Pullmans Crippled
railroad traffic nationwide Federal government intervened: no
boycotts, sent soldiers in
Slide 70
The Pullman Strike Vandalism & violence occurred: rail cars
were damaged Workers were angry and burned the yards and anything
in it President Cleveland ordered the strikers to return to work.
This enraged the workers. A riot ensued, Eugene Debs (head of ARU)
was arrested. The strike became a lost cause nothing was gained
same wages & working conditions Pullman was now recognized as a
greedy & intolerant man
Slide 71
Women in the Labor Movement Demanded better working conditions
Equal pay for equal work End child labor
Slide 72
Women in the Labor Movement Mary Harris Mother Jones *most
prominent woman organizer *daughter of an Irish union activist
*supported the Great Strike of 1877 *joined the United Mine Workers
of America (UMW) *Led miners in strike & had their wives march
in front of the mine entrance banging pots and pans *led women mill
workers in strike and persuaded their husbands to join a union *led
children who worked in a march to President Theodore Roosevelts
home *She had a tremendous impact & influenced child labor laws
to be passed
Slide 73
Women in the Labor Movement Pauline Newman & the Garment
Workers * at 16 became the first female organizer of the
International Ladies Garment Workers Union * Supported the Uprising
of 20,000 the massive 1909 strike against shirtwaist companies
(Triangle Waist Fire)
Slide 74
Government Pressures on Unions Management took steps to weaken
unions by refusing negotiate didnt allow union meetings fired union
members hired new employees only if they signed a contract saying
they wouldnt join the union Industrial leaders & courts turned
Sherman Anti-Trust Act against unions: federal injunction against
all strikes saying it hurt trade
Slide 75
Government Pressures on Unions Consumers are sympathetic but
get frustrated when there is a shortage of goods due to a strike
People feared riots & a socialistic revolt Union was losing
members