A New Industrial Age

By the 1920s, the U.S. had become the leading industrial power in the world. This boom was due to several factors: A. a wealth of natural resources B. government support for business C. a growing urban population for cheap labor and markets for new products.

1. The U.S. Becomes an Industrial Power

AGRICULTURE MANUFACTURING

   1. 1859,Edwin L. Drake

successfully used a steam engine to drill for oil.

2. Oil Boom! 3. After the automobile became popular, gasoline became the most important form of oil.

2. Black Gold; Texas Tea

1. The Bessemer process, developed by Henry Bessemer around 1850

2. involved injecting air into molten iron to remove the carbon and other impurities.

3. It produces a lighter, more flexible, and rust-resistant metal called STEEL.    

3. Turning Iron into Steel

1. The railroads, became the biggest customers for steel2. Farm machines helped transform The Plains into the food

producer of the nation.    3. The Brooklyn Bridge. Completed in 1883.4. Steel became the new material to build skyscrapers.

4. Steel Transforms America

Create this diagram and draw 4 pictures for the uses of steel that helped to transform America.

1. Thomas Alva Edison perfected the light bulb in 1880- distribution of electric power

2. By 1890, allowed factories to be located away from rivers and to produce through the night.

3. Time saving appliances4. Electric streetcars expanded cities

  

5. Electricity Lights The Way

1. Christopher Sholes invented the typewriter in 1867

2. Invention of the telephone, by Alexander Graham Bell 1876

6. Other Inventors

1. In 1869 the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met at Utah. Golden Spike marked connection.

2. Workers included:o Chinese immigrantso Irish immigrantso Out-of-work Civil War Veterans

7.“The Connection”: Transcontinental Railroad

1. Professor C. F. Dowd divided the earth's surface into 24 time zones, one for each hour of the day.

2. 4 zones: – The Eastern– Central– Mountain– Pacific

8.“What Time Is It?”

1. George M. Pullman built a nearby town for his employees which included: housing, doctors’ offices, shops, etc.a. Problem:– Employee disliked Pullman’s tightly controlled

environment.– However, Pullman's refusal to lower rents after cutting

his employees' pay led to a violent strike in 1894.

9. Pullman Who?

Crédit Mobilier- Construction Co.1. The stockholders gave their company a

contract to lay track at two to three times the actual cost–and pocketed the profits.

2. They donated shares of stock to about 20 representatives in Congress in 1867. – BRIBING CONGRESSMEN- OH NO !!!   

10. The Corruption

The Interstate Commerce Act in 1887: 1. This act established the right of the

federal government to supervise railroad activities.

2. Established a five-member Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

11. Regulation of the Railroads

Andrew Carnegie 1. entered the steel business in 1873. 2. By 1899, the Carnegie Steel Company manufactured

90% of our nation’s steel.3. Carnegie attempted to control as much of the steel

industry as he could by: • vertical integration, a process in which he bought out

his suppliers• horizontal integration, companies producing similar products merge.

12. Andrew Carnegie and Vertical & Horizontal Integration

Applying Vertical and Horizontal Integration

1) Create a fictional company. Put your company name in the small green rectangle. 2) List all of your suppliers in the blue ovals.3) List all of your competitors in the green triangles. 4) You just bought out all of your suppliers and competitors! Congratulations! You

monopolized your industry. Put the name of your new industry in the yellow rectangle at the top.

Vertical Integration

Vertical Integration

Horizontal Integration

Horizontal Integration

1. Darwin’s Philosophy: "natural selection" (“Survival of the Fittest”)Applied to Business: success and failure in business were governed by natural law and that no one had the right to intervene.

2. Laissez-Faire- the French term meaning “allow to do”- in other words, let the strongest businesses survive, no government intervention.

13. How does Social Darwinism Relate to Business???

1) A firm that bought out all its competitors could achieve a MONOPOLY, or complete control over its industry's production, wages, and prices.

2) Holding Companies: a corporation that did nothing but buy out the stock of other companies.

• Banker, J. P. Morgan, created United States Steel - one of the most successful holding companies by buying out Carnegie Steel

14. Monopolies

• TRUSTS: in a trust companies turned their stock over to a group of trustees–people who ran the separate companies as one large corporation.

• Rockefeller used a trust to gain total control of the oil industry in America.

15. Trusts & John D. Rockefeller

This 1900 cartoon, captioned "What a funny little government!" is a commentary on the power of the Standard Oil empire. John D. Rockefeller holds the White House in his hand.

1. Sherman Antitrust Act made it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or with other countries. Prosecuting companies was not easy, because it didn't clearly define terms such as trust.

The Rockefeller Standard Oil monopoly octopus of total domination systematically infiltrating every sphere of human activity

16. SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT

What’s the Big Idea???• What would you TITLE this political

cartoon?

1. Laborers–skilled and unskilled, female and male, black and white–joined together in UNIONS to try to improve their working conditions.

Wages were so low that most families could not survive unless everyone held a job.

Employees were not entitled to vacation, sick leave, or reimbursement for injuries suffered on the job.

In 1882, an average of 675 laborers were killed in work-related accidents each week.

17. Employees Unite for Better Working Conditions

18. Types of Labor Unions1. CRAFT UNIONISM: included skilled

workers from one or more trades. The American Federation of Labor (AFL)- Samuel Gompers, President

2. INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM: include all laborers–skilled and unskilled–in a specific industry. (Example: American Railway Union- Eugene Debs, President)

19. Employers Fight Back Against Unions

1. Employers began to fear powerful labor unions

2. Yellow Dog Contracts: employers made employees sign contract promising they won’t join the union

3. Using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act: All a company had to do was say that a strike, picket line, or boycott would hurt interstate trade. Government would issue an injunction against the strike.

Labor Unions

Positive NegativeWhat’s the Big Idea???