chapter 16: the growth of industry

1886Trade unionsform AFL

1903Wright brothers flyfirst motorized airplane

1870 1890 1910

1870RockefellerorganizesStandard OilCompany

1876Bell patentsthe telephone

Railroads sped industrialization in the late 1800s.

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Railroads Lead the WayGeography shapes the physical, economic, and political challenges a region

faces. The spread of railroads across the country encouragedAmericas expanding economy.

InventionsInnovations in technology and business help build a nations industrial

power. Inventions improved the transportation and communicationnetworks that were vital to the nations industrial growth.

The Age of Big BusinessInnovations in technology and business help build a nations industrial

power. Corporations changed the American economy of the late 1800s.

Industrial WorkersReactions to social injustice can lead to reform movements. Workers

organized to demand better pay and working conditions.

View the Chapter 16 video in the Glencoe Video Program.

CHAPTER 16 The Growth of Industry 703

Chapter Overview Visit ca.hss.glencoe.comfor a preview of Chapter 16.

Identifying Main Ideas Make this foldable to describe the growth of industry in the United States in the late 1800s.

Reading and WritingAs you read, writewhat you learn aboutthe developments ofindustry under eachappropriate tab.

Step 1 Fold two sheets of paperin half from top to bottom. Cutthe papers in half along the folds.

Cut alongthe fold

lines.

Step 3 On each folded paper,make a cut 1 inch from theside on the top flap.

Cut 1 inch fromthe edge throughthe top flap only.

1"

InventionsStaple here. Railroads

Step 2 Fold each of the four papers inhalf from top to bottom.

Step 4 Place the folded papers one ontop of the other. Staple the four sectionstogether and label each of the tabsRailroads, Inventions, Big Business, andIndustrial Workers.

Huntington Library/SuperStock

http://ca.hss.glencoe.com

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704

Predicting Consequences

Did you ever wish you could see into the future? Although it isimpossible to predict future events, you can develop skills to helpyou identify the consequences of decisions or actions. Followthese steps to help you thoughtfully predict consequences:

Review what you already know about a situation by listing facts, events, andpeoples responses. The list will help you recall events and how they affectedpeople.

Use your knowledge and observations of similar situations. In other words, askyourself, What were the consequencesof a similar decision or action thatoccurred in the past?

Look for patterns. Try to determine what the patterns show. Are some conse-quences more likely to occur than others?

Make a prediction.


Read the main ideas for this chapter. Take notes predict-ing what youll discover. Monitor your progress to see ifyour expectations were accurate.

You have already learned about some of the changes in transportation, trade,and settlement between 1800 and 1869.You learned that inland roads, alongwith the steamboat and the canal system, stimulated trade and settlement.Railroads spanning the continent took settlers and entrepreneurs into newregions of the United States. In this chapter, you will read more about how therailroad impacted life and industry, setting the stage for a new IndustrialRevolution. Practice making some predictions about what you might learn.Complete the chart below, then discuss your predictions with a partner.

European immigrants ona railroad flatcar viewland open for settlementon the Great Plains.

Event Predicted results

Railroads made new regions accessible

New areas were settled by farmers, miners, and ranchers

Thousands of workers brought West

Transcontinental railroad completed

Several railroads connected East and West

Railroads offered employment opportunities

Railroad companies consolidated

Based on what you readabout labor conditionsduring the building ofthe transcontinentalrailroad, write a shortparagraph predictingwhat labor conditionsmight have been like inother industries at thattime.

Read to Write

Kansas Collection, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries

706 CHAPTER 16 The Growth of Industry

RailroadsLead the Way

Looking Back, Looking AheadIn the last chapter, you read about theexpansion of the nation into the West.In this chapter, you will read aboutAmericas economic expansion and theshift from an agricultural economy to anindustrial nation.

Focusing on the Railroad barons used consolidation to

expand their companies and create agrowing system of railroads throughoutthe United States. (page 707)

Railroad growth stimulated theeconomy, and innovations maderailroad travel more efficient andprofitable. (page 709)

Meeting PeopleCornelius VanderbiltJames J. HillCollis P. HuntingtonLeland StanfordGeorge WestinghouseEli H. JanneyGustavus Swift (guh STAHV uhs)George M. Pullman

Content Vocabularyconsolidation

(kuhn SAH luhDAY shuhn)standard gauge (GAYJ)rebatepool

Academic Vocabularytechnology (tehkNAH luh jee)convert (kuhnVUHRT)network

Reading StrategyAnalyze As you read the section,complete a diagram like the one shownby describing the contributions of therailroad to the growth of industry.

HistorySocial ScienceStandardsUS8.12 Students ana-lyze the transformationof the American econ-omy and the changingsocial and political condi-tions in the United Statesin response to theIndustrial Revolution.

1860 1875 1890

1883Northern PacificRailroad opens

LosAngeles

San Francisco

PortlandDuluth

New Orleans

UnionPacific

Northern Pacific

SouthernPacific

Central Pacific

1860 1875 1890

1869First transcon-tinental rail-road iscompleted

1880sStandard width for railroad tracksis adopted

The role ofthe railroad

US8.12.1 Trace patterns of agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, use of natural resources, markets,and trade and locate such development on a map. US8.12.4 Discuss entrepreneurs, industrialists, and bankers in politics,commerce, and industry (e.g., Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Leland Stanford).

Railroad ExpansionRailroad barons used consolidation

to expand their companies and create a growingsystem of railroads throughout the UnitedStates.

Reading Connection What methods do compa-nies today use to expand their businesses? Read onto find out how railroads grew after the Civil War.

Rugged construction gangs labored on theUnion Pacific and other railways during thetransportation boom of the late 1800s. The cho-rus of a favorite song told of the hard work ofthe tarriers, or drillers:

And drill, ye tarriers, drill!Drill, ye tarriers, drill!For its work all day for sugar inyour tay,Down behind of the railway and,Drill, ye tarriers, drill!And blast!And fire!

Thomas Casey, 1888

Growth of the Rail System In the decadesafter the Civil War, railroads became a drivingforce behind Americas economic growth. Thefirst transcontinental railroad, completed in1869, was soon followed by others. By the1890s, five railway lines crossed the country,and hundreds of smaller lines branched offfrom them.

The expansion of the railroad system wasaccompanied by consolidation (kuhn SAH luh DAY shuhn)the practice of combining sepa-rate companiesin the industry. Large railroadcompanies expanded by buying smaller com-panies or by driving them out of business.Consolidation made the large companies moreefficient. After consolidation, a few powerfulindividuals known as railroad barons con-trolled the nations rail traffic.

Railroad Barons New Yorker CorneliusVanderbilt, one of the first railroad barons,gained control of the New York Central line andthen other lines. His railroad empire stretchedfrom New York City to the Great Lakes.

James J. Hill built the Great Northern linebetween Minnesota and Washington State. Untilhis death in 1916, Hill continued building anddirecting his ever-growing business empire.Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, and twoother partners founded the Central Pacific,which connected California and Utah.

The railroad barons were aggressive andcompetitive. They lived in an age when fewlaws had been passed to regulate business, andsome of their methods were highly question-able. Nevertheless, the railroad barons playedan important part in building the nations trans-portation system.

Analyze What did consoli-dation mean for many small companies?


The Impactof the Railroad

By 1860 there were about 30,000 miles(48,270 km) of railroad track in the nationalmost as much as in the rest of the worldcombined. By 1900 the nation had nearly250,000 miles (402,250 km) of track. An aver-age of 15 new miles (24 km) of track were laideach day. By the late 1800s, the railroad indus-try passed all other industries as a buyer ofiron, steel, andcoal and becamethe nationslargest employer.

Michael Masslan Historic Photographs/CORBIS

LELAND STANFORD18241893

CHARLES CROCKER18221888

The Central Pacific Railroad began as the dream of

engineer Theodore Judah. He sold stock in the new company

to four Sacramento merchants: grocer Leland Stanford, shop

owner Charles Crocker, and hardware store owners Mark Hopkins

and Collis P. Huntington. The four men became known as

The Big Four for their role in Californias economic development.

In the early 1860s, these men managed the construction of the Central Pacific railroad.

Eventually, they controlled a large railroad network that gave them great wealth and political

power. Although some of their methods were questioned, the four business partners and their

families donated land and money for the building of parks, churches, and libraries. Their donations

either founded or helped fund art museums, including the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, the

San Francisco Art Institute, and the Huntington Library and Art Gallery in San Marino.

Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane, donated land and money to create Stanford University.

Leland Stanford became governor of California and later served as a United States senator.

Crocker fought against racial prejudice. He criticized unfair treatment of Native Americans and of

Chinese and Japanese immigrants. Crocker believed that if we deny to the individual, no matter

what his creed, his color, or his nationality, the right to jus-

tice, which every man possesses . . . there will be no endur-

ing prosperity and [the nations] decline will surely follow.

Crocker gave money to support African American

churches in California. He also supported African American

schools and colleges in the southern United States.

Is it important for people to donate to the artsand education? Why or why not?

US8.12.4 Discuss entrepreneurs, industri-alists, and bankers in politics, commerce, andindustry (e.g., Andrew Carnegie, John D.Rockefeller, Leland Stanford).

Leland Stanford

Charles Crocker

708(t)Getty Images, (b)Getty Images

US8.12.1 Trace patterns of agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, use of natural resources, markets,and trade and locate such development on a map. US8.12.9 Name the significant inventors and their inventions and identifyhow they improved the quality of life (e.g., Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Orville and Wilbur Wright).

Railroads Spur the EconomyRailroad growth stimulated the

economy, and innovations made railroad travelmore efficient and profitable.

Reading Connection Can you think of a recentinvention that has significantly changed the way inwhich you live? Read on to find out how railroadschanged America in economic and social ways.

The fast-growing national rail system creatednew economic links in the country. The railroadscarried raw materials such as iron ore, coal, andtimber to factories. They also carried manufac-tured goods from factories to markets and trans-ported produce from farming areas to the cities.

The national railroad system encouragedthe expanding economy in many other ways. Atfirst the demand for iron tracks and locomo-tives helped the iron mining and processingindustries grow. Around 1880 railroad compa-nies began using steel tracks. Steel is a metalmade stronger by adding carbon and other ele-ments to refined iron. The use of steel in rail-road tracks stimulated Americas steel industry.

The railroads also helped other industriesthrive. The lumber industry, which suppliedwood for railway ties, and the coal industry,which provided fuel for locomotives, sawextraordinary growth. In addition, railroadcompanies provided work for thousands of peo-ple who laid tracks and built stations and forthose who manufactured railway cars andequipment.

Improving the Railroads Increased usemade it necessary for railroads to expand andunify their systems. Railroads were being builtacross the country, but different lines used railsof different gauges, or widths. As a result, trainsof one line could not use another lines tracks.Many early local lines carried goods for shortdistances and did not even connect with otherlines. The gaps in service between the various lines made long-distance railroad travelslow and inefficient.

As the railroad companies consolidated,railroad barons saw the advantages of beingpart of a national railroad network. During thelate 1880s, almost all companies adopted a standard gauge (GAYJ) of 4 feet, 8.5 inches asthe width of the railroad track. A standardgauge allowed faster shipment of goods at areduced cost. It was no longer necessary to loadand unload goods from one train to another.One train could make the entire journey.


Standard Time ZonesThroughout much of the 1800s, few

Americans could agree on the time of daybecause every community determined its owntime by the position of the sun. When it wasnoon in New York City, for example, it was11:55 A.M. in Philadelphia and 11:47 in Washington, D.C. Local time interfered with train scheduling and at times eventhreatened passenger safety. When two trains traveled on the same track, collisionscould result from scheduling errors caused by time differences.

To make rail service safer and more reliable, in 1883 the American RailwayAssociation agreed to use four time zones forthe continental United States: Eastern, Central,Mountain, and Pacific.

Time zones

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Railroad Technology Railway transportationalso improved with the introduction of new tech-nology. Four developments were particu- larly important. Inventor George Westinghousedevised air brakes that improved the system forstopping trains, making train travel safer. Janneycar couplers, named after inventor Eli H. Janney,made it easier for railroad workers to link cars. Shortly after the Civil War, Thaddeus Lowe invented the ice machine, the basis of the refrigerator.

In the early 1870s, Gustavus Swift (guh STAHV uhs) hired an engineer to develop arefrigerated railroad car. In 1877 Swift shippedthe first refrigerated load of fresh meat. Thewidespread use of refrigeration kept food freshlonger and reduced the risk of food poisoning.

Finally, George M. Pullman developed thePullman sleeping cara luxury railway carwith seats that converted into beds forovernight journeys. Pullman also introducedimproved dining cars, raising train travel to anew level of comfort.

Competing for Customers As the railroad net-work continued to grow, the railroad companiescompeted fiercely with one another to keep oldcustomers and to win new ones. Large railroadsoffered secret discounts called rebates to theirbiggest customers. Smaller railroads that couldnot match these rebates were sometimes forcedout of business. Giving discounts to big cus-tomers raised freight rates for farmers and othercustomers who shipped small amounts of goods.

710 CHAPTER 16 The Growth of Industry710 CHAPTER 16 The Growth of Industry

Trains could carry passengers fromNew York City to San Francisco inless than 10 days.

By 1883 several railroads crossed the West.The transcontinentals shipped settlers andgoods there and hauled out raw resources.

The refrigerated railroad car inthe 1870s allowed fresh meatand produce to be transportedall over the nation.

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Major Western Railroads Before 1900

By the 1890s more than 150,000 miles (241,350 km)of track had been laid.1.Movement Which railroad connected Los

Angeles to New Orleans?2.Analyze Which railroads would a traveler use

to travel from St. Louis to Virginia City?

RailroadsMiningcenters

The railroad barons also made secret agree-ments among themselves, known as pools.They divided the railway business among theircompanies and set rates for a region. With noother competition in its region, a railroad couldcharge higher rates and earn greater profits.Although Congress and some states passedlaws to regulate the railroads, these laws did lit-tle to curb the railroad barons.

How Did Railroads Change America? Thegrowing railroad network paved the way forAmerican industry to expand into the West. Thecenter of the flour milling industry, for exam-ple, shifted westward in the 1800s, movingfrom the East Coast to Ohio, to Minneapolis,and finally to Kansas City.

Other industries followed the same pattern.As farmers settled the Great Plains, the manu-facturing center for agricultural equipmentmoved from central New York State to Illinoisand Wisconsin.

Railroads also touched the lives of thousandsof Americans. Trains redistributed the popula-tion. They carried homesteaders into the GreatPlains and the West. Trains also made it easy forpeople to move from rural areas to the cities.

As you have learned, railroads affected theway Americans thought about time as well. Astrain travel became more common, people beganmeasuring distances by how many hours the tripwould take rather than by the number of milestraveled. The spread of the railroad system led toa national system of time with four time zones.

The railroads opened the entire United Statesto settlement and economic growth and unitedthe different regions of the country into a singlenetwork. At the same time, inventions that revo-lutionized transportation and communicationbrought Americans together in new ways.

Explain Why was adoptingstandard-gauge tracks important for the railroadindustry?

Reading SummaryReview the After the Civil War, railroads

continued to grow, allowing thefaster transportation of goodsand people.

Railroads stimulated theAmerican economy and resultedin many changes to the wayAmericans lived and traveled.

1. How did railroad barons drivesmaller companies out ofbusiness?

2. How did the railroads pavethe way for the expansion ofindustry in the West?

Critical Thinking3. Organizing Information Re-

create the diagram below andidentify the developments intechnology that improvedrailroad transportation.

4. Explainhow railroads changed theAmerican economy.

5. Expository Writing Shouldthe U.S. government haveintervened to regulate unfairpractices of the railroadbarons? Explain your positionin a short essay.

6. Predict Manyinnovations were made toimprove railroad transporta-tion. Write a short paragraphpredicting the impact on thedevelopment of cities andregions. CA H13.

CA 8WA2.4

CA H12.

What Did You Learn?


Railroad technology

how railroad growth stimulated theeconomy? Visit ca.hss.glencoe.com and clickon Study Central.

Study Central Need help understanding



Inventions

Looking Back, Looking AheadIn the last section, you read about howthe expansion of railroads stimulatedvarious sectors of the economy. In thissection, you will learn how inventionschanged the lives of the American people.

Focusing on the New inventions improved

communication and allowed Americansto contact one another over longdistances. (page 713)

The harnessing of electricity gaveAmerica a new source of power.(page 714)

Improvements in transportation madetravel easier and helped industriesmake their goods available to a wideraudience. (page 716)

Meeting PeopleSamuel MorseAlexander Graham BellThomas EdisonLewis Howard LatimerGranville WoodsHenry Ford

Locating PlacesMenlo Park, New JerseyDetroit, Michigan

Content Vocabularyassembly linemass production

Academic Vocabularyunify (YOOnuh FY)transmitdevice (dihVYS)

Reading StrategyOrganizing Information As you readthe section, re-create the diagram belowto list each persons invention and toexplain the significance of each inventionto industrial growth.


Samuel Morse

Invention

Alexander Bell

Thomas Edison

Significance

1876AlexanderGraham Belldevelops thetelephone

1903The Wright brothersfly atKitty Hawk

1908Henry Fordintroducesthe Model T

1870 1890 1910

(l)Electricity Collections, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, (r)Courtesy Ford Motor Company

US8.12.9 Name the significant inventors and their inventions and identify how they improved the quality of life (e.g., ThomasEdison, Alexander Graham Bell, Orville and Wilbur Wright).

Communication ChangesNew inventions improved commu-

nication and allowed Americans to contact oneanother over long distances.

Reading Connection Do you use a cell phone or acomputer to communicate with your friends? Theseare relatively new methods of communication. Readon to find out about the new methods of communi-cation developed in the mid-1800s.

In the early 1900s, American songwriterswere caught up in the public fascination withnew inventions. One of the most popular songsof 1905, In My Merry Oldsmobile, celebratedthe automobile:

Come away with me Lucile,In my merry Oldsmobile.Down the road of life well fly,Automobubbling you and I.To the church well swiftly steal,Then our wedding bells will peal;You can go as far as you like . . . , In my merry Oldsmobile.

by Vincent Bryan and Gus Edwards

How Did Life Change After 1870? By 1910Americans in cities drove cars through streetslit with electric lights. They went to departmentstores where they bought everything fromkitchen sinks to shoes. Americans could also dotheir shopping by mailor pick up the tele-phone and order groceries from the local store.The automobile, the electric light, and the tele-phone were all invented after 1870. Within ageneration, they had become part of everydaylife for millions of people. New inventionshelped people communicate more quickly overlong distances. Improvements in communica-tion helped unify the regions of the countryand promoted economic growth.

The Telegraph Samuel Morse had intro-duced the telegraph in 1844. By 1860 the UnitedStates had thousands of miles of telegraphlines, which were controlled for the most partby the Western Union Telegraph Company. Attelegraph offices, trained operators transmittedmessages called telegrams in Morse code.Telegrams offered almost instant communica-tion. Shopkeepers relied on telegrams to ordergoods, and reporters used them to transmit sto-ries to their newspapers. Americans also begansending personal messages by telegram.

The telegraph soon linked the United Statesand Europe. In the 1860s news from Europetraveled to this country by ship and took sev-eral weeks. Cyrus Field wanted to speed up theprocess. After several unsuccessful attempts, in1866 Field managed to lay a telegraph cableacross the Atlantic Ocean. The new transatlantictelegraph carried messages in a matter of sec-onds, bringing the United States and Europecloser together.

The Telephone Rings Alexander Graham Bellinvented a device that revolutionized communi-cations even more than Morses telegraph. Bornand educated in Scotland, Bell moved to theUnited States, where he studied ways of teach-ing people with hearing loss to speak. At thesame time, he experimented with sending voicesthrough electrical wires.

By 1876 Bell developed a device that trans-mitted speechthe telephone. While Bell was preparing to test the device, he accidentallyspilled some battery acid on his clothes. In panic, Bell called out to his assistant inanother room: Mr. Watson, come here. I wantyou! Watson heard Bells voice comingthrough the telephone. The invention was asuccess.

Bell formed the Bell Telephone Company in1877. By the 1890s, he had sold hundreds ofthousands of phones. Most early telephone cus-tomers were businesses. Before long, though,telephones became common in homes.

Explain How did the tele-graph affect communication?


US8.12.9 Name the significant inventors and their inventions and identify how they improved the quality of life (e.g., ThomasEdison, Alexander Graham Bell, Orville and Wilbur Wright).

The Genius of InventionThe harnessing of electricity gave

America a new source of power.

Reading Connection As you get ready for school inthe morning, think about all the ways that you useelectricity. Do you need lights to shower and dress?Do you blow-dry your hair or make your breakfast inthe microwave? Read on to find out how electricityimproved the lives of people living in the late 1800s.

The late 1800s saw a burst of inventivenessin the United States. Between 1860 and 1890, theUnited States government granted more than400,000 patents for new inventions.

Many of the inventions helped businessesoperate more efficiently. Among these wereChristopher Sholess typewriter (1868) andWilliam Burroughss adding machine (1888).

Other inventions affected everyday life. In1888 George Eastman invented a small boxcamerathe Kodakthat made it easier andless costly to take photographs. John Thurmandeveloped a vacuum cleaner in 1899 that sim-plified housework.

The Wizard of Menlo Park Thomas Edisonwas called dull by his teachers. Because ofpoor hearing, he had trouble in school andoften didnt attend. His mother finally removedhim from school and taught him at home.

Firsts in Aviation HistoryIn less than 100 years, aviators advanced from making thefirst flight in a glider to breaking the speed of sound.

1853Human-carryingflight in a gliderbuilt by Sir GeorgeCayley takes place

1874Steam-poweredmonoplane isbriefly airborne

1903Wright brotherstake flight at KittyHawk

1914Scheduled airline service opens betweenSt. Petersburg andTampa, Florida

The First Flight at Kitty Hawk

A small crowd of people assembled on the sanddunes at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to test theWrights Flyer. Covering a few hundred feet in 12 sec-onds, the flight came to a halt when the Flyers wingcaught on one of the dunes. It was enough to encour-age the Wrights to try further flights though. Theywould soon have a practical aircraft, and the worldwould have a new form of transportation.

1919First nonstop flightacross the AtlanticOcean

The Beginning of Controlled, Powered FlightInventors experimented with engine-powered aircraft in the1800s, but the age of air travel did not begin until 1903 at KittyHawk, North Carolina. Orville and Wilbur Wright, brothers andbicycle mechanics, built a wood-and-canvas plane with a 12-horsepower engine. On the morning of December 17,Orville Wright took off in their plane and flew a distance of 120 feet.

714 CHAPTER 16 The Growth of IndustryBrown Brothers

Edison loved anything related to science.His mother allowed him to set up a chemistrylab in the familys basement. When he was 12,he got a job working for the railroad, where heset up a new lab in an empty freight car. Oneday, Edison saved the life of a child who hadfallen onto the tracks of an oncoming train. Thechilds father took an interest in Edison andtaught him to use the telegraph. Edisons firstinvention was a gadget that sent automatic tele-graph signalswhich he invented so he couldsleep on the job.

While still in his 20s, Thomas Edisondecided to go into the invention business. In1876 Edison set up a workshop in Menlo Park,New Jersey. Out of this famous laboratory

came the phonograph, the motion picture pro-jector, the telephone transmitter, and the stor-age battery. But Edisons most importantinvention was the electric lightbulb.

Edison developed the first workable light-bulb in 1879. He then designed power plantsthat could produce electric power and distributeit to lightbulbs. For Christmas in 1880, Edisonused 40 bulbs to light up Menlo Park. Visitorscame to see the light of the future. He built thefirst central electric power plant in 1882 in NewYork Cityilluminating 85 buildings!

Inventor George Westinghouse tookEdisons work with electricity even further. In1885 Westinghouse developed and built trans-formers that could send electric power morecheaply over longer distances. Soon electricitypowered factories, trolleys, streetlights, andlamps all over America. Westinghouse alsodeveloped a system for transporting natural gasand invented many safety devices.

African American Inventors A number ofAfrican Americans contributed to the era ofinvention. Lewis Howard Latimer, an engineer,developed an improved filament for the light-bulb and joined Thomas Edisons company.Granville Woods, an electrical and mechanicalengineer from Ohio, patented dozens of inven-tions. Among them were an electric incubatorand railroad improvements such as an electro-magnetic brake and an automatic circuitbreaker. Elijah McCoy invented a mechanismfor oiling machinery.

Jan E. Matzeliger, another African Americaninventor, developed a shoe-making machinethat performed many steps that were previ-ously done by hand. His device, which revolu-tionized the shoe industry, was adopted in shoefactories in the United States and overseas.

Evaluate Which of Edisonsinventions do you think is the most valuable toour world? Explain your reasoning.


1927Lindbergh com-pletes first nonstopsolo transatlanticflight

1947Chuck Yeager isfirst to fly fasterthan the speed ofsound

The Flyer was a biplane with a light andpowerful gas engine.

The Wrights used adjustable rudders tocontrol the aircraft as it turned.

The two propellers were each 81/2 feetin diameter.

The wingspan reached 40 feet, 4 inches.

The distance from the nose to the tailwas 21 feet, 1 inch.

The weight of the craft was 605 pounds.

Taking to the Air

Student Web Activity Visit ca.hss.glencoe.comand click on Chapter 16StudentWebActivities foran activity on inventions.

Brown Brothers


A Changing SocietyImprovements in transportation

made travel easier and helped industries maketheir goods available to a wider audience.

Reading Connection When your family takes a trip, how do you travel? Read on to find out howthe automobile changed transportation.

In the 1900s, improvements ushered in anew era of transportation. After a period ofexperimentation, the automobile became apractical method of getting from place to place.

Henry Fords Automobiles Henry Fordwanted to build an inexpensive car that wouldlast a lifetime. While working as an engineer inDetroit, Michigan, in the 1890s, Ford hadexperimented with an automobile engine pow-ered by gasoline. In 1903 he began designingcars at his automaking company.

In 1906 Ford told Charles Sorenson, laterFords general superintendent, Were going toget a car now that we can make in great volumeand get the prices way down. For the next year,Ford and Sorenson worked on the Model T,building the car and testing it on rough roads. In1908 Ford introduced the Model T to the public.

US8.12.1 Trace patterns of agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, use of natural resources, markets,and trade and locate such development on a map.


Phonograph The first practicalphonograph was built byThomas Edison in 1877.

The Telephone Alexander Graham Belldemonstrated the telephone in 1876. Thetelephone soon became a necessity. By1900 there were 2 million in use.

Lighting the World Lewis Latimer improvedon Edisons version, creating a bulb that lastedmuch longer, and developed the threadedsocket. Latimer directed the installation of elec-tric streetlights in New York City, Philadelphia,Montreal, and London.

Kodak Camera In 1888George Eastman inventeda small camera that madeit easier and less costly totake photographs.

Changing the Way We Live

Inventions American ingenuity, innovation, and imagination led to the inventions that changed the way we live and how we communicate.

(tl)Electricity Collections, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, (tc)Picture Research Consultants, (tr)The Queens Borough Public Library, Long Island Division, Latimer FamilyPapers, (bl)Picture Research Consultants, (br)Courtesy George Eastman House

Sorenson described the sturdy black vehicleas . . . a car which anyone could afford to buy,which anyone could drive anywhere, and whichalmost anyone could keep in repair.

The Model T became immensely popular.During the next 18 years, Fords company sold 15million Model Ts. Henry Ford also pioneered aless expensive way to manufacture carsthemoving assembly line. On the line, each workerperformed an assigned task again and again at acertain stage in the production of the automobile.The assembly line revolutionized industry,enabling manufacturers to produce large quanti-ties of goods more quickly. This mass productionof goods decreased manufacturing costs, so prod-ucts could be sold more cheaply.

In 1908 the Model Ts first year, it sold for$850. In 1914 mass production reduced the priceto $490. By 1924 Model Ts were selling for $295.Fords business philosophy was simple. Everytime I reduce the charge for our car by one dol-lar, he said, I get a thousand new buyers. Inthis way, Ford made the automobile affordablefor millions of Americans.

Selling Goods With factories churning outmore and more products, merchants looked forbetter ways to sell their goods. One way wasthrough the mail. In 1863 mail delivery tohomes beganup to then, service was only topost offices. By the 1890s, the U.S. Post Officehad expanded its delivery service in rural areas.

Some firms developed mail order businesses,receiving and shipping orders by mail.Companies such as Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck published catalogs that offered awide range of goods from shoes to farm equip-ment. Catalogs introduced rural families to awide assortment of goods not found in countrystores.

Chain storesstores with identical branchesin many placesgrew rapidly. F.W. Woolworthschain of five-and-ten-cent stores specialized ineveryday household and personal items at bar-gain prices. By 1911, more than a thousandWoolworth stores were in operation.

Describe What qualitiesmade the Model T popular?

Reading SummaryReview the The telegraph and the telephone

changed the way Americanscommunicated.

Electricity and other inventionslit up the world in a new way.

The introduction of the auto-mobile made it easier for peopleto travel and helped businessesbring their goods to new areas.

1. Name and describe two inven-tions that changed the wayAmericans communicated.

2. How was transportationimproved during the 1800s?


create the diagram below, andclassify each inventiondescribed in this section in oneof the categories.

4. Which ofthe inventions discussed doyou think had the greatestimpact on the economy ofthe United States? Why?

5. Compare andContrast Study the photo-graphs of the inventions andproducts that appear in thissection. Which have under-gone the greatest change?Why do you think this is so?

CA HI3.

CA CS1.

CA HI2.

What Did You Learn?


how inventions changed peoples lives? Visitca.hss.glencoe.com and click on Study Central.


Mostlyruraluse

Mostlyurban

use

Bothurban and

rural

Mostly usedby businessand industry



The Age ofBig Business

Looking Back, Looking AheadYou have learned how inventions helpedthe American economy grow. In Section 3,you will learn how entrepreneurs gainedcontrol of various industries and turnedthem into successful businesses.

Focusing on the The American economy grew because

the country contained abundant land,labor, and capital. (page 719)

The development of the oil industrycreated one of the first monopolies.(page 720)

Monopolies in the steel business andother industries created the need forgovernment regulation. (page 721)

Locating PlacesPittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PIHTS BUHRG)Cleveland, OhioChicago, IllinoisBirmingham, Alabama

Meeting PeopleJohn D. RockefellerAndrew Carnegie (KAHR nuh gee)J. Pierpont Morgan

Content Vocabularycorporation (KAWR puhRAY shuhn)stockshareholderdividend (DIH vuh DEHND)horizontal integration (HAWR uh

ZAHN tuhl IHN tuh GRAY shuhn)trustmonopolyvertical integration (VUHR tih kuhl)philanthropy (fuh LAN thruh pee)merger (MUHR juhr)

Academic Vocabularyresourceinvest

Reading StrategyAnalyze Re-create the diagram belowand explain the significance of each termin business in the late 1800s.


John D. Rockefeller Andrew Carnegie

1890Andrew Carnegiedominates thesteel industry

1882Rockefellerorganizes trust

1870Rockefeller

organizes theStandard Oil

Company

1870 1885 1900

Shareholders

Significance

Stock exchanges

Mergers

(l)Courtesy Rockefeller Archive Center, (r)National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian Institution/Art Resource, NY


Foundations for GrowthThe American economy grew

because the country contained abundant land,labor, and capital.

Reading Connection Imagine you want to startyour own business. What is needed to get that busi-ness up and running? Read on to find out howindustries in America gained the resources theyneeded to succeed.

The period from the end of the Civil War to1900 was an era of unmatched economic growthin the United States. New methods in technologyand business allowed the country to tap its richsupply of natural resources, increase its produc-tion, and raise the money needed for growth.The growing transportation system made it eas-ier for merchants to reach distant markets.

What Are the Factors of Production? Thechange from an agricultural economy to anindustrial one was possible because the UnitedStates had the resources needed for a growingeconomy. Among these resources were whateconomists call the factors of production: land,labor, and capital.

The first factor of production, land, meansnot just the land itself but all natural resources.The United States held a variety of naturalresources that had industrial uses.

The second production factor is labor. Largenumbers of workers were needed to turn rawmaterials into goods. This need was met by therapid growth of population. Between 1860 and1900, the population of the country more thandoubled.

The third production factor, capital, is theequipmentbuildings, machinery, and toolsused in production. Land and labor are neededto produce capital goods. These goods, in turn,are essential for the production of consumergoods. The term capital is also used to meanmoney for investment. Huge amounts of moneywere needed to finance industrial growth. One source of money was the selling of stock by

corporations. Another was corporate savings,or businesses investing a portion of their earn-ings in better equipment.

Raising Capital With the economy growingafter the Civil War, many businesses looked forways to expand. To do so, they had to raise cap-ital. They needed capital to buy raw materialsand equipment, to pay workers, and to covershipping and advertising costs.

One way a company could raise capitalwas by becoming a corporation (KAWR puh RAY shuhn). A corporation is a company thatsells stock, or shares, of its business to thepublic. The people who invest in the corpora-tion by buying stock are its shareholders, orpartial owners.

In good times, shareholders earn dividends(DIH vuh DEHNDZ)cash payments from thecorporations profitson the stock they own. Ifthe company prospers, its stock rises in value,and the shareholders can sell it for a profit. Ifthe company fails, however, the shareholderslose their investment. In the late 1800s, hun-dreds of thousands of people shared in corpo-rate profits by buying and selling stocks inspecial markets known as stock exchanges.

Growth of Corporations The nations earlycorporations were created only for specific pub-lic benefits, such as the building of a highway.Soon many manufacturing and business firmswere incorporating. Big corporations had sev-eral advantages over small manufacturing com-panies. Big corporations could produce goodsmore cheaply and efficiently. They could con-tinue to operate in poor economic times by cut-ting prices to increase sales. Many were alsoable to negotiate refunds from the railroads,which lowered their operating costs further.

Banks played a major role in this period ofeconomic growth. Businesses borrowed moneyfrom banks to start or expand their operations.The banks, in turn, made profits on the loans.

Explain What happens todividends when a company does well?


The Oil BusinessThe development of the oil indus-

try created one of the first monopolies.

Reading Connection Is there someone in yourtown who has started a successful business? Whattype of business is it? Read on to find out how JohnD. Rockefeller created an empire in the oil industry.

In 1870 John D. Rockefeller organized the Standard Oil Company of Ohio and set out to dominate the oil industry. One methodRockefeller used to build his empire was horizontal integration (HAWR uh ZAHN tuhl IHNtuhGRAYshuhn)combining two or morefirms producing the same kind of product. Thecorporation produced and used its own tankcars, pipelines, and even its own wooden bar-relsmade from forests owned by Standard Oil.Standard Oil grew in wealth and power, becom-ing the most famous corporate empire of the day.

To strengthen Standard Oils position in theoil industry, Rockefeller lowered his prices todrive his competitors out of business. In addi-tion, he pressured customers not to deal withrival oil companies, and he persuaded the rail-roads to grant him rebates in exchange for hisbusiness.

Rockefeller increased his control of the oilindustry in 1882 by forming a trust, a group ofcompanies managed by the same board ofdirectors. First he acquired stock in many differ-ent oil companies. Then the shareholders ofthese companies traded their stock for StandardOil stock, which paid higher dividends. Thisgave Standard Oils board of directors owner-ship of the other companies stock and the rightto manage those companies. Rockefeller hadcreated a monopolyalmost total control by asingle producerof the oil industry.

Explain What method didRockefeller use to build his oil empire?


720

Standard Oil was often portrayed as amonopoly monster, with its arms reachingout to control government and suppliers.Why do you think the cartoonist chose anoctopus to represent Standard Oil?

Standard Oil Government Suppliers

Library of Congress


The Steel BusinessMonopolies in the steel business

and other industries created the need for gov-ernment regulation.

Reading Connection What kinds of cars do peopledrive in your neighborhood? Chances are they donot all drive the same type of car. That is becausecar companies compete with each other to get peo-ple to buy their products. Read on to find out howmonopolies came to dominate certain industries.

Steel also became a huge business in the late1800s. Steel is a strong and long-lasting form ofiron treated with carbonthe ideal material forrailroad tracks, bridges, and many other prod-ucts. Before the 1860s, however, steel was notwidely used because it was expensive to manu-facture. The development of new manufacturingtechniques helped overcome this problem.

Steel Industry GrowthTwo new methods of makingsteelthe Bessemer process,which was developed byHenry Bessemer of England,and the open-hearth processchanged the industry. Withthese new methods, millscould produce steel at afford-able prices and in large quanti-ties. In the 1870s, large steelmills were built close tosources of iron ore in westernPennsylvania and easternOhio. Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-vania (PIHTS BUHRG), becamethe steel capital of theUnited States. Cities locatednear the mines and close towaterways like Cleveland,Ohio; Chicago, Illinois;Birmingham, Alabama; andDetroit, Michigan, also becamecenters of steel production.

Andrew Carnegie The leading figure in theearly years of the American steel industry wasAndrew Carnegie (KAHR nuh gee), son of aScottish immigrant. Starting as a telegraphoperator, Carnegie worked his way up tobecome manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad.While in that job, he introduced the first suc-cessful sleeping car. In 1865 he left the railroadto invest in the growing iron industry.

Carnegie soon realized that steel wouldhave an enormous market. After learning aboutthe Bessemer process, he built a steel plant nearPittsburgh that used the new process. Carnegienamed the plant the J. Edgar Thompson SteelWorks, after the president of the PennsylvaniaRailroadhis biggest customer.

Vertical Integration By 1890 AndrewCarnegie dominated the steel industry. His com-pany became powerful through vertical integra-tion (VUHRtihkuhl), combining firms involved

in different steps of manu-facturing. Carnegie boughtiron and coal mines, ware-houses, ore ships, and rail-roads to gain control of allparts of the business of mak-ing and selling steel.


Andrew Carnegie is shown (right) asa mason. The blocks are the librariesto which he has donated money.What point do you think thecartoonist is making?

(l)National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian Institution/Art Resource, NY, (r)National Park Service

When Carnegie combined all his holdingsinto the Carnegie Steel Company in 1900, hewas producing one-third of the nations steel. In1901 Carnegie sold his steel company to bankerJ. Pierpont Morgan. Morgan combined theCarnegie company with other businesses toform the United States Steel Corporation, theworlds first billion-dollar corporation.

Philanthropists Andrew Carnegie, John D.Rockefeller, and other industrial millionairesof the time grew interested in philanthropy(fuh LAN thruh pee)the use of money tobenefit the community. The philanthropistsfounded schools, universities, and other civicinstitutions across the United States.

Carnegie donated $350 million to variousorganizations. He built Carnegie Hall in NewYork City, one of the worlds most famous con-cert halls; the Carnegie Foundation for the

Advancement of Teaching; and more than 2,000libraries worldwide. Carnegie often wroteabout social and political issues. He felt that aperson who has great wealth also has a duty touse the surplus to help humankind. He statedthat a man who dies rich dies disgraced.Rockefeller used his fortune to establish theUniversity of Chicago in 1890 and New YorksRockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

Corporations Grow Larger In 1889 NewJersey encouraged the trend toward businessmonopolies by allowing holding companies toobtain charters, a practice that some states pro-hibited. A holding company would buy control-ling interests in the stock of other companiesinstead of purchasing the companies outright.Rockefeller formed Standard Oil of New Jerseyso that the corporation could expand its hold-ings. Other states also passed laws that madecorporate mergers (MUHR juhrz)the combin-ing of companieseasier.

Mergers concentrated economic power in afew giant corporations and a few powerfulindividuals, such as Rockefeller and banker J. Pierpont Morgan. By 1900 one-third of allAmerican manufacturing was controlled by just1 percent of the countrys corporations. Thesegiant corporations were the driving forcebehind the great economic growth of theperiod, but they also posed problems. On theone hand, many Americans admired the effi-ciencies that large businesses provided. On theother hand, some argued that a lack of compe-tition hurt consumers. Without competition,corporations had no reason to keep their priceslow or to improve their goods and services.

Big Business and Social Science Somebusiness practices in the late 1800s were basedon a scientific idea known as social Darwinism.Charles Darwin, a British scientist, had pub-lished a theory in 1859 that all plants and ani-mals evolved over long periods of time by aprocess known as natural selection. Accordingto the theory, organisms competed for survival,and those animals best adapted to the environ-ment survived, while the others did not.


John D. Rockefeller

Courtesy Rockefeller Archive Center

Later thinkers applied Darwins biologicaltheory to human society and business. Someindustrial leaders, such as John D. Rockefeller,argued that survival of the fittest helpedexplain the growth of huge companies. As onesupporter of social Darwinism put it,

We have unmistakable proofthat throughout all past time, therehas been a ceaseless devouring ofthe weak by the strong.

from First Principlesby Herbert Spencer

Carnegie argued that big companies like hisown were beneficial to society. The revolution inproductivity enabled the poor to enjoy what therich could not before afford. Companies thatgrew and thrived raised their workers' standardof living.

Government Regulation Due to increasingpressure from the public, government steppedin to regulate business. During the 1880s, sev-eral states passed laws restricting businessmergers. Corporations, however, avoided theselaws by doing business in states that had nosuch laws.

Public pressure for a federal law to prohibittrusts and monopolies led Congress to pass theSherman Antitrust Act in 1890. The law soughtto protect trade and commerce against unlaw-ful restraint and monopoly. The act did notclearly define either trusts or monopolies,however.

In its early years, the Sherman Antitrust Actdid little to curb the power of big business. Bycontrast, in the 1890s the government did usethe act to stop a strike by railroad workers thatthreatened to slow the nations mail delivery.

Compare How does verti-cal integration differ from horizontal integration?

Reading SummaryReview the The American economy shifted

from agriculture to industry asthe nation realized it had thenecessary materials for indus-trial growth.

As oil was discovered, boom-towns sprang up around centersof oil and Rockefeller created hisoil monopoly.

Carnegie dominated the steelindustry and as competing com-panies were driven out of busi-ness, the government attemptedto regulate industrial growth.

1. Which cities became centersof steel production in the late1800s?

2. How did state and federal governments respond to the growth of trusts andmonopolies?

Critical Thinking3. Determining Cause and

Effect Re-create the diagrambelow and list the benefits ofcompetition to consumers.

4. Comparemethods used by Rockefellerand Carnegie to build theirindustrial empires. Describeany differences between thetwo.

5. Analyze Study the cartoonon page 720. Whom do thefigures represent? What is thecartoon saying about theStandard Oil Company?

6. Expository Writing Researchto find a philanthropist whohas supported the communityin which you live. Write ashort essay describing his orher contributions. CA 8WA2.1

CA HR4.

CA HI2.

CA CS1.

What Did You Learn?


Competition

how industries grew and became monopolies?Visit ca.hss.glencoe.com and click on StudyCentral.




IndustrialWorkers

Looking Back, Looking AheadIn the last section, you read about howindustries were able to grow and expand.In this section, you will read about theworkers in these industries and theconditions in which they worked.

Focusing on the Industrialization created many jobs,

but it also created hazardous workingconditions. (page 725)

Workers created labor unions tocombat unsafe working conditions inmany of the nations industries.(page 726)

Strikes often ended in violence, causingmany people to turn against laborunions. (page 727)

Meeting PeopleTerence V. PowderlySamuel GompersMary Harris JonesEugene V. Debs (yoo JEEN DEHBZ)Grover Cleveland

Locating PlacesPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania

(FIH luhDEHL feeuh)New York City, New YorkHomestead, Pennsylvania

Content Vocabularysweatshoptrade unioncollective bargainingstrikebreakerinjunction (ihn JUHNK shuhn)

Academic Vocabularyjoblabor

Reading StrategyOrganizing Information As you readthe section, re-create the diagram belowand list actions labor unions took toimprove working conditions.


1885 1890 1895

Samuel Gompers Haymarket news report

1894Pullman Strike

1892HomesteadStrike

1886American Federationof Labor forms;Haymarket Riot

Labor Unions

(l)The George Meany Memorial Archives, (r)Library of Congress

US8.12.6 Discuss child labor, working conditions, and laissez-faire policies toward big business and examine the labor move-ment, including its leaders (e.g., Samuel Gompers), its demand for collective bargaining, and its strikes and protests over laborconditions.

Working ConditionsIndustrialization created many jobs,

but it also created hazardous working conditions.

Reading Connection What do your parents orguardians do for a living? What safeguards are inplace to protect them from getting hurt at their jobsor to help them if they do? Read on to find outabout the working conditions in the late 1800s.

The industrial growth of the late 1800s cre-ated new jobs. Growth also raised the standardof living for many American workers. That is,necessities and luxuries were more availableand affordable. Yet workers paid a price for eco-nomic progress. Factories had once been smallworkplaces where employers and employeesknew one another and often worked side byside. As mass production spread, however, fac-tories became larger and less personal.

Industrial laborers worked for 10 or 12 hoursa day, six days a week. They could be fired at anytime for any reason. Many lost their jobs duringbusiness downturns or were replaced by immi-grants who were willing to work for lower pay.

Factories and mines were noisy, unhealthy,and unsafe. Accidents were common. Steelworkers suffered burns from spills of hot steel.Coal miners died in cave-ins and from theeffects of gas and coal dust. Textile workerslungs were damaged by airborne lint. Garmentworkers toiled in crowded urban factoriescalled sweatshops, where their eyesight wasruined by sewing for hours in poor light. Filledwith flammable materials, the sweatshops werealso terrible firetraps.

Women Workers Although the majority ofworking women in the late 1800s had jobs asdomestic servants, women also joined the indus-trial workforce, especially the textile industry. By1900 more than one million women worked inindustry. However, because no laws regulatedworkers salaries, women generally receivedabout half of what men earned for the samework. In addition, it was assumed that a woman

had a man to support hereither her father orher husband. A man, therefore, needed higherwages because he was supporting a family.

Child Labor Industries also hired children. In1900 hundreds of thousands of children under16 years of age worked in factories. Concernedgroups brought child labor to the attention oftheir state legislatures. As a result, many statespassed child labor laws. These laws stated thatchildren working in factories had to be at least12 years old and should not work more than 10hours a day. Employers widely ignored childlabor laws, however. Also, the laws did notapply to agriculture, which employed aboutone million children.

Examine How did massproduction change the size of factories?


Young boys worked long hours in the mines toearn $1 to $3 a week. By 1900, many stateshad passed child labor laws. Were the childlabor laws effective? Why or why not?

Library of Congress


Labor Unions FormWorkers created labor unions to

combat unsafe working conditions in many ofthe nations industries.

Reading Connection What do you think should bedone about unsafe conditions at businesses and fac-tories? Read on to learn about how employeesattempted to change the conditions in which theyworked.

Dissatisfied workers organized intogroupslabor unionsto demand better payand working conditions from their employers.Earlier in the 1800s, skilled workers had formed

unions to represent workers in certain crafts ortrades, such as carpentry. These trade unionshad little influence because each representedonly one trade. By the mid-1800s, labor leaderslooked to expand their unions.

Noble and Holy Order Knights of LaborIn 1869 garment cutters in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania (FIH luh DEHL fee uh), foundedthe Noble and Holy Order of the Knights ofLabor. Employers fired workers who joinedlabor organizations, so the Knights met secretlyand used special handshakes to identify eachother. Under the leadership of Terence V.Powderly, the Knights of Labor became anational labor organization in the 1880s.


The Ironworkers Noontime by Thomas PollockAnshutz Factory workers in Wheeling, WestVirginia, take their noontime break. Whatnational trade union represented skilled workers?

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd 1979.7.4 zz


Unlike most unions, the Knights recruitedpeople who had been kept out of trade unions,including women, African Americans, immi-grants, and unskilled laborers. The Knights ofLabor grew rapidly to more than 700,000 mem-bers by 1886. However, setbacks in manystrikes weakened the unions and resulted inthe loss of members and power in the 1890s.

American Federation of Labor In 1881 a group of national trade unions formed a feder-ation that five years later became known as theAmerican Federation of Labor (AFL). The AFLrepresented skilled workers in various crafts.

The AFL was led by Samuel Gompers, thetough, practical-minded president of the CigarMakers Union. The organization pressed forhigher wages, shorter working hours, betterworking conditions, and the right to bargaincollectively with employers. In the process ofcollective bargaining, unions represent work-ers in bargaining with management.

Although violent strikes turned some peo-ple against workers and unions in the late1880s, the AFL survived and grew. By 1904 theAFL was able to claim more than 1.6 millionmembers.

Women and the Unions Many unions wouldnot admit women workers, so some womenformed their own unions. Mary Harris Jones,better known as Mother Jones, spent 50 yearsfighting for workers rights.

In 1911 a fire broke out at the TriangleShirtwaist Company factory, a crowded sweat-shop in New York City, New York. The work-ers, mostly young immigrant women, could notescape from the building because the companyhad locked the doors to prevent employeesfrom leaving early. Nearly 150 workers died inthe fire. The disaster led the InternationalLadies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) topush for a safer working environment.

Compare Who was eligiblefor membership in the AFL? In the Knights ofLabor?

The Unions ActStrikes often ended in violence,

causing some people to turn against laborunions.

Reading Connection Do you know anyone who waslaid off from a job or whose wages were lowered dueto economic downturns? How did these people copewith their loss of wages? Read on to find out about theconflict between employers and labor unions as aneconomic depression set in during the late 1800s.

On a spring day in 1886, about 12,000 work-ers in Chicagos Haymarket Square manufac-turing district were on strike. At 2 oclock, aman climbed up on an empty freight car nearthe crowd. He moved to the edge of the roofand waved frantically at the crowd below.Stand firm, he yelled. Let every man standshoulder to shoulder and we will win this fight.We must have our rights. Strike while the ironis hot. The events at Haymarket Square soonturned violent, as did many other strikes.

Strikes and Strikebreakers Economic de-pressions in the 1870s and the 1890s led compa-nies to fire workers and lower wages. Unionsresponded with large strikes that sometimessparked violence.

Economic depression hit the nation follow-ing a financial panic in 1873. To cut costs, com-panies forced their workers to take pay cuts. InJuly 1877, as the depression continued, severalrailroads announced another round of wagecuts. This triggered the first nationwide laborprotest. Angry strikers smashed equipment; toreup tracks; and blocked rail service in New York,Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and other cities.The companies hired strikebreakers to replacethe striking workers. State militia or federaltroops restored order in different places. By thetime the strike ended, however, more than 100people lay dead, and millions of dollars of prop-erty had been destroyed.


728

MARY HARRIS JONES18301930

Mary Harris Mother Jones was born in Ireland and moved to the

United States with her family. In 1867 her husband George and their

four children died from yellow fever. Widowed and childless, Jones

moved to Chicago and opened a dressmakers shop.

By the 1880s, Jones was fully involved in the union movement

and became one of its most important leaders. For the next 50 years,

she traveled around the country speaking to workers and promoting

unions. She said, My address is like my shoes: it travels with me. I

abide where there is a fight against wrong.

She told her listeners to look on yourselves, and upon each other. Let us con-

sider this together for I am one of you, and I know what it is to suffer.

CSAR ESTRADA CHVEZ19271993

Csar Chvez knew the suffering of farmworkers. He had labored in

the fields since age 10, when his family lost their Arizona farm during

the Great Depression. Like thousands of other farmers, the Chvez fam-

ily became migrant workers. Chvez attended some 65 schools before

dropping out at the end of eighth grade.

After serving in World War II, Chvez took a paid job to win greater

rights for Mexican Americans. In 1962 with the support of his wife Helen

Fabela Chvez, he returned to the fields and his dream of organizing

farmworkers into a union.

In 1965 Chvez launched La Huelgathe strike. He asked

Americans to boycott grapes until growers in the San Joaquin Valley

signed union contracts. Some 17 million

Americans responded. For the first time,

Chvez said, the farmworker got some power.

The power came from the United Farm

Workers, the first successful farmworkers union

in the nations history.

Mary Harris Jones and Csar Chvez both workedto better the lives of workers. Who might theychoose to represent today? Why?

US8.12.6 Discuss child labor, working con-ditions, and laissez-faire policies toward bigbusiness and examine the labor movement,including its leaders (e.g., Samuel Gompers),its demand for collective bargaining, and itsstrikes and protests over labor conditions.

Mary Harris Jones

Csar Estrada Chvez

(t)Bettmann/CORBIS, (b)Bettmann/CORBIS

the labor movement? Visit ca.hss.glencoe.comand click on Study Central.


Major Strikes Antilabor feeling grew strongerafter events in Chicagos Haymarket Square inMay 1886. Striking workers from the McCormickHarvester Company gathered to protest thekillings of four strikers the previous day. Whenpolice ordered the crowd to break up, an uniden-tified person threw a bomb that killed a policeofficer. Several more were killed in a riot that fol-lowed. Following the Haymarket Riot, someAmericans associated the labor movement withviolence and disorder.

In 1892 workers went on strike at AndrewCarnegies steel plant in Homestead,Pennsylvania. Homestead managers hirednonunion workers and brought in 300 armedguards to protect them. A fierce battle left atleast 10 people dead. The plant reopened withnonunion workers, protected by the troops.After the failure of the Homestead Strike, thesteelworkers union dwindled.

After employees of George Pullmans railway-car plant near Chicago went on strike

in May 1894, Pullman closed the plant. Onemonth later, workers in the American RailwayUnion supported the strikers by refusing tohandle Pullman cars, paralyzing rail traffic.

Pullman and the railroad owners foughtback. They persuaded U.S. Attorney GeneralRichard Olney to obtain an injunction(ihn JUHNK shuhn), or court order, to stop theunion from obstructing the railways andholding up the mails. The workers and theirleader, Eugene V. Debs (yoo JEEN DEHBZ),refused to end the strike. Debs was arrested forinterfering with the mail.

President Grover Cleveland sent federaltroops to Chicago, and soon the strike was over.The failure of the Pullman Strike dealt anotherblow to the union movement. Despite these set-backs, workers continued to organize to workfor better wages and working conditions.

Describe Why did manyrailroad workers go on strike in 1877?

Reading SummaryReview the Industrial workers labored long

hours for low pay, often inunsafe conditions.

Labor unions helped workersgain economic and politicalpower.

Strikes ending in violence anddeaths caused labor unions tolose much of their power.

1. What role did SamuelGompers play in uniongrowth?

2. What were the goals of theAmerican Federation of Laborwhen it was founded?


create the diagram below anddescribe the roles each personplayed in labor-managementissues.

4. Analyze Explain how theseparate words in the termsweatshop can help youdetermine its meaning.

5. Why doyou think many Americansdid or did not support thelabor unions?

6. Analyze Find two sourcesthat discuss unionsonefrom the early 20th centuryand one modern source.Identify how the authors viewunions. How has new histori-cal information impacted theviews of the modern author?

CA HI5.

CA 8RW1.0

CA HI1.

What Did You Learn?


RoleIndividual

Terence Powderly

Mary Harris Jones

George Pullman


730

In the past, unions were formed mainly byworkers in heavy industries that produce goods such as machines, mining equipment,and steel. Today, however, people in jobs asdifferent as airline workers, teachers, andprofessional athletes also belong to unions.Although only a small number of Americanworkers are union members, the influence ofunions is powerfully felt, especially on issuessuch as job safety, working conditions, andworkers grievances. In national, state, and localgovernment, labor unions are active in backingcandidates and laws favorable to their interests.

Government, Business, and LaborDuring the late 1800s, some unions wonrecognition from employers and influencedlocal and state laws. However, many federal andstate governments favored big business overlabor unions. Many states passed laws to restrictunion activities. On the national level, theSherman Antitrust Act of 1890passed to breakup large companies that hindered tradewas used mostly against labor. The courts foundunion leaders guilty of breaking the law, statingthat unions interfered with commerce. Judgesoften issued injunctions, or court orders,banning strikes.

During the early 1900s, the political climatechanged. An increasing number of Americansbegan to call for limits on big business and morerights for workers. As a result, governmentattitudes toward labor began to change. Most ofthe larger cities and more than half the statesplaced limits on working hours for employees onpublic works.

Government and LaborWhy It Matters Labor unions are an important part of the American society.They present the concerns of many workers to businesses and to the U.S. governmentat all levels. Through unions, workers try to improve their wages and workingconditions. They also can gain a voice in almost all matters relating to their jobs.Unions have helped unite workers and provide a source of pride and a sense of dignityto workers.

The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. Itis always about people.

Csar Chvez, quoted in Great Labor Quotations

US8.12.6 Discuss child labor, working conditions, and laissez-faire policies toward big business andexamine the labor movement, including its leaders (e.g., Samuel Gompers), its demand for collectivebargaining, and its strikes and protests over labor conditions.

Csar Chvez

Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

Checking for Understanding

1. What reason did the courts of the late 1800sgive for finding union leaders guilty of breakingthe law?

2. How did the federal government help laborduring the Great Depression?

Critical Thinking

3. Evaluate Why did the Supreme Court adjustits view on labor in NLRB v. Jones & LaughlinSteel Company?

4. Analyze Restate the Courts reasoning inLochner v. New York and predict the rulingsimpact on other industries. CA HI6.

CA HI2.

The courts, however, supported employerswho challenged state laws that tried to regulatewages and working conditions. In 1905, forexample, the Supreme Court ruled in the caseLochner v. New York that states could not setlimits on the working hours of bakery workers.The Court reasoned that the New York law wasunconstitutional because it interfered with theright of employers and employees to makecontracts, or agreements, about working hours.The Courts reasoning was based on theprinciple that individuals have liberty ofcontract based on the Fourteenth Amendment.

Protecting Unions and Workers TheGreat Depression of the 1930s left manyAmerican workers without jobs. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelts effort to end theDepression included helping labor. One of themost important laws passed by Congress duringRoosevelts administration was the Wagner Actin 1935. This law sought to protect the right ofworkers to organize and to bargain collectively,or hold contract talks with employers. Underthe Wagner Act, companies could not punish aworker because of union activities. Anothermeasure was the Fair Labor Standards Act of1938. It set the first minimum wage for workersand banned child labor.

Many employers believed that the WagnerAct was unconstitutional, but the SupremeCourt upheld the act. In the case National LaborRelations Board v. Jones & Laughlin SteelCorporation (1937), the Court ruled that localactivities of trade unions may affect commerce.

Because Congress had the constitutionalpower to regulate commerce, it couldalso regulate relations between businessand labor. This meant that the NationalLabor Relations Board created byCongress had the authority to punishbusinesses involved in interstatecommerce that discriminated againstunion members.

Unions Today During the 1960sand 1970s, several groups, such asgovernment workers and farmworkers,formed new unions. For example, Csar

E. Chvez, a Mexican American labor leader,began to organize farmworkers in California.Chvez founded what is now the United FarmWorkers of America (UFW), a union of migrantworkers and other farm laborers. Unionmembership among other Hispanic Americans,African Americans, and women also increasedduring this period.

Over the years, labor unionsas well aseconomic prosperityhave raised workersstandards of living. However, as a result ofpolitical and economic changes, the number ofworkers belonging to unions has declinedsharply in recent years. Unions face otherchallenges too. One is defending workersinterests in declining industries that have fewerjobs. Another is protecting the jobs and wages ofworkers affected by automation, or the use ofmachines to do tasks once performed by people.Despite these difficulties, labor unions remain apowerful force in American life.

Union strikes, such as the Pullman strike of 1894, sometimesturned violent.

North Wind/North Wind Picture Archives

John HenryJohn Henry is a song that railroad mensang as they worked. John Henry hand drilledholes into stone to place dynamite.

When John Henry was a little baby,Sitting on his pappys knee,He grabbed a hammer and a little piece ofsteel,Said, This hammerll be the death of me,Lord, Lord,This hammerll be the death of me. . . .

John Henry told his captain,A man aint nothing but a man,But before Ill let that steam drill beat medownIll die with my hammer in my hand,Lord, Lord,Ill die with my hammer in my hand.

John Henry said to his shaker,Now shaker, why dont you sing?Cause Im throwing twelve pounds frommy hips on down,Just listen to that cold steel ring, Lord, Lord,Just listen to that cold steel ring.

The man that invented the steam drill,He thought he was mighty fine,But John Henry he made fourteen feetWhile the steam drill only made nine,Lord, Lord,The steam drill only made nine.

John Henry hammered on the mountainTill his hammer was striking fire,He drove so hard he broke his poor heart,Then he laid down his hammer and hedied, Lord, Lord,He laid down his hammer and he died.

The Growth of Industry in AmericaFollowing the Civil War, the railroads expanded

throughout the country. The railroads and inventionscreated the chance for other industries to grow. Manycompanies in these industries had long working hours,paid minimal salaries, and provided unsafe workingconditions.

Read the passages on pages 732 and 733 andanswer the questions that follow.

shaker: person who shook and turnedthe drill after each blow to keep thedrill from getting caught in the rock orthe rock dust

haste (HAYST): hurrying too fast

garments (GAHR muhnts): pieces ofclothing

inclined plane: slanted surface

slate: type of rock that is used forchalkboards and roof tiles

Readers Dictionary

These women are working on the cloth after it has been woven.


US8.12 Students analyze the transforma-tion of the American economy and thechanging social and political conditions inthe United States in response to theIndustrial Revolution.


They took John Henry to the graveyard,And they buried him in the sand,And every locomotive comes rolling bySays, There lies a steel-driving man, Lord, Lord,There lays a steel-driving man.

Anonymous in Annals of America

The SweatshopIn factories, people had to work very quickly. Inthis passage, a young woman described her day ina factory where clothing was made.

At seven oclock we all sit down to ourmachines and the boss brings to each one thepile of work that he or she is to finish duringthe day. . . . This pile is put down beside themachine and as soon as a skirt is done it is laidon the other side of the machine. . . .

The machines go like mad all day, becausethe faster you work, the more money you get.Sometimes in my haste I get my finger caughtand the needle goes right through it. . . . We allhave accidents like that. . . . Sometimes a fingerhas to come off. . . .

All the time we are working the boss walksabout examining the finished garments andmaking us do them over again if they are notjust right. So we have to be careful as well asswift.

Sadie Frowne, The Story of a Sweatshop Girl

Child LaborLaws forbidding children to work did not existor were not enforced at this time.

In a little room in this big, black shedaroom not twenty feet squareforty boys arepicking their lives away. The floor of this roomis an inclined plane, and a stream of coalpours constantly in. They work here, in this lit-tle black hole, all day and every day, . . . pick-ing their way among the black coals, bendingover till their little spines are curved. . . .

Not three boys in this roomful could read orwrite. Shut out from everything that is pleas-ant, with no chance to learn, with no knowl-edge of what is going on about them. . . .

They know nothing but the differencebetween slate and coal.

from a local Labor Standard Newspaper, St. Clair, Pennsylvania

John Henry1. What does John Henry predict in the first

stanza?2. Who won the contest? How do you know?

The Sweatshop3. Why do people work quickly at the factory?4. Why do people have to work carefully?

Child Labor5. Where do the boys work?6. What is their job?

Read to Write 7. Make two listsone labeled Working

Conditions and the other Effects of WorkingConditions. Use the information in TheSweatshop, Child Labor, and what youalready know about working conditions atthis time to complete the lists. Write a para-graph explaining how you feel about theseconditions. Include ideas for how they couldbe improved. CA 8RC2.3

Young coal miners

CORBIS

Review Content VocabularyWrite the key term that completes each sentence.

a. standard gaugeb. assembly linec. horizontal

integration1. Railroads offered ___, or discounts, to their

largest customers.2. Railroad companies adopted 4 feet,

8.5 inches as the width of the railroadtrack, also known as the ___.

3. The Knights of Labor was a ___ of garmentworkers.

Review the Section 1 Railroads Lead the Way4. What improvements in railway trans-

portation were brought about by newtechnology?

5. Why did the American RailwayAssociation divide the country into fourtime zones?

Section 2 Inventions6. What inventions improved communica-

tions in the late 1800s?7. What manufacturing methods did Henry

Ford use to make his new automobileaffordable?

Section 3 The Age of Big Business8. What is vertical integration?9. What action did Congress take to control

trusts and monopolies in response to pres-sure from the American people?

Section 4 Industrial Workers10. What is collective bargaining?11. How did the Haymarket Riot of 1886

affect public opinion about the labormovement?

Critical Thinking12. Conclude Why did workers think that

forming organized labor unions wouldhelp them get what they wanted fromemployers?

13. Analyze How did American industry ben-efit from the growing railroad network inthe late 1800s?

Geography SkillsA cartogram is a kind of map used to presentstatistical information. On a population car-togram the sizes of the states appear in propor-tion to their populations. Study the populationcartogram below and answer the followingquestions.

14. Location Did Florida or Illinois have alarger population 1900?

15. Location Did North Dakota have more orfewer people than South Dakota?

CA CS3.

CA HI2.

CA CS1.

WAWYORIDCOUTCANVAZ

TERR.NM

TERR.INDIANTERR.

TX

KS

NE

SD

NDMT

MN

WI

IA IL

MI

MO

AR

LAMS AL

TN

GA

KY

INOH

SC

FL

NCVA

WV

PA

MD

Washington, D.C.

Source: Historical Statistics.

DE

RINJ

CT

MA

NH

ME

VT

NY


Standard US8.12

Population by State,1900

d. trade unione. rebates

01 million

13 millionMore than3 million

Read to Write16. Evaluate In a short

essay, describe how the increasing size ofcorporations was both beneficial andharmful to American business.

17. Summarize Review the chapter for infor-mation about the four major union strikesbetween 1877 and 1894. Write a headlinefor each that might have appeared innewspapers following the strike.

18. Using Your Write a poem,series of journal entries, or short storyusing the main ideas and supportingdetails from your completed foldable.

Using Academic VocabularyIdentify the correct form of the academicvocabulary word to complete each sentence.

technology technological technologically19. The computer is an example of a ___

advance.

transmit transmits transmitted20. The reporter used the telegraph to ___ the

story to the newspaper.

Building Citizenship 21. Evaluate With another student, write a

short essay in which you support or criticizelabor unions from the point of view of ayoung person who has just entered theworkforce. Note how you think a unioncould or could not improve your life. Shareyour essay with the class.

Reviewing Skills

22. Predicting ConsequencesHow would the growth of industry andnew innovations in technology impactpreparations for a war? Write a short essaypredicting the potential effect.

23. Organizing InformationDo research to find the dates when theinventions described in this chapter werefirst created. Also find other inventionscreated by the inventors mentioned in thechapter, along with their dates of creation.Draw an annotated time line with theinformation you have found. Be sure toinclude the importance of each invention.

CA CS2.

CA 8WA2.3

CA 8WS1.1

CA 8WA2.1

CA 8WA2.2

CA 8WA2.3


Select the best answer for each of thefollowing questions.

The development of the trans-formers that Westinghouse builtled to an increase in

A the price of electricity.B the use of gas to heat homes.C the use of electricity to power

factories.D imported goods.

John D. Rockefeller was thefounder of the

A Pennsylvania Railroad.B United States Steel Corporation.C Titusville oil well.D Standard Oil Company of Ohio.

The process in which a union rep-resents its workers when negotiat-ing with management is known as

A collective bargaining.B strikebreaking.C vertical integration.D philanthropy.

26

25

24

Self-Check Quiz Visit ca.hss.glencoe.com

to prepare for the Chapter 16 test.


Discovering Our Past: The American Journey to World War ITable of ContentsA Guide to the California StandardsCorrelation to the California StandardsAt-Home Standards ReviewPreviewing Your TextbookScavenger HuntReading Skills HandbookNational Geographic Reference AtlasWorld: PoliticalNorth America: PoliticalNorth America: PhysicalUnited States: PoliticalUnited States: PhysicalUnited States: Territorial GrowthUnited States Fact

chapter 16: the growth of industry

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