Industrialism

“Key Ingredients for Industrialism Pie”

• OIL-Edwin Drake–Titusville, PA–Oil boom–By products of refining-gasoline

originally thrown away–Becomes one of America’s most

lucrative exports

Key Ingredients for Pie

• STEEL-Bessemer process

– Coal and Iron abundant

• Development of steel

– Inject Oxygen into Iron-Steel

– Uses

• Railroads

• Farming products

MMMM….PIE

• Electricity-Thomas Edison

• Wizard on Menlo Park, NJ

–His home becomes an invention factory

–Westinghouse developed after Edison

Pie!

• People

• INVENTIONS!–Sholes-Typewriter

–Bell and Watson-Telephone

•New jobs for women

Age of Rail

• Transcontinental railroad –Promontory Point, Utah (Golden

Spike)

• Time of Civil War 30,000 miles of rail–6 times that in 1890

Age of Rail

• C.F. Dowd–World 24 Zones

–Nov. 18, 1883-sycronized

–Birth of towns

–Western Expansion

Opportunities

• Iron, steel, coal, lumber and glass

• Birth of towns-Necessities

• Pullman car-Sleeper Cars

• Pullman’s treatment of workers-Towns

Rail in the “Golden Age of Laissez-Faire”

• Credit Mobilier– Construction Co. set up by Union Pacific– Charged too much and “donated” shares to

representatives in Congress– Union Pacific had taken about $23 million

Greed, deception w/ prices also rails allowed to do what it “needs to do” after being given government land

Vanderbilt

• Cornelius Vanderbilt owned “New York Central”

• Helped to popularize steel rails

• His personal wealth valued at close to $100 Million

• Donated a million to found Vanderbilt University in Tennessee

Industrialism Dinner Party: Two Follow-ups

Was “Necessity the Mother of Invention?”

• What was similar in the “stories” of each inventor?

Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?

• Carnegie– Came to America from Scotland– Rags to riches– PRR-private secretary of Superintendent

• Practices that made him a success– Searched for a cheap way to produce– New machinery and techniques– Attracted talent w/ stock options– Vertical and horizontal integration– US STEEL sale made him first Billionaire

John D. Rockefeller

• Rockefeller-Standard Oil• Similar to Carnegie• “If you can’t beat’em, join’em”• Joined in Trust Agreement

– Turned their stock into group of trustees– In return, companies were entitled to dividends on profits– Not legal merger

• Controlled 1870-2-3% of Refining business and 90% of refining business in 1890

• Low wages-sold lower and then would raise prices• Called ROBBER BARON-but gave away a lot of money

– $500 million funded University of Chicago medical institute

Origins of Regulation

• Grassroots Movements-The Grange– Farmer organization– Angered by misuse of land grants– Munn v. Illinois

• Individual Citizens-Muckrakers– i.e. Jacob Riis

• Groups of Citizens-Unions– American Federation of Labor

Why?

• Government very reluctant to regulate

• Didn’t have a history of regulation

• Many measures were not effective– Interstate Commerce Act (1887)– Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

Birth of Major Labor Unions

• Why was there a need? • Problems included: Low

wages, long hours, equal pay and child labor.

• Government did not regulate business effectively

Why Unionize?

• What are some of the reasons someone would want to join a Union?– Modern Example

• NEA-PSEA• Giant in Springfield

Major Unions and Leaders

• National Labor Union (NLU) (Sylvis leader)

• Knights of Labor (Stephens then Powderly

• American Federation of Labor (AFL)

• American Railway Union (ARU) Eugene V. Debs leader

• International Workers of the World aka “Wobblies” (IWW)

This will lead to Violence

• Great Strike of 1877

• Haymarket Affair (1886)

• Homestead Strike (1893)

• Pullman Strike (1893)