Bell Ringer

1
Bell Ringer

• Do you believe our society practices survival of
  the fittest?
• Furthermore, do you believe it is okay for people
  to have this type of attitude when looking at
  people and businesses?

2
The Incorporation of America

• Chapter 17

3
The Rise of Industry, the Triumph of Business

• Before the Civil War most businesses were small,
  family owned
• By 1900, multinational corporations had emerged
  and were run by some extremely wealthy, powerful
  men
• Andrew Carnegie
• Jay Gould
• John D. Rockefeller
• Businesses grew, but technology grew faster
• In 1876 American celebrated the centennial
  anniversary of the Revolution with a technology
  themed expo

4
The Rise of Industry, the Triumph of Business

• When Thomas Edison opened his lab in 1876 he had
  already invented the mimeograph, multiplex
  telegraph, and the stock ticker
• By 1879 Edison has invented the light bulb and
  brought 3000 people to see his street and shop
  lit up with 100s of lights
• In 1882 Edison created the Edison Electric Light
  Company which brought power to New York City
• While trains had served as the major push in the
  first industrial revolution (and continued to
  carry freight across the country) automobiles
  would be the next major innovation in
  transportation
• Henry Ford began tinkering with the internal
  combustion engine

5
The Rise of Industry, the Triumph of Business

• Mass production allowed America to make goods
  faster and cheaper than anyone else
• It depended on technology, economies of scale,
  assembly lines, and coal
• With all the new goods to buy, someone had to
  sell them
• Catalog orders, free delivery for rural areas,
  and money orders became new ways to purchase
  goods
• Companies like Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward
  created a common market where you could shop for
  various items in one place
• Sears sold everything from watches to oatmeal and
  summer sausages
• Grocery chains such as the AP opened up
• This led to antichain lobbyists to protect small
  businesses

6
The Rise of Industry, the Triumph of Business

• With mass retail came mass advertising
• Francis Wayland Ayer, the first advertising
  agency, increased revenues from 8M to 102M for
  companies like Proctor Gamble and National
  Biscuit Company (Nabisco)
• These corporations grew because of shrewd
  decision making such as combining/integrating
  with one another to make mega-corporations
• Vertical integration occurred when a company
  would control all the resources involved in
  making a single product (for pencils they would
  own the rubber, lead, wood, etc.)
• Horizontal integration occurred when a company
  owned all the stores that sold that good (like a
  monopoly-owning all of a color), which allowed
  them to set the prices/amounts produced

7
The Rise of Industry, the Triumph of Business

• Because small businesses believed that
  integration limited competition they pushed for
  Congress to make a law
• In 1890 Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust
  Act (which ironically prevented unions from
  developing because it limited free flow of
  labor) which outlawed every combinationin
  restraint of trade
• The Act was not successful early onby 1910 all
  the major corporations that controlled American
  business were in existence
• U.S. Rubber, Goodyear, General Electric,
  Westinghouse, Nabisco, Armour, and Eastman-Kodak

8
The Rise of Industry, the Triumph of Business

• 90 of the wealthy business owners were
  Protestant
• They believed that their acquisition of wealth
  came from God (The Gospel of Wealth)
• To make money honestly is to preach the gospel.
• Men like Andrew Carnegie, born poor and worked
  his way to wealth, said that there is no
  genuine, praiseworthy success in life if you are
  not honest, truthful, and fair-dealing
• Carnegie gave away most of his fortune by the
  time of his death
• Others, like Jay Gould were not so righteous
• Gould prided himself on abusing others to climb
  to the top of the railroad industry

9
Labor in the Age of Big Business

• Big Business developed the harsh philosophy of
  Social Darwinism, or survival of the fittest
• Horatio Alger published rags-to-riches novels
  that celebrated self-made men
• But could the nation afford progress achieved by
  such principles?
• The gospel of work preached the virtue of hard
  work, thrift, and individual initiative
• Honesty and competence should be the cornerstone
  of society and labor a blessing and a badge of
  moral responsibility

10
Labor in the Age of Big Business

• Labor began to shiftless people were self
  employed, more people were employees
• By 1900 2/3rds of all Americans were wage earners
• People fled the farms for city jobs
• 10M immigrants fled from Europe between 1860-1890
• Most left from Southern and Eastern Europe
• By 1910 53 of all wages workers were foreign
  born
• This led to competition for jobs between
  Americans/foreigners and changed the relationship
  between boss/employees

11
Labor in the Age of Big Business

• Companies had previously allowed employees
  dictate how to do their own jobs while they
  supplied the materials
• Frederick Taylor said take all important
  decisionsout of the hands of workmen
• Managerial teams were set in place while workers
  were forced to meet higher quotas under constant
  supervision
• As technology became simpler the employees were
  replaced by unskilled workerswomen, African
  Americans, and immigrants would be welcomed by
  large factories
• Some jobs were still off limits (especially for
  African Americans and Chinese)

12
Women at work in a paper mill in Maine
13
Labor in the Age of Big Business

• Working conditions were quite hazardous
• Employers would lock fire escapes, fail to mark
  high voltage wires
• Mineshafts were prone to having the air suddenly
  turn poisonous as well as being subject to
  cave-ins
• Employees worked 10-12 hour days (up to 16 during
  busy seasons)
• Couldnt sit down, carry on unnecessary
  conversations with customers
• Women still preferred this to domestic work since
  they were on call 24/7 if they worked as a
  live-in house servant

14
Labor in the Age of Big Business

• Working was tough, but losing your job was worse
• Major depressions occurred in 1873-79 and 93-97
• Minor recessions occurred in 66-67, 83-85, and
  90-91
• From 66-97 there were only 14 years of prosperity
• Some said that it seemed like you were worked
  like dogs one day and then had to be for work the
  next
• 500/year was the poverty line (40 were at or
  below)
• The average skilled worker made 800-1000/year
• Unskilled was at 1.50/day (400/year, if lucky)

15
Labor in the Age of Big Business

• Knights of Labor the first nationwide industrial
  union
• Called for an 8 hour workday
• Equal pay for women
• Abolition child labor
• Typically opposed strikes, used boycotts
• Supported arbitration, a third party who settles
  disputes among two parties
• Had minor success until a member was convicted of
  throwing a bomb that killed several people during
  a demonstration called the Haymarket Square Riot
  in Chicago

16
Labor in the Age of Big Business

• American Federation of Labor (AFL) was led by
  Samuel Gompers
• Rejected socialist and communist ideas, and
  stayed out of politics
• Fought for small gains such as higher wages
• Used strikes but preferred negotiations
• Three main goals were convince companies to
  recognize unions, push for closed shops
  (companies could only hire union members) and
  promoted the 8 hour work day
• Today the AFL is merged with the CIO (Congress of
  Industrial Organizations)
• In general women were not represented in the
  unions, so they established the Womens Trade
  Union League which fought for minimum wage, end
  of evening work for women and abolition of child
  labor

17
Assignment

• You have TWO assignments!
• Take notes on Chapter 17. There are several items
  that I have not discussed in this presentation.
  You must include the following in your notes
• the Wobblies
• increased immigration including where they came
  from and the use of Ellis and Angel Islands.
• How did term the Gilded Age appropriately
  capture the late 1800s?
• Explain how literature, especially investigative
  journalism, changed America (hintyoure reading
  a piece of this literature currently)
• EssayExplain how each of the following
  individuals responded to the economic and social
  problems created by industrialism during the late
  nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
• Jane Addams
• Samuel Gompers
• Andrew Carnegie
• Upton Sinclair