HIS 112Chapter 18

Industrial Society

U.S. Industrial Revolution By 1876, the U.S. was involved in

another revolution, an industrial revolution

By 1860: U.S. was 4th largest industrial nation Had 100,000 factories worth $1.8 billion 70%of population lived on farms Fewer than 1 million worked in factories

By 1900: U.S. ranked 1st among industrialized

nations, ahead of Great Britain Factories were worth $13 billion Many had left the farm to work in

industry 5 million worked in industry

Basis for growth: U.S. was rich in capital Proved that it was a stable nation Was open to foreign investors U.S. kept control of industry Large labor force, both native-born

and immigrant

U. S. had abundant natural resources Rich agricultural land Lumber Gold Silver Semi-precious metals Lots of coal Iron Petroleum

U. S. also had a huge market for ready-made goods -- 1900, population was 76 million

We had inventors Companies worked to cut costs and

competition Entrepreneurs flourished Industry was concentrated in

northeast

Transportation & Communication

Advances in railroads, ocean-going steamships, telegraph, and telephone

Railroads More direct routes Greater safety Faster More comfortable

More dependable schedules Could carry more than a stagecoach Year-round service Covered 50 miles in an hour Went where waterways could not

1865 – 1890, total railroad track in U.S. expanded from 35,000 to 200,000 miles

4 Major Effects of Railroad Construction:

Economic railroad revenues were over $1 billion Steel and coal industries were greatly

stimulated

Altered concepts of Time and Space Space was transformed into time Scheduling necessitated an

agreement on time and time zones (Charles Dowd, 1883)

Technological and Organizational Reforms Standardization of track used Scheduling was better coordinated

Community Effects American railroads often created the

very communities they were to serve Different from Europe Towns grew up along railroad routes Many towns not on or close to railroad

routes shriveled up and often died

Aid to Railroads

Received government subsidies Railroads (RRs) convinced

government that expansion of rail routes would benefit public

Asked government to give them public land

Federal land grants totaled over 180 million acres

States gave railroads 50 million acres

Counties, cities, and towns offered loans or bought stocks and bonds in company

Problems

Discriminatory rate setting Competition between different lines

led to drastic rate reductions – usually on long-haul routes

RRs gave rebates to big shippers like Rockefeller

RRs gave free passenger passes to big companies

To make up the difference, RRs boosted rates on non-competitive short distance routes that most farmers would use

Then railroads consented to pools among railroads This was an agreement among RRS to

share traffic and earnings and to set common rates to reduce competition among major lines

These practices upset farmers, retailers, bankers, reformers, and some stock brokers

Cornelius Vanderbilt, Collis P. Huntington, Jay Gould, and James Hill were some of the best at re-organizing and expanding the railroad industry in the 1870s and 1880s

They devoured smaller RRs to create larger, integrated, & more consolidated lines

NORTH – lines were consolidated into 4 major ones called trunk lines

SOUTH – 400 smaller lines of 40 miles or less were consolidated into 5 major systems

West of the Mississippi, 5 major lines were created

All used standard equipment and scheduled with the help of the newly created U.S. time zones (1883)

The owners used cut-throat tactics to gain supremacy

Pools, rate-fixing, rebates, and passes for some, higher prices for others led to a demand in the 1870s for the government regulation of railroads

The Supreme Court upheld the principle of RR regulation in Munn v. Illinois (1877)

It resulted in the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act , 1877 (ICC) Created the Interstate Commerce

Commission Satisfied those protesting the

practices of the RRs

The ICC could Investigate RRs Issue cease & desist orders Seek court assistance to enforce

compliance with the law

But there were LOOPHOLES and enforcement was weak

These business practices of the RRs were adopted by other businessmen

One was Andrew Carnegie in Steel, and another was John D. Rockefeller in oil

Andrew Carnegie 1848- came from Scotland at age 12 Was bobbin boy in Pittsburgh Learned bookkeeping Became a telegrapher and message

boy for Western Union Took job as telegrapher and

secretary for Tom Scott of Pennsylvania Railroad, West

Later was an executive for Pennsylvania Railroad

Speculated in oil and the manufacture of iron bridges during Civil War and got rich

1873 – constructed a steel plant outside of Pittsburgh during a depression when costs were low

Vertical Integration His major contribution to business Expanded the base of operation to

include its many stages: Raw materials Barges and ports

He owned the different stages of his operation, so he didn’t have to pay anyone else

Andrew Carnegie advocated Social Darwinism – survival of the fittest business

John D. Rockefeller

Established the Standard Oil Company of Ohio along with his brother William, Samuel Andrews, and Maurice Clark

1870 – they refined 3 or 4% of the nation’s oil

1890 – that grew to 90% How? Horizontal Integration

Horizontal Integration Control of an entire industry by

controlling the key phase: the refining Rockefeller established a monopoly

across the business without owning all phases

Rockefeller persuaded strong and cooperative competitors to join him and he drove weaker ones out of business

Trust Formed by Rockefeller He had his competitors surrender

control of their refineries to Standard Oil

They, in turn, would receive trust certificates and would not have to manage their companies or fight the competion

Trustees would combine their factories and their incomes

They became very wealthy Competition had to join them or be

forced out of business This created a monopoly

New Technology

1866 – Telegraph Cables by Cyrus W. Field, linked Europe with America

1867 – Typewriter, p. 536 – picture 1867 – Stock Ticker 1879 – Cash Register, p.532 -

picture

1887 – Calculating Machine 1888 – Adding Machine 1888 – Kodak Camera by George

Eastman 1876 – Telephone by Alexander

Graham Bell, a Scottish immigrant Made the discovery while perfecting a

hearing aid for the deaf

President Hayes had a phone in the White House 1878 His phone number was 1 When the Treasury got a phone, its

number was 2 1880s – 50,000 phones in U.S. End of 1890s – 800,000 phones in U.S. 1905 – 10 million or 1 for every 10

people

Thomas Alva Edison

“Wizard of Menlo Park” Patented over 1,000 inventions

1876 – 1900 Storage battery Motion picture projector Phonograph In candescent light bulb – most

important

Financier J.P. Morgan was among the first to electrically illuminate his house and his bank

1882 – in New York – 80 illuminatewd homes

1900 – 3,000 towns and cities were electrically illuminated

Safer than gas

Edison based electric current on low voltage direct current that could only go 2 miles

George Westinghouse perfected a means of transmitting alternating current over long distances

Westinghouse also perfected air brakes for trains using pneumatic pressure

Mass Production

Sometimes industries produced more than people could buy

To help increase sales new advertising and marketing techniques were used Example: the flour industry came up

with new products like cereals and cake flour

Many used advertising H.J. Heinz Campbell’s Soup Pabst’s Beer of Milwaukee Borden’s Milk Swift Meats Henry Crowell’s Quaker Oats Proctor and Gamble’s Ivory Soap

Industry expanded and great fortunes could be made, but all on the backs of the poorly paid, mostly unskilled laborers.

Industry polluted water, filled the sky with sooty smoke, and littered the landscape.

1870 – 1900 – world’s manufactured goods produced by America rose from 25% - 33%

Population in U.S. doubled overall from 1860 – 1900

Those working in industry grew 4 times during the same period

1860 – 1.5 million worked in workshops and mills and 700,000 in mining and construction

1900 – 6 million worked in manufacturing and 2.3 million in mining and construction

The U.S. was moving away from being that agricultural nation of Jefferson

1870 – Americans worked in small workshops along side of their employers. They were often skilled laborers

1900 – Workshops had evolved into plants employing thousands of unskilled men, women, and children. Employers were distanced from employees.

Unskilled labor was preferable because employers didn’t have to pay them as much, and they could be replaced easily

Salaries for workers decreased in the second half of 19th century

However, workers could get more for their money because of mass production – cheaper prices

Still, 1 out of every 8 Americans lived in poverty in 1904

Hours varied from job to job Government employee – 8 hr. day Skilled workers – 10 hr. day Factory workers – 12 hours or more

per day

Work week in 1860 was 66 hours In 1910 – 55 hours Most worked 5 ½ to 6 days a week Some industries had shift work Holidays were few, but there were

lay-offs due to depressions and the off-season

Conditions in Workplace Not much attention paid to safety Boilers would explode – 10,000

from 1870 -1910 Railway accidents – 1 worker in 26

injured each year and 1 in 400 was killed

Those working with machines could lose fingers and hands

Owners usually not held responsible If a worker knew there was

something wrong with the machine, and he used it anyway, then it was the worker’s fault

However, if the worker didn’t use the machine, then he would be fired

No workers’ compensation or death insurance

Employers were not held responsible for diseases caused by the job: black lung, white lung, etc.

The workers were men, women, and children – often unskilled immigrant labor

1900 – 1.8 million children working full time

Women and children were employed because they could be paid less than men

1900 – 20% of work force was female ½ of textile workers were female 2 million women were employed in

service jobs like cooks, maids for subsistence wages

Women were paid ½ as much as men for the same work and the same hours

Later as work in factories became heavier, men replaced women

Women also worked as telephone operators, clerks, and typists

There were few blacks in industry; most were farmers or in service jobs

80% still lived in the South by 1900

Blacks received low wages and had a poor standard of living

There were few unions, and those that existed had little power

Often workers expressed discontent by breaking machines or through high absenteeism, especially on Mondays

Sometimes there was violence At Homestead Works of Andrew

Carnegie, there was a strike in 1892 At nationwide railroad strike of 1877,

troops had to be called in to restore peace

Molly Maguires

Secret organization Sub-organization of the Ancient

Order of the Hibernians Irish coal miners were its members Conducted terrorism against coal

mine owners and supervisors in N.E. Pennsylvania

Infiltrated by James McParland of the Pinkertons

He gathered enough evidence to get 19 men hanged and the terrorism stopped

Other Unions

Knights of St. Crispin was the first American union formed in 1800; it was an association of Philadelphia shoemakers

Other workingmen’s associations arose, usually for skilled workers, but they were small, individual, and isolated

National Labor Union (NLU) Began in 1866 by Wm. Sylvis Believed in political action by united

workers United many reform groups into his

union, including women’s suffrage Had presidential candidate in 1872 –

lost NLU disappeared by 1874

Knights of Labor National labor union Organized by Uriah P. Stephens Secret organization Not interested in politics Interested in solidarity of workers to bring

about better conditions in the workplace Hoped for a cooperative effort in

workplace

Women, blacks, and unskilled workers were welcomed

Saloonkeepers, lawyers, and gamblers were not admitted

Mason-like in rituals and Masons were anti-Catholic

Catholics weren’t allowed to join secret organizations, so they didn’t belong to Knights of Labor

Change occurred with new leader, Terence Powderly in 1879

He was Catholic He broke down secret rituals and

worked to get papal permission for Catholics to join

He did and membership grew from 110,000 in 1885 to 700,000 in 1886

Difficult to control membership Powderly was against strikes

After violent Haymarket Strike in 1886, the union was in chaos

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) came about in 1886 by Samuel Gompers for skilled workers only

AFL For skilled worker because Gompers

felt they held the power For higher wages, shorter hours, and

better working conditions Believed in the strike Wanted unions to be partners in

industry Didn’t allow in unskilled laborers,

women, blacks, or immigrants