Labor’s Response to Industrial Growth

U.S . History – A El lsworth Week 3

Labor’s Response to Industrial

Growth

Chapter 5, Section 3

Chapter 6, Section 3

Chapter 12 , Section 1

Changes on the Western Frontier 219

One American's Story

Farmers and thePopulist Movement

As a young adult in the early 1870s, Mary Elizabeth Lease left hometo teach school on the Kansas plains. After marrying farmer CharlesLease, she joined the growing Farmers’ Alliance movement andbegan speaking on issues of concern to farmers. Lease joked that hertongue was “loose at both ends and hung on a swivel,” but her gold-en voice and deep blue eyes hypnotized her listeners.

A PERSONAL VOICE MARY ELIZABETH LEASE

“ What you farmers need to do is to raise less corn andmore Hell! We want the accursed foreclosure system wipedout. . . . We will stand by our homes and stay by our fire-sides by force if necessary, and we will not pay our debtsto the loan-shark companies until the Government pays itsdebts to us.”

—quoted in “The Populist Uprising”

Farmers had endured great hardships in helping to transformthe plains from the “Great American Desert” into the “breadbasket of the nation,”yet every year they reaped less and less of the bounty they had sowed with their sweat.

Farmers Unite to Address Common ProblemsIn the late 1800s, many farmers were trapped in a vicious economic cycle. Pricesfor crops were falling, and farmers often mortgaged their farms so that they couldbuy more land and produce more crops. Good farming land was becoming scarce,though, and banks were foreclosing on the mortgages of increasing numbers offarmers who couldn’t make payments on their loans. Moreover, the railroads weretaking advantage of farmers by charging excessive prices for shipping and storage.

Terms & NamesTerms & NamesMAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

•Oliver HudsonKelley

•Grange•Farmers’Alliances

•Populism

•bimetallism•gold standard•William McKinley•William JenningsBryan

Farmers united to addresstheir economic problems,giving rise to the Populistmovement.

Many of the Populist reformissues, such as income taxand legally protected rights ofworkers, are now taken forgranted.

WHY IT MATTERS NOWWHY IT MATTERS NOW

▼

Mary ElizabethLease, thedaughter of Irishimmigrants, was a leader ofthe Populist Party.

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AnalyzingAnalyzing

ECONOMIC DISTRESS The troubles of thefarmers were part of a larger economic prob-lem affecting the entire nation. During theCivil War, the United States had issuedalmost $500 million in paper money, calledgreenbacks. Greenbacks could not beexchanged for silver or gold money. Theywere worth less than hard money of thesame face value. Hard money included both coins and paper money printed inyellow ink that could be exchanged for gold. After the war, the government beganto take the greenbacks out of circulation.

Retiring the greenbacks caused some discontent. It increased the value of themoney that stayed in circulation. It meant that farmers who had borrowedmoney had to pay back their loans in dollars that were worth more than the dol-lars they had borrowed. At the same time they were receiving less money for theircrops. Between 1867 and 1887, for example, the price of a bushel of wheat fellfrom $2.00 to 68 cents. In effect, farmers lost money at every turn.

Throughout the 1870s, the farmers and other debtors pushed the governmentto issue more money into circulation. Those tactics failed—although the Bland-Allison Act of 1878 required the government to buy and coin at least $2 millionto $4 million worth of silver each month. It wasn’t enough to support theincrease in the money supply that the farmers wanted.

PROBLEMS WITH THE RAILROADS Meanwhile, farmers paid outrageouslyhigh prices to transport grain. Lack of competition among the railroads meantthat it might cost more to ship grain from the Dakotas to Minneapolis by rail thanfrom Chicago to England by boat. Also, railroads made secret agreements withmiddlemen—grain brokers and merchants—that allowed the railroads to controlgrain storage prices and to influence the market price of crops.

Many farmers mortgaged their farms for credit with which to buy seed andsupplies. Suppliers charged high rates of interest, sometimes charging more foritems bought on credit than they did for cash purchases. Farmers got caught in a cycle of credit that meant longer hours and more debt every year. It was timefor reform.

THE FARMERS’ ALLIANCES To push effectively for reforms, however, farmersneeded to organize. In 1867, Oliver Hudson Kelley started the Patrons of

220 CHAPTER 5

THE PLIGHT OF THE FARMERSFarmers were particularly hard hit in the decades leading tothe financial panic of 1893. They regarded big businessinterests as insurmountable enemies who were bringingthem to their knees and leaving them with debts at everyturn. This cartoon is a warning of the dangers confrontingnot only the farmers but the entire nation.

SKILLBUILDER Analyzing Political Cartoons1. How does this cartoon depict the plight of the farmers?2. Who does the cartoonist suggest is responsible for the

farmers’ plight?

SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R24.

A

B

A. AnswerIt wouldincrease pricesfor their prod-ucts.

B. AnswerDeflation, highrailroad rates,cycle of mort-gage and debt.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

A

AnalyzingIssues

Why didfarmers think thatan increasedmoney supplywould help solvetheir economicproblems?

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

B

AnalyzingCauses

What weresome of thecauses of farmers’economicproblems?

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Husbandry, an organization for farmers that became popu-larly known as the Grange. Its original purpose was to pro-vide a social outlet and an educational forum for isolatedfarm families. By the 1870s, however, Grange membersspent most of their time and energy fighting the railroads.The Grange’s battle plan included teaching its membershow to organize, how to set up farmers’ cooperatives, andhow to sponsor state legislation to regulate railroads.

The Grange gave rise to other organizations, such asFarmers’ Alliances. These groups included many otherswho sympathized with farmers. Alliances sent lecturersfrom town to town to educate people about topics such aslower interest rates on loans and government control overrailroads and banks. Spellbinding speakers such as MaryElizabeth Lease helped get the message across.

Membership grew to more than 4 million—mostly inthe South and the West. The Southern Alliance, includingwhite Southern farmers, was the largest. About 250,000African Americans belonged to the Colored Farmers’ NationalAlliance. Some alliance members promoted cooperationbetween black and white alliances, but most members accept-ed the separation of the organizations.

The Rise and Fall of PopulismLeaders of the alliance movement realized that to make far-reaching changes,they would need to build a base of political power. Populism—the movement ofthe people—was born with the founding of the Populist, or People’s, Party, in1892. On July 2, 1892, a Populist Party convention in Omaha, Nebraska, demand-ed reforms to lift the burden of debt from farmers and other workers and to givethe people a greater voice in their government.

THE POPULIST PARTY PLATFORM The economic reforms proposed by thePopulists included an increase in the money supply, which would produce a risein prices received for goods and services; a graduated income tax; and a federalloan program. The proposed governmental reforms included the election of U.S.senators by popular vote, single terms for the president and the vice-president,and a secret ballot to end vote fraud. Finally, the Populists called for an eight-hourworkday and restrictions on immigration.

The proposed changes were so attractive to struggling farmers and desperatelaborers that in 1892 the Populist presidential candidate won almost 10 percentof the total vote. In the West, the People’s Party elected five senators, three gov-ernors, and about 1,500 state legislators. The Populists’ programs eventuallybecame the platform of the Democratic Party and kept alive the concept that thegovernment is responsible for reforming social injustices.

THE PANIC OF 1893 Then, in 1893, political issues were overtaken by eco-nomic concerns. During the 1880s, farmers were overextended with debts andloans. Railroad construction had expanded faster than markets. In February 1893,the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad went bankrupt, followed by the Erie, theNorthern Pacific, the Union Pacific, and the Santa Fe. The government’s goldreserves had worn thin, mainly due to its obligation to purchase silver. People panicked and traded paper money for gold. As a result, the stock market crashed.The price of silver then plunged, causing silver mines to close. By the end of theyear, over 15,000 businesses and 500 banks had collapsed.


C

SPOTLIGHTSPOTLIGHTHISTORICALHISTORICAL

BackgroundSee interest rateon page R42 ofthe EconomicsHandbook.

Vocabularyregulate: tocontrol or directaccording to a ruleor law

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

CSummarizing

What was thePopulist Partyplatform?

C. Answerincrease in themoney supply;graduatedincome tax, federal loan pro-gram; electionto U.S. senateby popular vote;single terms forpresident andvice president;secret ballot;eight-hourworkday; immigrationrestrictions.

THE COLORED FARMERS’NATIONAL ALLIANCE

A white Baptist missionary, R. M.Humphrey, organized the ColoredFarmers’ National Alliance in1886 in Houston, Texas. Liketheir counterparts in the whitealliances, members of the localcolored farmers’ alliances pro-moted cooperative buying andselling. Unlike white organiza-tions, however, the blackalliances had to work mostly insecret to avoid racially motivatedviolence at the hands of angrylandowners and suppliers.

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Investments declined, and consumer purchases, wages,and prices also fell. Panic deepened into depression as 3

million people lost their jobs. By December 1894, a fifthof the work force was unemployed. Many farm familiessuffered both hunger and unemployment.

SILVER OR GOLD Populists watched as the two majorpolitical parties became deeply divided in a strugglebetween different regions and economic interests. Businessowners and bankers of the industrialized Northeast wereRepublicans; the farmers and laborers of the agrarian Southand West were Democrats.

The central issue of the campaign was which metalwould be the basis of the nation’s monetary system. On oneside were the “silverites,” who favored bimetallism, amonetary system in which the government would give citi-zens either gold or silver in exchange for paper currency orchecks. On the other side were President Cleveland and the“gold bugs,” who favored the gold standard—backingdollars solely with gold.

The backing of currency was an important campaignissue because people regarded paper money as worthless ifit could not be turned in for gold or silver. Because silverwas more plentiful than gold, backing currency with bothmetals, as the silverites advocated, would make more cur-rency (with less value per dollar) available. Supporters ofbimetallism hoped that this measure would stimulate thestagnant economy. Retaining the gold standard would pro-vide a more stable, but expensive, currency.

BRYAN AND THE “CROSS OF GOLD” Stepping into thedebate, the Populist Party called for bimetallism and freecoinage of silver. Yet their strategy was undecided: shouldthey join forces with sympathetic candidates in the majorparties and risk losing their political identity, or should theynominate their own candidates and risk losing the election?

As the 1896 campaign progressed, the Republican Party stated its firm com-mitment to the gold standard and nominated Ohioan William McKinley forpresident. After much debate, the Democratic Party came out in favor of a com-bined gold and silver standard, including unlimited coinage of silver. At theDemocratic convention, former Nebraska congressman William Jennings Bryan,editor of the Omaha World-Herald, delivered an impassioned address to the assembled

222 CHAPTER 5

bankers and businessmen

gold standardless money in circulation

Loans would be repaid in stable money.

DEFLATION• Prices fall.• Value of money increases.• Fewer people have money.

Gold Bugs Silverites

Gold Bugs and Silverites

Who They Were

What They Wanted

Why

Effects

farmers and laborers

bimetallismmore money in circulation

Products would be sold at higher prices.

INFLATION• Prices rise.• Value of money decreases.• More people have money.

Gold Bugs Silverites

D

KEY PLAYERKEY PLAYER

D. AnswerOverexpansionof key indus-tries, especiallythe railroads,and a shrinkingfederal goldreserve.

WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN1860–1925

William Jennings Bryan might beconsidered a patron saint of lostcauses, largely because he letbeliefs, not politics, guide hisactions. He resigned his positionas secretary of state (1913–1915) under Woodrow Wilson, forexample, to protest the president’smovement away from neutralityregarding the war in Europe.

Near the end of his life, he wentto Tennessee to assist the prosecu-tion in the Scopes “monkey trial,”contesting the teaching of evolutionin public schools. He is perhapsbest characterized by a quote fromhis own “Cross of Gold” speech:“The humblest citizen in all theland, when clad in the armor of arighteous cause, is stronger thanall the hosts of error.”

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

D

AnalyzingCauses

What causedthe panic of1893?

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delegates. An excerpt of what has become known as the “Cross ofGold” speech follows.

A PERSONAL VOICE WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN

“ Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboringinterests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demandfor a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press downupon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucifymankind upon a cross of gold.”

—Democratic convention speech, Chicago, July 8, 1896

Bryan won the Democratic nomination. When the Populistconvention met two weeks later, the delegates were both pleasedand frustrated. They liked Bryan and the Democratic platform, butthey detested the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Maine banker ArthurSewall. Nor did they like giving up their identity as a party. They compromised byendorsing Bryan, nominating their own candidate, Thomas Watson of Georgia,for vice-president, and keeping their party organization intact.

THE END OF POPULISM Bryan faced a difficult campaign. His free-silver standhad led gold bug Democrats to nominate their own candidate. It also weakened hissupport in cities, where consumers feared inflation because it would make goodsmore expensive. In addition, Bryan’s meager funds could not match the millionsbacking McKinley. Bryan tried to make up for lack of funds by campaigning in 27states and sometimes making 20 speeches a day. McKinley, on the other hand,campaigned from his front porch, while thousands of well-known people touredthe country speaking on his behalf.

McKinley got approximately 7 million votes and Bryan about 6.5 million. Asexpected, McKinley carried the East, while Bryan carried the South and the farmvote of the Middle West. The voters of the industrial Middle West, with their fearof inflation, brought McKinley into office.

With McKinley’s election, Populism collapsed, burying the hopes of the farm-ers. The movement left two powerful legacies, however: a message that the down-trodden could organize and have political impact, and an agenda of reforms, manyof which would be enacted in the 20th century.


•Oliver Hudson Kelley•Grange

•Farmers’ Alliances•Populism

•bimetallism•gold standard

•William McKinley•William Jennings Bryan

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.

MAIN IDEA2. TAKING NOTES

Identify the causes of the rise of thePopulist Party and the effects theparty had.

Which effect has the most impacttoday? Explain.

CRITICAL THINKING3. EVALUATING

What do you think were the mostsignificant factors in bringing an endto the Populist Party? Think about:

• monetary policy• third-party status • source of popular support• popular participation policy

4. MAKING INFERENCESHow did the Grange and theFarmers’ Alliances pave the way forthe Populist Party?

PopulistParty

Causes Effects

E

▼

William JenningsBryan’s “Cross ofGold” speechinspired manycartoonists.

E. AnswerBecause peoplethought thatpaper currencyhad value only ifit could beturned in forprecious metals,such as gold orsilver.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

E

AnalyzingIssues

Why was themetal that backedpaper currencysuch an importantissue in the 1896presidentialcampaign?

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A New Industrial Age 241

Born in Scotland to penniless parents, Andrew Carnegiecame to this country in 1848, at age 12. Six years later, heworked his way up to become private secretary to the localsuperintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad. One morning,Carnegie single-handedly relayed messages that unsnarled atangle of freight and passenger trains. His boss, Thomas A.Scott, rewarded Carnegie by giving him a chance to buy stock.Carnegie’s mother mortgaged the family home to make thepurchase possible. Soon Carnegie received his first dividend.

A PERSONAL VOICE ANDREW CARNEGIE

“ One morning a white envelope was lying upon my desk, addressed ina big John Hancock hand, to ‘Andrew Carnegie, Esquire.’ . . . All it containedwas a check for ten dollars upon the Gold Exchange Bank of New York. I shallremember that check as long as I live. . . . It gave me the first penny of revenuefrom capital—something that I had not worked for with the sweat of my brow.‘Eureka!’ I cried. ‘Here’s the goose that lays the golden eggs.’”

—Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was one of the first industrial moguls to make his own for-tune. His rise from rags to riches, along with his passion for supporting charities,made him a model of the American success story.

Carnegie’s InnovationsBy 1865, Carnegie was so busy managing the money he had earned in dividendsthat he happily left his job at the Pennsylvania Railroad. He entered the steel busi-ness in 1873 after touring a British steel mill and witnessing the awesome spectacle of the Bessemer process in action. By 1899, the Carnegie Steel Company


•Andrew Carnegie•vertical andhorizontalintegration

•Social Darwinism•John D.Rockefeller

•ShermanAntitrust Act

•Samuel Gompers •AmericanFederation ofLabor (AFL)

•Eugene V. Debs•Industrial Workersof the World(IWW)

•Mary Harris Jones

The expansion of industryresulted in the growth of bigbusiness and promptedlaborers to form unions tobetter their lives.

Many of the strategies usedtoday in industry and in thelabor movement, such asconsolidation and the strike,have their origins in the late19th century.


▼

Nineteenth-centuryindustrialistAndrew Carnegiegave money tobuild publiclibraries, hopingto help otherswrite their ownrags-to-richesstory.


Big Business and Labor

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A

manufactured more steel thanall the factories in Great Britain.

NEW BUSINESS STRATEGIESCarnegie’s success was due inpart to management practicesthat he initiated and that soonbecame widespread. First, hecontinually searched for ways tomake better products morecheaply. He incorporated newmachinery and techniques,such as accounting systems thatenabled him to track precisecosts. Second, he attracted tal-ented people by offering themstock in the company, and heencouraged competition amonghis assistants.

In addition to improving his own manufacturing operation, Carnegieattempted to control as much of the steel industry as he could. He did this main-ly by vertical integration, a process in which he bought out his suppliers—coal fields and iron mines, ore freighters, and railroad lines—in order to controlthe raw materials and transportation systems. Carnegie also attempted to buy outcompeting steel producers. In this process, known as horizontal integration,companies producing similar products merge. Having gained control over hissuppliers and having limited his competition, Carnegie controlled almost theentire steel industry. By the time he sold his business in 1901, Carnegie’s compa-nies produced by far the largest portion of the nation’s steel.

Social Darwinism and BusinessAndrew Carnegie explained his extraordinary success by pointing to his hardwork, shrewd investments, and innovative business practices. Late-19th-centurysocial philosophers thought that Carnegie’s achievement could be explained sci-entifically by a new theory—Social Darwinism.

PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL DARWINISM The philosophy called SocialDarwinism grew out of the English naturalist Charles Darwin’s theory ofbiological evolution. In his book On the Origin of Species, published in 1859,Darwin described his observations that some individuals of a species flourishand pass their traits along to the next generation, while others do not. Heexplained that a process of “natural selection” weeded out less-suited indi-viduals and enabled the best-adapted to survive.

The English philosopher Herbert Spencer used Darwin’s biological theoriesto explain the evolution of human society. Soon, economists found in SocialDarwinism a way to justify the doctrine of laissez faire (a French term mean-ing “allow to do”). According to this doctrine, the marketplace should notbe regulated. William G. Sumner, a politcal science professor at YaleUniversity, promoted the theory that success and failure in business weregoverned by natural law and that no one had the right to intervene.

A NEW DEFINITION OF SUCCESS The premise of the survival and success ofthe most capable naturally made sense to the 4,000 millionaires who hademerged since the Civil War. Because the theory supported the notion of individ-ual responsibility and blame, it also appealed to the Protestant work ethic of

242 CHAPTER 6

Popular literaturepromoted thepossibility of rags-to-riches successfor anyone whowas virtuous andhard-working.

▼

A. AnswerCarnegie usedhorizontal andvertical integra-tion, buying outcompetitors aswell as suppli-ers. He alsostrove toimprovemachinery andmanufacturingtechniques.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

ASummarizing

What wereAndrew Carnegie’smanagement andbusinessstrategies?

Vertical and Horizontal Integration

RESOURCESRaw materials,fields, forests,and farms

MANUFACTURINGProduction andprocessing

DISTRIBUTIONShipping andtransportation,delivery tocustomers

VERTICAL

HORIZONTAL

VERTICAL

HORI

ZONT

AL

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many Americans. According to Social Darwinism, richeswere a sign of God’s favor, and therefore the poor must belazy or inferior people who deserved their lot in life.

Fewer Control MoreAlthough some business owners endorsed the “natural law”in theory, in practice most entrepreneurs did everythingthey could to control the competition that threatened thegrowth of their business empires.

GROWTH AND CONSOLIDATION Many industrialiststook the approach “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Theyoften pursued horizontal integration in the form of merg-ers. A merger usually occurred when one corporationbought out the stock of another. A firm that bought out allits competitors could achieve a monopoly, or complete con-trol over its industry’s production, wages, and prices.

One way to create a monopoly was to set up a holdingcompany, a corporation that did nothing but buy out thestock of other companies. Headed by banker J. P. Morgan,United States Steel was one of the most successful holdingcompanies. In 1901, when it bought the largest manufactur-er, Carnegie Steel, it became the world’s largest business.

Corporations such as the Standard Oil Company, estab-lished by John D. Rockefeller, took a different approachto mergers: they joined with competing companies in trustagreements. Participants in a trust turned their stock over toa group of trustees—people who ran the separate companiesas one large corporation. In return, the companies wereentitled to dividends on profits earned by the trust. Trustswere not legal mergers, however. Rockefeller used a trust togain total control of the oil industry in America.

ROCKEFELLER AND THE “ROBBER BARONS” In 1870,Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company of Ohio processed twoor three percent of the country’s crude oil. Within a decade,it controlled 90 percent of the refiningbusiness. Rockefeller reaped huge profitsby paying his employees extremely lowwages and driving his competitors out ofbusiness by selling his oil at a lowerprice than it cost to produce it. Then,when he controlled the market, hehiked prices far above original levels.

Alarmed at the tactics of industrial-ists, critics began to call them robberbarons. But industrialists were also phil-anthropists. Although Rockefeller keptmost of his assets, he still gave awayover $500 million, establishing theRockefeller Foundation, providing fundsto found the University of Chicago, andcreating a medical institute that helpedfind a cure for yellow fever.

Background See monopoly onpage R43 in theEconomicsHandbook.

B

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

B. AnswerBig businessesformed partner-ships to createmonopolies.They mergedsmall compa-nies into largecorporations.They aimed fortotal control ofan industry, sothat they couldfix prices andwages to theiradvantage.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

BSummarizing

Whatstrategies enabledbig businesses toeliminatecompetition?


JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER1839–1937

At the height of John DavisonRockefeller’s power, an associatenoted that he “always sees a littlefarther than the rest of us—andthen he sees around the corner.”

Rockefeller’s father was a flashypeddler of phony cancer cureswith a unique approach to raisingchildren. “I cheat my boys everychance I get. . . . I want to make’em sharp,” he boasted.

It seems that this approachsucceeded with the oldest son,John D., who was sharp enoughto land a job as an assistantbookkeeper at the age of 16.Rockefeller was very proud of hisown son, who succeeded him inthe family business. At the end ofhis life, Rockefeller referred notto his millions but to John D., Jr.,as “my greatest fortune.”

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Andrew Carnegie donated about 90 percent of the wealth he accumulatedduring his lifetime; his fortune still supports the arts and learning today. “It willbe a great mistake for the community to shoot the millionaires,” he said, “forthey are the bees that make the most honey, and contribute most to the hive evenafter they have gorged themselves full.”

SHERMAN ANTITRUST ACT Despite Carnegie’s defense of millionaires, thegovernment was concerned that expanding corporations would stifle free com-petition. In 1890, the Sherman Antitrust Act made it illegal to form a trustthat interfered with free trade between states or with other countries.

Prosecuting companies under the Sherman act was not easy, however, becausethe act didn’t clearly define terms such as trust. In addition, if firms such asStandard Oil felt pressure from the government, they simply reorganized into sin-gle corporations. The Supreme Court threw out seven of the eight cases the feder-al government brought against trusts. Eventually, the government stopped tryingto enforce the Sherman act, and the consolidation of businesses continued.

BUSINESS BOOM BYPASSES THE SOUTH Industrial growth concentrated inthe North, where natural and urban resources were plentiful. The South was stilltrying to recover from the Civil War, hindered by a lack of capital—money forinvestment. After the war, people were unwilling to invest in risky ventures.Northern businesses already owned 90 percent of the stock in the most profitableSouthern enterprise, the railroads, thereby keeping the South in a stranglehold.The South remained mostly agricultural, with farmers at the mercy of railroadrates. Entrepreneurs suffered not only from excessive transportation costs, butalso from high tariffs on raw materials and imported goods, and from a lack ofskilled workers. The post-Reconstruction South seemed to have no way out ofeconomic stagnation. However, growth in forestry and mining, and in the tobac-co, furniture, and textile industries, offered hope.

Labor Unions EmergeAs business leaders merged and consolidated theirforces, it seemed necessary for workers to do the same.Although Northern wages were generally higher thanSouthern wages, exploitation and unsafe working con-ditions drew workers together across regions in anationwide labor movement. Laborers—skilled andunskilled, female and male, black and white—joinedtogether in unions to try to improve their lot.

LONG HOURS AND DANGER One of the largestemployers, the steel mills, often demanded a seven-dayworkweek. Seamstresses, like factory workers in mostindustries, worked 12 or more hours a day, six days aweek. Employees were not entitled to vacation, sickleave, unemployment compensation, or reimburse-ment for injuries suffered on the job.

Yet injuries were common. In dirty, poorly venti-lated factories, workers had to perform repetitive, mind-dulling tasks, sometimes with dangerous or faultyequipment. In 1882, an average of 675 laborers werekilled in work-related accidents each week. In addition,wages were so low that most families could not surviveunless everyone held a job. Between 1890 and 1910, forexample, the number of women working for wages

244 CHAPTER 6

In this photograph,taken by LewisHine in 1912, ayoung sweatshoplaborer in NewYork City carriespiecework home.

▼

D

CC. AnswerAgree: Everyoneis dependent onthe millionairesto run business-es efficientlyand to providefor the needs ofthe surroundingcommunities.or, Disagree: Ifthe millionairescontrol every-thing, they willalways makepeople workunfairly and payunfair prices.

D. AnswerThe South had adevastatedeconomy fromthe Civil War. Itwas at themercy ofNorthern rail-road companiesfor transportinggoods to mar-kets. It also paidadded costs forraw materialsdue to high tariffs.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

CEvaluating

Do you agreewith Carnegie’sdefense ofmillionaires? Whyor why not?

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

DSynthesizing

How dideconomic factors limitindustrialization in the South?

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E

doubled, from 4 million to more than 8 million. Twenty percent of the boys and10 percent of the girls under age 15—some as young as five years old—also heldfull-time jobs. With little time or energy left for school, child laborers forfeitedtheir futures to help their families make ends meet.

In sweatshops, or workshops in tenements rather than in factories, workershad little choice but to put up with the conditions. Sweatshop employment,which was tedious and required few skills, was often the only avenue open towomen and children. Jacob Riis described the conditions faced by “sweaters.”

A PERSONAL VOICE JACOB RIIS

“ The bulk of the sweater’s work is done in the tenements, which the law that reg-ulates factory labor does not reach. . . . In [them] the child works unchallengedfrom the day he is old enough to pull a thread. There is no such thing as a dinnerhour; men and women eat while they work, and the ‘day’ is lengthened at bothends far into the night.”

—How the Other Half Lives

Not surprisingly, sweatshop jobs paid the lowest wages—often as little as 27cents for a child’s 14-hour day. In 1899, women earned an average of $267 a year,nearly half of men’s average pay of $498. The very next year Andrew Carnegiemade $23 million—with no income tax.

EARLY LABOR ORGANIZING Skilled workers had formedsmall, local unions since the late 1700s. The first large-scalenational organization of laborers, the National Labor Union(NLU), was formed in 1866 by ironworker William H.Sylvis. The refusal of some NLU local chapters to admitAfrican Americans led to the creation of the ColoredNational Labor Union (CNLU). Nevertheless, NLU member-ship grew to 640,000. In 1868, the NLU persuaded Congressto legalize an eight-hour day for government workers.

NLU organizers concentrated on linking existing localunions. In 1869, Uriah Stephens focused his attention onindividual workers and organized the Noble Order of theKnights of Labor. Its motto was “An injury to one is theconcern of all.” Membership in the Knights of Labor wasofficially open to all workers, regardless of race, gender, ordegree of skill. Like the NLU, the Knights supported aneight-hour workday and advocated “equal pay for equalwork” by men and women. They saw strikes, or refusals towork, as a last resort and instead advocated arbitration. Atits height in 1886, the Knights of Labor had about 700,000members. Although the Knights declined after the failure ofa series of strikes, other unions continued to organize.

Union Movements DivergeAs labor activism spread, it diversified. Two major types ofunions made great gains under forceful leaders.

CRAFT UNIONISM One approach to the organization oflabor was craft unionism, which included skilled workersfrom one or more trades. Samuel Gompers led the CigarMakers’ International Union to join with other craft unionsin 1886. The American Federation of Labor (AFL),


Vocabularyarbitration: amethod of settlingdisputes in whichboth sides submittheir differences toa mutuallyapproved judge

E. AnswerPoor workingconditions andlow wagesforced workersto organize intounions todemand fairtreatment.

SPOTLIGHTSPOTLIGHTHISTORICALHISTORICAL

AFRICAN AMERICANS ANDTHE LABOR MOVEMENT

Angered by their exclusion fromthe NLU, African American labor-ers formed the Colored NationalLabor Union (CNLU) in 1869. Ledby Isaac Meyers, a caulker fromBaltimore, the CNLU emphasizedcooperation between manage-ment and labor and the impor-tance of political reform.

The CNLU disbanded in theearly 1870s, but many African-American laborers found a homein the Knights of Labor, the firstunion to welcome blacks andwhites alike. The Great Strike of1877 brought whites and AfricanAmericans together, but the labormovement remained largely divid-ed along racial lines.

Management often hired AfricanAmericans as strikebreakers,which intensified white unions’resistance to accepting blacks.African Americans continued toorganize on their own, but dis-crimination and their small num-bers relative to white unions hurtblack unions’ effectiveness.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

E

AnalyzingIssues

How didindustrial workingconditionscontribute to thegrowth of the labormovement?

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with Gompers as its president, focused on collective bargaining, or negotiationbetween representatives of labor and management, to reach written agreementson wages, hours, and working conditions. Unlike the Knights of Labor, the AFLused strikes as a major tactic. Successful strikes helped the AFL win higher wagesand shorter workweeks. Between 1890 and 1915, the average weekly wages inunionized industries rose from $17.50 to $24, and the average workweek fell fromalmost 54.5 hours to just under 49 hours.

INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM Some labor leaders felt that unions should include alllaborers—skilled and unskilled—in a specific industry. This concept captured theimagination of Eugene V. Debs, who made the first major attempt to form suchan industrial union—the American Railway Union (ARU). Most of the new

union’s members were unskilled and semiskilled laborers, but skilled engi-neers and firemen joined too. In 1894, the new union won a strike forhigher wages. Within two months, its membership climbed to 150,000,dwarfing the 90,000 enrolled in the four skilled railroad brotherhoods.Though the ARU, like the Knights of Labor, never recovered after the failureof a major strike, it added to the momentum of union organizing.

SOCIALISM AND THE IWW In an attempt to solve the problems faced by work-ers, Eugene Debs and some other labor activists eventually turned to socialism, aneconomic and political system based on government control of business andproperty and equal distribution of wealth. Socialism, carried to its extreme form—communism, as advocated by the German philosopher Karl Marx—would resultin the overthrow of the capitalist system. Most socialists in late-19th-centuryAmerica drew back from this goal, however, and worked within the labor move-ment to achieve better conditions for workers. In 1905, a group of radical union-ists and socialists in Chicago organized the Industrial Workers of the World(IWW), or the Wobblies. Headed by William “Big Bill” Haywood, the Wobbliesincluded miners, lumberers, and cannery and dock workers. Unlike the ARU, theIWW welcomed African Americans, but membership never topped 100,000. Itsonly major strike victory occurred in 1912. Yet the Wobblies, like other industrialunions, gave dignity and a sense of solidarity to unskilled workers.

OTHER LABOR ACTIVISM IN THE WEST In April 1903, about 1,000 Japaneseand Mexican workers organized a successful strike in the sugar-beet fields ofVentura County, California. They formed the Sugar Beet and Farm Laborers’Union of Oxnard. In Wyoming, the State Federation of Labor supported a unionof Chinese and Japanese miners who sought the same wages and treatment asother union miners. These small, independent unions increased both the overallstrength of the labor movement and the tension between labor and management.

▼

In New York City’sUnion Square in1914, IWWmembers protestviolence againststriking coalminers inColorado.

“ The strike is theweapon of theoppressed. ”EUGENE V. DEBS

F

Background See socialism onpage R44 in theEconomicsHandbook.

246 CHAPTER 6

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

FContrasting

How did craft unions andindustrial unionsdiffer?

F. AnswerA craft unionincluded skilledworkers frommany industries.An industrialunion includedskilled and unskilled workers from a specific industry.

241-249-Chapter 6 10/28/02 3:08 PM Page 246

The Growth of Union Membership, 1878–1904

Mem

bers

in Th

ousa

nds

1500

1300

1100

900

700

500

300

10001878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904

Wabash RailroadStrike

Haymarket Riot

Pullman Strike

Total Nationwide Union MembershipAmerican Federation of LaborKnights of LaborAmerican Railway Union SKILLBUILDER

Interpreting Graphs1. Which union’s

membershipincreased in1889–1890?

2. What effect(s) didthe Haymarket Riothave on unionmembership?


Strikes Turn ViolentIndustry and government responded forcefully to union activity, which they sawas a threat to the entire capitalist system.

THE GREAT STRIKE OF 1877 In July 1877, workers for the Baltimore andOhio Railroad (B&O) struck to protest their second wage cut in two months. Thework stoppage spread to other lines. Most freight and even some passenger traf-fic, covering over 50,000 miles, was stopped for more than a week. After severalstate governors asked President Rutherford B. Hayes to intervene, saying that thestrikers were impeding interstate commerce, federal troops ended the strike.

THE HAYMARKET AFFAIR Encouraged by the impact of the 1877 strike, laborleaders continued to press for change. On the evening of May 4, 1886, 3,000 people gathered at Chicago’s Haymarket Square to protest police brutality—a striker had been killed and several had been wounded at the McCormick Harvesterplant the day before. Rain began to fall at about 10 o’clock, and the crowd was dis-persing when police arrived. Then someone tossed a bomb into the police line.Police fired on the workers; seven police officers and several workers died in thechaos that followed. No one ever learned who threw the bomb, but the three speak-ers at the demonstration and five other radicals were charged with inciting a riot.All eight were convicted; four were hanged and one committed suicide in prison.After Haymarket, the public began to turn against the labor movement.

THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE Despite the violence and rising public anger, work-ers continued to strike. The writer Hamlin Garland described conditions at theCarnegie Steel Company’s Homestead plant in Pennsylvania.

A PERSONAL VOICE HAMLIN GARLAND

“ Everywhere . . . groups of pale, lean men slouched in faded garments, grimy with the soot and grease of the mills. . . . A roar as of a hundred lions, a thunderas of cannons, . . . jarring clang of falling iron . . . !”

—quoted in McClure’s Magazine

The steelworkers finally called a strike on June 29, 1892, after the companypresident, Henry Clay Frick, announced his plan to cut wages. Frick hired armed

G. AnswerThe public beganto associatelabor activistswith violenceand danger.

SkillbuilderAnswers1. The AmericanFederation ofLabor2. Membershipin the Knights ofLabor declinedsharply.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

G

AnalyzingCauses

How did the1877 strike andHaymarket causethe public toresent the labormovement?

G

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248 CHAPTER 6

guards from the Pinkerton Detective Agency to protect the plant so that he couldhire scabs, or strikebreakers, to keep it operating. In a pitched battle that left atleast three detectives and nine workers dead, the steelworkers forced out thePinkertons and kept the plant closed until the Pennsylvania National Guardarrived on July 12. The strike continued until November, but by then the unionhad lost much of its support and gave in to the company. It would take 45 yearsfor steelworkers to mobilize once again.

THE PULLMAN COMPANY STRIKE Strikes continued in other industries, how-ever. During the panic of 1893 and the economic depression that followed, thePullman company laid off more than 3,000 of its 5,800 employees and cut thewages of the rest by 25 to 50 percent, without cutting the cost of its employeehousing. After paying their rent, many workers took home less than $6 a week. Astrike was called in the spring of 1894, when the economy improved and thePullman company failed to restore wages or decrease rents. Eugene Debs asked forarbitration, but Pullman refused to negotiate with the strikers. So the ARU beganboycotting Pullman trains.

After Pullman hired strikebreakers, the strike turned violent, and PresidentGrover Cleveland sent in federal troops. In the bitter aftermath, Debs was jailed.Pullman fired most of the strikers, and the railroads blacklisted many others, so

they could never again get rail-road jobs.

WOMEN ORGANIZE Althoughwomen were barred from manyunions, they united behindpowerful leaders to demand bet-ter working conditions, equalpay for equal work, and an endto child labor. Perhaps the mostprominent organizer in thewomen’s labor movement wasMary Harris Jones. Jones sup-ported the Great Strike of 1877and later organized for theUnited Mine Workers of America(UMW). She endured deaththreats and jail with the coalminers, who gave her the nick-name Mother Jones. In 1903, toexpose the cruelties of childlabor, she led 80 mill children—many with hideous injuries—ona march to the home ofPresident Theodore Roosevelt.Their crusade influenced the pas-sage of child labor laws.

Other organizers alsoachieved significant gains forwomen. In 1909, Pauline New-man, just 16 years old, becamethe first female organizer of theInternational Ladies’ GarmentWorkers’ Union (ILGWU). A gar-ment worker from the age ofeight, Newman also supported

MOTHER JONES1830–1930

Mary Harris “Mother” Joneswas a native of Ireland whoimmigrated to North Americaas a child. She becameinvolved in the American labormovement after receivingassistance from the Knightsof Labor. According to areporter who followed “themother of the laboring class”on her children’s march in1903, “She fights their battles with a Mother’s Love.”Jones continued fighting untilher death at age 100.

Jones was definitely not thekind of woman admired byindustrialists. “God almightymade women,” she declared,“and the Rockefeller gang ofthieves made ladies.”

EUGENE V. DEBS1855–1926

Born in Indiana, Eugene V.Debs left home at the age of14 to work for the railroads. In 1875 he helped organize a local lodge of the Brother-hood of Locomotive Firemen,and after attempts to unite thelocal railroad brotherhoodsfailed, Debs organized theAmerican Railway Union.

While in prison following thePullman strike in 1894, Debsread the works of Karl Marxand became increasingly disil-lusioned with capitalism. Hebecame a spokesperson forthe Socialist Party of Americaand was its candidate for presi-dent five times. In 1912, hewon about 900,000 votes—anamazing 6 percent of the total.

KEY PLAYERSKEY PLAYERS

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•Andrew Carnegie•vertical and horizontal integration

•Social Darwinism

•John D. Rockefeller•Sherman Antitrust Act•Samuel Gompers

•American Federation ofLabor (AFL)

•Eugene V. Debs

•Industrial Workers of theWorld (IWW)

•Mary Harris Jones

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.


Make a time line of the notableachievements and setbacks of thelabor movement between 1876 and1911.

In what ways did strikes threatenindustry?

CRITICAL THINKING3. EVALUATING LEADERSHIP

Do you think that the tycoons of thelate 19th century are best describedas ruthless robber barons or aseffective captains of industry? Think About:

• their management tactics andbusiness strategies

• their contributions to the economy• their attitude toward competition

4. DRAWING CONCLUSIONSDoes the life of Andrew Carnegiesupport or counter the philosophy of Social Darwinism? Explain.

5. HYPOTHESIZING If the government had supportedunions instead of management inthe late 19th century, how might the lives of workers have beendifferent?

<caption TK:image of TriangleShirtwaist Factoryfire>

event one event three

event two event four

the “Uprising of the 20,000,” a 1909 seamstresses’ strike that won labor agree-ments and improved working conditions for some strikers.

The public could no longer ignore conditions in garment factories after a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City on March 25, 1911. The fire spread swiftly through the oil-soaked machines and piles of cloth, engulfing the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors. As workers attempted to flee, they discovered that the company had locked all but one of the exit doors to prevent theft. The unlocked door was blocked by fire. The factory had no sprinkler system, and the single fire escape collapsed almost immediately. In all, 146 women died; some were found huddled with their faces raised to a small window. Public outrage flared after ajury acquitted the factory owners of manslaughter. In response, the state of New York set up a task force to study factory working conditions.

▼

The fire department’s ladders reached onlyto the sixth floor, two floors below theburning Triangle Shirtwaist Company.

H. AnswerThe factory hadonly one fireescape and nosprinklers. Thefactory was fullof cloth and oil.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

HSummarizing

What factorsmade the TriangleShirtwaist fire solethal?

H

MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT PRESSURE UNIONSThe more powerful the unions became, the more employerscame to fear them. Management refused to recognize unions as representatives of the workers. Many employers forbadeunion meetings, fired union members, and forced newemployees to sign “yellow-dog contracts,” swearing that they would not join a union.

Finally, industrial leaders, with the help of the courts,turned the Sherman Antitrust Act against labor. All a compa-ny had to do was say that a strike, picket line, or boycottwould hurt interstate trade, and the state or federal govern-ment would issue an injunction against the labor action. Legallimitations made it more and more difficult for unions to beeffective. Despite these pressures, workers—especially those inskilled jobs—continued to view unions as a powerful tool. By1904, the AFL had about 1,700,000 members in its affiliatedunions; by the eve of World War I, AFL membership wouldclimb to over 2 million.

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•nativism•isolationism•communism•anarchists

•Sacco andVanzetti

•quota system•John L. Lewis

A desire for normality afterthe war and a fear ofcommunism and “foreigners”led to postwar isolationism.

Americans today continue todebate political isolationismand immigration policy.



Americans Strugglewith Postwar Issues

During the 1920s and 1930s, Irving Fajans, a department store salesclerk in New York City, tried to persuade fellow workers to join theDepartment Store Employees Union. He described some of the tech-niques union organizers used.

A PERSONAL VOICE IRVING FAJANS

“ If you were caught distributing . . . union literature around the jobyou were instantly fired. We thought up ways of passing leaflets with-out the boss being able to pin anybody down. . . . We . . . swiped thekey to the toilet paper dispensers in the washroom, took out thepaper and substituted printed slips of just the right size! We got a lotof new members that way—It appealed to their sense of humor.”

—quoted in The Jewish Americans

During the war, workers’ rights had been suppressed. In 1919, workers began tocry out for fair pay and better working conditions. Tensions arose between laborand management, and a rash of labor strikes broke out across the country. The pub-lic, however, was not supportive of striking workers. Many citizens longed to getback to normal, peaceful living—they felt resentful of anyone who caused unrest.

Postwar TrendsWorld War I had left much of the American public exhausted. The debate over theLeague of Nations had deeply divided America. Further, the Progressive Era hadcaused numerous wrenching changes in American life. The economy, too, was ina difficult state of adjustment. Returning soldiers faced unemployment or tooktheir old jobs away from women and minorities. Also, the cost of living had dou-bled. Farmers and factory workers suffered as wartime orders diminished.

Many Americans responded to the stressful conditions by becoming fearful ofoutsiders. A wave of nativism, or prejudice against foreign-born people, sweptthe nation. So, too, did a belief in isolationism, a policy of pulling away frominvolvement in world affairs.

▼

Irving Fajansorganizeddepartment storeworkers in theirefforts to gainbetter pay andworkingconditions duringthe 1920s.

412 CHAPTER 12

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Fear of CommunismOne perceived threat to American life was the spread ofcommunism, an economic and political system based ona single-party government ruled by a dictatorship. In orderto equalize wealth and power, Communists would put anend to private property, substituting government owner-ship of factories, railroads, and other businesses.

THE RED SCARE The panic in the United States began in1919, after revolutionaries in Russia overthrew the czaristregime. Vladimir I. Lenin and his followers, or Bolsheviks(“the majority”), established a new Communist state.Waving their symbolic red flag, Communists, or “Reds,”cried out for a worldwide revolution that would abolishcapitalism everywhere.

A Communist Party formed in the United States.Seventy-thousand radicals joined, including some from theIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW). When severaldozen bombs were mailed to government and businessleaders, the public grew fearful that the Communists weretaking over. U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer tookaction to combat this “Red Scare.”

A PERSONAL VOICE A. MITCHELL PALMER

“ The blaze of revolution was sweeping over everyAmerican institution of law and order . . . . eating its wayinto the homes of the American workman, its sharptongues of revolutionary heat . . . licking the altars of thechurches, leaping into the belfry of the school bell, crawlinginto the sacred corners of American homes, . . . burning upthe foundations of society.”

—“The Case Against the Reds”

THE PALMER RAIDS In August 1919, Palmer appointed J. Edgar Hoover as hisspecial assistant. Palmer, Hoover, and their agents hunted down suspectedCommunists, socialists, and anarchists—people who opposed any form of gov-ernment. They trampled people’s civil rights, invading private homes and officesand jailing suspects without allowing them legal counsel. Hundreds of foreign-born radicals were deported without trials.

But Palmer’s raids failed to turn up evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy—or even explosives. Many thought Palmer was just looking for a campaign issueto gain support for his presidential aspirations. Soon, the public decided thatPalmer didn’t know what he was talking about.

SACCO AND VANZETTI Although short-lived, the Red Scare fed people’s suspi-cions of foreigners and immigrants. This nativist attitude led to ruined reputa-tions and wrecked lives. The two most famous victims of this attitude were NicolaSacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a shoemaker and a fish peddler. Both were Italianimmigrants and anarchists; both had evaded the draft during World War I.

In May 1920, Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested and charged with the rob-bery and murder of a factory paymaster and his guard in South Braintree,Massachusetts. Witnesses had said the criminals appeared to be Italians. Theaccused asserted their innocence and provided alibis; the evidence against themwas circumstantial; and the presiding judge made prejudicial remarks.Nevertheless, the jury still found them guilty and sentenced them to death.

Politics of the Roaring Twenties 413

A

ECONOMICECONOMIC

ROOTS OF COMMUNISMThe first Communist governmentin Russia was based on the teach-ings of Karl Marx and FriedrichEngels. In 1848, these two hadpublished The CommunistManifesto, which outlined a theo-ry of class struggle. It said that aclass that had economic poweralso had social and politicalpower.

It also said that two classes,the “haves” and the “have-nots,”have struggled for controlthroughout history. During theIndustrial Revolution,Communists believed, the strug-gle was between the capitalists,who owned capital—land, money,and machinery— and workers,who owned only their labor. Marxand Engels urged workers toseize political power and themeans of production. Ultimately,they believed, laborers wouldoverthrow capitalism in all indus-trialized nations.

A. Answer Hebelieved that aCommunist rev-olution wasimminent in theUnited States,and he neededan issue onwhich to cam-paign for the1920 Democraticpresidentialnomination.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

A

AnalyzingMotives

Why didAttorney GeneralA. Mitchell Palmerlaunch a series ofraids againstsuspectedCommunists?

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Protests rang out in the United States, Europe, and LatinAmerica. Many people thought Sacco and Vanzetti were mis-treated because of their radical beliefs; others asserted it wasbecause they were immigrants. The poet Edna St. VincentMillay donated proceeds from her poem “Justice Denied inMassachusetts” to their defense. She personally appealed toGovernor Fuller of Massachusetts for their lives. However,after reviewing the case and interviewing Vanzetti, the gov-ernor decided to let the executions go forward. The two mendied in the electric chair on August 23, 1927. Before he wasexecuted, Vanzetti made a statement.

A PERSONAL VOICE BARTOLOMEO VANZETTI

“ In all my life I have never stole, never killed, never spilled blood. . . . We weretried during a time . . . when there was hysteria of resentment and hate againstthe people of our principles, against the foreigner. . . . I am suffering because I am a radical and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I was an Italianand indeed I am an Italian. . . . If you could execute me two times, and if I couldbe reborn two other times, I would live again to do what I have done already.”

—quoted in The National Experience

In 1961, new ballistics tests showed that the pistol found on Sacco was in factthe one used to murder the guard. However, there was no proof that Sacco hadactually pulled the trigger.

Limiting ImmigrationDuring the wave of nativist sentiment, “Keep America for Americans” became theprevailing attitude. Anti-immigrant attitudes had been growing in the UnitedStates ever since the 1880s, when new immigrants began arriving from southernand eastern Europe. Many of these immigrants were willing to work for low wagesin industries such as coal mining, steel production, and textiles. But after WorldWar I, the need for unskilled labor in the United States decreased. Nativistsbelieved that because the United States now had fewer unskilled jobs available,fewer immigrants should be let into the country. Nativist feelings were fueled by

414 CHAPTER 12

B

B. AnswerBecause he was a politicalradical and aforeigner

History ThroughHistory Through

BackgroundOn August 23,1977, exactly 50years after theexecutions,Massachusettsgovernor MichaelDukakis declaredthat Sacco andVanzetti had notbeen given a fairtrial.

SACCO AND VANZETTI(1932)

The painting by Ben Shahn shows (right to left) Nicola Sacco,Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a miniatureGovernor Fuller, and a group ofSacco and Vanzetti supporters.Why do you think Shahn depictsSacco and Vanzetti as so muchlarger than Governor Fuller?

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

B

AnalyzingEvents

According toVanzetti, whatwere the reasonsfor his imprison-ment?

Image not availablefor use on CD-ROM.Please refer to theimage in the textbook.

412-418-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 414

the fact that some of the people involved in postwar labor disputes were immi-grant anarchists and socialists, who many Americans believed were actually Com-munists. Racist ideas like those expressed by Madison Grant, an anthropologist atthe American Museum of Natural History in New York City, fed people’s attitudes.

A PERSONAL VOICE MADISON GRANT

“ The result of unlimited immigration is showing plainly in the rapid decline in thebirth rate of native Americans . . . [who] will not bring children into the world tocompete in the labor market with the Slovak, the Italian, the Syrian and the Jew.The native American is too proud to mix socially with them.”

—quoted in United States History: Ideas in Conflict

THE KLAN RISES AGAIN As a resultof the Red Scare and anti-immigrantfeelings, different groups of bigotsused anti-communism as an excuse toharass any group unlike themselves.One such group was the Ku Klux Klan(KKK). The KKK was devoted to “100percent Americanism.” By 1924, KKKmembership reached 4.5 million“white male persons, native-born gen-tile citizens.” The Klan also believedin keeping blacks “in their place,”destroying saloons, opposing unions,and driving Roman Catholics, Jews,and foreign-born people out of thecountry. KKK members were paid torecruit new members into their worldof secret rituals and racial violence.Though the Klan dominated state pol-itics in many states, by the end of thedecade its criminal activity led to adecrease in power.

THE QUOTA SYSTEM From 1919 to 1921, the number of immigrants had grownalmost 600 percent—from 141,000 to 805,000 people. Congress, in response tonativist pressure, decided to limit immigration from certain countries, namelythose in southern and eastern Europe.

The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 set up a quota system. This system estab-lished the maximum number of people who could enter the United States fromeach foreign country. The goal of the quota system was to cut sharply Europeanimmigration to the United States. As the charts on page 416 show, the systemachieved that goal.

As amended in 1924, the law limited immigration from each Europeannation to 2 percent of the number of its nationals living in the United States in1890. This provision discriminated against people from eastern and southernEurope—mostly Roman Catholics and Jews—who had not started coming to theUnited States in large numbers until after 1890. Later, the base year was shifted to1920. However, the law also reduced the total number of persons to be admittedin any one year to 150,000.

In addition, the law prohibited Japanese immigration, causing much ill willbetween the two nations. Japan—which had faithfully kept the Gentlemen’sAgreement to limit emigration to the United States, negotiated by TheodoreRoosevelt in 1907—expressed anger over the insult.


C

Vocabularybigot: a personwho is intolerantof any creed, race,religion, or politicalbelief that differsfrom his own

▼

In 1925, nearly60,000 Ku KluxKlan membersmarched alongPennsylvaniaAvenue inWashington, D.C.

C. PossibleAnswer To keepAmerica underthe control ofwhite, native-born males; toget rid of othergroups, includ-ing RomanCatholics, Jews,and foreign-born people,and radicals; tooppose unionorganizers; tohelp enforceprohibition.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

C

AnalyzingIssues

What were themain goals of theKu Klux Klan atthis time?

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ATLANT ICOCEAN

PAC IF ICOCEAN

C A N A D A

E U R O P E

U N I T E D S T A T E S

MEXICO

416 CHAPTER 12

U.S. Patterns of Immigration, 1921–1929

SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Graphs1. Which geographical areas show the sharpest decline in immigration to the

U.S. between 1921 and 1929? What are the only areas to register anincrease in immigration to the U.S.?

2. How did the quota system affect where immigrants came from?

SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R28.

The map and graph below show the change in immigrationpatterns resulting from the Emergency Quota Act, amongother factors. Hundreds of thousands of people wereaffected. For example, while the number of immigrantsfrom Mexico rose from 30,758 in 1921 to 40,154 in1929, the number of Italian immigrants dropped drasticallyfrom 222,260 in 1921 to 18,008 in 1929.

Immigration to the United States, 1921 and 1929

Source: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957

Num

ber o

f Im

mig

rant

s

250,000

200,000

150,000

100,000

50,000

0

North America Europe

1921 1929 1921 1921 1921 1921 1921 1921 1921 1921 1921 192919291929192919291929192919291929

CanadaMexico

Portugal, Spain, GreeceYugoslavia, Austria, Hungary,Czechoslovakia

ItalyPolandGermany

Great BritainIrelandScandinavia

Ellis Island in Upper New York Harbor was the port of entry for most European immigrants.

412-418-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 416


The national origins quota system did not apply toimmigrants from the Western Hemisphere, however.During the 1920s, about a million Canadians and almost500,000 Mexicans crossed the nation’s borders.

A Time of Labor UnrestAnother severe postwar conflict formed between laborand management. During the war, the governmentwouldn’t allow workers to strike because nothing couldinterfere with the war effort. The American Federation ofLabor (AFL) pledged to avoid strikes.

However, 1919 saw more than 3,000 strikes duringwhich some 4 million workers walked off the job.Employers didn’t want to give raises, nor did they wantemployees to join unions. Some employers, either out ofa sincere belief or because they saw a way to keep wagesdown, attempted to show that union members wereplanning a revolution. Employers labeled striking work-ers as Communists. Newspapers screamed, “Plots toEstablish Communism.” Three strikes in particular grabbed public attention.

THE BOSTON POLICE STRIKE The Boston police had not been given a raisesince the beginning of World War I. Among their many grievances was that theyhad been denied the right to unionize. When representatives asked for a raise andwere fired, the remaining policemen decided to strike. Massachusetts governorCalvin Coolidge called out the National Guard. He said, “There is no right tostrike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.” The strikeended but members weren’t allowed to return to work; new policemen were hiredinstead. People praised Coolidge for saving Boston, if not the nation, from com-munism and anarchy. In the 1920 election he became Warren G. Harding’s vice-presidential running mate.

THE STEEL MILL STRIKE Workers in the steel mills wanted the right to negotiate for shorter working hours and a living wage. They also wanted unionrecognition and collective bargaining rights. In September 1919, the U.S. SteelCorporation refused to meet with union representatives. In response, over300,000 workers walked off their jobs. Steel companies hired strikebreakers—employees who agreed to work during the strike—and used force. Striking work-ers were beaten by police, federal troops, and state militias. Then the companiesinstituted a propaganda campaign, linking the strikers to Communists. InOctober 1919, negotiations between labor and management produced a deadlock.President Woodrow Wilson made a written plea to the combative “negotiators.”

A PERSONAL VOICE WOODROW WILSON

“ At a time when the nations of the world are endeavoring to find a way of avoid-ing international war, are we to confess that there is no method to be found forcarrying on industry except . . . the very method of war? . . . Are our industrialleaders and our industrial workers to live together without faith in each other?”

—quoted in Labor in Crisis

The steel strike ended in January 1920. In 1923, a report on the harsh work-ing conditions in steel mills shocked the public. The steel companies agreed to aneight-hour day, but the steelworkers remained without a union.

D

▼

Strikers includedworking womentailors who foughtfor improvedworkingconditions.

D. Answer The number ofimmigrantsincreasedsharply, andmanyAmericans didnot want peoplefrom foreigncountries enter-ing the nation,since some ofthem were anar-chists andsocialists andsome werebelieved to beCommunists.

E. AnswerNeither strikewas successful:The police losttheir jobs, andthe steel work-ers won nothing.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

D

DevelopingHistoricalPerspectiveD Why did

Congress makechanges inimmigration lawsduring the 1920s?

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

EComparing

Compare theresults of theBoston policestrike and thesteel strike. E

SkillbuilderAnswers1. Decline:Southern andcentral Europe;Increase:Mexico andGermany.2. Fewer immi-grants camefrom southernand centralEurope, exceptimmigrationfrom Germanyincreased.

412-418-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 417

418 CHAPTER 12

THE COAL MINERS’ STRIKE Unionism was more success-ful in America’s coalfields. In 1919, the United Mine Workersof America, organized since 1890, got a new leader—John L.Lewis. In protest of low wages and long workdays, Lewiscalled his union’s members out on strike on November 1,1919. Attorney General Palmer obtained a court order send-ing the miners back to work. Lewis then declared it over, buthe quietly gave the word for it to continue. In defiance of thecourt order, the mines stayed closed another month. ThenPresident Wilson appointed an arbitrator, or judge, to put anend to the dispute. The coal miners received a 27 percentwage increase, and John L. Lewis became a national hero.The miners, however, did not achieve a shorter workday anda five-day workweek until the 1930s.

LABOR MOVEMENT LOSES APPEAL In spite of limitedgains, the 1920s hurt the labor movement badly. Over thedecade, union membership dropped from more than 5 millionto around 3.5 million. Membership declined for several reasons:

• much of the work force consisted of immigrants will-ing to work in poor conditions,

• since immigrants spoke a multitude of languages,unions had difficulty organizing them,

• farmers who had migrated to cities to find factory jobswere used to relying on themselves, and

• most unions excluded African Americans.

By 1929, about 82,000 African Americans—or less than1 percent of their population—held union memberships. Bycontrast, just over 3 percent of all whites were union mem-bers. However, African Americans joined some unions likethe mine workers’, longshoremen’s, and railroad porters’

unions. In 1925, A. Philip Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping CarPorters to help African Americans gain a fair wage.

While America’s attitude toward unions was changing, so, too, was its faithin the presidency.


JOHN LLEWELLYN LEWIS1880–1969

John L. Lewis was born in the lit-tle mining town of Lucas, Iowa.His family had traditionally beenconcerned with labor rights andbenefits.

Lewis grew up with a fiercedetermination to fight for what hebelieved companies owed theiremployees: decent working condi-tions and a fair salary. As he saidyears later,

“I have pleaded your case not inthe tones of a feeble mendicant[beggar] asking alms but in thethundering voice of the captainof a mighty host, demanding the rights to which free men are entitled.”

•nativism•isolationism

•communism•anarchists

•Sacco and Vanzetti•quota system

•John L. Lewis1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.


In a cause-and-effect chart like theone shown, list examples of theaftereffects of World War I.

What event do you think was themost significant? Explain your choice.

CRITICAL THINKING3. EVALUATING

Do you think Americans werejustified in their fear of radicals andforeigners in the decade followingWorld War I? Explain your answer.Think About:

• the goals of the leaders of theRussian Revolution

• the challenges facing the UnitedStates

4. ANALYZING ISSUESIn the various fights betweenmanagement and union members,what did each side believe?

5. DRAWING CONCLUSIONSWhat do you think the Sacco andVanzetti case shows about Americain the 1920s?

Event Result

1.

2.

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Documents

Labor’s Response to Industrial Growth