chapter 14 a new industrial age. natural resources fuel industrialization
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 14
A New Industrial Age
Natural Resources Fuel Industrialization
Edwin L. Drake
Henry Bessemer
Thomas Alva Edison
Christopher Sholes
Alexander Graham Bell
Railroads
Span time and spaceCreated a network of tracksRomanceTime zonesOpened the door for corruption
Promontory Point, Utah
Golden spike of Promontory Point
Time zones around the worldProfessor C.F. Dowd
Pacific Mountain Central Easter
Opportunities and Opportunists
With the railroad came those individuals who took advantage of a new development for their own personal gain
George M. Pullman
Credit Mobilier
Towns were created to service the railroad that were owned by the railroad
The stock holders of the RR also owned the Companies that laid the rail for the RR
The RR companies owned by the stockholders sold the rights to lay the track to themselves for twice the amount it would cost and pocketed the profits
Granger Laws
Farmers and passengers were being discriminated against and charged outrageous prices for travel and usage
Illinois and other states passed a series of laws that allowed the state to regulate the fees for train travel – The Granger Laws
Munn vs. Illinois – Supreme court ruled that the granger laws were constitutional
Interstate Commerce Act
1877 Congress passed this lawSaid that railroad travel was a form of
interstate travel and therefore regulated by the federal government
Establish a five man board designed to monitor interstate commerce (ICC)
Consolidation
ICC failed to do what it was commissioned to do
Overbuilding and abuses led to the panic of 1893
600 banks and 15,000 people were out of business or work
1895 4,000,000 had lost their jobsInvestment firms like J.P. Morgan bought
out all the railroad companies
Andrew Carnegie
Became one the brightest and most successful financial investors of the time
Carnegie Steel
Carnegie tried to control as much of the steel industry as the law would allow
He adopted two business practices that are in use today
• Vertical integration
• Horizontal integration
Vertical Integration
Finished ProductTransportation
Warehouse
Refinery
Resource production
Horizontal Integration
Similar product company Similar product company
Similar product company Alleviating Competition
Drive out all the competition (Monopoly)
Businesses begin to adopt the Social Darwinistic approach to business – Survival of the fittest and only the strong survive
John D Rockefeller
Another of the financial giants of the time
Standard Oil
Mergers through trust Not horizontal Integration Controlling interest
owned by a board of trustees
Gives the trustees total control over a products production and sell.
He controlled 90% of the oil refining in the US
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Made it illegal to form a trust that interferes with free trade agreements among business
Workers begin to protect themselves in the labor community – The formation of labor Unions become common place
Life in the Factory
12 hour work daysNo vacationNo sick leaveNo reimbursement for injuries675 work related deaths a week8,000,000 women working in factories20% of boys and girls under the age of 15 held
full time jobs
Little or no pay!!!!!!!
Child – $.27 cents a day (14 hour work Day)Women - $267/YearMen - $498/year
Andrew Carnegie – $23,000,000/ year with no income taxes
Labor Unions Emerge
Craft UnionsSamuel Gompers
– American Federation of Labor (AFL)
Eugene V. Debs– American Railway Union
William Haywood– Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
Labor Unions Lead to strikes
The great strike of 1877 – (RR Workers)
The Haymarket strike– Police brutality
The Homestead strike– Steel industry
The Pullman Car strike– RR Car Company