Chapter 6

The Expansion of Industry

Technological Revolution• technology is high priority– Patents-owners have

exclusive rights to make, use, and sell inventions

– 500,000 patents issued from 1860-1890

• Financing came from investors willing to take chance to make profit– Stocks sold to raise capital

– Productivity increases standard of living

Edwin L. Drake• Sent by Pennsylvania Rock Oil Co to drill for oil• Titusville, Pennsylvania• Used steam powered engine• 1859 struck oil• Oil became major industry

Thomas Edison• Got $40,000 bonus for improving stock ticker• Left job to be inventor (age 23)• 1880 light bulb invented• 1882 created power station that powered

several buildings in NYC

Lewis Latimer• Son of escaped slaves• Improved filament on

light bulb to last longer that a few days

• Self-taught mechanical drawing

• Did patent drawing for Bell’s telephone

• Invented toilet that worked on moving trains

• Supervised construction of lighting system in NYC and other cities

George Westinghouse• Used transformers and power stations to run

electricity over long distances• By 1898 3,000 power stations; 2 million

homes in U.S. with power• Invented air brakes for trains (safety

improvement)

Electricity’s impact on life• Factories run 24/7• Sewing machines=ready made clothes• Thousands of jobs, including women, children,

immigrants• Refrigeration• Rural areas did not have electricity for decades

(Alabama in 1930s)

telegraph• Telegraph invented

before Morse• Morse patented it• Invented Morse

code• Granville Woods-

used telegraph to communicate w/ moving train=fewer collisions

Time Zones

• Created to help reduce delays in train traveled• Called RR time

Railroads and industry

• Faster and practical-higher speeds/move more goods

• Lowered cost of production-received raw materials and transported finished products quicker

• Created national markets Model for big business

• Stimulation of other industries-ex. Iron rail for steel rails

Transcontinental Railroad

• Funded by Congress• Central Pacific Railroad from

Sacramento, CA• Union Pacific Railroad from

Omaha, Nebraska• Met at Promontory Point,

Utah-golden spike• Immigrant workers (many

Chinese)

Bessemer Process• Made it easier and cheaper to remove impurities

from steel• Made steel lighter, stronger, and more flexible• Allowed for mass production of steel• Allowed for building of Brooklyn Bridge-

completed May 24, 1883

Section 2The Growth of Big Business

Big BusinessRobber barons• Made money by

steeling from public/on backs of workers

• Drained natural resources

• Stretched laws

Captains of Industry• Served nation by

building factories, schools, etc

• Increased productivity• Created higher standard

of living

Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth

• Make as much money as you can and then give it away

• 80% of his wealth went toward some form of education

• Funded over 3000 free public libraries• Gave over $350 million away during lifetime

Social Darwinism

• Government should not interfere in business

• If left alone, fittest businesses would survive and become rich

Carnegie Steel

• Used vertical consolidation

• Bought up all aspects of production

• Created larger profit margin for own company

Standard Oil Company• Used horizontal consolidation• Used large size of company to negotiate lower prices for doing

business• Cut prices of oil to drive competition out of business• Bought out many firms in the same business• Created a trust

Sherman Antitrust Act• Attempted to limit the control

businesses would have over an industry

• Outlawed combining companies that restrained interstate trade or commerce

• Ineffective for 15 years: vague and large companies drug out court fights

• Used in reverse against labor unions

Immigrants/urbanization• Factories needed labor to function• Immigrants and farmers moved to cities in large

numbers to find work• Workers were either paid piece work, by the job, or by

the hour.• Many sweatshops sprang up with horrible conditions

and low wages

The Principles of Scientific Management

• By Fredrick Winslow Taylor• Designed to improve efficiency by breaking

down tasks and increasing productivity

Work environment• Difficult for farmers and

immigrants to adapt to working by the clock

• Unsafe• Child labor- 5% of labor force

in 1880, one in five children age 10-16 was employed

• Some children as young as 6 worked

• Social Darwinism supported bad conditions=poverty was result of weakness

The Great Strikesstrike: to stop work as a coercive message

• Why would workers strike?– Workers’ wages too low to afford

consumer products even though high productivity lowered prices

– Richest 9% control 75% of wealth– Some believed that wealth should

be equally distributed and turned to the socialist ideas of Marx and Engels

Labor Unions• Knights of Labor-recruited skilled and unskilled laborers,

African-Americans, women; led by Terrance Powderly; wanted eight hour workday, end of child labor; membership declined by 1890s due to violence

• American Federation of Labor- led by Samuel Gompers; organized skilled laborers only; used collective bargaining; closed shop

• Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Wobblies- organized unskilled workers, full of Socialists, violent strikes

Employers Feared Labor Unions

• If paid higher wages and other demands, costs would rise and profits would fall

• Fired union members• Yellow dog contracts• Refused collective bargaining

Great RR Strike of 1877• Baltimore and Ohio RR company-10% wage cut & said would run double

headers (lay off workers)• Workers clashed with the company and with local militias• Pres. Hayes sent in troops to restore order• Rioters burned RR property ($5 mill damage)• Federal and state govs sided w/ companies

Eugene V. Debs

• Instrumental in the formation of the American Railways Union, an industrial union, that replaced craft unions in railway industry

Haymarket Riot 1886• McCormick Reaper factory• Riots b/t strikers and scabs• Police killed several workers• Anarchists joined strikers to protest actions of police at

Haymarket Square• Bomb thrown at police by anarchist, riot erupts, dozens dead• Unions looked down upon by public as violent and anti-American

Homestead Strike, 1892• Carnegie Steel in Homestead, Penn• Henry Frick cut wages• Frick used Pinkerton Security to put

down strike• Shoot out b/t Pinkerton and strikers

left many dead• Attempted assassination of Frick by

anarchist• Public outcry against union violence• Carnegie Steel, later U.S. Steel,

remained un-unionized until 1930s

Pullman Strike, 1894• Pullman Sleeping Car (RR) company• Had built town to house workers• Company held tight control over town• Cut wages, maintained rent/food prices• Workers went on strike w/ aid of Debs and ARU; strikes prevented western

mail delivery• Co. turned to gov for help• Used Sherman Anti-trust Act to say that union was preventing trade• Pres. Grover Cleveland sent in 2,500 troops