Industrialism and

Daily Life

USH&G

The Rise of Industrialism

Why Industrial Growth?Lots of natural

resourcesBetter transportation People move to cities

Provided lots of workers for the factories

Included lots of immigrants!

Government support Gov’t loans/supportLaissez Faire attitude

Little &/no regulationNo taxes (personal or

business)No environmental

controls

Seamstresses in a textile factory

Invention & Innovation

Spirit of Innovation US issues 676,000+ patents Inventors improve lives +

receive fame & fortune Steel is King

Replaces iron on RRs, skyscrapers, bridges…

Electricity → widespread Telegraph & telephone,

elevators Machines ↑ production

Mass production Assembly lines…

New York City Skyscraper, 1901

The Assembly Line

Reading: The Assembly Line

Video: I Love Lucy, assembly line

Ford Automobile factory assembly line

Industrialism Leads to Big Business

Industrial Giants…– Rockefeller– Carnegie– Vanderbilt– Pullman– Westinghouse

Called the “Gilded Age”

Criticisms of Big Business– Gap between

“haves” and “have nots”

– So few had so much

Defense of Big Business– Risk takers deserve

the profits– “Gospel of

Wealth”…

Far right: John D. Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company; Center

below: Andrew Carnegie and other

business leaders

Others, like Andrew Carnegie followed the “Gospel of Wealth”

“This then, is held to be he duty of the man of Wealth; First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community—the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves….”

Andrew Carnegie, 1913

Andrew Carnegie, “Wealth,” North American Review, CXLVIII (June 1889), pp.661-662

Good intentions, poor follow-through at times?

The GOW is a little bit like: “I’m better than you…”

The top industrialists were pretty ruthless getting to the top… Worked employees hard Kept wages as low as possible

But, once at the top, many of them started giving their money away…

The Homestead Strike, 1892

$350 million for Libraries, Concert halls, Universities

Left: Seattle Public “Carnegie” Library, 1919 (Seattle has a total of 7 Carnegie libraries)

The Gospel of Wealth. Cartoon from Judge, 1903. New York Public Library

Carnegie Hall was built in 1891 & is one of the most prestigious venues in the world for classical & popular music

Rockefeller’s Charities Rockefeller gave his money away,

too. He gave over $500 million, from his one-time peak of over $900 million. This made him WAY MORE wealthy than Bill Gates ($43 billion in 2010). According to Forbes Magazine, in 2008 dollars, John D. Rockefeller was worth $318.3 billion.

He gave money to Rockefeller University (NYC research university) & the Rockefeller Foundation

Rockefeller Center is not just the ice skating rink seen in all romantic comedies set in NYC in the winter, it’s actually a 19 building office complex (money maker).

Other “Robber Barons” (or should we call them “Captains of Industry”?)

John Jacob Astor (real estate, fur) – New York City Jay Cooke (finance) – Philadelphia, PA Charles Crocker (railroads) - California Daniel Drew (finance) – New York state James Buchanan Duke (tobacco) – near Durham, NC James Fisk (finance) – New York state Henry Morrison Flagler (RRs, Standard Oil – NYC & Palm Beach Henry Clay Frick (steel) – Pittsburgh and New York City John Warne Gates (steel) Jay Gould (railroads) Edward Henry Harriman (railroads) – New York state[6] Milton S. Hershey (Chocolate) Mark Hopkins (railroads) - California J. P. Morgan (banking, finance, steel, industrial consolidation) New York City Henry B. Plant (railroads) – Florida Leland Stanford (railroads) – Sacramento, California and San Francisco, California Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroads)

This list is from Wikipedia.com; the graph is from Robber Barons, J. Bradford DeLong, University of California at Berkeley, January 1, 1998

Trusts & Government Corruption

Industrial Trusts ↑ Monopolies

squeeze out competition

Trusts influence gov’t affairs Laissez Faire

City Gov’t Corruptions “Machines” &

“bosses”

Political Cartoon, “Bosses of the Senate,” Puck Magazine

Organized Labor

Responds

Labor Unions Emerge 2 million members by 1904 Knights of Labor American Federation of

Labor Wobblies

Business Response to Labor Gov’t regulated unions Fear of communism

Textile mill strike in Lawrence, MA

Strikes and Violence Railway workers strike Pullman strike

Union Victories By 1912, 38 states had

minimum-wage laws & health standards

Impact on Daily Life

Benefits for the Middle Class Able to afford new

inventions Life for Average Americans

Drudgery & hardship Industrial Working

Conditions Horrible working conditions

Low Pay & Reasons to Stay Any job was good enough…

New Workers Women Child Labor Minority & Immigrant

Laborers

Above: Carnegie steel mill at Homestead, PA; Below: Young Pennsylvania coal miners