the gilded age 1865

8/7/2019 THE GILDED AGE 1865

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THE GILDED AGE 1865-1900: AMERICASJUNIOR YEAR

Another Scalia Bump and Stumblethrough American History

2009 JM Scalia. No reprint withoutpermission.

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INTRODUCTION: A PSYCHOLOGICALCOMPARISON OF YOUR COUNTRY . . .

AND YOU

Ya know, the one thing about historyis that it is the purest form of truth, andtherefore doesnt change, regardless ofrevisionist historians who offer opinions asfact based on their unique perspective. Imean, the pre-Ike Gilded Age is the same asthe post-Ike Gilded Age; no Class 3

blowhard with 100 mile an hour winds canchange that. So, in order to soak up whatwe need to know about this really weirdperiod of American history were gonna pulla Scalia Special on it: Were gonna get in,do our duty, then get out.

OK, troopers, heres a stone-coldfact: you are America, and America is you.From a developmental standpoint this is fartruer than you realize. Although obviouslydifferent in nature, America has undergonethe same growing pains and frustrations as

you throughout yourdevelopmentalyears. From our nations founding (birth),through its infancy, and into earlyadolescence America fought and struggledto grow up, lessen her dependence on hermother (country) and find her ownidentity. With leadership from men likeThomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton,Aaron Burr, my man Andrew Jackson, andother true believers like John C. Calhounand Henry Clay, it is small wonder that ournation slugged it through childhood with aschizophrenic national identity. Think of all

the influences youhad-good and bad- inyour formative years: just like you, by theonslaught of puberty America just could notfigure out who or what she was. I callthis Americas Purgatory; you might think ofit as her time in middle school. In any event,its a real mess.

Now, such national and personalchaos carries the danger of self-destructive

behavior; think of the pains of ManifestDestiny and slavery alongside those absurdyears of middle school, in whichboth America and you were getting a bit toobig for your collective britches. Sureenough, in 1861 both Northern andSouthern internal passions exploded in to ahorrendous Civil War, in which both factionstried their darndest to destroy Americasfragile experiment in representativedemocracy. I mean, no one said thisexperiment would be easy, but JEEEZ! Withover 625,000 Americans dead and untoldmaimed for life, this was a devastating,although necessary, growing pain toendure. It would have been preferable forthe nation to have been assigned the fiveyears of the war in ISS, but passions ran fartoo high for that, and consequently fools(many of whom never saw a lick of fighting)

followed their hearts rather than listen totheir brains. (Wow, high school juniorswould NEVER be guilty of that, wouldthey?)

In any event, it is the extraordinaryeffects of this horribly destructive war thatinterests us. Although the Civil War settledsome of Americasadolescent sectionalturmoil (slavery, afterall, is NOT a national policy steeped by anystretch of the imagination in maturity ormorality), it most certainly created new,

more complex problems. And, as aconsequence, America had to discover afact of life that most high school juniors Ihave known throughout my innumerableyears know all too well: when one door ofchaos closes, another flies open, usuallywith far too much force and fanfare. Theopening and closing of these chaotic doorsin your lives is known as high school(particularly your junior and senior years);this newly-opened door of American chaosthat flew open in 1865 and lasted until theturn of the century in 1900 is known by the

name given to it by Mark Twain: the GildedAge.

GROWTH OF AMERICAN BUSINESS ANDAMERICAN LABOR

Section I: The Corporate

Consolidation of AmericanIndustrialization


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The Gilded Age: It all starts and

revolves around $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$(uh, that would be money): making money,making more money, keeping others fromgetting money, making even more money,wallowing around in money, bathing inmoney (ugh, bad visual). Well start wherethe means through which people mademoney underwent a drastic change, the endresult of which was the mass consolidationof American business into the hands of arelatively few people.

THERE ARE SIX BASICS WITHWHICH YOU SHOULD BE INTIMATELYFAMILIAR. First, after the Civil War, ALLof America underwent a change froman agrarian economy toan industrial economy.[1] There areseveral reasons, but primary among them

was post-Civil War Americas status as anemerging world economic power, as in,DOH! we werent one before. To keep upwith those pesky Germans, Russians,sneaky Japanese (who knows what they areup to!) and those infernal British, (who stillwant us back as colonies) we were forced toindustrialize . . . and QUICK!

Secondly, as America began thisindustrialization she discovered that smalllocal markets for locally-producedcommodities (anything that is produced forpurchase is a commodity) were rapidly

growing into large national markets.[2] Consequently, America experienced growth from small local businesses to largenational corporations for the simple factthat local yokel businesses could not keepup with the growing national demand. Thisstill occurs, and you see it all the time: moveover, Joe Bobs Five and Dime, here comeWal-Mart . . . and Target . . . ad naseum.[3]

Thirdly, when a countrys economyundergoes industrialization and her marketsexplode to national, even global,proportions, it becomes incumbent on

government, for the good of the rest of us (ienon-rich), to exercise some sort of control.[4] Herein lies the agenda forthe centralization of economic control; inother words, bringing the control of allAmerican business under a common, orcentral, roof. PHEW!!! YOU SHOULD BESMELLING THE VILE STENCH OFPOLITICS HERE . . . . and youd beright. Because Americans are by nature

hustlers for a quick buck,[5] it is notsurprising that a few wealthy individualswere able to amass huge businessorganizations through measures (legal andotherwise) by which they (a) got very rich,and (b) stayed very rich.

Fourth on our list is probably themost important result of industrialization,and another factor that still existstoday. Simply put, unless you have somerules or regulations to prevent it, massiveindustrialization controlled by a few wealthyindividuals results in a very small upper,wealthy class and a disproportionately hugelower, poor class, a fact very well known tothat dude Marx (Karl, not Groucho). This isknown as a widening of the socio-economic gap (good idea to become VERYfamiliar with that term).[6] Now, there IS amiddle class, but they are neither large

enough, mobile enough, nor politicallypowerful enough to act as a barrier betweenthe two other classes.[7] This is dangerous;revolutions are born this way (back to Fideland Hugo again!) The centralization andconsolidation of economic control withina narrowly-defined faction results inamazing amounts of wealth in oneextreme, and a disproportionate absenceof wealth in the other. Since it really stinksto be poor, lower class working people (youknow, the ones that actually DO THE WORKthat makes the big bucks for the fat cats)

aint gonna play this game for very longbefore they become fed up with it. As aresult, this widening socio-economic gap willresult in growing social dissent (lots of POdpeople) and will introduce bothsocialism[8]and its offshoot, organizedlabor, to America. It wont be pretty, either.

Number five . . . . now, you folksaint dumb; you know what is going tohappen when very rich dudes whodesperately want to stay rich come intocontact with politicians who have the powerto do just that. Oh man, talk about

corruption! More on this later, but for rightnow it is important to know that during thisperiod of industrialization those lovelyfolks in Washington DC will favor thegrowth and stability of big business atthe expense of other aspects of theeconomy (such as agriculture, smallbusiness, etc.) Duh; wonder why?

At last, number six. During thistime, it is obvious that with the advantages
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of government help and centralized control,American business is going to grow rapidly,and I mean human growth hormone-stylegrowth: getting really big really fast. As aresult, and this may not be such a bad thing,the size and scope of Americas economywill grow in proportion with the size to thesize and scope of American business. Inother words, whats good for Americanbusiness is good for America. Of course,that may not be necessarily good for everyaspect of American society, becauseobviously, in this sort of arrangement, noteveryone can share the wealth. Stay tuned,well be looking at this little item a bit downthe road.

Ah, theres one more littlejewel. The worst that could happen to aprospective business tycoon (think of thelittle dude on the Monopoly board) was if

that infernal national government begansticking its nose where it didnt belong:YOUR BUSINESS!! (Hmmm, if you considerthe rotten stench of questionable businessdealings it seemed like the appropriate placefor the governments nose to be . . . gofigure). Anyway, those businessmen andtheir Republican Party cohorts whoguided the consolidation of Americanbusiness developed and supported apolitical-economic policy knownas laissez faire, which simply meant thatthe less the government regulated

business the better off everyone(meaning businessmen) would be. Thispolicy has been the guiding economicprinciple behind party politics eversince. You need to be VERY familiar withthis term: laissez faire, which means nogovernment interference with business.

Section I ESSAYALERT:

Might be a good ideato be able to explain

the six steps of

corporateconsolidation.

Section II. The First BaronsOK, basic premise of business, and

I mean any business at any time,anywhere: anytime you have wads ofavailable (in this case, government) moneyfloating around, you will have expanded

opportunities for corruption andscandal. The more money, the moreopportunities. OK, time to use yourdeductive powers: since the railroads werethe number one top dog big cheese all-encompassing overall business ofbusinesses of the era, to what business doYOU think the bulk of federal money wasmade available? OK, heres anotherone. Because of the ease with which anygoober could grab a share of this federalmoney bonanza, there were (to say theleast) a lot of questionable (and Im beingkind here) business dealings. Because ofthese shady business dealings, theseunscrupulous (a nice way of saying crook)businessmen became known by theirnickname: The Robber Barons.

*The Credit MobilierScandal. One of the first and most famous

of the great railroad scandals (althoughwhen compared to, oh, lets say Enron forexample, it pales by comparison). Still, itshows how the system was manipulated bythese Baron people. First of all, CreditMobilier was a railroadconsulting/construction company formed,owned, and supported by wealthy investors(somethings smelling bad here), including afew members of Congress(WOAH!!! REALLY BIG STINKNOW!!) These bastions of the public trustused their congressional influence to help

Credit Mobilier obtain railroad constructioncontracts, most significantly theTranscontinental Railroad, which had oodlesof federal funding. Now, after receiving thecontract, Credit Mobilier would use sub-standard materials, near-slave immigrantlabor, and any measure to cut costs, whileall the while over-charging thegovernment. Were they successful? Well,they charged the Union Pacific Railroad $94million for a job that actually costs $44million. Fifty million profit? Not bad for adays graft. Still, these guys couldnt hold a

candle to this next dude, the king of therailroad crooks: Jay Gould.*Jay Gould. This guy was a crook, no

other way to put it. Heres how hissuccessful railroad scam worked:

1. Buy old, run down, worthless funkyrailroads whose owners wanted totake their losses and get out of thebusiness . . .and there were many.


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2. Make cosmetic improvement; inother words, paint them, install newcushions, etc, everything butactually repair that which madethem worthless in the first place.

3. Advertise that you are offering stock

in the greatest financial opportunityof the day. Thats right! Dont getleft out! Dont be a doofus! Why bean ordinary slob when now you canbe a railroad owner and get richquick! Call 1-800-IMA-SUCKERNOW!!!!!!![9]

4. When someone buys stock, they willreceive part of the companys profitback in something called a dividend,in other words, their share of theprofit. The more shares of stockyou hold the larger your dividend will

be. Of course, no profit, nodividend. Also, no profit, and stockowners try to sell their stock, and itbecomes less valuable. Gould wasable to get federal funds to improvehis crappy railroads, but instead ofrepairing his trains he paiddividends out of them. See whathes doing? He is making hisstockholders think he is (and theyare) making a profit (due to theirreceiving dividends) and thus isdriving up the value of thestock. When other yokels see this,guess what? THEY WANT SOMEOF THE ACTION, AND ALSO BUYGOULDS STOCK, which is,obviously, absolutely worthless inreal value. It only appears valuablebecause of the dividend paymentscoming from phony profits. Gouldonly did this to drive the value, andhence the price, of his stock up, andwhen he reached the end of hisfederal money (which only he knew)he would sell the entire railroad,lock, stock, and barrel at the phony

inflated price driven high by thephony dividend. The poor suckerswho bought the stock were left torealize that they owned aworthless, crappy railroad withfresh paint and new upholstery . . .one in which they could neverrecover their losses. By the timethe investors realized they had been

cheated, Gould was a million milesaway, laughing all the way to thebank. This was getting punked big-time; compared to Gould and his ilk,MTV aint nothing but a rookie.Oh yeah, the inevitable question: didGould ever get caught? Oh yes,dozens of times. But give him alittle credit here, anyone this brilliantisnt going to stay caught forlong. Gould simply reached deepinto his pockets and avoidedprosecution by bribing lawenforcement officials. Since aGould bribe was often more than apoor cop was making in a year, OlJay paid the man and merrily wentalong his way. He was truly one ofthe greats, and while many argueabout whether all of these business

giants were legitimate or not, no onecan argue that Jay Gould was anout-and-out crook: a true RobberBaron.*Commodore Cornelius

Vanderbilt. Heres a quick quote from theol Commodore: The law? Whatlaw? Who has time for the law? Aint I gotthe power? Any doubt about his feelings forrules, regulation, and fair play? Vanderbiltmade his first fortune in steamboat shippingbefore the Civil War, but because of the warswitched to railroads. Why? Well, because

(a) most rail lines were safely located in theNorth, and (b) unlike steamships, trainsdidnt sink. Anyway, once Vandy discoveredthe unlimited possibilities of making moneythrough the railroads, he jumped at theconcept ofconsolidation, or the combiningof several individual companies in order tocreate one huge company.[10] See, Vandyused the consolidation of several differentrail lines into a larger whole to corner theearly railroad market. Did it work? By 1900two-thirds of all American railroad mileagewas controlled by only seven companies,

and five of those were owned in variousforms by Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt.You tell me if it worked.

Section II ESSAYALERT: How did

the railroadsinfluence:

*Businesspractices
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*The federalgovernmentsrelationshipwithbusiness

*SpeculationSection III: Robber Barons or

Captains of Industry?

*Social Darwinism. Before we evenget to the real heavy hitters, we have tounderstand their motivation, you know, theWHY? of their endeavors.. Yeah, I know,greed is a major incentive to these guys, butthere is also a deeper psychological reasonrunning through their minds: the beliefin Social Darwinism.

In 1859, Charles Darwin changedhuman thought with the publication of hismasterpiece On the Origin of Species.[11] Darwin hypothesized that life on earthhad evolved through the ages through aprocess of natural selection, in which livingbeings either adapted to their environmentand hence continued to grow or died off asother, more robust species took theirplace. In other words, either adjust andadapt or someone else will come and takeyour cookies. In 1894, an English goofnamed Herbert Spencerapplied Darwinsrespected theory to his own pseudo-science

known as Social Darwinism. Spencerdeclared that, like animals in nature, humanbeings in society also evolved in line withnatural selection. In Spencers version, theupper classes in society were successfulbecause they were stronger and fitter thanthe weaker, lower classes. They workedharder, were smarter, and were more willingto do whatever it took to get ahead, whilethe weaker souls were consigned to be theworker bees and let someone take care ofthem. In other words, huge sums of wealthand power were a natural result of survival

of the fittest (a term Spencer himselfcoined). Not surprisingly, the super wealthyadored Spencers theory, as it legitimizedand moralized their claim to social andeconomic superiority. Uh huh, OK.

John D. Rockefeller: Oil. When it

comes to downright cutthroat business, youneed not look further than John D.Rockefeller, the Pit Bull of the Robber

Barons. Rockefeller saw the potential of oilat an early age, and in 1870 formed theStandard Oil Company of Ohio. AsRockefellers oil holdings grew, so did thesheer volume of the amount of oil he wasboth pumping from the ground and refiningin his refineries. Rockefeller waved thisvolume in front of the railroads noses to gainfavorable shipping rates (remember that thecost to ship a product adds to its cost toconsumers). In return, favored railroadswould ensure that they gained Rockysbusiness by offering rebates, or discountsgiven only to Rockefeller in order to keep thehuge volume. In addition, the railroadsfurther sucked up to Rocky by spying andreporting on his competitorsshipments. The ultimate result was two-fold: Rockefeller could do you a favor andoffer to buy you out, or, if you wanted to take

him on, he would simply drop his prices solow that you could not compete with him.[12] He owned so much of the market thathe could afford to take a loss, while hiscompetition could not. I tell ya, he couldsmell your fear a mile away. Rockefellerwas so adept at this that in one six-weekperiod in 1879, he was able to buy out orotherwise obtain twenty-two of his twenty-sixcompetitors. The rest he left to fight overthe scraps.

*Vertical Integration. Rockefeller wasable to corner the oil market through a

process known as verticalintegration. Simply put, he was able to usehis products price as aweapon. How? Easy. The price of oil, thenand now, contains many hidden costs suchas the costs of shipping, containers,pipelines, the storage facilities, therefineries, railroad cars, to mention afew. Now if you had to buy all of these extranecessities from a middleman, their costscould actually control your price. Rockywould have none of that, so he simply cuthis hidden costs by eliminating the

middleman. Rocky made his own stuff:barrels, refineries, pipelines, storage tanks,railroad cars . . . everything that StandardOil used was designed, built, and producedin-house. Rocky owned it all. And thats notall. Because Rockefeller owned all of thepipelines and storage facilities, which hegood-heartedly allowed his poor competitorsto use, he also controlled hiscompetitions railroad access to these
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facilities, which meant that he also controlledtheirshipping prices. This guy didnt miss atrick, because, after all, oil aint much ofnothin if you cant refine it and ship it. Andno one has ever refined it, shipped it, andcontrolled it like John D. Not even theArabs.

*Seizing the market. OK, before wecontinue, we need to look at how these guyswere able to seize and control practically allof the American economy during the GildedAge. Remember when we said that theyused measures, both legal and otherwise, toguarantee that they became and stayedrich? Well, here are some of thosemeasures.

First on our list is the old standard,the monopoly. Indeed, the popularboard game was designed after thisRobber Baron strategy, in which a

single person or company acquirescontrol over all of a givencommodity. Thats why you put allof those hotels onPark Place: to bankrupt your competition.

Secondly, we havethe oligopoly. Sort of a sick cousinto the monopoly, this is the sameexcept that it involves severalpeople or firms that control acommodity.

Thirdly we have the cartel, an ugly

word. This occurs when a few firmsproduce the same commodity,control its price, then control orrestrict its availability toconsumers. Why do I say itsugly? Because today America isenslaved by an Arab oil cartel calledOPEC (the Organization ofPetroleum Exporting Countries), onein which Arab nations produce tonsof oil, then control the price as wellas our access to it. This cartel iswhy we pay so much for gasoline,

and why the Middle Eastmatters somuch to us. Ugly.

I left this jewel, the trust, for thelast, because it is the one thatcaused all the fuss. In an effort tocombat the monopoly, severalstates had laws that forbadecompanies from owning propertyacross state lines. Not aproblem. Rockefeller and the boys

simply formed trusts, in which allstockholders allowed an impartialpanel of trustees control all of theirholdings. Legally, all the stock waspart of a common fund, andtechnically not a monopoly; actuallynothing had changed because youknow that these trustees were in noway impartial. They took theirmarching orders from theRockefellers of the world.

Rockefeller and his kind knew thatthe trust was too transparent to workforever, and they were right. In1890, Congress passedthe Sherman Anti-Trust Act, whichoutlawed any illegal combinationthat restricted competition ortrade. Sounds great, but the Actwas pretty much a

flop. Why? Remember this, troops:it is one thing to pass a law. It isentirely another to enforce it. Whoin their right mind was going to takethe Robber Barons to court whenthey owned the law? For the nextten years, no one. But after the turnof the century . . . . well, youllsee. Dont go away.

*Andrew Carnegie: Steel. Carnegie isthe warm and fuzzy Robber Baron, mainlybecause after he made his fortune he spentthe remainder of his life giving it away. Still,

how he achieved Baron status is a study inMr. Opportunity knocking, then kicking thedoor in.

While a young man visiting England,Carnegie arranged to meet Henry Bessemerand was consequently introducedto Bessemers claim to fame, the BessemerProcess of making steel from pigiron. Sensing the vast potential of steelCarnegie brought the processto America. Once he began to producesteel, his business skyrocketed due to thehuge demand for the new material. Where

Rockefeller used price to control the market,Carnegie used this demand to gain controlover the steel market. Carnegie producedat economies of scale, in which heincreased the amount of production in orderto keep his price low. You know that as longas a demand exists, you can charge a lowerprice and still make money due tovolume. Carnegie could, his competitioncould not. The overall effect was that


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Carnegie was able to bleedhis competitionto a point where they had no choice but tosell out to him at his price . . . which wasalways rock bottom.

Carnegie was a strict adherent toSocial Darwinism, but he also believed thatthe ability to become wealthy was not only aresult of natural selection, but also a giftfrom God. In his book The Gospel ofWealth Carnegie stated that all wealthypeople have an obligation to both God andsociety to give back portions of their fortunesto benefit society. Because of this, Carnegieis best remembered as the founder ofCarnegie Hall, as well as the CarnegieEndowment for the Preservation of WorldPeace. Indeed he was the Baron with theheart of gold.

*JP Morgan: Money. I had to savethis guy for last because he is the kingpin,

the daddy, the godfather of themall. Morgan would be a beast today withlittle adjustment for the passing years. Astestament to his influence, he stillaffects Americas economy today; he is theguy behind Chase Bank . . .that is, JPMorgan and Chase Bank.Morgan was an investment banker; in otherwords, he bought up mediumsuccessful business stocks then sold themfor a profit. The trick here is that, much likeJay Gould, he bought up so much of anindividual stock that the appearance of the

stock selling would prompt other investors toalso buy the stock. When the selling pricebegan to climb, Morgan would sell at aprofit. Because of his success companieswould become dependent upon him to buytheir stock just to get it moving. See theopportunity here? Morgan began to exerttremendous influence over the success ofthese stocks, and because of this he alsogained a disproportionate amount of powerover these companies. Morgan used thispower to demand that his people be placedon the companys board of directors; when

he had enough people on the boards hewould use their votes to outvote theremaining board members. This isa corporate takeover; they still occurtoday.

Morgan had his grubbies ineverything. Unlike Vanderbilt, Rockefeller orCarnegie Morgans holdings covered allaspects of the economy, including railroadsand partnerships with Rockefeller. We are

talking real power here. However, Morgansgreatest achievement was his consolidationof the steel industry. As we have seen,Andrew Carnegie believed that the wealthyshould return some of their wealth tosociety, so while still in his thirties Carnegieretired. Now, he had no intention to sellCarnegie Steel, and when approachedaboard an ocean liner en routeto England by JP Morgan to sell hiscompany Carnegie said no. Morgan toldCarnegie to name his price, but stillCarnegie refused to sell. Finally, afterMorgan approached him at dinner oneevening, to get rid of the pest Carnegiewrote on a napkin the ridiculous sum of$500,000, knowing fully well that Morganwould never pay THAT much. Morgan sentthe napkin back to Carnegie with a $500,000check enclosed. Carnegie sold. With the

Carnegie holdings, Morgan formed UnitedStates Steel, a corporation whose totalworth on paper made it the first billion dollarcorporation.

*Horizontal Integration. Morgansconsolidation of the steel industryillustrateshis philosophy of marketcontrol. While Rockefeller and Carnegiepreferred to eliminate the middleman andthus save money through verticalintegration, Morgan simply believed that thebest way to control the market was to simplyeliminate the competition. In horizontal

integration a company buys up all thecompetition and consequently could careless about controlling costs andprices. Morgan amassed such a personalfortune that, in 1893, when the UnitedStates government went broke due to aeconomic depression, Morgan loaned thecountry the money to bail it out. Jeez, wecould sorta use him now . . . .

OK, one more thing here of vital AP/Dualimportance:

Many people believe that these menwerent any more Robber Barons than wasthe Pope, or even Father SchismaticGillespie. These men, regardless of themeans by which they gained their wealth,still believed that they had a socialresponsibility. All of them, even Rockefellerand Morgan, gave millions of dollars tocharity; many of their contributions are stillactive today. Also, the means by which they


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achieved their wealth might have beenunorthodox and perhaps seem questionable,but with the notable exception of Jay Gouldthey were not entirely illegal.[13] Becausethey did what they did and were relentless intheir determination, they were able to guidethe nation through the stormy seas ofindustrialization, hence their nickname ofCaptains of Industry. In order tocompete economically on a global level andgrow as a modern nation,America had toundergo this journey sooner or later. Underthe watch of these men, America was ableto achieve what she set out to do: becomean industrial behemoth, one with which theworld would be soon forced to reckon.

Section III ESSAY

ALERT: Here are yourquestions:

*Which do youthink they were: RobberBarons or Captains ofIndustry?

*Were theynecessary? Whyor why not?*Wherewould America have been withoutthem?*Compare andcontrast Andrew

Carnegies Gospelof Wealth andHerbert Spencerstheory of Social

Darwinism.

Section IV: Industrialization and the Restof US

Because it was so relentless and

evolved so rapidly, Americanindustrialization had an insatiable

appetite. It gobbled up natural resources,untold tons of money, in some cases socialmorality, but most of, it simplydevoured people. Industry needs labor, asmuch as it can get, and when it cant findenough it goes out hunting for it. During theGilded Age American business fed itsappetite for people in several ways, all ofwhich involved mass movements of people

both immigrating from afar and migratingwithin the United States. *The Second (or New)Immigration. During the Civil War, with allof the able-bodied young men fighting downSouth and thus robbing northern factories oftheir work force, Congress passed the 1864Contract Labor Law, which allowedbusinesses to go overseas (particularlyIreland) and hire workers to come toAmerica. The businesses would pay for theimmigrants passage, a debt the immigrantcould only repay with his labor.[14] Oneproblem: the passage to America cost a lotof money. The immigrant worker was paidvery little money. See where this isheading? Well, you do, and the businessesdid, but unfortunately, immigrants didnt.They were so desperate to get out of theircrappy lives in Europe that they didnt give a

rats patoot about the circumstances underwhich they would be forced to live in order todo so. As such, even after the end of theCivil War, immigrant labor continued to floodinto American cities from acrossthe Atlantic. Unlike the first, or old, waveof immigration in the 1820s and 1830s, inwhich the majority of immigrants camefrom northern and westernEurope (Britain, Ireland, Germany,Scandinavia) this second, or new, surgeincluded multitudes from southern andeastern Europe (Italy, Spain, Greece,

Hungary, Russia, Jews) as well as fromChina.[15]

In any event, by the 1870s and1880s the Robber Barons were turning flipsin the streets due to the influx of all thischeap labor. Factory jobs were incrediblysimple (even a caveman could do it!) andthere were oceans of cheap laborerswandering the streets looking for work. Whocared if they could not speak thelanguage? Who gave a flip if they didnt liketheir hazardous work environment ormeager wages? Say ya dont like it? See

ya! Dont let the door hit you in the butt onyour way out. There are hundreds more(including those recent arrivals fromthe Deep South who used to be slaves) whowill do your job, probably for less money andbe darned glad they have it. Life be goodfor the Barons.[16]

*Migration from Within. Heck,Americans aint stupid. I mean, if wads ofimmigrants are coming over here to take
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easy available jobs in the cities that dontdepend on the weather for a paycheck, dontyou thing Americans know about it also? Asfar as rural Americans were concerned, itwas a no-brainer, and for two very goodreasons. First of all, on the farm, youdepended on several factors in order to getpaid, most of which involved either drought,floods, blizzards, good weather, cropfailures, insects, or whichever mood theAlmightily might be in. Secondly, in thecities lie Mr. Opportunity, just a-knockinaway. There were lots of available jobs, andthe only impediment to getting paid andpossibly getting ahead in life was gettingyour lazy butt out of bed and off towork. Show up, get paid. Case closed. Asa result of this migration, between 1870 and1900 approximately 100 million Americanspulled an opposite Green Acres,[17] by

moving off of the farm and into thecities. Thats a lot of people cramming intoareas that were already full ofimmigrantsand had very little space inwhich to house any new arrivals. If you aresensing trouble here, youre right. Big, nastytrouble.

Life in the City . . . well, to bebrutally honest, it sucked, no way aroundit. Immigrants were drawn to the citiesbecause (a) thats where the only jobs theycould perform[18] were, and (b) thats wherethe other immigrants like them were.

Consequently, the inner cities becamecesspools of filth and disease that isrequisite with massive overcrowding. Mostimmigrants were forced to live in filthy,overcrowded apartment buildings calledtenements, located primarily in the cheapestareas of the cities known as slums. Manydied of diseases born by destitution andpoverty, indeed the infant mortality ratein New York in 1878 hovered around astaggering 70%! However, because theirsheer numbers provided an endless supplyof cheap labor, the ill and infirm were

typically considered not worth the effort tokeep them alive. This tendency was notisolated to New York or the easternindustrial cities; it didnt matter in which cityan immigrant might relocate, their situationwas consistent: outside of their menial laborthey simply didnt matter.

Obviously, these people had nomeans by which they could representthemselves politically. As a result, some

enterprising politicians began to tap thisenormous source of support to buildeffective, powerful politicalmachines. Typically identified with theDemocrats, these men would offerimmigrants that which they could notachieve by any other means: a shot at adecent life. The most infamous of thesebosses was William Boss Tweed, whoran the Democratic political machine inthe immigrant-infested precincts of New

York City. Tweeds organization, known asTammany Hall, was based primarily onimmigrant support and facilitatedthroughTweeds to promise immigrantssanitation, running water, street lights, evenfood and health care in exchange forvotes. Tweeds graft and corruptionextended deep into New York City politicsand was perpetuated by the simple fact that

it mattered not how many votes Tammanyactually received, it mattered only thatTweeds boys counted the votes. Ah,democracy in action.

*Life in the Factory. Urbanimmigrants primarily worked in thefactories. Now, please understandthatworking in a Gilded Age factory was allthe justification for college anyoneneeded. It sucked, and I mean reallybad. Workers had no rights, such as adecent living wage, a safe workenvironment, tolerable hours, and whats

worse, they had no way to obtain anyrights. Factories were filthy places, fit onlyfor subspecies like freshmen, so naturally,we need to go in and take a look around.

Hours. Although some statesrequired that businesses limit theirworkers to no more than ten hoursa day, it was largely ignored. Mostfactories worked as long as theydarn well pleased, which wasusually between twelve and sixteenhours a day, six and seven days aweek. Some employees of

Carnegie Steel, employing thescale of economies philosophy,worked as much as eighty-fourhours a week. Thatll take the fightright out of you.

In the coal mines (an entirelydifferent version of hell) workers wereliterally worked to death due to thepresence of deadly
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toxic and explosive gases[19]andcoal dust, which filled your lungs withpoison. These poor souls wentunderground before

daylight, breathed poison all day,and came back above ground well afterthe sun had set . . . and all for theprivilege of

dying of Black Lung before theirthirtieth birthday, if they were lucky. Piecework. Workers were not

paid by the hour, as they are now,but rather by the amount theyproduced. This iscalled piecework, in which you arepaid a set amount per piece ofwhatever it is you are making. Thefaster you worked, the more youproduced, the more money youmade. The downside? Well,

anytime you get in a hurrysomething suffers, and in this caseit was often safety, and alwaysquality. Today, China suffers fromthis. They make a ton of junk, andproduce it at superhumanproduction rates. We Americans,of course, gobble it up as quicklyas we can. Problem is, the priceand the quality are the same:cheap.

The Sweatshop. REMEMBERTHIS: Labor is always the most

expensive burden a company mustbear. Period. Whether it is atextile mill, automotive plant, orschool district, labor costsmoney. OK, in the GildedAge, companies would cut someof their labor costs by having theiremployees work in absolutehellholes calledsweatshops. Whysweatshops? Because adequateventilation costs money, and cheaplabor simply wasnt worth theadded cost. Sadly, this practice

still pops up from time to time herein America, and far too oftenin Third World countries.[20]

*The Wages of Wages, or what nearnon-existent pay costs you. Pay washorrible in the factories (remember: labor isa burden to employers), and rarely enoughoff of which to live. Immigrant familiesespecially suffered; because their culturescalled for large families they had more

mouths to feed. In order to do so, entirefamilies had to go to work: mom, dad, andyes, the kids. Whether or not your kidsworked often meant the difference betweenfood and starvation.

*Working Girls (no, not THAT kindof work . . . behave!) Girls typically did notwork in factories at as early an age as boys,but by their teens they were forced out ofprimary school and into the factory. Higher-level education (if you want to call it that,what an oxymoron!) was the sole property ofmales, and the responsibility of covering thelost income due to their brothers being atschool fell to the girls. Also, because theywere female, they did not receive the samewage as men. Therefore, when they didreplace men they had to work longer hoursto make the same amount. This is a trapwith no bottom.

*Child Labor. This was Americasgreatest tragedy, and would have neverbeen allowed to exist except that, youguessed it: children worked for practicallynothing! If you could keep the little boogersfrom running amok (which they often did bychaining kids to their machines) you couldactually get a decent days work fromthem. By 1900, one in every five childrenwere full-time employees in factoriesthroughout America.[21] How could thishappen in America? Simple: parentsneeded the income, without it they would

most likely starve.*Charities: Jane Addams

and Hull House. Obviously the horridcondition of poor working families disgustedsome Americans and brought forth a fewefforts to try and offer some relief. After all,there were no government agencies to carefor the poverty-stricken, and with RobberBaron control over Congress there werentgonna be any anytime soon. The mostfamous charity was founded in Chicago byJane Addams, and was called HullHouse. Here, families (native-born

American, immigrant, and African American)could come to take classes to learn how toread, learn English, participate in activities,sometimes even eat . . . anything to taketheir minds away from the drudgery of theirdaily lives. However well-intentioned,facilities like Hull House still cost money,and such charity was frowned upon bythe Social Darwinists who ranthings. Their attitude? Harrumph,
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harrumph . . . poverty, you see, is a socialweakness. Its what you get for being neitherstrong nor fit enough for success. You arepoor because YOURE WEAK!!!!!! WEAK, ITELL YOU, WEAK!!!!! Ahem, so, you see,poverty is your natural, just reward for yourweakness. BECAUSE YOU ARE WEAKBEYOND IMAGINATION!!!!! Charity onlyfeeds this weakness (THAT YOU HAVEBECAUSE YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLYWEAK!!!!!), and is thus harmful tosociety. OK . . . . due to these attitudes, andin a sad irony, charitable facilities such asHull House struggled with their ownexistence while they were trying to help theirconstituents struggle with theirs. Because,we have learned, they were, well . . . .weak. But for how long?

*Contrast and compare the lives of industrial immigrant workers of the Gilded Age and antebelluthe

American South.*Working as an immigrant was no fun.

1. Working conditions2. Demographics of the Gilded Age workforce (men, women, children)3. The demographics of migration and immigration and its affect on American urban li

Section V: The Forgotten Fight Back

You cant just keep on abusing

people before it comes back to bite you inthe rump. See, the reason Mark Twaincalled this era The Gilded Age was that, onthe surface everything appeared wonderfuland prosperous, a society that was trulygolden. But underneath this goldenappearance (or gilding, as Twain called it),in places (such as the inner cities) whereyou dont find proper people, thats wherethe true story and identity of the age dwelledand spread like a virus. No, it wasnt pretty,and subsequently was ignored, and becauseit would only disappear if one chose not to

think about it, it festered . . .andfestered . . .and festered. As a result, justlike an infected sore, it was bound to burst,and burst it did.

*The Socio-Economic GapWidens Even Further. Never in Americanhistory was the gap between the haves andthe have-nots been so wide. Think of this asa the Grand Canyon, with no bridge to crossit. In a healthy socio-economic environment,

the middle class serves as the bridge. Butin the Gilded Age, the have-nots did notcross because there was no viable way todo so. They sat on their side of the socio-economic canyon and became morefrustrated by the day.

Now, those in charge werent sostupid as to not realize the dangers here;after all, such conditions were part of theprime recipe for revolution. As a result, thehave-nots were informed that theirs was nota lost cause and were urged that the key tobecoming a have was to work hard, saveyour money, and one day their ship wouldcome in (like the big boys really believedthis; heck, who do you think owned theseships that were supposedly ready to comein?). A series of rags to riches books,written byHoratio Alger, told inspiringstories of young boys (no girls) living in

near-fatal poverty who picked themselves upby their bootstraps and, through hard workand playing strictly by the rules, were able toachieve a measure of success. While thismeteoric rise did occur from time to time,most notably by Andrew Carnegie (the ragsto riches poster boy) it was the promise,rather than the reality, of success that wassupposed to keep the working multitudes atbay. By late century, it wasnt working.

*The Blessing and Curse of theImmigrants. Remember the second (new)immigration? Well, these folks brought more

with them than the Mafia, pasta, and knishes(a Jewish food). They brought revolution.Most of the new immigrants originated frompolitical backgrounds in which they had nocontrol over whom or what governedthem. As such, they had no way ofexercising that lovely consequence ofLockers Social Contract (REVIEW: Whatcan the people do if their rights are beingabused by the government?), nor could theyexercise any form of free speech. (Well, Isuppose they could, but they would end up

jailed or dead, in which case discretion is the

better part of valor . . . in other words, thesmart money said keep your mouthshut.) Because of this they were readylisteners when a new idea of social justice(or anything that would improve their lot inlife) bounced down the path. In 1848, areally bouncy idea popped up, and a wholebunch of folks listened . . .and listened well.

* Karl Marx andSocialism. Theres that dirty word:


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socialism. There was a time in Americanwhere I could be jailed for writingthis. Seriously. It continues to be a loadedword, it remains a controversy to ustoday. Simply put, Americans arecapitalists, and pure capitalists hatesocialism. Case closed.

In 1848, a German professor namedKarl Marx collaborated with Frederick Engeland wrote one of the most powerful andinfluential books of all time: TheCommunist Manifesto. In this book Marxand Engel lay forth their argument againstthe injustice of European industrial society,stated their theory of why and how itoccurred, and most ominously, presented aplan by which it could beeliminated. IMPORTANT TOREMEMBER: You must understand thatMarxs ideas held tremendous appeal for

poor people because they offered hope,and when you realize that at any giventime in human history the majority of theworlds people will be living in poverty,you can understand how truly powerfulKarl Marx was . . . and still is.Socialism is a social, political, andeconomic philosophy thatpromotes public ownership (meaningownership by all of the people) of the meansof production,[22]as opposed to thecapitalists desire forprivate ownership. ToMarx, the only way for this to occur was for

the workers to rise up together andoverthrow (through violent revolution ifnecessary) the capitalists and forcibly seizethe means of production. In the CommunistManifesto Marx famously wrote Workers ofthe world, unite! You have nothing to losebut your chains. Once this occurred, thewealth of a country could be evenlyand equallydistributed to all citizens,eliminating the presence of socio-economicclasses. Everyone would hold hands, quitbathing, sing Kumbayah, and worktogether for the betterment of the society as

a whole. No rich, no middle class, nopoor. In Marxs words from each accordingto his abilities to each according to hisneeds.

Most Americans saw (and stillregard) socialism as a threat to Americanideals such as free enterprise,[23] liberty,and property. From our twenty-first centuryperspective, in which we have battledsocialism all over the world for over one

hundred years, we know its limitations,witnessed it weaknesses, and see how, inmost cases, it simply doesnt work.However, in nineteenth century America thiswas a huge threat, and when paired with theenormous numbers of hacked-off poorworking people to whom socialism is aimed,it scared the pants off of folks. They wereright to be worried: the garden was ripe forplanting socialism in America; someoneneed only to sow the seed.

*The Anarchists. There wasanother screwy philosophy headinginto America during the New Immigration:anarchy. Simply put, anarchists oppose ALLforms of government, even government bythe people. They supported the violentoverthrow of governments everywhere, sortof a social-political Al Qaida of its day. True,most of them were out and out kooks and

nutcases, but they were dangerous kooksand nutcases. The real only thing that theyhad in common with the socialists was theirhatred of the status quo (Latin, meaning theway things are) and the rights of theworking class. Now, Socialists were goofyand scary, but not nuts like the anarchists. Itis the combination of these two groups, bothintentional and unintentional, that will causeproblems, serious problems, and end ofcosting hundreds of lives.

*America: Meet the LaborUnion. First of all, lets get this

straight: while their basic beliefs are similar,not all labor unions are socialist bynature. Its hard to envision the members ofthe NFL Players Union, which consists of acollection of twenty-something year oldmillionaires, willingly giving it all up to therest of society so they can live on someCalifornia commune with women who dontshave their legs or armpits. The fact thatthey are millionaires runs opposite to thebasic concept of socialism, a classlesssociety. That said, I can now look at howsocialism lay the groundwork for the

American labor movement without fear ofpersonal bodily injury, property damage, orGOD FORBID offending anyone.

American workers REALLY liked theidea of their owning their own labor, andadmit it: it makes sense. If a companysresearch and development departmentcreated and patented a machine to do thesame work as a person, the company wouldown the machine, right? Ok, same
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concept. Company provides labor throughmachine, company owns labor. Workerprovides labor through his own work, workerowns labor. This led workers to the idea(and a good one) that separate we arenothing to thebosses. However, togetherwe pose ahuge chunk of their profit, because withoutourcollective work (the sum of their labor,which is the finished product), they aintgetting squat. Consequently, if we bandtogether and a go to the boss as a group wecan negotiate a deal for use of our labor. Inother words, we can goin collectivelyand bargain a price for ourlabor. This is the basic foundation of theAmerican labor union: the right ofcollective bargaining for specificgoals. Without this, unions cannot function,because their strength is ALWAYS in

numbers. How unions can get obtain thesegoals is the second basic idea behind theunion: the strike. Give us what we want orwe will refuse to work and shut you down. Itworks, and really well.

Labor unions have been aroundsince before the Civil War. One of the firstunions was the Knights of Labor, formed in1869. The Knights were an industrialunion, meaning that they allowed anyoneskilled, unskilled, black, white male, andfemale to join. The Knights basicweakness was that they forgot the basics

idea of the labor unioncollectivebargaining for specific goalsand insteadfocused on pie in the sky idealism such asaffordable housing, and end todiscrimination, and womens rights. Thesewerent labor issues; theywere socialissues, and as such fit more of asocialist agenda than the goals of a laborunion. The adverse side affect? Theseissues attracted the poor and displaced, butalso anarchists and revolutionaries, ademographic that would haunt organizedlabor for years. On the management side,

well, American businessmen couldntprovide these even if they wanted to. Inaddition, the Knights found the strike to bedistasteful, and lets face it: if there is nodanger of being shut down and losingmoney why in the world would a businesseven listen to the Knights? Youre right,they didnt.

*Haymarket Square

. In 1886, a primarily-German anarchistgroup associated with the Knights of Laborheld a demonstration outside of theInternational Harvester factory in Chicago ina park known asHaymarket Square. The gathering was designed to protestworker demands for an eight hour work day,as well as explain the virtues of socialismand anarchism (if there are indeed any toexplain). To keep the peace, InternationalHarvester called upon the mayor to sendpolice to keep the mob peaceful. All wasgoing fairly well until one of those idiotanarchists threw a bomb into the crowd,killing a policeman. The police fired into thecrowd, and a riot broke out. The overalleffect was that Americans all over thecountry associated the anarchists bombingwith the Knights of Labor, and with labor

unions in general, and this gave America abad taste in its mouth regardingunions. Haymarket pretty much finished offthe Knights; they were borderline socialists,and by the 1890s had gone the way of thedinosaur: extinct.

In 1886, a New York cigar makernamed Samuel Gompers formed theAmerican Federation of Labor (AFL). TheAFL was a craft union, meaning itsmembership was restricted to those whohad a specific craft: machinists,shoemakers, electricians, etc. Also, when

the AFL went to bargain with managementthey focused on specific meat andpotatoes issues such as working hours,wages, and working conditions: items thatcould be provided by the company. Lastly,the AFL was a true believer in the strike, andthey used it quite well. The result ofGompers creation and leadership is that theAFL is still with us today, and one of themost powerful labor unions in America.

*The GreatStrikes: Homestead and Pullman. Twoviolent incidents in the 1890s dealt the

American labor movement a near-fatal blow:the Homestead Steel Strike and PullmanRailroad Strike.In 1892, the Carnegie Steel Millin Homestead Pennsylvania decided to cutcosts by replacing human workers withlabor-saving machinery. Knowing full wellthat the union would go nuts over this, millmanager H.C. Frick (Carnegie wasvacationing in Scotland, but the cost saving


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idea was all his) declared that from thatpoint on, all bargaining with labor would bedone on an individual basis, and NOTcollectively. Of course, the union protestedwhat amounted as a union-busting move,and struck the mill the next day. Frickretaliated by hiring scabs (non-unionworkers to work in place of union workersduring a strike) along with three hundredPinkerton detectives to protect them. Thestrikers attempted to storm the mill to get atthe scabs, but were fought off by thePinkertons, who realized that eventually thestrikers would storm and seize themill. Consequently, the following morning,the detectives floated up the MonongahelaRiver on barges in order to sneak in theback way and defend the building from theinside. The strikers, however, was waiting,and opened fire on the detectives. Rather

than face a fate of either drowning or beingshot, the Pinkertons finally surrendered. Alltold, six Pinkertons and three workersdied. Six days later the PennsylvanisNational Guard showed up to escort thescabs to and from work, and as time wenton striker resistance faded. Tensions ranhigh for six months, when at last unionopposition ceased. The damage to theunion was catastrophic, and not becausethey lost lives. Then and now, unionsdepend on the support of the Americanpeople, and the violence and sight of

soldiers protecting Americans going to workwas enough to convince most Americansthat labor unions were bad news, and mostdefinitely un-American.

The death blow for the Americanlabor movement in the late nineteenthcentury occurred in 1894 atthe Pullman Palace Car Companyin Pullman, Illinois. The townof Pullman was supposedly a modelcompany town in which all employees wererequired to live and shop. In 1893, with thecountry in the midst of a depression, the

Pullman company laid off over half of itsworkforce of 5,500, cut the remainingworkers wages anywhere from 25% to 40%,while at the same time actually raisingtheworkers rent and bills. Well, that dog aintgonna hunt, so the American RailwayUnion[24]went on strike. It is important toremember that Pullman had a monopoly onrail cars; every train that rode the rails did sowith Pullman cars. When the union struck,

they refused to build anymore cars, andwhen the railroads cars began to fall apart,they were up the creek. Railroad trafficacross the country ground to ahalt. Knowing what you do about theimportance of the railroad, you can seewhere this is a huge problem for the entirecountry.The Illinois state attorney called forPresident Grover the Rover Cleveland tosend in the army, but Cleveland respondedthat the Constitution would not allow him tointerfere with the strike unless the operationof the federal government wasthreatened. This is where Grovers lightwent on (one of the few times thatClevelands light going on did not involve awoman; they didnt call him the Rover fornothing), because the trains were the ONLYmethod by which the mail was

delivered. Because the post office was agovernment agency, Grover could legallysend in the army to protect the mail. He did,and soon afterward the strike wasbusted. Once again, the union was seen asthreatening the American way of life, andafter the Pullman strike American unionswent into hiding for the next 50 or soyears. They will, however, be back.

Section V ESSAY ALERT:*What was the appeal of

Marxism on urban immigrant

industrial workers? Explain.*Examine the

relationship between socialismand the labor movement.

*Contrast and comparethe Knights of Labor and theAmerican Federation of Labor.

1. Membership2. Agenda/goals3. Reasons for

success/failure*Contrast and compare

Haymarket Square

, the Homestead strike, and thePullman Strike.

[1] We know that the North had beendeveloping an industrial society since the
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days of the Lowell Girls, but this agendatook off on socio-economic steroids afterthe war. The South . . . well, better late thannever, huh?[2] Think back to the birth of the marketeconomy in the early 1800s . . . turnpikesand canals stoked Americas first ventureinto a market-driven economy; after the warthe advent of the railroad would accelerateand expand this growth to unprecedented,national (and ultimately global) levels.[3] As in on and on; its enough to make youpuke![4] Pay attention to this, it will become VERYimportant when we discuss things such associalism, communism, Fidel Castro, andHugo Chavez.[5] Dr. Walter McDougal has written a three-volume history of the United States basedupon his argument that the history

of America is the history of hustlers. Makesa good point, too.[6] Socio-economic class simply meansbasing the members of a societys personalstatus on how much wealth they have . . . ordont have. You know, the haves and thehave nots. Or like teachers, the have nolives.[7] It is important to remember that a solid,mobile middle class is the basis for anysuccessful capitalist (ie democratic)government.[8] LOTS more on this later, but as a VERY

simplistic point of reference socialism is apolitical-economic system that stressespublic ownership of business, rather thanprivate ownership. Because of the sheersize of industrial society and economy,socialism typically comes in various formsdepending on the amount of socialintegration of the economy (a majorargument in DC right now).[9] Well, yes, they did have telephones backthen, but no 800 service. Just part of apathetic joke on my part; get used tothem. They are all I have.

[10] Today we call this a corporate merger,as in Time Warner or Exxon Mobile. Sameanimal, different name. Ethical? Notalways. Legal? Yep. Lucrative? Oh myGod yes![11] With his theory of evolution and itspremise of natural selection Darwin alsoguaranteed that preachers all over the worldwould always have a Sunday morning

sermon topic: Evolution versusCreationism. The debate goes on.[12] Many times Rockefeller would just drophis price to equal the size of the shippingrebates he was receiving, while directing hisrailroads to increase the shipping price of hiscompetition. This dude was a Great White-variety shark.[13] Plain and simple: you cant break a lawthat doesnt exist.[14] Back in colonial times, joint stockcompany stockholders did the same thing tostock Jamestown with English settlers; youremember it as indentured servitude.[15] Important to notice that while the firstimmigration, with the obvious exception ofIrish, were of German, Scandinavian, andEnglish descent (ie Protestant) andconsequently were basically like mostnative-born Americans in the 18th century,

folks in the second immigration werenot. They spoke strange languages, hadweird social habits, and worse of all: theywere Catholic or Jewish. This aint gonnago over well. And dont even go there withthose Chinamen . . .[16] It shouldnt come as a surprise that thecompetition for jobs among immigrantworkers, native born American workers, andnewly-freed African Americans got a tadtesty at times. In some cases, blood flowedin the streets as the factions fought eachother over available jobs. American workers

hated the foreign workers because theyworked for less money and therefore tookAmerican jobs, and everyone hated theformer slaves. When you spend over twohundred years working for noting, a penny isas fortune. They worked cheaper thaneveryone.[17] Sometimes I forget how young you are,or, rather, how old I am. Green Acres wasa bad television show about a rich NewYork lawyer who sold everything and moved(with his ditzy Hungarian wife) to a reallycrappy farm in a place called Hooterville

(really, that was the name of the town). Bestthing about the show was his next doorneighbor, Arnold the Pig. Yep, it was THATbad, dahling.[18] These poor folks possessed nomarketable skills or education, heck, mostcouldnt even speak thelanguage. Consequently when they arrivedin America they were fresh meat for thosewho would prey upon their condition . . . and
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prey they did. The only advantage theypossessed was, despite their condition, atleast they were white . . . which open up awhole new can of worms.[19] Miners would take a caged canaryunderground with them before working in ashaft. If the bird died, they knew there waspoisonous gas present, and the air wouldhave to be evacuated before they could getto work. If the bird lived, they knew that theair was relatively safe . . . for the timebeing. The bird stayed with them the entiretime they were underground; their livesdepended on it.[20] A few years back, Nike came under firefor using sweatshop laborin Vietnam. Those $150.00 Air Jordans onlycost about $20 bucks (mostly in materials) tomake, so to cut labor costs Nike outsourcedthe production to Vietnam, where workers in

that Communist workers paradise wereworking in absolute squalor and makingaround a buck a day. When Americanoutrage produced zilch from Nike founderPhil Knight, Americans turned their angertowards His Airness: Michael Jordan.[21]By children were talking about kidsbetween five and sixteen years old, with themajority being in the ten to fourteen year oldrange[22] Means of production includeseverything-buildings, transportation,machinery, raw materials, and yes, labor-

required to produce a commodity. Marxargued that only the workers could own theirlabor, so naturally they had the right to anypart of profit for which their labor wasresponsible. Not a popular idea herein America.[23] Free enterprise is the right to create andown your own business, from which youreceive the profits if you do well or bear thelosses of you dont. BillGates lovesAmerican free enterprise; inmost socialist countries he would have beenforced to turn over Windows to the

government and work for the military.[24] The American Railway Union wasfounded by Eugene V. Debs. Later on,Debs will run for president as a Socialist,and come darned close to winning, receivingover 500,00 popular votes. Moreon Eugene further down the line.
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the gilded age 1865

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