Big Business and Labor
Ch 6-3
Andrew Carnegie
• Carnegie Steel Company-Attempted to
control as much of the steel industry as he
could by vertical and horizontal
integration.
• Vertical integration- He owned his own
railroad lines, coal fields as well as iron
mines.
• Horizontal Integration- he then bought
out most of the other steel suppliers.
Social Darwinism
• Charles Darwin came up with a philosophy in
1859. He describes how some species flourish
and pass their traits along to the next
generation.
• Natural Selection- survival of the fittest/the
ones who adapted survived those that did not
adapt died off.
• Laissez faire- French term meaning “allow to
do.” A policy that did not want government
intervention in business.
• Herbert Spencer applied Darwinism to the
evolution of society and to business.
• Some believed that riches were a sign of God’s
favor and those that were poor were lazy and
inferior.
John D. Rockefeller
• Monopoly- when a company owns an entire
industry.
• Rockefeller owned Standard oil Company and
within a decade he controlled 90% of the nations
oil business.
• Because he owned the majority of the oil
business he was able to hike up the prices and
people had nowhere else to turn but to him to
buy oil.
• People referred to them as the Robber Barons.
• He was the worlds first billionaire. In today’s
standards he would be worth 20 billion dollars.
Breaking Monopolies
• Many companies would form a trust, or a
special bond where competing companies
would agree to work together. Imagine
Coke and Pepsi working together.
• The Sherman Antitrust Act made it illegal
to form a trust.
Labor Unions
• Many jobs in the late 1800’s worked 12 or
more hours a day, six days a week, no
lunch, no vacation, no sick days, and no
reimbursement if you get injured at work.
• 675 people died each week from work
related accidents.
• 1899-women earned $267 per year. Men
earned $498. Children worked 14 hours
and made 27 cents a day. Andrew
Carnegie made $23 million. Is this fair?
Does it happen today?
• Poor working conditions and low wages
forced workers to form unions.
• In order to fight the injustices that laborers
suffered Unions such as the National
Labor Union (NLU) were formed on a large
scale.
• Because African Americans were not
allowed to join the union they formed the
CNLU (Colored National Labor Union).
• The Knights of Labor was later developed
and allowed all people to join regardless
of race.
• Unions used different tactics such as strikes.
• Successful strikes brought the work week down
form 54 hours to 48. They also helped raise
wages from $17.50 to $24 per week.
• Homestead Strike June of 1892-At the
Carnegie Steel Company wages were cut and
workers went on strike. Scabs were hired to
replace the workers on strike and guards from
the Pinkerton Detective Agency were hired to
protect the steel plant. Steelworkers forced the
Pinkertons out and the strike continued until
November. 3 Pinkertons and 9 Steelworkers
died in the violent strike.
Child Labor Laws
• Women were excluded from many unions.
• However women did demand better working
conditions, equal pay, and an end to child labor.
• Mary Harris Jones (aka Mother Jones)-She took
80 children working in mills to the home of
President Theodore Roosevelt. This act
influenced the passage of child labor laws.
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire- Fire killed 146
women in the garment industry when all doors
were locked except for one in order to prevent
theft.
• The factory was found not guilty and a task force
was set up by the state of New York to study
factory working conditions.