THE GILDED AGE TERMS
Industrial Union
A type of labor organization that unites all workers within a particular
industry, regardless of craft or specific job, within one union. The American
Railways Union was an industrial union. It united all workers within the
railroad industry, such as firemen, brakemen, laborers in railroad car
manufacturing plants, and railroad yard employees in the same union.
An alliance of all workers within an industry regardless of their particular
craft or skill level. For example, the American Railways Union, founded in
1893, combined fireman and brakemen, engineers and railroad car
manufacturing workers within the same labor alliance.
Craft Union
A type of labor organization that unites only the members of particular trade
or craft. The American Federation of Labor, founded in 1886, increased the
strength of independent craft unions by uniting them under one
organizational umbrella.
An alliance of workers in a particular trade such as carpenters or masons.
Also called a trade union.
Vertical Integration
This refers to the method used by Andrew Carnegie and other indutrialists to
gain control over their industries. It involved controlling all aspects of the
production process. In Carnegie's case, he owned not just steel mills, but
also coal mines, coke refineries, iron ore barges, and railways.
Horizontal Integration
This refers to the method used by John D. Rockefeller and other
industrialists to gain control over their industries. It involved controlling one
aspect of the production process. Rockefeller eventually controlled 90% of
the nation's oil refining capacity.
Monopoly
A company that lacks meaningful competition in its market, thus achieving
such a degree of control over its market that it has the power to manipulate
prices.
When an individual or single company dominates a particular industry or
controls virtually the entire market for a particular good or service, a
monopoly exists.
Domination over a particular area of business or trade.
Pinkertons
Founded by Allan Pinkerton in 1850, the Pinkerton Detective Agency
functioned initially as an adjunct to local law enforcement officials. During
the Civil War, Pinkerton assisted Union espionage efforts in the South. But
by the late nineteenth century, Pinkertons, or Pinkerton Guards, were most
widely recognized as the private security forces hired by industries to protect
their property during strikes.
Bessemer Process
Developed in England by Henry Bessemer in 1855, the Bessemer process
was a way of producing large quantities of steel efficiently and affordably.
By pumping air through a furnace or converter filled with molten iron, the
impurities within the iron were burned out yielding high grade steel. Andrew
Carnegie recognized the value of the new technology, especially for the
construction of steel railroad rails, and made the first large-scale use of it in
American industry in 1873.
Dumbbell Tenement
This was a style of tenement housing that became quite widespread in New
York City in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Dumbbell
tenements were named for the shape of their floor plans; the buildings were
as wide as their lots at the front and back, but narrower in the middle,
leaving lightwells between neighboring tenements to allow a certain amount
of fresh air to reach the interior of the structures. While the dumbbell
tenements were supposed to be more healthy than their predecessors (which
often filled their entire lots, leaving many apartments with no windows to
access to light or fresh air), the dumbbell tenements often became badly
overcrowded with immigrant tenants crowded into tiny living spaces in
unsanitary conditions.
Tammany Hall
This was the Democratic political organization that dominated New York
City politics from the mid-1850s through the 1920s. It drew much of its
electoral strength from the city's immigrant population. Political bosses like
George Washington Plunkitt cultivated political support by providing jobs
and services to working-class immigrant voters.
Industrial Paternalism
This was the philosophy implemented by George Pullman at his plant near
Chicago. Believing that industrialists had an obligation to care for their
workers, he surrounded his factory with a company town complete with
schools, parks, and churches. But workers complained that rents and utility
prices were higher in Pullman than in neighboring towns. Their
dissatisfaction with Pullman Town contributed to their decision to strike in
1894.
Pullmans Palace Car Company
Founded by George Pullman, this company designed and built railroad
sleeping cars. Pullman designed his first sleeping car in 1857, but he did not
establish Pullmans Palace Car Company until 1867. In that year he also built
a factory outside Chicago. Believing that employers had an obligation to
care for their workers, Pullman built a town next to his factory, complete
with schools, parks, and churches, for his employees in 1880. Pullman Town
still stands as a monument to Pullman's labor philosophy labeled industrial
paternalism,
Socialist
Socialists advocate, to varying degrees, government ownership and/or
control of major industries. During the Gilded Age, some economic
reformers called for socialistic reforms such as the ownership of railroads
and public utilities.
Gilded
Merriam-Webster's defines gilded as "to overlay with or as if with a thin
covering of gold."56 Mark Twain suggested that the decade after the Civil
War was gilded because a façade of wealth thinly veiled the political and
economic corruption plaguing American society.
Political Machine
The term refers to the political organizations that dominated politics in
American cities during the late nineteenth century. Machines, like Tammany
Hall, were criticized for cultivating electoral support by distributing
government jobs and contracts to voters and donors. Many political
machines were also characterized by graft—the use of political power to
advance the private interests of machine leaders.
Pool
In a pool or cartel industrial competitors make informal or "gentlemen's"
agreements about production levels and pricing. Critics charged that these
violated the competitive principles of the marketplace. Defenders argued
that they eliminated the irregularity and wastefulness of unregulated
markets.
Holding Companies/Trusts
While technically different, holding companies and trusts operated in much
the same way. They were large partnerships, formed by ostensibly
competing companies in order strengthen their control over the market
without violating anti-monopoly laws. In these partnerships, the stock
certificates from several companies were exchanged for trust certificates,
and then a board of trustees exercised governance over all of the
theoretically independent companies within the trust or holding company.
Laissez Faire
This French phrase, meaning literally "let do," or "leave alone," is most
commonly used to describe a set of economic theories that supports
maximum private freedom and minimal government interference in the
economy. During the Gilded Age, laissez faire advocates argued that
government involvement hindered economic development and distorted the
natural and equitable forces of economic progress. Government intervention
was considered tantamount to "class legislation"—an unjust and artificial
reallocation of economic resources and power from one group to another.
Crédit Mobilier
This firm was at the center of the largest and most high-reaching scandal
during the presidential administration of Ulysses S. Grant. The Crédit
Mobilier was a railroad construction company owned by Union Pacific
executives and major stockholders that over-charged the federal government
for construction costs. When allegations of fraud were levied against the
company, government officials, including President Grant's vice-president,
Schuyler Colfax, shielded the company from government investigation in
return for company stock.
Hamiltonian
The term refers to a set of beliefs about government support for national
economic development first advanced by Alexander Hamilton, the nation's
first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton supported the creation of a national
bank and protective tariffs. Later "Hamiltonians" supported government
funding of internal improvements such as roads, canals, harbors, and
railroads.
Whigs
The Whig Party grew out of the National Republican faction of the
Republican Party during the 1830s. Led by John Quincy Adams, Henry
Clay, and Daniel Webster, Whigs believed that government power should be
used to advance economic, social, and cultural improvements such as roads,
canals, harbors, schools, and scientific institutions. Divided over the issue of
slavery, and left leaderless by the deaths of Clay and Webster, the party
collapsed during the 1850s. But many of its principles, including a belief in
the value of federal action in promoting economic development, were
retained by the Republican Party of the late nineteenth century.
Sabbatarianism
This nineteenth-century reform movement sought to impose restrictions on
business activities and entertainment on Sundays out of respect for the
Christian Sabbath.
States' Rights
This was a broad collection of beliefs that emphasized the powers reserved
to the states under the Constitution. Most states' rights theorists argued that
the federal government's powers were expressly defined by the Constitution,
and that federal law-makers and officials should confine themselves to a
narrow and literal interpretation of federal powers.
A broad collection of beliefs that emphasized the powers reserved to the
states under the Constitution. Most states' rights theorists argued that the
federal government's powers were expressly defined by the Constitution, and
that federal law-makers and officials should confine themselves to a narrow
and literal interpretation of federal powers.
During the nineteenth century, this was a broad collection of beliefs that
emphasized the powers reserved to the states under the Constitution. Most
states' rights theorists argued that the federal government's powers were
expressly defined by the Constitution, and that federal lawmakers and
officials should confine themselves to a narrow and literal interpretation of
federal powers.
Populists
The Populists, or People's Party organized during the 1890s to secure
political and economic reforms benefitting farmers and, to a lesser extent,
industrial workers. The party ran its first presidential candidate in 1892 and
adopted a platform calling for increased government regulation of the
railroads, the substitution of income taxes for property taxes, the creation of
government storage and credit facilities, labeled regional subtreasuries, that
would loan farmers money while they waited for crop prices to rise, and the
free coinage of silver in order to increase the nation's money supply.
The Grange
The Grange, or the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, was founded in 1867 to
address the problems confronting American farmers during the second half
of the nineteenth century. Unable to afford useful but expansive new
technologies and faced with high storage and transportation costs, the
Grange established machinery and storage cooperatives, and campaigned for
increased government regulation of the railroads.
The Grange was also a social organization. It organized activities such as
dances and quilting bees to combat the loneliness of rural life.
Farmer's Alliance
Following the example set by the Grange, the Farmers Alliance was founded
in Texas in 1876 to address the problems confronting American farmers
during the second half of the nineteenth century. The Alliance formed
equipment and marketing cooperatives, encouraged federal regulation of the
railroads, and developed a plan for government storage and credit facilities,
labeled regional subtreasuries, that would loan farmers money while they
waited for crop prices to rise. In 1892, Farmers' Alliance leaders joined
others farmer advocates in calling for a third party leading to the founding of
the Populist or People's Party.
Knights Of Labor
Founded in 1869, the Knights of Labor sought to build a comprehensive
labor organization uniting workers of all races, genders, ethnicities, and
occupations. The Knights campaigned for the eight-hour day, child labor
restrictions, and the initiative and referendum. More fundamentally, they
sought to build more cooperative labor-management relations; they
envisioned industries governed by councils of workers and managers within
genuinely democratic, and ultimately collectively owned enterprises.
During the 1880s, the Knights grew rapidly, especially after successfully
coordinating a strike against the Southwest Railroad System. By 1886 it had
750,000 members. But after an eight-hour day rally at Chicago's Haymarket
Square turned violent in 1886, the public image of the Knights deteriorated
and membership collapsed. Even though an unaffiliated pair of anarchists
was convicted for initiating the Haymarket violence, the Knights were found
guilty in the public eye by association.
Wildcat Strike
This refers to a spontaneous labor action, one not called or organized by a
union.
Free Silver
This referred to the proposal advanced by the Populists and other currency
reformers interested in expanding the nation's money supply. While fiscal
conservatives argued that all currency should be backed by gold, ensuring a
limited supply of money with a certain, fixed value, others suggested that the
money supply should be expanded through the introduction of "greenbacks"
or the unlimited coining of silver. Free silver proponents generally suggested
that silver should be valued at a ratio of 16 to 1—sixteen ounces of silver
would equal one ounce of gold.
Anarchism
This refers to a diverse collection of social and political philosophies. The
form most common to America at the turn of the century was associated
with Emma Goldman. She sought to replace the repressive institutions of
capitalism, and the governments that served them, with a society based on
the "free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social
wealth." Goldman, and other anarchists, tended to view labor associations,
rather than private corporations or the government, as the sort of "free
grouping" that should govern society and manage the economy.