Industrial Supremacy
Notes
Comments/Analysis
- National Economy was transformed by development
in the 1900s
- the development included a new economy because
the developments such as steel led to a increase in
industries
-New forms of corporate organization rose as industrial
growth increased
- as industrial growth increased so did corporation
because people saw them as a better more efficient
way to run the factories and organizations
- The physical landscape of the country changed
- The landscape changed because cities increased as the
industries increased which led to the increase of
railroads throughout the nation
- The social landscape changed as well
- the social landscape changed as the divisions between
classes increased caused be the standards of the upperclass increasing and the lower class decreasing
Summary:
The country was rapidly changing as the industries grew. The changing industries led to a difference in social
classes as people became more successful causing others to sink further into poverty at the upper classes
dispense. Also as the industries increased the country itself increased because the cites increased. The two
changes were direct results of the changing/ developing industries and economy.
Key Terms: pg463-477
Sources of Industrial Growth
Industrial Technologies
New Steel Production Techniques (464) – 1st development= converted Fe into durable steel by blowing air into
molten Fe to burn out impurities= Bessemer process because Henry Bessemer developed it; 2 nd development=
making steel in an open hearth= Abraham Hewitt// together steel could be produced in lrg quantity, lrg
dimensions
Pittsburg (464) – center of the steel industry because bituminous coal was easily mined in W Pennsylvania= coal
used to fuel steel furnaces
Rise of the Petroleum Industry (464) – rose because PA business man George Bissell found tht petroleum could be
burning in lamps= products= lubricating oil= oils advance in demand= petroleum’s advance in demand= 1870s, oil
4th most common export of US
The Airplane and the Automobile
Developments that made it possible (465) – creation of gasoline (or petrol) & the gas powered engine (German
Nicolaus Otto mid 1860s= portable machine)
Charles and Frank Duryea (465) – built the 1st gasoline automobile in US 1903
Henry Ford (465) – produced his 1st famous car 1906
Wright Brothers (Wilbur and Orville) (466) – they owned a bike shop; constructed a glider tht could be propelled
through the air w/ internal engine, 1904 created one in which they could take a few people w/ them= 1 st airplane
Research and Development
Corp Research and Development (467) – corp research labs led to decrease in gov support of research= helped
corps to get skilled researchers tht once worked 4 the gov & decentralized sources of research funding ( corps
created by companies budgeting $100s each yr 4 research from their own engineers and scientists
The Science of Production
“Taylorism” (467) – name for the new principles of scientific management, named after theoretician Frederick
Taylor= employers reorganize production process by subdividing tasks= manage human labor to make it
compatible w/ demands & increase mangers control over workplace
Moving Assembly Line (467) – intro by Henry Ford, became standard 4 industries= way to make wages higher and
time lower
Railroad Expansion
Importance of the Railroad (468) – Populated regions in the West= created a standard time in the US (4 regions
each an hr apart so tht rides could be organized throughout the nation)
Expansion of the Railroad (468) – created modern corp cause people realized not a single group of limited partners
could finance it; trackage increased, by 1870 tracks were everywhere in the NE and semi in the SE regions of the
nation, but by 1890 there were tracks connecting the West to the E coasts though there were not as many lines in
the West
The Corporation
Limited Liability (469) – investors only risked the amount of $ they invested, not liable for the corp depts =
appealed to investors
Andrew Carnegie (469) – an industry man; one of the wealthiest men in US History; Scottish immigrant, 1873
opened his own steelwork , soon dominated the industry, made deals w/ railroad, bought coal mines, dominated
by controlling all of the aspects needed to have a steelwork business
New Managerial Techniques (470) – relied on division of responsibility, hierarchy control, cost accounting
procedures, business executive = mid manager who was a layer between workers and owner
Consolidating Corporate America
Horizontal Integration (470) – combo of firms in a single corp
Vertical Integration (470) – taking over diff businesses tht the company relies on to function
John D. Rockefeller (471) – Rockefeller's Oil Industry Conspiracy: business man; made oil industry a giant company
run by him in order to beat his rivalry= made an alliance with the railroad company; no one had the option but to
sell out... forced them by buying all the barrels so that other co. didn’t have a place to store the oil= by 40 yrs old
he had control of 90% of oil industry; one of the wealthiest men in US history
Rockefeller’s Standard Oil (471) – Rockefeller’s Oil Company
The Trust and the Holding Company
J. Pierpont Morgan (471) – banker, most powerful financer in US, perfected “trust”
The Trust Agreement (471) – type of organization, under agreement, stockholders in individual corps transferred
stocks to a group of trustees in exchange 4 a share of the trust itself= owners of stocks had no control over the
decisions only received their share of the profits… trustees only owned a couple of businesses, but had control
over many
Corporate Consolidation (471) – system of economic organization, power controlled by a few people (ex: great
bankers of NY= JP Morgan) = concentration of economic power= best way to promote industrial expansion
Capitalism and Its Critics
The “Self- Made Man”
Myth of the “Self- Made Man” (472) – millionaires tht were said to become tht through their own efforts alone
when in fact the majority of those people were born into a position of wealth and privilege
Survival of the Fittest
Social Darwinism (473) – Charles Darwin, fittest or most successful survive in the world and flourish in the
marketplace
Justifying the Status Quo (473) – social Darwinism appealed to business men because it seemed to make their
success true as well as their virtues
The Gospel of Wealth
The Gospel of Wealth (473) – written by Andrew Carnegie in 1901, said tht wealthy should give to trust funds for
the good of their community, to help those less fortunate
Russell Conwell (474) – Baptist minister, spokesman for the idea of private wealth being a public blessing and
available to all= told stories of individuals tht found wealth in their own backyard and tht everyone had this opp
Horatio Alger (475) – originally minister of MA; driven from tht career cause of a sex scandal; moved to NY, wrote
novels about a poor boy from sml town moved to a big city to seek fortune and became rich through hard work
Alternative Visions
Lester Frank Ward (476) – socialist, Darwinist, wrote Dynamic Sociology in 1883= argued civilization wasn’t
governed by natural selection, only human intelligence
Henry George (476) – from CA, wrote Progress and Poverty in 1879= nonfiction, explained why poverty existed=
blamed monopoly, he proposed a single tax to replace all others to destroy monopoly thus eliminating poverty
Looking Backward (476) – 1888, written by Edward Bellamy, about a utopia, young Bostonian fell asleep, when he
awoke new society had been created tht was peaceful ruled by one very lrg trust, no competition, class
division=nonexistent
The Problems of Monopoly
Monopoly (476) – control of the market by lrg corporation combos, blamed for high prices and producing unstable
economy as well as high rates for trains cause there was no competition
Increasing Inequality (477) – standard for living was improving, but a gap between the rich and the poor was
increasing too
Key Terms: pg 477-486
Industrial Workers in the New Economy
The Immigrant Work Force
Sources of Immigration (478) – England, Ireland, N Europe but the new sources were the Italian, Poles, Russians,
Greeks, Slavs= made up the industrial work force
Reasons to Leave (478) – escape poverty/oppression, expected new opps due to misleading advertisement
Ethnic Tensions (478) – higher paid people, English/ Irish were replaced by low paid workers like the Poles/ Greeks,
Natives did mining= jobs were being determined by ethnic group
Wages and Working Conditions
Loss of Control over working conditions (479) – workers lost control over their conditions of work as corporate
increased = led to low wages and long hrs
Women and Children at Work
Poorly Paid Women (480) – got jobs cause employers felt tht they could pay them below minimum wage= paid less
$ than needed to get necessities, most tht were hired were unskilled/ semiskilled so thy worked at machines,
made about ½ of wht men made
Ineffective Child-Labor Laws (480) – children forced to work at times in order to help support the family, laws put
in to minimize this, not effective, 60% worked in agriculture= exempt from the law, laws only set a minimum wage
for kids working in factories and a maximum work day
The Struggle to Unionize
National Labor Union (481) – 1866, William H. Sylvis founded the union, had members from a variety of reform
groups, excluded women cause men said tht women were used to it, after Panic of 1873 it broke apart and died
Molly Maguires (481) – (aka the Mollies) militant labor organization in the coal region of PA= attempted to
intimidate coal operators through violence and murder; group caused by unemployment, depression
The Great Railroad Strike
National Strike (481) – railroad strike, 1877 and expanded into a class war ; 1 st major national labor conflict=
showed conflicts between the workers and employers tht came from increasing national economy and resentment
to other classes
The Knights of Labor
Knights (482) – 1st major effort 4 national labor organization, 1869, led by Uriah Stephens, membership open 2 all
workers excluded lawyers bankers liquid dealers professional gamblers as well as female workers
Dissolution of the Knights of Labor (482) – temporary victories= restoring wage cuts and recognition 4
organization= cause strikes were crushed and the power of the organization was broken
The AFL
American Federation of Labor (483) – (aka AFL) rivals to the knights, 1881, represented skilled workers
Opposition to Female Employment (483) – disliked idea of women entering work force, saw them as weak and
would be taken advantage of by paying them less= women drove down wages 4 less
The AFL’s Agenda (483) – secure material workers 4 workers… accepted capitalism basics, better wages, hrs,
working conditions
Haymarket Square (483) –strike on McCormick Harvester Company= meeting of radical and labor leaders cause
police had been harassing the strikers… at meeting in the square police told crowd to disperse, someone threw a
bomb killing 7 officers and 67 others people= police fired into crowd killing 4 people= when retribution was
demanded Chicago officials rounded 8 anarchists w/ charge of murder cause it was unknown who threw the
bomb= 7 dead, 1 committed suicide
The Homestead Strike
Henry Clay Frick (484) – chief lieutenant 4 Carnegie 1890, decided the Amalgamated Association of steel and Iron
Workers had 2 go (tried 2 do this with repeated wage cuts)
Union Defeated (484) – national guard called in to protect the workers, production resumed; workers returned
back to jobs after 4 months Amalgamated Association surrendered
The Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike (484) – 1894, Pullman Place Car Co. (owned by George Pullman) built a town and rented it to
employees, felt it was a solution to industrial problem= workers unhappy w/ high rent though
Eugene Debs (484) – led the workers of the Pullman Co. in a strike after wages were cut 25% by refusing to handle
Co. cars and equipment, /Gov Altgeld refused to help the employers cause he sympathized w/ workers, but Pres
Cleveland sent troops to the Chicago area anyway and the strike collapsed
Sources of Labor Weaknesses
Labor Weaknesses (485) – legislature victories weren’t enforced, strikes/ protests useless, workers had little
political power and control over their work
Shifting Nature of the Work Force (485) – immigrants assumed tht they were not staying in the country and did
little to participate in organization, other workers like the natives were moving from place to place tht they
couldn’t rally or gain power
Corporate Strength (486) – wealthy, powerful, could crush worker efforts through force and infiltrating unions=
sabotage, they had support of the local, state, and fed authorities