Liberty and Industry
Can Freedom be Preserved in a
changing society?
The Centennial Celebrated
The American Centennial Exposition
of 1876 was one of key events of the
year, with a “world’s fair” in
Philadelphia made up of dozens of
buildings and pavilions that extolled
the progress of the nation –its growth
in size and industrial, its population,
its social and economic development.
Industrial Progress
“In our arts, labors and victories, we find scope for all our
energies, rewards for all our ambitions, renown enough
for all our love of fame.”
Speech at Exposition opening, July 4, 1876
The “Dynamo”
After seeing the electric generator
that would power the entire
exposition, Henry Adams (greatgrandson of former President John
Adams) said that the “dynamo”
would fundamentally change all
society into a “new civilization.”
Inventions That Benefited All
The first power generator
at Edison’s home, built in
1881 to illuminate his
laboratories.
Most major innovations helped all of the nation. Thomas Edison’s
perfection of his light bulb made him rich and revolutionized
productivity, making it possible to run factories longer. But electric
lights also revolutionized education and changed American home life
and leisure.
An Age of Growing Abundance
The Exposition celebrated the
unprecedented economic growth
of America, showing new
inventions, new patents, new
devices, and the new prosperity
that followed. Farmers by then
were producing food, miners so
many raw materials, and workers
so many goods that prices were
dropping for many necessities.
An Age of Great Fortunes
The growth of heavy industry
created chances for individuals to
amass great fortunes. By
developing ways to make steel for
just a few cents less per 100
pounds, Andrew Carnegie became
America’s first true billionaire.
Other made fortunes in railroads,
oil, electricity, and refrigeration of
foods.
Economies of Scale
The railroad industry fueled the
industrial revolution. Rails and
locomotives required steel and
wood, rail cars needed many
materials, the telegraph lines
along the rails required copper
and rubber, and all the system
needed lubricants – provided by
oil. By 1890, the United States
had more miles of rails than
most of all Europe.
Immigrants made up much of the labor in the construction of the railroads.
This photograph shows three Chinese workers, a Black American, and a
foreman who was likely an Irishman.
A New Wealthy Class
Cornelius Vanderbilt made his first fortune
in shipping and trade with China. He then
began to build railroads in New York. By
the 1870s he was one of the wealthiest
men in America.
He was also a tough businessman, never
hesitating to ruin his competition if it
would gain him a greater profit.
The Public Be Damned
When Vanderbilt competed with Jim Fisk for control of rail
shipping in the northeast, they both employed bribery,
coercion, and violence to gain an edge. When newspapers
complained that the battle was hurting “public interests,”
Vanderbilt replied “the public be damned.”
Railroad Oligarchy
Railroads were the first industry to be
widely accused of “subverting democracy”
by dominating the shipping of raw materials
and having enormous power over the costs
of shipping. By the early 1870s, several
Congressmen had introduced bills to create
a Federal organization to regulate railroads.
Other groups, including the Grange, the
Farmers Alliances, and some workers
parties, wanted the government to take
over ownership of the railroads.
Living Like Kings
Breakers, the enormous
Vanderbilt summer house,
designed from an Italian palace
and built with imported marble
by craftsmen brought over from
Europe.
The industrial millionaires lived lavishly, building homes like European
palaces and spending enormous sums for parties, while their
employees worked 10-12 hour days, 6 or 7 days each week. Many
industries employed children as young as seven years old; factories
made few provisions for safety.
Types of Unions
•The Knights of Labor was the largest union in the
nation, with about 700,000 members by 1879. But its
leaders were old reformers who disliked strikes,
promoted the organizing of skilled labor with unskilled
labor and wanted to “harmonize”labor with
management.
•The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was organized
in 1886 and limited membership to skilled workers.
They used strikes to attain specific goals: higher wages,
safer working conditions, the 8 hour work day.
Trusts
Harper’s magazine charged that
huge industries were becoming
“trusts” (monopolies) that had
greater power than the United
States government, able to bribe
Congressmen by giving them free
rides on the railroads, paying for
their campaign costs, and in effect
buying their votes.
The Oil Trust
John D. Rockefeller built and oil
empire by owning oil wells, the
pipelines that distributed the oil,
and rail cars that carried the
barrels of oil to industry. Before
the gasoline engine was
perfected, oil was still essential –
as lubricant for machines, and as
the raw material for kerosene which illuminated the nation
before Edison invented the
workable light bulb.
Labor and Industry
According to statistics
gathered at Princeton
University, wages for
industrial workers rose 31%
from 1860 to 1881, while
prices rose 41%. This
meant that workers had a
harder time paying for
things as time went on.
Strikes in 1877
A major collapse of credit in 1872
brought on a financial “panic” – a
depression that slowed the pace of
growth (the Northern Pacific
Railroad stopped work on its route
through Dakota Territory to the
west). Many businesses began to
cut wages in order to save money.
This sparked strikes and violence in
American industries.
“Year of Violence”
Workers struck for higher wages on many of the railroads
and violent clashes ensued between strikers and “scab
labor.” By sending Federal troops into one strike (to make
certain that mail was delivered), President Hayes brought
the Federal government into the labor-management dispute.
The Injunction
• The Injunction became business’s major weapon against
strikes. If a judge agreed that a strike was a “conspiracy that
retrained trade” then the injunction could be used to order
them back to work – refusal meant jail.
• The Sherman Anti-Trust Act, designed to help labor, was thus
used against unions.
• When the President of the American Railway Union, Eugene
Debs, urged strikers to ignore an injunction he was jailed
because his remarks encouraged a
“restraint of trade.”
Anti-Labor Views
Several newspapers and many middle-class readers feared labor
unions, believing they were dominated by radical immigrants that
were socialist, violent and ‘anti-democratic.’
Unions and Political Issues
Both the strikers and business
owners referred to the “Paris
Commune” of 1871, when French
workers called for a revolution
against the state.
Owners warned that unions would
“bring communism” to American
society. Some strikers hoped that
this would happen, but most union
leaders condemned the idea of
revolution.
Haymarket Bombing
Artist’s conception of
Haymarket bombing in
Chicago, May 1886,
published in Leslie’s
Illustrated Newspaper.
In May 1886, a series of strikes for the 8-hour day culminated in
tragedy when a bomb exploded at a labor rally in Chicago, killing
eight policemen and injuring dozens of others. Four anarchists
were convicted and hanged for the crime. Public opinion
condemned such violence but also favored making some
concessions to the labor movement.
Party Differences
The major parties differed on many
issues but generally agreed on a
policy in which the Federal
government encouraged economic
development by placing few
restrictions on business, trade, or
investment.
Newspaper cartoonists popularized
the elephant symbol with the
Republican Party and the donkey
symbol with the Democratic Party.
Political Machines
Many cities had long been controlled
by political machines that delivered
votes to selected candidates in return
for special favors. But reform groups
(and some labor groups who wanted
higher wages) blamed immigrant
voters as the source of the machines’
power, and so sought to restrict
immigration. The only result of this
was in the 1870s, when the Congress
yielded to public pressure and
banned Chinese immigration for a
number of years.
Immigration
The massive numbers of immigrants, particularly from
eastern and southern Europe, provided industry with a large
labor force, but made wages even lower.
Power of the Press
The Press had become powerful in its own right – major
newspapers and popular magazines (like Harper’s Weekly and
Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News) could change national
policies. Much as the politicians disliked the press, they also
patronized it, to obtain public recognition and support.
The Panacea of Inflation
Several workers groups wanted the
American money supply inflated, either
by the issuing of more paper money
(Greenbacks) or by coining more silver.
They hoped that inflation would raise
wages.
A “Greenback Party” was established to
advocate this inflationary policy and the
Democratic Party also called for inflation.
The Republican Party preferred policies
that would keep prices and interest rates
low.
Depression in the 1890s
The onset of another financial depression in the 1890s led to new
strikes and violence. Labor blamed the hard times on greedy plant
owners, while business blamed a drop in productivity and the need to
expand credit.
Strikers at Homestead Steel Plant in
Pennsylvania attack Pinkerton Agency
guards, 1892. The violence at Homestead
convinced the governor of Pennsylvania to
send militia to Homestead and try to
prosecute strikers for murder and treason
against the state.
Legislating Prosperity
By the late 1880s, the issue with most Americans became a worry that
BOTH super-rich industrialists and labor unions threatened democracy.
How could society be ‘reformed’ in a way that preserved the individual’s
opportunity to succeed while still keeping the organized ‘interests’ from
taking complete control of everything.
Henry George, a journalist, wrote
Progress and Poverty which argued
that the “unequal distribution of
wealth” was destroying the promise of
modern industrial growth. He urged
that some method be found to
redistribute the wealth of the nation
before the American civilization
collapsed in class divisions and
violence.
A Single Tax
George suggested that a “single
tax” on land would allow the
government to take wealth from
the rich and provide it to the poor
in services and public projects.
Socialists and many workers loved
George’s proposal and the “single
tax” was raised in several elections.
Edward Bellamy
In 1888, Edward Bellamy published his
utopian novel Looking Backward, a detailed
description of Boston in 2000 AD, when a
fairly authoritarian hierarchy ruled over a
society that was free of class divisions,
poverty, and major problems. How this was
brought about is not explained, but the
book was very popular and Bellamy became
a welcome speaker at workers meetings.
Populism
In the 1890s the various farmers alliances unified into the Populist
Movement, which called for reforms to help agriculture – regulation of
banks and railroads, and low-cost loans for farmers. It also contained a
strong Americanist streak, calling for limits on immigration and citizenship.
By the middle of the decade the Populists were a well-organized third
party.
Populist Platform in 1896
•
Major Platform demands
We demand free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1.
We demand that the amount of circulating medium be speedily increased to not less than $50 per
capita.
We demand a graduated income tax.
We believe that the money of the country should be kept as much as possible in the hands of the
people, and hence we demand that all State and national revenues shall be limited to the necessary
expenses of the government, economically and honestly administered.
We demand that postal savings banks be established by the government for the safe deposit of the
earnings of the people and to facilitate exchange.
TRANSPORTATION—Transportation being a means of exchange and a public necessity, the government
should own and operate the railroads in the interest of the people. The telegraph, telephone, like
the post-office system, being a necessity for the transmission of news, should be owned and
operated by the government in the interest of the people.
LAND—The land, including all the natural sources of wealth, is the heritage of the people, and should
not be monopolized for speculative purposes, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited. All
land now held by railroads and other corporations in excess of their actual needs, and all lands now
owned by aliens should be reclaimed by the government and held for actual settlers only.
William Jennings Bryan
With a dramatic speech at the 1896 Democratic
Convention, Nebraska’s William Jennings Bryan
captured the Democratic nomination for
president. Because his speech showed great
sympathy for farmers, the Populists nominated
him for president as well. Despite a wellpublicized campaign, as Bryan engaged a
speaking campaign across the nation, the
Republican candidate William McKinley won the
election.
Social Cooperation
The influence of Darwin had grown
after 1870, to the point that the
“survival of the fittest” idea was
being used to celebrate the power
held by the great industrial leaders
(Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc.
In Illinois (a state that saw much
labor-industry violence), the
botanist Lester Ward argued in his
book Dynamic Sociology (1883) that
society could “guide” the
development of peoples, rather
than just permit them to compete.
Education as Secondary
Some NYC reformers attempted to run “night schools” in tenement
basements, church basements, or other sites, to provide education for
children (especially the homeless ‘street arabs’) who worked 10-12 hours
during the day. The city provided little, or no, assistance. Crime rates among
young men (age 10-18) were high. Similar problems were found in Chicago,
Boston, Philadelphia, etc.
The Social Gospel
American churches became more
and more involved in providing aid
to the poor. Walter Rauschenbusch
(left), a Baptist theologian, began
to help German immigrants in the
Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of
New York. Drawing on the writings
of socialists, he argued that church
and government should become
active in “reforming society” to
provide aid to those who were in
need.
Child Labor
The labor movement had made “child labor” a major issue. Children as
young as six worked as many as 12 hours a day in a number of major
industries. Continued problems with child labor and health prompted
reformers like S. Josephine Baker to develop advances in nutrition and
health care.
Settlement Houses
Jane Addams, a young woman from
middle-class origins, helped create Hull
House in Chicago in 1889. This
settlement house was designed at first
to help “new immigrants” learn English
and “American ways,” but Addams and
her associates quickly realized they had
to provide help on child care, nutrition,
employment, and other things to really
help the poor. Eventually, they began
to press for legislation to help the poor
“get a fair chance” in society.
Birth Control
As a nurse, Margaret Sanger
defied state and Federal laws to
provide women with information
on birth control (even churches
that agreed with the ‘social
gospel’ movement opposed birth
control). Forced to flee to Europe
in 1914, Sanger returned in two
years to create the first birth
control clinic in the U.S.
Florence Kelley
Florence Kelley, another associate of
Hull House, became so frustrated in the
effort to find a lawyer to argue cases for
child labor regulations that she studied
law herself, got a license to practice law
in Illinois, and argued cases.
Illinois became one of the model states
for laws that put limits on how children
could be employed and how long they
could work in a day.
Kelley also played a role in a key U.S.
Supreme Court decision in 1908 to
place 10-hour limit on a work day for
women.
The Children’s Bureau
Originally part of the Department of
Commerce, the Children’s Bureau was
moved by Wilson to the Department of
Labor in 1913. It’s director, Julia Lathrop,
was a veteran of the Hull House reform
movement and fought vigorously to obtain
stronger child labor laws.
By 1918, most states had child labor laws, but hundreds of thousands of
children were little affected by these laws because they worked in areas
(small businesses, agriculture, etc.) that were not covered by the
provisions for maximum hours or minimum wages. Wilson decided to
push for more stringent child labor laws.
Sophonisba Breckinridge
One of the few “proto-social workers”
who became involved in civil rights for
minorities was Sophonisba Breckinridge,
yet another Midwest reformer
(Kentucky) who was the first woman to
get a law degree from the University of
Chicago. Active at Hull House,
Breckinridge was one of the founders of
the NAACP. She argued that every major
city and every state should establish a
bureau of “public welfare.”
The “Bully Pulpit”
Progressive reformers saw the
Theodore Roosevelt as the one person
who “represented all the people” (an
idea that went back to the 1830s).
Theodore Roosevelt accepted a
number of the reform ideas of the
progressive movement and used his
office as a “bully pulpit” to urge
reduction of child labor, regulation of
trusts, conservation of natural
resources, and efforts to reduce
corruption in government. Only after
he was elected in his own right in 1904
did he push for some of these reforms.
Limits to Personal Freedom
Several dubious cures for drug addiction were available from mail order
businesses or from traveling salesmen who claimed to be physicians. Many of the
cures contained other narcotics, and the user simply substituted one addiction for
another. It was estimated in 1900 that over 300,000 Americans were regular
users of heroin, and at least twice that used opium.
Kopp’s Baby Friend cough syrup contained morphine – “for that good night’s
sleep.” The Narcotics Act of 1909 outlawed this.
Public Health
Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, shocked
the public with its details about the lack of
sanitation in the processing of food – the
book led several cities to establish offices for
food and restaurant inspection, and public
health services to offer classes on sanitation
in the preparation of food. Other cities
spent money to improve the quality of
drinking water.
The Federal Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
helped – in one example, Coca Cola had to
remove cocaine from its product.
Providing “Social Insurance”
Isaac Rubinow, a rather unique statistician for
the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. (having
both an MD and a PhD in economics) argued
that a “healthy society” needed some form of
“social insurance” to guarantee order and
peace, especially in the crowded cities.
His ideas were studied by Theodore Roosevelt,
who used some of Rubinow’s language when
he wrote the Progressive Party platform
statement for the 1912 presidential election.
Woodrow Wilson
Elected in 1912 (because the
Republican Party had been split by the
Roosevelt-Taft feud) Woodrow Wilson
was only the second Democratic
President since Lincoln. Wilson was a
southerner by birth, a former college
professor of history and government,
and, as governor of New Jersey, a
moderate reformer.
Taxation – the key to ‘Spreading
Benefits’ of Democracy
Wilson put his support behind a number of issues that would raise
more revenue for the government, prevent major financial panics in
the future, and help consumers:
•The Underwood Tariff lowered rates on many imported items.
•The Federal Reserve System created a group of Federal banks that would
handle the flow of currency, regulate other banks through loans, and try to
maintain a steady economy.
•A Federal Trade Commission that could use a tougher anti-trust process to
encourage competition in business.
•The 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which permitted the Federal
government to collect income taxes.
The New Electorate
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution
gave the right to vote to all American
women aged 21 and older. Not every
woman accepted that this would
provide full equality. Alice Paul, a
suffragette, called for an “equal rights
amendment” to prevent any
discrimination against women in
business or society.
Throughout the 1920s, women would enter business in a number of
“new” professions – law, journalism, medicine. But the majority still
worked in nursing, clerical jobs or teaching (and teachers who married
were fired in most states).