the industrial society chapter 18. industrial development 1865-1914 late nineteenth-century u.s....
TRANSCRIPT
THE INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY
Chapter 18
Industrial Development1865-1914
• Late nineteenth-century U.S. offers ideal conditions for rapid industrial growth – Abundance of cheap natural resources– Large pools of labor– Largest free trade market in the world– Capital, government support without regulation
providing incentive for growth
Railroads• Railroads capture the imagination of the American people
– Becomes safe, fast, and reliable – End rural isolation– Regional economic specialization– Make mass production, consumption possible
• 1865–1916-U.S. lays over 200,000 miles of track through federal land grants/incentives (leads to corruption)
• 1862-1869-Congress authorizes the transcontinental railroad (Union Pacific vs. Central Pacific)– Tracks meet in Utah, Promontory Point
• Bankers gain control after Panic of 1893 and impose order by consolidating power and eliminating competition
Creation of Time Zones
Industrialists
Captains of Industry• a business leader whose
means of amassing a personal fortune contributes positively to the country
Robber Barons • a business leader whose
means of amassing a personal fortune contributes negatively to the country
The Business of Invention• Late nineteenth-century
industry leads to new American technology
• An Age of Invention– Telegraph, camera,
processed foods, telephone, phonograph, incandescent lamp
• Electricity in growing use by 1900
• Bessemer Process (refining steel) leads to mass production
Carnegie and Steel
• Made his wealth in large-scale steel production (U.S. Steel)
• By 1901, Carnegie employs 20,000 and produces more steel than Great Britain
• Requirements lead to “vertical integration”– Definition: A type of organization
in which a single company owns and controls the entire process from obtaining raw materials to manufacture and sale of the finished product
Rockefeller and Oil
• John D. Rockefeller organizes Standard Oil Company of Ohio/creating the first known trust
• Rockefeller lowers costs, improves quality, establishes efficient marketing operation
• Requirements lead to “horizontal integration”– Definition: A type of organization
in which a single company buys out, or merges, it competitors controlling all its competition
The System
The Sellers• Marketing becomes a
science in late 1800s• Advertising becomes
common• Americans become a
community of consumers– Montgomery Ward– Sears-Roebuck – Marshal Fields
The Wage Earners • The labor of millions of men
and women built the new industrial society
• 1875–1900 real wages rose, working conditions improved, and workers’ national influence increased
Working Men, Working Women, Working Children
• Chronically low wages– Average wages: $400-500 per year– Salary required for decent living: $600 per year
• Dangerous working conditions– High death rate, high injury rate and chronic
illness
• Composition of the labor force by 1900– 20% women – 10% girls and 20% boys under the age of 14– Women and children are poorly paid
Racism in the Workplace
• Discriminatory wage structure and practice – Whites earn more than blacks or Asians– Protestants earn more than Catholics or Jews– Black workers earn less at every level and skill– Federal Chinese Exclusion Act prohibits Chinese
immigration for 10 years
The Jungle
Labor Unions
• Knights of Labor (1869)-combine all workers skilled and unskilled• A.F.L. (1886)-seeks practical improvements for wages, working
conditions– Samuel Gompers – Focus on skilled workers– Ignores women and African Americans
• Courts come down on side of owners with injunctions against strikes– 1880–1900: 23,000 strikes– Chicago Haymarket incident prompts fears of anarchist
uprising– Homestead steel strike
Industrialization’sBenefits and Costs
Benefits• Rapid industrialization
– Rise in national power and wealth
– Improving standard of living
Costs• Human cost of
industrialization– Exploitation– Social unrest– Growing disparity between
rich and poor– Increasing power of giant
corporations