Transcript Industrialization and Urbanization

Industrialization
th
(Late 19 Century)
1877-1900
Industrial Growth
Common characteristics of industrial growth in America:
Exploitation of coal as a cheap energy source
Rapid spread of technological innovation
Demand for labor
Constant competition among industry rivals
Pressure to eliminate rivals and form monopolies
Consistent drop in price levels preventing inflation
Inadequate money supply creating high interest rates
Reasons for Expansion
Advances in technology/industry:
Telegraph/Telephone (Bell)
Improved steam engine (Fulton)
Safely generated electricity
Electric light bulbs
Bessemer steel process
Standardized railroad procedures
Refrigerated railroad cars
Modern assembly line (Ford)
Abundance of raw materials
Iron ore (steel), Coal, Petroleum
Rapid transportation system (railroads)
Abundance of capital for expansion
Growing market economy
Corporate Consolidation
Tremendous profits gave rise to tremendous competition
Companies lowered prices to compete in the market
Lower prices meant cutting costs
Scientific management
Eliminating competition prevented the need for
better/cheaper methods
Forming monopolies
Vertical integration: acquiring companies in related
industries to control all aspects of production
Horizontal consolidation: acquiring multiple companies in
the same industry to prevent competition
Growth of trusts
Large banking interests bought out multiple companies
within many industries
Criticisms of consolidation
Government response: government is officially laissez faire
Very little government interference with massive trusts
Monopolies allowed to operate at expense of consumer
“Robber Barons”
Title given to ruthless industrialists
Business owners made huge profits in relation to wages
paid to their workers
Double standard: People both despised and idolized the
industrial giants
Myth of the “self made man” (Horatio Alger)
Rockefeller vs. Carnegie
Opposing strategies
Similar results
Labor
Key component to industrialization: availability of cheap
labor
Sources: (in order of pay/status)
Former artisans/farmers
Immigrant population
Free blacks
Women
Children
Unskilled laborers faced numerous hardships
Dangerous conditions
Low pay
Long hours
Boring jobs
Low wages rapidly widen the gap between rich and poor
Social Theory
Social Darwinism
Argued by Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner
Application of natural selection and survival of the fittest to
the working population
In line with the laissez faire political ideology
Promoted by wealthy industrialists
Gospel of Wealth
Originated with Andrew Carnegie
Wealthy should give a substantial portion of their money
back to charities and philanthropic causes
Firmly opposed government redistribution of wealth
Critics of industry
Lester Frank Ward (Dynamic Sociology)
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward
Labor Unions
Primary power of unions: collective bargaining
Types of unions
Trade unions
Craft unions
National labor unions
National Unions
Knights of Labor
First major national union 1869
Included all laborers, believed in “cooperative
system”
AFL-American Federation of Labor
Started by Samuel Gompers in 1886
Focused on uniting skilled labor craft unions
Believers in capitalism
Labor Unions
ARU American Railway Union
Trade Union of railway workers
Led by socialist Eugene V. Debs
IWW Industrial Workers of the World 1905
Known as the wobblies
Heavily socialist union
Organized workers in Western states
Lead by “Big Bill” Haywood
Labor Unions
Demands of unions
8 hour work day
abolition of child labor
increased wages
Massive number of strikes in the mid 1880’s-early 1890’s
dramatically weaken major labor unions
1877 Rail Strike
Haymarket Affair 1886
Homestead Strike 1892
Pullman Strike 1893
Violence in strikes grew dramatically as workers became
more desperate
U.S. Presidents consistently sided with business
Use of Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Labor Unions
Weaknesses of unions
Only a small % in unionized (4% by 1900)
Exclusion of women, blacks, and immigrants
Tension between multiple groups
Pressure from corporations
Assistance to business from state/federal government
Loss of public support