Transcript Slide 1

Growth of Big Business - 32
Growth of Big Business - 32
•Analyze the different types of businesses and
business practices.
•Compare and contrast the advantages and
disadvantages of big business.
•Define “Social Darwinism” and relate the
concept to American society.
•Who were the “Robber Barons”, and how did
the Federal government intervene?
31-Industrial Development
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What type of government policies encouraged business growth in the late
1800’s?
Who invented the telephone?
Who perfected the electric light bulb?
What inventor patented the AC power system we use today?
What business did John D. Rockefeller control?
What business made Andrew Carnegie one of the world’s wealthiest men?
What famous business man made the family fortune in railroads?
Pullman, Illinois is a perfect example of what type of business situation?
This federal law was passed in an attempt to regulate the activities of the
railroads?
This group began as a social group for farmers but eventually developed into a
political party?
This government agency was formed after the Granger laws were ruled
unconstitutional by the Supreme Court?
Name the speech given by the Democratic/Populist candidate that stated the
importance of farmers to the nation.
Name the two major candidates in the 1896 election?
These were the types of houses that many people first built when they moved to
the mid-west?
Name the great entrepreneur who was known for his large investment banking
deals?
Name the industrialist who controlled most of the tobacco/cigarette production
in the nation?
Big Business
The Strategies of and Backlash to
the great Entrepreneurs
Big Business
- Corporations develop
- Limited liability leads to public
investment
- Mass market selling
John D. Rockefeller
Standard Oil
Advantages
- Greater efficiency
Economy of scale
-The more you manufacture,
the cheaper the item is to
produce
- Manager system
- Productivity studies
Taylor
Andrew Carnegie - Steel
Disadvantages
- Unfair competition practices
- Corruption and bribery
J. P. Morgan - Banking
- Destroyed labor union
movements
Public Reactions
- Mixed public feelings
- Social Darwinism
* based on Darwin’s theory of
Natural Selection
“Survival of the fittest”
* Applied to the business
world
-the best businesses survive
- Justified the wealth
* Rags to riches
“The American Dream”
* Horatio Alger
dime novels
Types of Big Businesses
- Monopoly
- Trust
- Merger
- Holding company
- Horizontal integration: see
picture ===
- Vertical integration
Types of Big Businesses
- Monopoly
- Trust
- Merger
- Holding company
- Horizontal integration
- Vertical integration: see
picture ===
Robber Barons
- Extreme profits made by
business owners
- Philanthropy
- Big business practices exposed
- Public finally began to call for
regulation
- Sherman Anti-trust Act, 1890
* Weak law, but set a
precedent for future regulation
Standard Oil Monopoly
Standard Oil Monopoly
Believing that Rockefeller's Standard Oil monopoly was exercising dangerous
power, this political cartoonist depicts the trust as a greedy octopus whose sprawling
tentacles already ensnare Congress, state legislatures, and the taxpayer, and are
reaching for the White House. (Library of Congress)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Robber Barons
- Extreme profits made by
business owners
- Philanthropy???
- Big business practices exposed
- Public finally began to call for
regulation
- Sherman Anti-trust Act, 1890
* Weak law
Set a precedent
for future regulation
Growth of Big Business - 32
•Analyze the different types of businesses and
business practices.
•Compare and contrast the advantages and
disadvantages of big business.
•Define “Social Darwinism” and relate the
concept to American society.
•Who were the “Robber Barons”, and how did
the Federal government intervene?
Workers Unite - 33
Workers Unite
• Compare and contrast the AFL and the
Knights of Labor.
• What were the labor issues during this
time period?
• Identify major union figures and assess
their contributions.
• Identify the major strikes and their
outcomes.
URBAN LABOR
- Increased 400% by 1890
- Mostly unskilled labor
- Assembly line work
WORKING CONDITIONS
- Low wages
- Long hours
- Dangerous conditions
- Company towns
- Child labor
- SUM IT UP: TERRIBLE
CONDITIONS
Child worker, glass factory
Child worker, glass factory
Child labor was common in the factories of 19th century
America. (Library of Congress)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Children in textile mills
Children in textile mills
Much of the new southern textile industry was based on child
labor. These children were photographed by Lewis Hines in
1908. (National Archives/ Lewis Hines)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
WORKING CONDITIONS
-Low wages
-Long hours
-Dangerous conditions
-Company towns
-Child labor
The Workers Plight
LABOR UNIONS
- Tried to improve conditions
of workers
Used strikes
Collective bargaining
Arbitration
- Owners countered with
blacklists
lockouts
scabs
injunctions
GOVERNMENT
INTERVENTION
- Great Railroad Strike of 1877
- Violent protests
Railroad strike of 1877
This engraving depicts striking railroad workers in Martinsburg,
West Virginia, as they stop a freight train on July 17, 1877, in the
opening days of the great railway strike of that year. Engravings
such as this, which show the strikers to be heavily armed, may or
may not have been accurate depictions of events. But the
photography of that day could rarely capture live action, and the
technology of the day could not reproduce photographs in
newspapers, so the public's understanding of events such as the
1877 strike was formed through artists' depictions. (Library of
Congress)
- Federal troops sent to restore
order
KNIGHTS OF LABOR
-Terence Powderly
- First major American Labor
Union
- Any kind of labor accepted
- Eventually failed
-Weakness
Membership was too broad
to be effective
HAYMARKET SQUARE
- Chicago strike of 1886
Bomb thrown at protest
Several people killed
-Union activity was blamed for
the violence
-Public opinion turns against the
labor movement.
*Knights of Labor movement
ends as a result of Haymarket
Riot
AFL
- Samuel Gompers
- Only allowed skilled labor to
join
- Made strikes a legitimate
weapon for union
AFL and Samuel Gompers
• Both skilled and unskilled
laborers were subject to low
wages, long hours, no
vacations, and unsafe
workplaces.
– Workers had to band together
in labor unions to demand
better pay and working
conditions.
– The American Federation of
Labor (AFL) was led by
Samuel Gompers.
Goals of the AFL
-
The AFL sought to use strikes to
accomplish its goals.
Through strikes, the AFL would force
employers to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Give shorter workdays
Create better working conditions
Give higher wages
Give the workers better control over their
workplace responsibilities.
INDUSTRIAL UNIONS
- Union combining all workers of
an industry
-Homestead Strike- Steel worker
strike resulting in violent battle
with government officials. Steel
workers were defeated.
- Eugene V. Debs
* United Railroad Workers
-Pullman Coach Strike, 1894
-Government steps in
* Debs is jailed
Pullman Strike
• Industrial Unrest – Protests and violence
in factories, warehouses, etc.
– This was very common in the era of big
business and labor reform
– The Pullman Strike is a great example
• In 1894, when the Pullman railcar factory
near Chicago fired employees and
reduced wages, its workers went on strike.
– Rail traffic west of Chicago came to a halt.
Pullman Strike
• The Pullman company responded by hiring new
workers.
– The new workers were attacked by strikers when they
attempted to go to work.
• “Scabs” crossing picket lines
• Leaders of the railway industry convinced the
government to declare the situation illegal.
– President Grover Cleveland sent the U.S. Army to
restore peace.
• Big business and the U.S. government both feared labor
unions were a threat to America’s capitalist economy.
King Debs
King Debs
This famous cartoon about the Pullman
strike, originally published July 14,
1894, in Harper's Weekly, shows Eugene
Debs, head of the American Railway
Union, sitting atop a railway bridge that
has been turned to cut off all rail traffic.
The railroad cars behind him are labeled
"fresh vegetables," "beef," and "fruit," to
emphasize the perishable nature of the
products that could not be delivered, and
others are identified as "U.S. Mail." In
the background, factories have "closed"
signs on them. This cartoon, and others
like it, helped to mobilize opinion
against the strikers. (Library of
Congress)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Women Workers
- Worked for better conditions
for miners
- Used women and children in the
strike process
- Mary Harris “Mother” Jones
* Advocated against child labor
Pressure on Government
-Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
March 25, 1911
* Leads to government
regulations on working
conditions and child labor
Public supports the plight of
workers, but likes cheap
products
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Pressure on Government
-Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
- Leads to government
regulations on working
conditions and child labor
The bodies of seamstresses, who
jumped from the factory floors of the
Triangle Shirtwaist Company to avoid
being burned alive, lie outside the
building.
- Public supports the plight of
workers, but likes cheap
products
Workers Unite
• Compare and contrast the AFL and the
Knights of Labor.
• What were the labor issues during this
time period?
• Identify major union figures and assess
their contributions.
• Identify the major strikes and their
outcomes.