Transcript Gilded Age Industrialization ■During the Gilded Age, American businesses were transformed: –Massive corporations replaced small, family businesses –New technology, transportation, marketing, labor relations, & efficient mass-production –By 1900,

Gilded Age Industrialization
■During the Gilded Age, American
businesses were transformed:
–Massive corporations replaced
small, family businesses
–New technology, transportation,
marketing, labor relations, &
efficient mass-production
–By 1900, the U.S. was the most
industrialized country in the world
The Business of Invention
■19th-century inventors led to an
“Age of Invention”:
– Cyrus Field’s telegraph cable
By 1905,
10 million
Americans had
phones;
– Business
typewriters,
cash
(Bell
Telephone
Co
became
AT&T)
registers, adding machines
– High-speed textile spindles,
auto looms, sewing machines
– George Eastman’s Kodak camera
– Alexander G. Bell’s telephone
The Business of Invention
■Thomas Edison, the “Wizard of
Menlo Park,” created the 1st
research lab in New York
–Edison Illuminating Co was the
to 1st use electric light in 1882
–Tesla’s alternating current (AC)
allowed electricity to travel over
longer distances & to power
streetcars & factories
Patents Issued (1850-1899)
The Business of Invention
■New technologies allowed for
increased industrial production
–New machines were incorporated
into the first assembly lines
which allowed for continuous &
faster production of goods
–The railroad linked every region
of America & allowed for a mass
consumption of goods
Chicago Meatpackers:
The 1st “Disassembly Line”
The Midwest Made Meat for America
More regional specialization made mass
production & mass consumption possible
New Methods of Marketing
■Marketing became a “science”:
–Advertising firms boomed
–Department stores like Macy’s
& Marshall Field’s allowed
customers to browse & buy
–Chain stores like A&P Grocery
& Woolworth’s “Five & Ten”
–Mail-order catalogues, like
Montgomery Ward sold to all
parts of America
New Forms of Business Organization
“Trusts” use a board
“Holding companies”
■New
types
of
trustees
to of business
oversee & organization
manage other
were
used to increase
manage
a company
subsidiaryprofits:
companies
–“Trusts” & “holding companies”
integrated various businesses
under 1 board of directors
–Vertical & horizontal integration
maximized corporate profits
–Frederick Taylor’s “scientific
management” emphasized time
efficiency & mid-level managers
Vertical
HorizontalMergers
Integration
U. S.&Corporate
By 1900, 1% of U.S.
companies controlled
33% of all industry
New Forms of Business Organization
■Business leaders used a variety
of ideas to justify their wealth:
–The “Gospel of Wealth” argued
that it is God's will that some
men attained great wealth
–Social Darwinism taught that
natural competition weeds out
the weak & the strong survive
–Were monopolists “captains of
industry” or “robber barons”?
The “Robber Barons”
The Industrialization
of America
The Second Industrial
Revolution was fueled
by 3 industries:
railroads, steel, & oil
The Railroad Industry
■The railroad was America’s 1st
big business:
–Railroads stimulated the coal,
petroleum, & iron/steel industries
–Large companies bought small
railroads, standardized gauges
& schedules, & pooled cars
–Small lines in the east acted as
tributaries to the 4 great trunk
lines into the West
Cornelius “the Commodore” Vanderbilt was the
most powerful figure in the railroad industry
Jim Fisk
Problems
of Growth
Speculators
like Jay
Gould built
& bought
rail lines
to profit faced
with
■But,
the railroad
industry
little concern
foroverbuilding
efficient use in
problems
due to
the 1870s & 1880s:
–Mass competition among RRs
–RR lines offered special rates &
rebates (secret discounts) to
lure passengers & freight on
their lines
–Pooling & consolidation failed to
help over-speculation
Problems of Growth
■RR bosses asked bank financier
J.P. Morgan to save their industry:
–Morgan created a traffic-sharing
plan to end wasteful competition
–“Morganization” fixed costs,
cut debt, stabilized rates, issued
new stock, & ended rebates
–Created a “board of trustees”
■By 1900, 7 giant (centralized &
efficient) rail systems dominated
The Steel Industry
■Steel transformed world industry:
–Allowed for taller buildings,
longer bridges, stronger railroad
lines, & heavier machinery
–Andrew Carnegie’s company
made more steel than England
–Carnegie
Andrew
Carnegie converted his steel
plants
was the
great to the Bessemer process
example
of theable to out-produce his
& was
“American
Dream”
competition
&
offer
lower
prices
& social mobility
International
Steel
Production,
1880-1914
The U.S. was
ideal for steel
production
because it had
lots of coal,
iron, &
railroads
Rockefeller and Oil
■Petroleum also changed industry
–New industrial machines needed
kerosene for lighting & lubricants
–John D. Rockefeller monopolized
the oil industry, lowered oil costs
& improved the quality of oil
–By 1879, Standard Oil ruled
90% of all U.S. oil & sold to
Asia, Africa, & South America
The Industrial Workers
Industrial Workers
■Industrial work was hard:
–Laborers worked long hours &
received low wages but had
expensive living costs
–Industrial work was unskilled,
dangerous, & monotonous
–Gender, religious, & racial biases
led to different pay scales
■These conditions led to a small,
but significant union movement
Early American Labor Unions
■In 1868, Knights of Labor formed
to help all type of workers escape
Membership
regardless
of
skill,
race,
or
sex
the “wage system”
The
KoL
lacked
organization
to
survive
Excluded
women,
blacks, unskilled
■The most
successful
union,laborers
the
American Federation of Labor
(1886) led by Samuel Gompers:
–Made up only of skilled labor &
sought practical objectives
(better pay, hours, conditions)
–Included 1/3 of all U.S. laborers
The U.S. experienced an “era of strikes”
from 1870-1890
The
Great RR(1886)
Strikedemand
of 1877for
The
Chicago
Haymarket
The Homestead
Strike
(1892)
resulted
from
a
shut
down
RRs
from
WV
to
CA
8-hrcut
day
to
mob
violence
& led
to
20%anpay
at&led
one
of
Carnegie’s
steel
plants
resulted
in 100sofofLabor
deaths
the death of
the Knights
Urbanization:
1870-1900
Gilded Age Urbanization
■From 1870 to 1900, American
cities grew 700% due to new job
opportunities in factories:
–European, Latin American, &
Asian immigrants flooded cities
–Blacks migrated into the North
–Rural farmers moved from the
countryside to cities
Skyscrapers and Suburbs
■By the 1880s, steel allowed cities
to build skyscrapers
■The Chicago fire of 1871 allowed
for rebuilding with new designs:
–John Root & John Sullivan were
the fathers of modern urban
architecture
–New York & other cities used
Chicago as their model
Louis
Sullivan
“Form follows
function”
John
Root “Simple
& Dignified”
Western Union Building, NYC
Grand Central Station in NYC
Wadsworth Building, NYC
Skyscrapers and Suburbs
■Cities developed distinct zones:
–Central business district with
working- & upper-class residents
–Middle-class in the suburbs
■Electric streetcars & elevated
rapid transit made travel easy
Tenements & Overcrowding
■½ of NYC’s buildings were
tenements which housed the poor
working class
–“Dumbbell” tenements were
popular but were cramped &
plagued by firetraps
–Slums had poor sanitation,
polluted water & air, tuberculosis
– Homicide, suicide, & alcoholism
rates all increased in U.S. cities
Jacob Riis’ “How the Other Half Lives”
(1890) exposed the poverty of the urban poor
Strangers in a New Land
■From 1880-1920, 23 million
immigrants came looking for jobs:
–These “new” immigrants were
from eastern & southern Europe;
Catholics & Jews, not Protestant
–Kept their language & religion;
created ethnic newspapers,
schools, & social associations
–Led to a resurgence in Nativism
& attempts to limit immigration
Immigration to the U.S., 1870-1900
The
influx
of
ethnic
nationalities
led
to
Foreign-born
Population,
1890
a new “melting pot” national image
Urban Political Machines
■Urban “political machines” were
loose networks of precinct
captains led by a “boss”
–Tammany Hall was the most
famous machine; Boss Tweed
led the corrupt “Tweed Ring”
–Political machines were not all
corrupt (“honest graft”); helped
the urban poor & built public
works like the Brooklyn Bridge
Boss Tweed
Tweed Courthouse—NY County Courthouse was
supposed to cost $250,000 but cost $13 million.
Social
Changes
in university
the Gilded
Age
Women
made
up 40% of
students
■Urbanization
society:
Private
philanthropychanged
led to Stanford,
Tulane,
Vanderbilt,
Cornell,
& the
of Chicago
–The U.S.
saw
an Univ
increase
in
self-sufficient
female
Land
Grant Act (1862)
led workers
to the
Universities
of
WI,
CA,
MN,
IL
“Family
time”states
disappeared
for working class
–Most
had compulsory
education
laws
&
kindergartens
People of all races married later
& public
had fewer
–150 new
& children
private
colleges were formed
–Cities set aside land for parks
& American workers found time
for vaudeville & baseball
Conclusions:
Industrialization’s
Benefits & Costs
American Industrialization
■Benefits of rapid industrialization:
– The U.S. became the world’s #1
industrial power
– Per capita wealth doubled
– Improving standard of living
■Human cost of industrialization:
– Exploitation of workers; growing
gap between rich & poor
– Rise of giant monopolies