Industrial Supremacy

1. Industrial Supremacy

2. Sources of Industrial Growth • Abundant raw materials • Large growing labor supply • Technological innovation • Emergence of talented, ambitious and ruthless group of entrepreneurs. • Federal government eager to assist the growth of business • Expanding domestic market for the products of manufacturing.

3. 1870’s Inventions • Alexander Graham Bell- Telephone

4. 1870’s Invention • Thomas Edison- electric light bulb

5. 1870’s Inventions • Henry Bessemer- purified steel and made it stronger.

6. 1890’s Invention • Guglielmo Marconi- took first steps in developing the radio in 1890’s.

7. Innovations • Wright Brothers- first historic airplane flight. • Kitty Hawk- 1903

8. Innovations • Automobiles devolved in early 1900’s • 1917- there were nearly 5 million.

9. The Science of Production • Fredrick Taylor • Employers should subdivide tasks. • It would speed up production. • Make the workers more interchangeable. • Employer wouldn’t depend on any one employee too much. • Production of mass production and the moving of an assembly line. • Reduced the time needed to produce material.

10. Railroad Expansion • Helped promote and stimulate industrial growth. • Nation’s main method of transportation. • 1860: 30,000 miles of track • 1900: 193,000 miles of track. • Watch “The West” Video clip on the Railroad. • Write down 10 facts about the railroad.

11. The Corporation • Raise money for expansion. • Sell stock to the public. • Investors • Liked buying this type of stock. • Limited liability- only liable for the amount they invested. • Companies could gather large sums to undertake great projects.

12. Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller

13. Andrew Carnegie • Scottish immigrant • Opened his own steam mill in 1873 in Pittsburg. • Dominated the steel industry. • Cut costs and prices by striking deals. • Bought out the railroads • Brought the coalmines, operated fleet of ships. • Owned railroads • Controlled the processing of his steel. • Sold his business to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for 450 million. • Morgan merged Carnegie Steel with other steel mills. • Owned U.S. steel, worth 1.4 billion.

14. Consolidating Corporate America • Used two methods: • Horizontal Integration • Combining a number of firms involved in the same enterprise into one single corporation. • Example: John D. Rockefeller • Bought out refineries until 1870 • Formed Standard Oil Company • 1890’s-controlled 90 percent of the refined oil in the U.S. • Vertical Integration • Taking over all the different businesses on which a company relied for its product. • Example: Carnegie

15. Survival of the Fittest • Social Darwinism: • Human society only the fittest of individuals survive and flourished in the market place. • Herbert Spencer • English Philosopher • Individuals must have absolute freedom to struggle, to compete, to succeed, or to fail. • Andrew Carnegie- Those who had wealth had a duty to use their riches to advance social progress. • Wrote the Gospel of Wealth • Devoted his fortune to building schools and libraries.

17. The Problem of Monopolies • Many began to attack the monopolies and their practices. • Why? • Unstable economy • Artificially high prices • What does that do to the economy?

18. The Immigrant Workforce • Industrial workforce expanded in the 19th century. • Migration into the cities. • Wave of immigration! • 1870-1880-England, Ireland, Northern Europe. • End of the Century- Italy, Poland, Russia, Greece. • Escaping from poverty and oppression. • Many expected a better life. • Arrival of these groups created tensions. • Italians, Slavs, Poles, were the mining industry. • Poles, Greeks, French, Canadians- textile industries.

19. Working Conditions and Wages • Average American worker was… • 400-500 a year • Below 600 minimum needed for comfort • Workers were far from poverty. • Factory laborers worked ten hour days- Six days a week • Steel- 12 hours a day. • Worked in unsafe and unhealthy factories. • Accidents were frequent • Compensation was limited

20. Women and Children at Work • 1900- women made up 17 percent of the workforce. • Many were married- had to supplement earnings of their husbands. • Women • White • Young • 75 percent under 25 years old • Vast majority were immigrants • Or daughters of immigrants • Textile industry remained the largest employer of women. • Wages: $6-8 a week • Well below a male industrial worker.

21. Watch Short You-Tube Clip

22. Women and Children Continued…. • Children • 1.7 million children under 16 were employed. • 10 percent of girls and 20 percent of boys held jobs. • 38 states passed child labor laws • Set minimum wage • Work 10 hours per day • Worked in the cotton mills all night • Water thrown at them to wake them up. • Susceptible to injury • Dangerous machines • Maimed • Killed in accidents at a high rate.

23. The Struggle to Unionize • Labor fought back against huge corporations • Labor unions not popular with management. • Owners blacklisted those found to such organizations. • “Molly Maguire's” • Militant labor organizations in Pennsylvania. • Used terrorist acts to prove their point. • Used intimidation through violence • Often murder

24. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 • Eastern railroad cut wages 10 percent • Workers went on strike • At the height of the strike over half of the nations freight was not moving. • State militias were called: • July 1877- President Hayes orders federal troops. • 100 people died before the strike finally collapsed. • Lasted for several weeks.

25. Knights of Labor • First major effort to create a national labor organization. • 1869- Noble Order of the Knights of Labor • Members were open to all who toiled. • Group excluded Lawyers, bankers etc… • Would allow women. • Program was loosely organized • Wanted 8 hour day • Abolition of child labor • Wanted the cooperative system • Workers themselves would control a large part of the economy. • Terrance Powderly • Expanded by 1886- 700,000 members • Many defeats- by 1890- group had shrunk to 100,000. • Within a few years disappeared altogether.

27. The AFL • In 1881- Craft unions joined to form the Federation of Organized Trade. • 1886- Changed the name to American Federation of Labor. • Samuel Gompers • Powerful leader of the AFL • Hostile to the idea of women in the workplace. • Fought for better wages, hours, and working conditions. • Resort to strikes • Or collective bargaining • May 1, 1886 • Demanded 8 hour work day or they would strike • Demonstrations took place all over the country.

28. Strikes….. • Chicago • Strike was in process. • McCormick Harvester Company • City police began harassing the strikers. • Haymarket Square • Police ordered the crowd to disperse • Someone threw a bomb • Killed seven officers and injured 67 other people. • Police fired into the crowd. • Killed four more people • Chicago rounded up eight anarchists and charged them with murder. • Seven sentenced to death. • One committed suicide • Two had their sentences commuted to life in prison.

29. The Pullman Strike of 1894 • Pullman Palace Car Company • Manufactured parlor cars for railroads. • Built a 600 acre town of Pullman • Rented houses to the employees. • Winter 1893-1894 • Slashed wages by 25 percent. • Pullman refused to reduce rents in its company town • 20-25 percent higher than rents in surrounding areas.

31. The Pullman Strike • Workers went on strike • Led by Eugene V. Debs • Supported them by refusing to handle Pullman cars and equipment. • Railroad companies discharged men who refused to handle Pullman cars. • Many walked off their jobs- 27 states and territories were on strike. • Send troops- strike was preventing movement of the mail on the trains. • President Cleveland • July 1894 • Ordered 2,000 troops to the Chicago area • Federal court ordered an injunction forbidding the union to continue to strike. • Debs • Was arrested and imprisoned