Gilded Age Industrialization

1. 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 • By1900,theU.S.wasthemost industrializedcountryintheworld

2. The Business of Invention • 19th-century inventors led to an “Age of Invention”: • Cyrus Field’s telegraph cable • Business typewriters, cash registers, adding machines • High-speed textile spindles, auto looms, sewing machines • GeorgeEastman’sKodakcamera • Alexander G. Bell’s telephone By 1905, 10 million Americans had phones; (Bell Telephone Co became AT&T)

3. 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

4. The Business of Invention • New technologies allowed for increased industrial production • Newmachineswereincorporated 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

5. The Midwest Made Meat for America A new-and-improved “market revolution”:More regional specialization made mass production & mass consumption possible

6. 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

7. New Forms of Business Organization “Trusts” use a board of trustees to manage a company “Holding companies” oversee & manage other subsidiary companies • Newtypesofbusinessorganization were used to increase profits: • “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

8. U. S. Corporate Mergers Vertical & Horizontal Integration By 1900, 1% of U.S. companies controlled 33% of all industry

9. 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”?

10. The Industrialization of America

11. The Second Industrial Revolution was fueled by 3 industries: railroads, steel, & oil

12. The Railroad Industry Cornelius “the Commodore” Vanderbilt was the most powerful figure in the railroad industry • America’s first “big business” was the railroad industry: • 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

13. Problems of Growth Speculators like Jay Gould built & bought rail lines to profit with little concern for efficient use • But, the railroad industry faced problems due to overbuilding in 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

14. 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

15. 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 converted his steel plants to the Bessemer process & was able to out-produce his competition & offer lower prices Andrew Carnegiewas the great example of the “American Dream” & social mobility

16. International Steel Production, 1880-1914 The U.S. was ideal for steel production because it had lots of coal, iron, & railroads

17. Rockefeller and Oil • Petroleum also changed industry • New industrial machines needed kerosene for lighting & lubricants • JohnD.Rockefellermonopolized 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

18. Standard Oil: The Monster Monopoly?

19. The Industrial Workers

20. 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,&racialbiases led to different pay scales • These conditions led to a small, but significant union movement

21. Early American Labor Unions • In 1868, Knights of Labor formed to help all type of workers escape the “wage system” • The most successful union, 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 Membership regardless of skill, race, or sex The KoL lacked organization to survive Excluded women, blacks, unskilled laborers

22. The U.S. experienced an “era of strikes” from 1870-1890 The Great RR Strike of 1877 shut down railroads from WV to CA & resulted in hundreds of deaths During the Chicago Haymarket Strike (1886), unionists demanded an 8-hr day; led to mob violence & the death of the Knights of Labor The Homestead Strike (1892) resulted from a 20% pay cut at one of Carnegie’s steel plants

23. Urbanization: 1870-1900

24. Gilded Age Urbanization • From 1870 to 1900, American cities grew 700% due to new job opportunities in factories: • European, Latin American, & Asianimmigrantsfloodedcities • Blacks migrated into the North • Rural farmers moved from the countryside to cities

25. The Lure of the City By 1920, for the 1st time in U.S. history, more than 50% of the American population lived in cities

26. 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 & Louis Sullivan were the “fathers of modern urban architecture” • New York & other cities used Chicago as their model

27. Louis Sullivan “Form follows function” John Root “Simple & Dignified”

28. 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

29. 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

30. Jacob Riis’ “How the Other Half Lives” (1890) exposed the poverty of the urban poor

31. 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

32. Immigration to the U.S., 1870-1900

33. Foreign-born Population, 1890 The influx of ethnic nationalities led to a new “melting pot” (“salad bowl”?) national image

34. Urban Political Machines • Urban “political machines” were loose networks of party 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

35. Boss Tweed Tweed Courthouse—NY CountyCourthouse was supposed to cost $250,000 but cost $13 million. But the Tweed Ring catered to immigrants by building the Brooklyn Bridge & hosting holiday barbeques

36. Social Changes in the Gilded Age Women made up 40% of university students Private philanthropy led to Stanford, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Cornell, & the Univ of Chicago • Urbanization changed society: • The U.S. saw an increase in self-sufficient female workers • Most states had compulsory education laws & kindergartens • 150 new public & private colleges were formed • Cities set aside land for parks & American workers found time for vaudeville & baseball Land Grant Act (1862) led to the Universities of WI, CA, MN, IL “Family time” disappeared for working class People of all races married later & had fewer children

37. Conclusions:Industrialization’s Benefits & Costs

38. 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