Industrialization & the Railroads

How we have grown… By 1920’s, the US is an industrial power because: Abundant natural resources Growing urban population Gov’t support for business Oil turns out to be a profitable industry

Steel Steel revolutionizes construction Longer bridges (Brooklyn Bridge) Steel reinforced skyscrapers (Flatiron building) Railroads Farm machines

Changing Work Place- Inventions 1867- Christopher Sholes invents typewriter 1876- Thomas Edison invents light bulb Electricity allows manufacturers to relocate plants wherever they want 1876- Alexander Graham Bell invents telephone Women become increasingly more active in clerical work.

Replica of Thomas Edison’s Lab

Promontory Point, Utah, 1869

Working on the Railroad RR’s are built through hard labor Irish, Chinese immigrants and Civil War vets do most the work RR’s demand for material helps growth of industry in US, but becomes very corrupt business. Accidents and disease kill thousands every year.

Being a passenger on the RR wasn’t easy either…

RR’s Kept on Track Safer construction and system of rules slowly reduce fatalities Public outrage over RR corruption leads to Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 Gov’t can now supervise RR’s Corruption bankrupts many RR’s By 1900 25% of RR’s have been sold to banks

Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie Carnegie looks for ways to make better products more cheaply. Uses vertical integration- buys out suppliers to control materials Through horizontal integration merges with competing companies Eventually controls almost entire steel industry.

Assembly Line System of workers who only assemble one part of an object rather than the whole thing. First used by the meat packing industry, later perfected for auto production (1910’s)

So, for production, how efficient is the assembly line really?

Social Darwinism – “Survival of the Fittest” Best work habits, skills, adaption's will survive in business. Used to justify laissez faire (a “hands off” type of gov’t regulation.) Wealthy see their riches as sign of God’s favor, poor must be lazy, inferior.

Monopolies Businesses try to control entire industries through mergers. Control production, wages, prices John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil Company, forms trust Trustees run separate companies as if one.

Sherman Antitrust Act Gov’t thinks expanding business stop free competition. Sherman Antitrust Act- makes it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade. Difficult for gov’t to prosecute companies

Long Hours and Danger Unsafe conditions unite workers Most work 12 hour days/6 days a week No vacation, sick leave, injury compensation To survive, families need children to work for money. Kids receive lowest wages.

Labor Unions American Federation of Labor (AFL)- bargains for better wages, hours, conditions Often use strikes as protest Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)- favor socialism to fix problems Gave industrial workers a sense of belonging and purpose.

Management vs. Unions Several strikes turn violent. Army used in some cases. Employers often forbid unions from forming in their companies.

Summarize the Age of Industrialization in the U. S Summarize the Age of Industrialization in the U.S. Be sure to include some of the problems that the country faced as a result of industrialization. Summary