Big Business and Labor

Andrew Carnegie Born in Scotland Worked his way up in RR industry Entered steel business in 1873 1899 – Carnegie Steel Co. – manufactured more steel than Great Britain; Vertical Integration

John D Rockefeller Born in New York in 1839 Owner of Standard Oil Co. Around 1880, Rockefeller’s oil company controlled 90 percent of the refining business. Vertical or horizontal integration?

How do you play Monopoly? Vertical Integration – A company’s taking over its suppliers and distributors and transportation systems to gain total control over the quality and cost of its product

Why Can’t We All Just Get Along? Horizontal Integration Merging companies that make similar products into one

Sherman Antitrust Act A law enacted that was intended to prevent the creation of monopolies by making it illegal to establish trusts that interfered with free trade Why is this act so hard to enforce? What about AT & T? Do we have monopolies today?

Social Darwinism Grew out of Charles Darwin’s Theory of evolution by natural selection An economic and social philosophy holding that a system of unrestrained competition will ensure the survival of the fittest In business….only the most ruthless survives Used to justify the wealth of the captains of industry

Robber Barons Rockefeller reaped huge benefits by paying his employees extremely low wages and then selling his oil at lower prices then it cost to produce After he drove his competitors out of business, he hiked back up the price of his oil. Critics called them “Robber Barons”

Captains of Industry Industrialists were not only just rich men, they were also philanthropists Rockefeller gave away about $500 million dollars of his assets to build the Rockefeller Foundation Carnegie donated about 90% of the wealth he accumulated to support the arts and learning

A Captain or Robber? Robber Barons – Industrialists who made fortune by “robbing” others; Cut prices to eliminate competition Then increase prices Low wages for workers Rockefeller? Carnegie? Captains of Industry Industrialists who gave back to the community; Built factories in communities; Gave money for hospitals, libraries, and universities; Rockefeller? Carnegie?

Learning Tools Analyze the statistics regarding workers, their quality of life and pay at the time. What trends do you see as the late 19th century plays out?

Unions Knights of Labor – Skilled and unskilled workers; Included different races and women; strikes as a last resort; used arbitration American Federation of Labor – AFL – Samuel Gompers – President; Only skilled workers; focused on collective bargaining; used strikes as major tactic

Conflicts Railroad Strike of 1877 – increased union membership Pullman Strike – application of Sherman Anti-Trust against unions Haymarket Affair – loss of union support Homestead Strike – downfall of Knights of Labor Triangle Fire – state regulations Children’s March – attention to child labor

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire In response to the deaths of so many people, the State of New York started looking into the working conditions of factories