Capitalism NYC 1911 Click on this symbol Don’t click on this symbol in the corner

Competition This is any time there are more then one business that provides the same products or services. This forces the business to work hard to get customers. (Better prices, better service…) It can force an entrepreneur’s business to fail Click on the box to see a movie showing competition during the “cars” simulation a few years ago.

Triangle Competition There were over 500 shirtwaist factories in New York City alone. The shirtwaist had been around for a long time and some women were looking for a new “look”.

Monopoly When there is only one business that has a certain product or service. Business can set whatever price they want for that product or service because if you want it…you have to get it from them or do without it. Customers hate this, entrepreneurs love this. Why would customers hate monopolies and entrepreneurs love it? The hat says “monopoly”

In this cartoon, John Rockefellers company Standard Oil is shown as an octopus. What does the artist think of this monopoly? How did he show that in his drawing?

Wages Is the money that workers are paid for their work. It also includes any benefits they might get also. The greater the workers wages, the smaller the entrepreneurs profits.

Working conditions Are simply the conditions inside the business. Generally, the money the entrepreneur uses to make the conditions inside a business safe come out of his profits. Labor wants good-safe working conditions Entrepreneurs don’t want to spend their profits on them

Private Company The owners take all the risk in the company, enjoy all the profits and suffer all the losses Max and Isaac own the Triangle Shirtwaist Company

Corporation The ownership of a company is sold to anyone who wishes to buy it. The paper that shows ownership in a corporation are called STOCKs. The price of the stock changes as the company does better (higher price) and worse (lower price). If the corporation does poorly, stock owners are not personally responsible for the losses.

Child Labor At this time there were no laws forcing children to go to school. Many poor (immigrant) families sent children to work because they needed the money. Factory owners hired children because they did the same amount of work for much less money. Both photo’s from a southern US textile mill. None of these children could read write but they worked full time (50-60 hours per week)

Child Labor at Triangle Look at the list of victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Did the owners hire children (people under 18 years old)? What percentage of victims were “children”? Which victim seems the most “interesting” to you and why? Click here for a link to the victims list Answer the following on the halfsheet of paper in the green folder

How can owners make more profits? Think about the question and write the answers on the note sheet.

How can owners keep costs down? Think about the question and write the answers on the note sheet.

How did competition effect working conditions at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory? How did competition effect the wages paid at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory? How did competition effect child labor at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory?