Unit 1, lecture 1 - Industrialization
- 1. America and an Age of Industrial Supremacy Unit 1, Lecture 1
- 2. Factors of Growth • There are several primary reasons why the economy of the United States experienced such a rapid shift towards industrialization at the turn of the century: – Abundant natural resources – Large (and growing) labor force – Surge in technological innovation – Growth of an unparalleled entrepreneur culture – Federal govt. eager to help businesses grow – Large domestic market to consume products
- 3. Rapid Development of New Technologies • Revolution of iron and steel production process • Increased demand for steel drives growth in many cities • Corporations begin to do their own research, attract scientists and engineers – Helps to drive growth and development, new technologies and discoveries – Corporations also partner with universities, fueling the growth of academic culture • Taylorism: Ideas developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor. Theory that labor can be organized to work in harmony with machines, subdividing complex jobs into small pieces, reduces need for skilled workers and making it easy to train and replace employees.
- 5. The Airplane and Automobile • Internal combustion engine and process of refining oil into gas are essential to development of automobiles • 1906 – Henry Ford produces his first automobiles – 1910 – auto industry becomes major force in U.S. economy – 1894 = 4 cars on U.S. roads --- 1917 = almost 5 million • Humans had experimented with flight for many years – Wilbur and Orville Wright develop an airplane – Kitty Hawk, NC – Travels 120 feet in 12 seconds (1903)
- 7. Corporations • Modern corporations emerge as a major force after the Civil War • Ability to sell stock to members of the public drastically changes economic environment • Captains of Industry begin to consolidate their power. – Horizontal Integration: Combining of a number of firms engaged in the same enterprise into a single corporation – Vertical Integration: The taking over of all the different businesses on which a company relied for its primary function
- 9. Titans of Industry • AKA Captains of Industry • Group of men who were able to successfully harness the opportunities that the era provided. • Massively wealthy class of Americans • Includes people like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, J. Pierpont Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John Jacob Astor, Andrew Mellon
- 10. Andrew Carnegie
- 13. Railroads • Strong connection between the steel industry and railways • Railroads promote economic growth – reach new markets, transport goods and people • Government subsidies are essential to continue the expansion of railway industry • Importance of Cornelius Vanderbilt
- 17. Oil • Driven by the steel industry’s need for lubrication for machines • Wasn’t discovered until the 1850s that oil could be burned in lamps, could produce paraffin, naptha • Oil industry expands rapidly – from western Pennsylvania to Ohio, West Virginia, and beyond • Quickly becomes one of the nation’s top exports
- 18. Capitalism • Capitalism: Economic system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state • Some begin to look at the shifts happening in America – worry about growing corruption, too much power held by only a few people • Justification for system rests on ideas of American individualism (the “self-made man”) – Often ignores benefits some already had, boosts from corruption
- 20. Social Darwinism vs. Gospel of Wealth • Social Darwinism: Applies Charles Darwin’s ideas about evolution and natural selection to society. Strong businesses and people are more fit, and as a result will have more money and power. Business failures or unsuccessful people are less fit, and do not deserve to succeed. • Gospel of Wealth: People with great wealth have great responsibility to use that wealth to advance social progress. Wealthy should devote money to philanthropy (libraries, museums, schools, etc.)
- 21. Problems Grow • Many Americans concerned about the growth of monopolies • Claimed that monopolies created: – Artificially high prices – Highly unstable economies – Lack of choice for consumers – New ultra-rich class • Gap between rich and poor grows rapidly, even as overall quality of life increases
- 24. Industrial Workers in the New Economy • Late 19th Century – demand for factory labor grows – Flow of Americans from rural areas into urban centers – Large wave of immigration – 25 million immigrants from 1865-1915 • Average standard of living for American workers rises post-Civil War • Workers are very vulnerable to economic cycles, some start to lose their jobs as machines take over their field of employment • Difficult cultural adjustments • Accidents are common and often severe
- 26. Women and Children at Work • Decreased need for skilled work drives many employers to turn to women and children, who they could hire for lower wages • 1900 – women make up 17% of industrial workforce (4x more than 1870). 20% of all women (5+ million) are wage earners – 75% of those are young women • Two incomes are often required just to support the family • Textile industry, domestic service are most popular industries for women • 1900 – Avg. wage for male industrial employee is $597 annually, women earn avg. of $314 a year. • Child labor is extremely common. Laws exist in 38 states to try to protect young laborers, most ignore laws.
- 28. Role of Unions • Labor’s attempt to fight back – unionize. • Unions had existed for many years, but had focused on single industries. • Complicated feelings of the public/middle class towards unions • Knights of Labor – first major effort at a genuinely national labor organization – Open to women – African Americans allowed in segregated local groups after 1883. No Chinese immigrants allowed though. • AFL – American Federation of Labor, represents mainly craft laborers – No women, started out in 1880s allowing African American membership, changed their minds later
- 29. Haymarket Square • Haymarket Square Riot – May 1886 – AFL Strike for an 8-hour workday was scheduled, Chicago already had a strike happening at the McCormick Harvester Company. – Police had been harassing striking workers, a demonstration was called for at Haymarket Square. Someone threw a bomb (7 officers killed, 67 people injured). Police fire into crowd and kill 4 more. – Middle Class saw Haymarket as proof of radical, dangerous unionizers.
- 31. Pullman Strike • Pullman Palace Car Company – 1894 – Workers were made to live in company housing, paid rent to company and shopped at company stores. – Many workers resent lack of control over their lives and high rents – Wages are slashed 25% during the winter of 1893-94, rents stay the same (and are already higher than other comparable housing) – Workers enlist labor organizer Eugene Debs, who helps to organize a mass boycott against Pullman – Within a few days, the railway system from Chicago to the Pacific Coast is paralyzed – Govt. called in to break up strike, an injunction is established against unions, strike fails
- 32. Eugene Debs