Download CHAPTER 18 The Industrial Society

CHAPTER 18 The Industrial Society
In 1876, the American people could look back on a century of national history, but Americans were less interested
in what they had been than in what they were becoming: an industrial giant.
I. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
The United States offered ideal conditions for rapid industrial growth at the end of the nineteenth century. There
was an abundance of cheap natural resources, large pools of labor, the largest domestic market in the world, and
capital and government support without government regulation. Industrial development was not always
smooth and the North and East tended to reap most of the rewards, but between 1865 and 1914 the rate of
growth continued to be very rapid.
II. EMPIRE ON RAILS
The industrial economy of nineteenth-century America was based on the expansion of the railroads, which
consumed great quantities of raw materials, employed thousands of people and necessitated new forms of
business organization.
A. "Emblem of Motion and Power"
The railroads did more than supplement other forms of transportation. They ended rural isolation, allowed regional
economic specialization, made possible mass production and consumption, led to the organization of the modern
business corporation, and stimulated other industries. The railroads also captured the imagination of the
American people.
B. Building the Empire
Between 1865 and 1916, the United States laid down over two hundred thousand miles of track at a cost in the
billions of dollars. A great deal of the expense was met by local and state governments and, especially in the
West, by the federal government. Even with all the fraud and waste connected with government grants, the
railroads saved the federal government about one billion dollars between 1850 and 1945.
C. Linking the Nation Via Trunk Lines
At first, railroads were built by and for local interests. At the time of the Civil War, the nation did not have an
integrated rail system. During and after the war, construction and consolidation of trunk lines pro ceeded rapidly
under the direction of men such as Cornelius Vanderbilt. The eastern seaboard was directly linked with the
Great Lakes and the West.
The southern railroad system grew at an exceptional rate in the 1880s and was integrated into the national network.
At the same time, rail transportation was becoming safer, speedier, and more reliable.
D. Rails Across the Continent
Congress voted to build a transcontinental railroad in 1862 and allowed two companies to compete in its construction.
The Union Pacific worked westward from Nebraska, using Irish laborers. The Central Pacific worked eastward,
using Chinese immigrants. It became a race, each company vying for land, loans, and potential markets. On May 10,
1869, in Utah, the tracks met. By 1900, four more lines reached the Pacific.
E. Problems of Growth
If anything, too much track was put down in the United States. Competition between railroads became intense, and all
efforts by railroadmen to share freight in an orderly way failed. After the Panic of 1893, bankers like J. P.
Morgan gained control of the railroad corporations. Opposing "wasteful" competition while favoring efficiency and
combination, the bankers imposed order. In 1900, nearly all freight was carried by seven giant railroad systems.
III. AN INDUSTRIAL EM PIRE
The Bessemer process of refining steel made mass production possible and the use of steel caused great changes in
manufacturing, agriculture, transportation and architecture.
A. Carnegie and Steel
Large-scale steel production required access to iron ore deposits in Minnesota and extensive transportation networks.
Because of the massive amounts of capital required to enter steel production, there were never very many major steel
companies. Nevertheless, competition was keen for awhile and led to vertical integration of the industry.
In 1872, Andrew Carnegie entered the steel business and became its master. His company produced the steel for the
Brooklyn Bridge and the Washington Monument, and for the growing cities. By 1901 Carnegie employed more
than twenty thousand people and produced more steel than Great Britain. In that year he sold out to J. P. Morgan,
who headed a group that incorporated the United States Steel Company, the nation's first billion-dollar corporation.
B. Rockefeller and Oil
Long before Americans drove cars, oil became a big business; the most profitable use of petroleum was in
the form of kerosene for lighting. The first oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859, and its success led
to intense competition. In 1863, John D. Rockefeller began to consolidate the oil business when he organized
the Standard Oil Company of Ohio. By meticulous attention to the smallest detail, Rockefeller lowered costs
and improved quality. Standard Oil was also remarkably succe ssful in establishing an efficient marketing
operation. As his business spread beyond Ohio, Rockefeller maintained centralized control by creating a
holding company, called the Standard Oil Trust, that owned and managed member companies. This
managerial innovation was copied by other large companies, and the word "trust" became synonymous
with "monopoly. "
C. The Business of Invention
American technology is the child of the latter part of the nineteenth century. Gifted individuals or teams
working in research laboratories turned out a succession of inventions, the telegraph, the camera, pro cessed foods, the telephone, the phonograph, the incandescent lamp, that made life easier. Electricity lit
homes and factories and powered urban transportation systems.
IV. THE SELLERS
Marketing became a science in the late nineteenth century. Advertising became common, and new ways of
selling products, such as the department store, chain store, use of a brand name, and mail-order catalogs,
became popular. Americans became a community of consumers, a community that to some degree overcame
ethnic and economic differences.
V. THE WAGE EARNERS
The American labor force, in general, benefited from a rise in real wages in the last quarter of the century.
A. Working Men, Working Women, Working Children
The labor force was composed of many different people: skilled and unskilled, men and women,
adults and children, native-born and immigrants, Protestants and Catholics, whites and blacks.
Nearly always it was the skilled, white males who received a greater share of America's increasing
prosperity. Still, for all workers, the work week was a long one.
B. Culture of Work
It was difficult for immigrants and rural folk to adjust to the new work habits imposed by the factory, but most
adjusted to the new conditions and many even advanced themselves or saw their children go on to better jobs.
C. Labor Unions
Early labor unions, such as the Knights of Labor, were more like fraternal orders than unions as we
know them. The Knights, for example, opposed strikes and refused to accept the fact that many workers
would never become their own bosses. The first modern union was founded in 1881 by Samuel Gompers. The
American Federation of Labor recognized that the industrial system was perman ent and concentrated on
practical steps to improve wages and working conditions. The American Federation of Labor, however, organized
only skilled workers while ignoring women and African Americans.
D. Labor Unrest
Employers and employees responded to different imperatives, and often came into violent conflict. Employees tried to
humanize the factory by working according to habitual, natural rhythms, while employers tried to apply the strict
laws of the market. The result was an era of strikes. In 1877 the rail system was practically shut down, and from 1880
to 1900 there were 23,000 strikes. Many of them turned violent. The worst incident took place in Chicago in 1886.
In this Haymarket "incident" some policemen were killed, and fears of an anarchist uprising spread.
Despite the unquestionable benefits of rapid industrialization, in terms of national power and wealth and even in terms of
an improving standard of living, many Americans questioned whether these benefits were worth the exploitation, the
social unrest, the growing disparity between rich and poor, and the increasing power of the giant corporations.
VI. CONCLUSION: INDUSTRIALIZATION'S BENEFITS AND COSTS
To be sure, industrial growth meant progress and power but it also meant rapid change, social instability, exploitation of labor,
and a growing gap between rich and poor.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. After mastering this chapter, your students should be able to:
2. Discuss each of the major factors that contributed to the rapid industrialization of 1870-1900.
3. Describe the principal economic and social effects of the railroad, 1865-1900.
4. Trace the building of the American railroad network, 1865-1900.
5. Detail the rise and consolidation of the steel industry.
6. Detail the rise and consolidation of the oil industry.
7. List and describe the most important inventions of the last third of the nineteenth century, including their major
effects.
8. Identify and explain each of the major factors in the development of a national consumer market.
9. Compare and contrast the effects of industrialization on the working lives of native-born white Anglo-Saxon
Protestant males and, on the other hand, women, children, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants.
10. Identify the adaptations in the “culture of work” required by the new factory system, and the response to those
changes by working people.
11. Compare and contrast the policies and methods of the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor.
Chapter 18 Review Questions (HOMEWORK)
Identify these terms or names, your answers must be HAND-WRITTEN, turn in one for HW.
1. Centennial Exposition
2. Central and Union Pacific Railroad Companies
3. J. P. Morgan
4. Andrew Carnegie
5. John D. Rockefeller
6. National Labor Union
7. Knights of Labor
8. American Federation of Labor
9. Thomas Alva Edison
10. Trunk lines