The Growth of Industrial Society in the Unites States of America Chapter 18

1. The Growth of Industrial Society in the Unites States of AmericaChapter 18

2. Does the industrial process create good or evil? Post-Civil War America witnessed perhaps the greatest industrial expansion in the history of recorded events. It transformed the United States of America into the most powerful nation on earth.

3. Development of Infrastructure The map to the left shows U.S. railroad mileage in the 1850s. The two maps on the next frame show the rapid growth of the American rail system from the year 1850 to 1860. Most construction was in the industrial Northeast and the recently settled Midwest.

4. U.S. rail mileage by 1925

5. The Transcontinental Railroad** Completed May 10, 1869 The Railroads worked the largest changes of all from the mid-19th century forward**

6. Commemoration of Completing the Transcontinental Railroad What was it the engines said, Pilots touching,--head to head Facing on the single track Half a world behind each back Bret Harte (1836-1902)

7. Standardization of the Rail System** • Standard gauge (distance between rails) in 1866 • Adoption of standard schedules, signals, and equipment • Creation of Time Zones

8. Difficulties and Problems with the Railroads • Consolidation forced many companies into heavy debt • Unfair Business Practices Implemented Rate wars—necessary to operate at a loss since capital was already paid for • Illegal Practices

9. Illegal Practices • Rebate—discount on normal shipping charge (if not offered equally to all customers, was illegal)** • Pooling—agreement by managers of several companies to share in carrying certain %age of freight so all could remain in business** • Bribery & promises not to cut rates = other illegal acts**

10. Celebration of the Achievements of the Railroad • Thy black cylindric body, golden brass and silvery steel. . . • Thy great protruding head-light fix’d in front, • Thy long, pale, floating vapor-pennants, tinged with delicate purple • Thy knitted frame, thy springs and valves, the tremulous twinkle of thy wheels, • Thy train of cars behind, obedient, merrily following. . . • Type of the modern—emblem of motion and power—pulse of the continent. . . • Fierce-throated beauty! Walt Whitman (right, 1819-1892)

11. The Raw Materials Of National Greatness

12. Rise of American Industry COAL

13. TIMBER

14. IRON Mesabi iron ore range in Minnesota

15. PETROLEUM

16. WATER

17. Manpower / Labor Massive immigration in the late-19th century helped create a large supply of labor to staff burgeoning U.S. industry—RQ15 The U.S. had ALL the resources necessary for national greatness**

18. Emergence of the Steel Industry In the 1850s, Sir Henry Bessemer (English, 1813-1898—right) and William Kelly (US, 1811-1888) independently discovered blasting cold air through iron heated in large furnace caused impurities to burn (“air boiling”). ** 17A The first Bessemer steel was produced in 1864.

19. The Bessemer Process Made Steel** • More cheaply (only needed 1 ton of coal where 7 were used to make 1 ton of steel) • Stronger and more durable • Less likely to rust

20. The Bessemer process (left) increased production from 2,000 tons in 1864 to 7 millions tons by end of 19th century. • Iron ore came in abundant supply in the American Midwest (see map to right). The Great Lakes proved to be an auspiciously located for the transportation of iron ore to the steel mills that would refine the ore into marketable products.

21. Brooklyn Bridge connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan Island used steel

22. The Background Colonel Edwin L. Drake, a former railroad conductor, became the first man to drill on oil well (see “Drake #1,” above).** His discovery came in Titusville, Pennsylvania on August 28, 1859. Drake’s auspicious find proved to fuel the growth of one of the most important industries in American history.

23. Spindletop—Beaumont, Texas, 1901

24. Uses for Petroleum Included • Lubricating oil • Grease • Paint • Wax • Varnish • Naphtha • Paraffin

25. American Invention and Entrepreneurship Edison’s incandescent light bulb—1879 Late-1800s: A time of incredible explosion of inventiveness. America became the home of invention Thomas Alva Edison, 1847-1931

26. Refrigeration Philip Armour** (1832-1901)—used refrigeration in meatpacking industry; Chicago converted into railway hub between Great Plains farms and big Eastern cities. Beef slaughtered in Chicago and stored in refrigerated warehouses, shipped in refrigerated cars to East

27. Armour’s innovation affected Texas—Ft. Worth became major meatpacking center; Ft. Worth stockyards opened in 1890

28. Chicago meatpacker Gustavus Swift (1839-1903) gave an additional boost to the meat industry Swift implemented the idea of distributing meat nationwide by use of refrigerated railcars

29. Meatpacking goes from $65 million/year business in 1870 to $500 million by 1890s. Refrigeration changed eating habits of nation—it gave wider variety of meat to American public AND provided thousands of jobs

30. Air Brake for Railroad Cars • George Westinghouse (left, 1846-1914)–enabled engineer to stop all cars himself instead of a brakeman on each car; made for • Passenger safety and comfort • Longer, faster trains

31. Electrical Inventions Electricity was a far more flexible source of power than water or wind. It allowed change in high-voltage current traveling long distances on power lines into low-level current for use in homes, offices. People initially feared electricity because they didn’t understand how it worked From Franklin. . . . . . To Edison Electricity—more flexible and effective than water or wind**

32. Typewriter Christopher Sholes (1819-1890) introduced it in 1867 This marvelous innovation eliminated handwritten business letters and created an new opportunity for women in the workplace**

33. Telephone (a.k.a., the “Speaking Telegraph”) On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell (left, 1847-1922) spoke the first sentence—“Mr. Watson, come here; I want you.”—over the telephone that he invented.

34. Photography In 1879, George Eastman (right, 1854-1932), developed a process that laid the foundation for producing both celluloid film and moving pictures. By1888, Eastman was marketing the Kodak camera.

35. Cyrus Field (1819-1892) and the Trans-Atlantic Cable • Field laid in the first cable in 1858 but it broke. He succeeded in 1876. • Field’s accomplishment linked European and American telegraph networks.

36. The Philosophy of Laissez-faire** • Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth” • Defended accumulation of wealth • Asserted responsibility of wealthy to spend properly • Act as “trustee” for poorer brethren • Donate money to worthy causes

37. The book expressed a paternalistic view, i.e., the poor are not capable of making their own (a.k.a., wise) decisions**

38. The “Self-Made Man”** 17B2 The Boot-strap Philosophy—Combination of hard work and good luck = fortune. . . How is this argument true? The Horatio Alger stories (left) popularized the idea that hard work led to upward mobility. Across the Atlantic, author Samuel Smiles (1832-1904, right) published an English version of this philosophy

39. Social Darwinism and Survival of the Fittest 17B3 Darwin’s seminal work appeared in 1859 Charles Darwin (above, 1809-1882)

40. Survival of the Fittest Government interference / regulation in business world went against natural law. Laissez-faire economic philosophy rejected government involvement in economy, planning over a free market economy. Free market forces were good since they eliminated weaker competitors from business. ** Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) applied Darwinist principles to human society William Graham Sumner (above, 1840-1910), was a Yale University political and social science professor -- arguments like his suggested that millionaires were the products of natural selection. In 1883, Sumner published What Social Classes Owe One Another. **

41. Social Critics and Dissenters 17B4 John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892. left)—aging rural poet who critiqued the influence of urbanization and industrialization. At the Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1876, Whittier refused to view the exposition’s focal point—the powerful, giant Corliss steam engine—suggesting that this symbol of emerging American industry was like the serpent in the Garden of Eden.**

42. Business Organization Caricaturists of the day represented the overbearing power of industry—and, as the U.S. Capitol in the background suggests, its influence on Congressmen and other policy-makers—as both overwhelming and malevolent.

43. Vertical Integration**—New form of Organization “Andrew Carnegie emerged as the undisputed master of the [steel] industry.” Carnegie realized fortunes of his steel plant depended on forces outside his own control, e.g., mining companies, ships and rail lines for transport, so he bought these entities. Andrew Carnegie and Steel Industry (1835-1919) He insured control of process from securing raw material through turning it into the finished product. He believed in value of competition, free enterprise--he opposed trusts since they violated laws of competition

44. Horizontal Integration**—New form of Organization Rockefeller believed competition was wasteful--he ruthlessly eliminated the competition through price cutting to capture competitor’s business (he thereafter raised prices). By 1879, he controlled 90% of U. S. refining capacity. Below—Standard Oil Company stock certificate signed by Rockefeller John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) and Standard Oil Trust

45. The “Trust”—stockholders of independent companies exchange shares of stock for trust certificates issued by large firms like Standard Oil. The “Trust” Rockefeller took control of entire refining industry (necessary to turn raw petroleum into saleable product). In time, Standard Oil used vertical integration as well to form a monopoly (complete control over every aspect of an industry). “Dividends” -- %ages of company’s profits issued to holders of trust certificates; to receive, holder gave up right to help manage the firm

46. Ida Tarbell’s History of Standard Oil, 1904** Tarbell exposed his cut-throat tactics, ruthlessness. Rockefeller had driven Tarbell’s father out of the refinery business. Tarbell (1857-1944) is pictured on a commemorative stamp show to the left.

47. Materialism and the Origins of Our Consumer Society brought modern products to customers far and wide** Mail Order Catalogs. . .

48. The Rotary Press and the Rise of Advertising

49. Rise of Department Stores R. H. Macy in New York Marshall Field in Chicago They enabled 19th century Americans the relatively new opportunity to leisurely browse and buy while they shopped**

50. Chain Stores A&P Grocery Store