The Gilded Age

1. The Gilded Age The Owners

2. Industry in America By 1900 Centered in Northeast 1890 entire South produces less than � that of New York There were 20 million workers in industry The richest 9% held � of the nation�s wealth 1 in 8 lived below the poverty line Only 7 % of the workers were black In 50 of the country�s top industries, one company controlled 60% of the total business These industries grew because of new inventions and technology 1% of companies controlled 1/3 of business

3. Why? Abundance of natural resources Abundance of labor Growing urban population Large amounts of capital Government support New technology

4. New inventions Bessemer process to manufacture steel Thomas Alva Edison Stock ticker Electric voting machine Memograph Electric light �Invention Factory� at Menlo Park George Westinghouse Alternating current 1886 electric motor George Eastman Kodak camera Samuel Morse Telegraph 1861 Western Union 76,000 miles of line Alexander Graham Bell 1876 telephone 1895 310,000 telephones 1915 AT&T

5. Electricity Meant: Factories did not have to locate close to water for power Power was more readily available to operate larger numbers of machines Revolutionized homes

6. Financing: Congressional loans New York Stock Exchange (stock) Investment banks Investment of the assets of life insurance companies

7. Importance of railroads Develops vertical management Labor relations Competition Promoted other industries Other industries depend on transportation Travel Time zones

8. Growth of Giant Companies Individual ownership Bank investment Sell stock certificates�corporations Stock surrendered back �in trust� Horizontal and vertical expansion (corporations owning other corporations) Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890 Holding companies

9. Social Darwinism Herbert Spencer applied Charles Darwin�s theory of evolution and �survival of the fittest� to the social order of things. Millionaires were the �product of natural selection�

10. From This

11. To This

12. TheRobberbarons

13. Cornelius Vanderbilt Began operating a ferry to Long Island Established a small steamship line�NY to Philadelphia Steamships to Nicaragua, roads to Pacific, steamships to California gold fields Worth $11m in 1853 Built a railroad empire Began with New York Central Railroad Attempted to buy out Fisk, Drew, and Gould. (Fisk and Drew went bankrupt, Gould eventually sold) Known for the elaborate home, summer cottages, etc. and life in N.Y. society Son, William inherited $100 m.

16. John Pierpont Morgan Investment banker Ended up owning railroads and steamship lines Added electric companies in New York 1901 convinced Andrew Carnegie to sell steel companies Formed United States Steel �holding company� which owned railroads, steamship lines, electric companies, and controlled most of the countries steel production Worth $1.4 billion

17. John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil �trust� 1882 1885 controlled 90% of country�s refining capacity In last decades of his life, he gave away an estimated $550m

18. Gustavus Swift Meatpacking in Chicago 1870s Vertical consolidation Refrigerator railroad cars Slaughterhouses Ice-cooled warehouses 1885 Swift and Company

19. Andrew Carnegie Scottish immigrant Railroad worker Bought stock 1875 Thomson Steel Mills Horizontal consolidation Homestead Steel Mills Switched to vertical integration�ore to mill Sold out to J.P. Morgan for more than $400 million Gospel of Wealth 1889

20. New York�s Elite5th Avenue

21. Nob Hill, San Francisco

22. William Randolph Hearst Publishing empire Son of George Hearst, mining multimillionaire San Francisco Examiner New York Morning Journal Chicago Examiner Cosmopolitan magazine Harper�s Bazaar �yellow journalism� Inspiration for film �Citizen Kane�

27. Pro big business Rationalized production Increased national wealth Tied country together

28. Con big business Banking could not keep pace Supply exceeded demand Created economic depressions 1873 1 of 10 out of work 10,000 businesses failed Wages of those still working were cut often below the poverty line

29. Environmental problems Gasoline engines prompted use of oils, etc for roads, pavement, engine oil, fuel Loggers destroying whole forests in Pacific Northwest Coal mining scarred the hills of Pennsylvania and West Virginia Water cannons scarred the mountains of California Rocks and debris washing down from mts. In Calif. Threatened to flood cities and towns Pollution from Homestead Mill turned the trees of Pittsburg sooty grey and the Monongahela River dirty yellow Refuse from the meatpacking industry filled the Chicago River�to keep from contaminating valuable resource of water going to the Mississippi, they reversed the flow of the river into Lake Michigan

30. The New Industrial system depended upon: Resource development Technology New inventions Improved transportation Better communication Availability of financial capital A corporate management system Efforts of labor

31. Working-class americans Did they really achieve the American Dream?

32. By the turn of the century 50 million people left their farms One man could accomplish the same amount of work as 18 men in 1836 One percent of the population controlled � of the national wealth Most Americans lived somewhere between poverty and wealth in a designation called �comfortable� or middle class Educated professionals, white collar workers, shopkeepers, managers, and public employees Lived in single-family dwellings in row houses, bungalows, or laborers cottages Made up 1/3 of the population and controlled the next � of the national wealth

33. So�34 % controlled � of the nations wealth.What did the other 66 % do with the � of the national wealth that was left?

34. They worked long hours for little pay but were, for the most part, better off than their farming counterparts and than their parents.

35. Labor�. Men, women, and children Black or white Migrated from farms, already lived in cities, or immigrated from foreign countries Worked 12 hr. days in the 1880s that decreased to 10 hr. days in the 1890s Made about $1.50 an hour or $560 per month One of every 3 was out of work 3 or 4 months of the year Cleared between $5-6,000 per year (but it cost $7200 to live above the subsistence level) In most families someone besides the father had to supplement the family income

36. Men� Jobs were physically demanding Men working in the furnace rooms often fainted from the extreme heat They often became deaf because of the noise from the machinery 1880-1900 35,000 died 500,000 seriously injured No workmen�s compensation programs

37. Women�. Made up � of the labor force Worked the same 10 hr. days as men Worked for about � the wages of men ($.75 an hour) Were young and single (only 5% of married women worked) Worked in �home-related� jobs � food processing, textiles, garment mfg., cigar-making, domestics, clerical (bookkeepers, secretaries, telephone girls, typists, etc) Around 1900 schools began accepting women to train for positions as teachers, nurses, lawyers, etc

38. Children�. 1.7 million children in the workforce Worked repetitive, menial tasks Worked same 10 hr. days Were paid about 1/3, or $.50 a day

39. African-Americans Were paid less than their white counterparts Were usually used as strikebreakers Most were employed in the �service� trades

40. Immigrants�. 1880s-1890s besides coming from western and northern Europe, large numbers from southern and eastern Europe Russian and Polish Jews fleeing religious persecution Italian Catholics (1887) escaping famine and cholera Could buy �steerage� passage on the crowded lower decks (usually cargo holds) for the 1-2 week trip for $50 one way 2/3 were men Ages were between 15 and 40 6 million between 1877 and 1890 By 1900 � of all people in Minnesota and 2/3 of all people in Utah had at least one foreign-born parent Clustered in communities where people shared common languages, cultures, and traditions (ethnic ghettos) Immigrant aid societies Own special forms of English (combined with native languages) Helped each other find � ethnic� jobs Chinese laundries Russian and Italian garment workers Slavic miners

41. Generalizations about the working class Native-born Americans earned more than immigrants English-speakers earned more than non-English speakers Men earned more than women Women earned more than children Men and women earned more than African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians

42. Workers tried to improve working conditions by organizing into groups � unions. Before Civil War�skilled craft unions Railroad brotherhoods 1866�National Labor Union 1869�Knights of Labor 1886�American Federation of Laborers 1893�Industrial Workers of the World Western Federation of Miners�Big Bill Haywood

43. By the turn of the century, however, only 10% of the American workers belonged to organized unions.And the predominant form of protest, used by unions and by independent groups of workers was the strike.

44. Strikes�. Great railroad strike of 1877 Haymarket riot of 1886 1892�the year of strikes Silver mine workers at Coeur d�Alene, Idaho Steel workers at the Homestead Mills in Pennsylvania Coal miners at Tracy City, Tennessee Pullman Strike 1894

45. Owners ALWAYS had the upper hand: Hired and fired �yellow dog� contracts Blacklists of radicals Lockouts Strikebreakers Local, state, and federal support Injunctions (upheld by the Supreme Court in the case of In re Debs in 1895)