Download
1 / 11
140 likes | 629 Views
Industrialists. Captains of Industry and Robber Barons. Significant Inventions & Innovations. Henry Bessemer’s Process (Alexander Holley) Steel Production: 15,000 tons in 1865 to 28 mil. tons in 1910 Sold for $100 a ton in 1873 vs. $12 a ton in late 1890s
E N D
Industrialists Captains of Industry and Robber Barons
Significant Inventions & Innovations • Henry Bessemer’s Process (Alexander Holley) • Steel Production: 15,000 tons in 1865 to 28 mil. tons in 1910 • Sold for $100 a ton in 1873 vs. $12 a ton in late 1890s • Edward Drake’s founding of Black Gold in PA in 1859 • 25 mil. Barrels of oil in 1880 alone • Elijah McCoy’s invention of a lubricating cup (1873) • Fed oil to parts of a machine while it was running • Samuel F.B. Morse’s telegraph (1837) • Alexander Graham Bell’s Telephone (1876) • Christopher Sholes’ Typewriter (1867) • Thomas Edison’s (and Lewis Latimer’s) Electric light (1879) • George Westinghouse’s Compressed Air-brake (1869) • Charles and J. Frank Duryea’s first practical motorcar in US (1893) • Wright Brother’s First piloted flight of 12 seconds & 120 ft (1903)
Other Important Changes… • Advertisement in magazines, newspapers, roadside billboards, and catalogs (Montgomery Wards, Sears, Roebuck and Company) • Department Stores (R.H. Macy) & Chain Stores (Frank W. Woolworth)
Railroad Tycoons • Used stock watering (inflating value of railroad stock) to gain wealth) • Bribery of judges and legislatures • Investing in professional lobbyists • Elected own men in office • Secret rebates & kickbacks to corporations • Increased rates on short hauls compared to long hauls • Formed pools to protect investments • Pocketing investments instead reinvesting (ex: Gould)
Cornelius Vanderbilt • Replaced iron track w/ steel track • Controlled much of the railroads (especially in north east, such as NY) • Estimated fortune by the time of his death in 1870s: 100 mil. (worth 140 bil. in 2007 US dollars) • By 1877, controlled 4500 miles of track
Jay Gould • Controlled much of the railroads in the West by the 1880s
George Pullman • Designed and manufactured “Pullman” railroad cars (dining, sleeping, etc.) to improve comfort for long distances • Established company towns & controlled workers’ daily lives
Andrew Carnegie • Steel • By 1890, controlled 25% of nation’s steel • Eventually sold Carnegie Steel to J.P. Morgan for over 400 mil. • Used Bessemer Process to turn iron into steel • Used vertical integration (consolidation) • Controlling every aspect of the production process by controlling the quantity in hopes of eliminating middlemen’s fees
John D. Rockefeller • Oil • Controlled 95% of oil refineries by 1877! • Used rule or ruin tactics (ruthless business tactics) • Used Horizontal Integration (Consolidation) • Consolidating with competitors to monopolize a given market • Formed the Standard Oil Trust • Trust: Stockholders in various smaller oil companies sold their stock and authority to the board of director’s of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company • Worth about 900 mil. upon his retirement in 1897, worth about 1.4 mil by his death in 1930s (approx. 190 bil today dollars)
J.P. Morgan • Banking, Steel, etc. • Owned a Wall Street Banking House • Helped to refinance businesses and industrialization • Acted as a Holding Companies • Bought controlling shares of stock in member companies instead of purchasing companies outright • While the “held” companies remained separate businesses on paper, in reality, the holding company controlled them • Used interlocking directorates • Consolidate rival enterprises and ensure future harmony by placing officers of his own banking association on their various boards of directors • Ex of Business venture: Bought Carnegie Steel & other companies to form US Steel Corporation in 1901 (first billion corporation)
