Monday - Railroads made industries and businesses grow. Iron, Coal, Steel, Lumber and Glass made industries benefit, grow and become established
Many people opposed the railroads and the thought of change it set in motion
Railroads promoted trade and connected cities, towns, and settlements
Chicago became known for their stockyards and Minneapolis became known for their grain industry
Flagstaff, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; Omaha, Nebraska owe their existence and prosperity to the railroad
The Pullman Car - George M. Pullman built a factory that made sleeper and luxury cars for trains
The factory was located on a prairie in Illinois
Pullman built a town for his employees with basic needs provided like doctors, shops, an athletic field and brick houses and apartments were built
Downfall of living in Pullman = the company was controlling what the people could or could not do
- No sitting on the front steps of your house
- No drinking alcohol
- Strikes broke out when Pullman lowered worker's pay but would not lower the rent
Credit Mobilier - Union Pacific stockholders formed a construction company called the Credit Mobilier
They paid this company 2 to 3 times the amount that it actually cost to lay railroad tracks
Union Pacific put the extra money back into their pockets and they gave some profits to 20 of their members
Investigations took place and the officers took up to $23 million in stock, bonds and cash; The republican parties reputation was hurt
The Grange - a farmers organization that demanded governmental control of the railroad industry
Farmers were mad because: Railroads misused the land grants, sold land grants to other businesses instead of to the settlers
Railroads charged farmers a lot of money to transport their grain, leaving the farmers in debt. Railroads used price fixing = when companies agree to charge the same price rather than compete against each other
What did the Grangers/farmers do in response to the railroad abuses?
- Took political action
- Sponsored state and local political candidates
- Elected legislators
- Pressed for laws to protect themselves from railroads
- Illinois passed a law for railroads to establish maximum rates and not discriminate against the Grangers and farmers
- They convinced the legislators to pass similar laws = Granger Law
Munn vs. Illinois - court case between Grangers/Farmers. They won and gave the state the right to regulate the railroads. This was a big deal because it meant that the federal government could control private industry to help the general public.
Railroads pushed back and the Supreme Court ruled that the state could not set rates on traffic coming/going from another state
As a result, public outrages and Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887
Interstate Commerce Act 1887 - Government had the right to supervise railroad activities, had 5 members to make sure this happened; Railroads resisted and in 1897 the Supreme Court ruled that the ICC could no set maximum rates
Railroads in trouble - Corporate abuse, Mismanagement, Overbuilding, Competition
Economic Failure - banks and businesses failed, millions out of work, railroads taken over by companies
Tuesday - Andrew Carnegie - Expanded American steel industry; rags-to-riches story
Horizontal Integration - the merging of companies that make similar products
Vertical Integration - When a company takes over the suppliers, distributors, and transportation systems to gain total control over the quality and cost of its product
Social Darwinism - an economic and social philosophy saying that a system of unrestrained competition will ensure the survival of the fittest
John D. Rockefeller - founder of the Standard Oil Company, considered wealthiest American of all time; used trusts to gain total control of the oil industry in America.
Sherman Antitrust Act - a law that was intended to prevent the creation of monopolies by making it illegal to establish trusts that interfered with free trade
Samuel Gompers - a labor union leader and became president of the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor - an alliance of trade and craft unions
Eugene Debs - wanted labor unions to include both skilled and unskilled workers
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) - a labor organization for unskilled workers
Mary Harris Jones - co-founder of the IWW, organized labor representative, helped coordinate major strikes
Carnegie's Innovations - Andrew Carnegie was born to poor parents in Scotland. At 18 he worked for the Pennsylvania railroad as a private secretary. He then entered the steel business. By 1899, the Carnegie Steel Company was manufacturing more steel that any factory in Great Britain
Carnegie's management skills spread to other businesses ... He was looking for ways to make better products cheaper, He was talented people working for him, He encouraged them to compete against each other. He wanted to control much of the steel industry. He did this by....
- Vertical Integration - controlling of the raw materials(coal, iron mine) and transportation systems
- Horizontal Integration - buying out competing steel producers
- By the time he sold his business in 1901, Carnegie's companies were producing the largest portion of the nation's steel
Wednesday - The theory of social Darwinism came from the philosopher Charles Darwin and his idea on biological evolution.
"laissez faire" means allow to do. Companies and businesses were said to be "laissez faire" and only the strong survive. Success and failure in business were governed by natural law and that no one had the right to intervene
Political Cartoon- Ours showed how Andrew Carnegie gave the rich leaders more money than the laborers/workers
Thursday - Mergers - "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"
- One cooperation would buy out the stock of another
- This is how monopolies formed
- Taking complete control of the industries production, wages, and prices
- This is what J.P. Morgan did when he bought Carnegie Steel in 1901
John D. Rockefeller was the founder of the Standard Oil Company
Instead of mergers, he used trust agreements
Trust agreements turned their stock over to a group of trustees
These trustees ran the companies as one large corporation
Each company then could take the money earned by this trust
They were NOT legal, but it is how Rockefeller took control of the oil industry
Rockefeller and Carnegie were called "robber barons" because they controlled 90% of their industry(oil and steel)
They paid their workers low wages and drove their competitors out of business
They would sell their product for less than it could be produced and then hiked the prices once they controlled the market
Others called Rockefeller and Carnegie philanthropists - a person who seeks to promote the welfare of other, generous donations of money
Rockefeller gave away $500 million, established a foundation, and created a medical institute that helped find a cure for yellow fever
Carnegie donated 90% of his money and still supports the arts and learning today
The Sherman Antitrust Act was the government's way to protect competition between businesses. This Act made it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or with other countries. It was still hard for government to control these companies. The government eventually stopped trying to fight the businesses.
Labor Unions - Northern wages were higher than in the south. Working conditions were unsafe and the workers were treated poorly. This made all kinds of workers to join together to improve their conditions
The workers fought against - worked 7 days a week, 12 or more hours a day, No vacations, sick leave, unemployment compensation, payment for injuries on the job, dirty, poorly ventilated factories, repetitive work with dangerous or faculty equipment, 675 workers died a week, whole family worked, men, women, children, children were paid .27 per 14 hour day
People began to organize labor unions. The National Labor Union was formed in 1866 but refused to allow African Americans to join, Colored Nation Labor Union formed, Both groups wanted 8 hour work days and equal pay for equal work for men and women, Told a judge what they wanted
Friday - Two major unions formed :
- Craft Unions - included skill workers, Samuel Gompers led the Craft Union, He negotiated for better wages, hours and working conditions, They would strike to get what they wanted
- Industrial Unions - both skilled and unskilled workers, Eugene V. Debs formed an industrial union known as the American Railway Union, It included unskilled workers to engineers and firemen, Membership was 150,000 workers, Went on strike for higher wages and won
Socialism - Economic system in which the government owns most of the production and distribution
- Used to reduce inequality and meet people's needs
- The Industrial Workers of the World used it
- Gave workers support and included miners, lumber, cannery and dock workers, and African Americans
Other groups fought for better working conditions like the Japanese and Mexican workers organized a strike in sugar-beet fields in California
In Wyoming, Chinese and Japanese miners were supported by the State Federation of Labor
Even though these unions were small, they strengthened the labor movement
The Great Strike of 1877 - Baltimore & Ohio Railroad went on strike to protest their second wage cut in two months, Other railroad workers followed their lead, Railroad traffic was stopped for a week, Federal troops had to put an end to the strike
The Haymarket Affair - 1886 3,000 people gathered in Chicago to protest the death of a striker by a police officer, Someone through a bomb and the police fired on the people, 7 officers and several workers died, 8 people were convicted for inciting a riot, After this, some people turned against the labor movement
The Homestead Strike - 1892 at the Carnegie Steel Company in Homestead, Pennsylvania, Company said they were going to cut wages, Carnegie Steel hired armed guards to protect the "scabs" so the company could keep running, 3 guards and 9 workers died, The strike lasted 5 months
The Pullman Company Strike - 1893 Company laid off over 3,000 employees and cut the remaining employees wages, They did not lower rent on their housing, so after paying the rent the workers only had $6 left for the week, Pullman refused any negotiations and hired strikebreakers, The strike turned violent and many workers could never be hired by the railroads again
Women Organize - Women were banned from most unions, They rallied behind strong leaders fighting for equal pay for equal work and to end child labor , Marry Harris Jones - nickname was Mother Jones - organized strikes, She led 80 children with horrible injuries on a march to the President's house; this helped get child labor laws passed
Pauline Newman- 16, organized the International Ladies's Garment Workers Union, She supported the "Uprising of the 20,000" in support of semstresses; this improved working conditions
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City - Fire broke out and spread quickly leaving oil machines soaked and piles of cloth, Workers couldn't escape because the doors were locked, 146 women died
As Unions became powerful, businesses began to fear them, Many companies would not allow union meetings, Fired union members, Made workers sign an agreement that the would not join the union, By 1904, the AFL had almost 2 million members
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