The Rise of Industry, The Triumph of Business
- Civil War - typical American business firm was a small enterprise, owned and managed by a single family and produced goods for a single market
- Mammoth firms could afford to mass produce goods for national and intl markets
A revolution in Technology
- Edison’s laboratory in Menlo Park was the first devoted to industrial research
- Completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 was a catalyst for growth
- The nation’s first big business
- This led to industries moving west
Mechanization Takes Command
- Machines depended in turn on a coal which was more efficient
- New systems of mass production replaced wasteful and often chaotic practices and sped up the delivery of finished goods
The Expanding Market for Goods
- To distribute the growing volume of goods, businesses demanded new techniques of marketing and merchandising
- Mail-order houses replaced legions of sellers - Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward
- Chain stores produced similar economies of scale - largest was A&P
- Department stores could offer goods cheaper than small stores
- Led to anti dept. store lobbying
- First advertising firms were founded
Integration, Combination, and Merger
- High tariffs of the Civil War + alternating business cycle = growth in US big business
- Economic setbacks in wiped out weaker competitors
- Two main methods of growth:
- Vertical integration - allowed a firm to control production at every step
- Horizontal combination, entailed gaining control of the market of a single product - Case in Point: Standard Oil
- Horizontal combinations secured unprecedented control over output and prices, led to a highly concentrated business economy over which a few very large firms prevailed.
- Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act - designed to promote trade
The Gospel of Wealth
- Most rich men were protestant; believed they had got rich through their own hard work
- Justified their shady business tactics
Labor in the Age of Big Business
- Workers believed that the laborer makes civilization possible
- The “gospel of work” affirmed the dignity of hard work, the virtue of thrift, etc
The Changing Status of Labor
- US became a nation of wage workers due to big business
- 1860 –1890 - 10 million people immigrated to the United States
- Teams of iron-workers had previously set the rules of production as well as their wages while the company supplied equipment and raw materials. Once steel replaced iron, most companies gradually introduced a new managerial structure. Workers now faced constant supervision, higher production quotas, and new, faster machinery.
- Skilled carpenters replaced by immigrants with little training who could run machines
- Garment industry kept older systems of labor with the new systems of employment
- Young immigrant women manned the machines vs. the outwork system
- Large numbers of families working at home on sewing machines or by hand
- The business cycle affected the labor pool significantly
Mobilization Against the Wage System
- The National Labor Union was created to halt the spread of the wage system
- The Noble and Holy Order of Knights of Labor - a group of garment cutters which grew
- Endorsed more land set aside for homesteading, the abolition of contract and child labor, and a graduated income tax
- Worker-run factories, (co-ops) created much enthusiasm but were against big business - Failed
- Most unions were anti-immigration
The American Federation of Labor
- Unlike the NLU or the Knights, the AFL accepted the wage system
- Sought to gain recognition of its union status to bargain with employers
- Only would strike if employers did not bargain in good faith
- AFL declared war on the Knights by successfully limiting the job market
- Excluded minorities and unskilled workers
- Unlike the Knights got political recognition
The Industrial City
- Manufacturing formerly centered in the countryside in factory towns (Lowell Mass.)
- The expanding railway system promoted growth in the cities
- Industry moves to the cities
- The city soon dominated the nation’s social, economic, and cultural life
Populating the City
- Most blacks which moved north were young women
- Men could hope to inherit the family farm
- Immigrants before the Civil War moved to the countryside, this changed afterwards
- Men usually outnumbered women
The Urban Landscape
- Cities encouraged the creating of many buildings
- Included commercial offices and efficient public services
- “Dumbbell” buildings in New York were cramped quarters
- Fires allowed city planners to start from fresh - this led to the skyscraper
- Mass transportation allowed cities to grow bigger in acreage
The City and the Environment
- Electric trolley eliminated the tons of waste from horse cars
- Modern water and sewer systems were introduced
- 1880s - many middle-class homes had bathrooms with showers and flush toilets
The New South
- Devastated by the war, South had little investment capital and few banks to manage it
- Held back by dependence on northern finance capital, continued reliance on cotton production, and the legacy of slavery
Industrialization
- The “New South” would invite modern textile mills using the cotton fields to its advantage and welcomed Northern investors
- Soon the North owned most of the railroads, forests and coal deposits
- Vertical integration helped South’s economy - managers wanted to control everything
- For the most part, southern enterprises mainly produced raw materials for consumption or use in the North
Southern Labor
- “Red Shirts” tried to curtail the political influence of Blacks and established a whites-only policy for employment
- Blacks did not benefit from the industrialization of the South
- While some Blacks found work in railways etc. most were unskilled workers
- Factories were usually segregated
- Once the Knights were able to unite both races
- Led to big concessions from managers
- Workers in the South were paid less than Northern workers
- Industrial Age saw a huge increase in child labour
The Transformation of Piedmont Communities
- Plantations gave way to railroads, textile factories and cities
- As the cotton agricultural crises deepened more families moved into the factories
- Mill villages were controlled by the company
- Workers had no private life
Culture and Society in the Gilded Age
- Real wages rose as did the standard of living - improved nutrition, clothing, and housing
Conspicuous Consumption
- Labeled the “Gilded Age” by Mark Twain
- A new class united in its pursuit of money and leisure
- New class was defined by country clubs and extravagant sports
Gentility and the Middle Class
- Older middle class - owners / superintendents of small businesses, doctors, lawyers etc. - New middle class included these professionals; also salaried employees, managers etc
- Mostly white, anglo-saxon, and Protestant
- Not aimed at conspicuous consumption but self improvement
- Status symbols: bikes, pianos
Life in the Streets
- Immigrants weighed US’s material abundance against memories of the Old Country
- Immigrants established close-knit ethnic communities
- YMCA / YWCA - established to house young people who left their families behind
- The home was a second workplace for women who brought work home
- In such close quarters Old World culture survived
- Coney Island was the first large scale entertainment complex catering to everyone
Cultures in Conflict, Cultures in Common
- Cultures blended while at the same time clashed
Education
- Business and civic leaders realized that the welfare of society now depended on an educated population
- The concept of universal schooling took hold
- Schools geared towards college – not practical skills = only middle class children went
- Agricultural colleges developed into institutes of technology
- Morrill Federal Land Grant Act
- Funded a system of state colleges for teaching agriculture and mechanics
- Female colleges and co-ed colleges were also beginning to take hold
- Specialized schools also took root
- Business leaders also promoted manual training for working class boys
- Opposed by craft unionist which preferred the apprenticeships to outside training
- Blacks founded their own colleges and went for industrial training
Leisure and Public Space
- Cities originally banned sports, picnics (working class stuff) in favor of band shells etc.
- Rules eventually relaxed
National Pastimes
- Vaudeville bridged middle and working classes and was the movie theaters of the day
- Sports created a sense of national identity
- Rowdy behavior gave the game a working-class ambience
- Many team owners also owned breweries
- National League - raised admission prices and banned beer to appeal to the middle class - American League - continued as before
- Sports soon became big business
- 1920s - Negro Leagues formed
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