Chapter 17
Homestead strike and Henry Clay Frick
Challenges of management control were beginning to seem intolerable to employers. Steel making companies were re organizing their processes, therefor reducing the companies' reliance on skilled labor —> Henry Clay Frick decided that the Amalgamated (steel company) had to go even at Homestead because they were reducing jobs for skilled labor —> they cut wages at Homestead and at first the union accepted that it wasn't a strong enough reason to strike but soon accepted the strike when the steel company denied the Union's right to negotiate their wages —> the Amalgamated steel company was defeated in battle.
Pinkerton Detective Agency
- break up the homestead strike and take away their chances to unionize
Immigration
1830s-1850s Germans and Irish —> not welcomed Know nothing party forms second wave was post civil war 1890s was chinese, eastern europeans (ashkanazi jews), italians, greeks, balkans, serbs, checks, hungararians, DID NOT SPEAK ENGLISH OR WORSHIP IN PROTESTANT CHURCHES —> faced with open arms East coast was more welcoming than West coast (chinese exclusion act) jews were not welcomed WOPS —> nativism was still around —> in 1920s congress restricted immigration into country —> AMERICA HAS NEVER BEEN COMPLETELY OPEN TO IMMIGRANTS —> HYPOCRITICAL OF STATUE OF LIBERTY
New immigrants
Demand for factory labor = massive immigration to industrial cities. 2 types of migration: continuing flow of rural americans into cities, and millions of Asian, Mexican, Canadian, and European immigrants for economic prosperity and/or escaping oppression and escape poverty—> arrival of immigrants introduced heightened ethnic tensions into the dynamic of working class because of lower and higher wages b/w certain groups of immigrants—> many workers didn't have control over the conditions of their work
Moving assembly line
Emergence of mass production came from henry Ford's assembly line in which cut the time for assembling a frame of a car from 12 hours to 1.5 hours —> allowed Ford to raise wages and reduce hours of workers while cutting price of Model T car in less than half —> became a standard for many other industries
Horatio Alger
Expanded the idea that anyone could achieve great wealth by handwork through his novels, based on personal experience.
Knights of labor
First effort to create a genuinely national labor organization—>membership was open to all workers and only excluded lawyers,bankers, liquor dealers, and pro gamblers, they accepted women —> loosely organized without much central direction —> leaders were more interested in long-range reform of the economy and wanted to establish the "cooperative system" instead of the wage system, in which workers would control a large part of the economy themselves - unskilled laborers
Bessemer process
Henry Bessemer developed a process for converting iron into a more durable and versatile steel (blowing air through molten iron to burn out the impurities)
Henry Ford
Henry Ford produced the first cars —> automobile industry became major force in economy by 1910 and reshaped American social and culture life.
Anarchism
A code word in the public mind for terrorism and violence, even though most anarchists were relatively peaceful visionaries dreaming of a new social order —> specter of anarchism remained one of the most frightening concepts in American middle-class imagination —> became obstacle for the AFL and devastating to the Knights of Labor —> unions were always vulnerable to accusations of anarchism shown through violent strikes
Haymarket Square
Knights of labor organized the strike—> A center of labor and radical strength where a strike where the McCormick Harvest Company was striking for a shorter work day —> Police fired into the crowd to suppress the rioters when someone threw a bomb into the crowd —> People were sentenced to life in prison and sentenced to death —> alarming symbol of social chaos and radicalism—> end of knights of labor as a force
Labor unions
Labor attempt to fight back against extremely poor condition—> groups of workers who would strike against employers —> individual unions could not exert much power, so workers looked to form a single national organization (The National Labor Union) but after the panic of 1873, it disappeared
Monopolies
Many people began concerned about the growth of monopoly —> blamed monopoly for creating fake high prices and producing an unstable economy because of not having competition —> many thought it was dangerous because of the rise of large combinations seemed to threaten the ability of individuals to advance in society—> there were no opportunities left for people when one person controlled all aspects of an industry—> emergence of a new class of enormously wealthy, 1% of families controlled 88% of the nation's assets—> increase b/w gap of rich and poor
Edward Bellamy
Published Looking Back which described the experiences of a young Bostonian who slept for 113 years and woke up in a new society that emerged from peaceful, evolutionary process. He labeled his philosophy behind "nationalism" and inspired 160 Nationalist Clubs to expand his ideas
Henry George
The most influential radical who wrote Progress and Poverty —> explained why poverty existed amidst the wealth created by modern industry—> blamed social problems on the ability of a few monopolists to grow wealthy as a result of rising land values.
Eugene v. Debs
Workers went on strike (Pullman Strike) and persuaded the militant America Railway Union led by Eugene V. Debs to support them by refusing to handle Pullman cars and equipment Opposing the strikers was the General Managers' Association —> it persuaded its member companies to discharge switchmen who refused to handle Pullman cars —> Debs's Union instructed its members who worked for the offending companies to walk off their jobs —> transportation from Chicago to the Pacific coast was paralyzed
Sherman Anti Trust Act
set of laws to keep monopolies from taking over prevent the growth of trusts Interstate commerce act: us gov't on a federal level given right to intervene on companies to make sure laws were not being broken first regulatory agency
The Gospel of Wealth
An attempt to suppress the harsh philosophy of Social Darwinism with a more equal serving idea—> People argued that those of great wealth ha not only great power but great responsibilities. It was their duty to use their riches to advance social progress. Andrew Carnegie elaborated on this idea in his book written in 1901, The Gospel of Wealth
Andrew Carnegie/ John D. Rockefeller and Horizontal/Vertical interrogation/ Cornelius Vanderbilt
Andrew Carnegie was the central figure of the Steel industry. He cut costs and prices by striking deals with the railroads and bought rivals who couldn't compete w/ him (vertical integration). Banker J. Pierpont Morgan merged with Carnegie to create the giant steel corporation worth 1.4 billion —> John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil was created through horizontal and vertical integration (owning of other firms/resources to make one enterprise). His Standard Oil Company acquired most refineries in the north east coast, he developed its own marketing organization, became the leading symbol of monopoly in the nation and controlled 90% of access to refined oil in US —> Cornelius Vanderbilt believed that if you had power and money, you were basically above the law and didn't care what it established. Vanderbilt battled Jay Gould and Jim Fisk for the Erie Railroad, both sides of the fight bribed the NY Legislature. As a result of this corruption, many politicians openly demanded bribes and effectively blackmailed businessmen.
Social darwinism
Assumptions that those who were rich were a reward for worthiness and those who failed earned their failure through laziness, stupidity, or carelessness. This became known as Social Darwinism—> Charles Darwin's laws of evolution and natural selection among species to human society—> just as the fittest survived in nature, only the fittest individuals survived and flourished in the marketplace.
Corporations and limited liability
Industries began selling stock to members of the public—> what made buying stock appealing was that investors had only "limited liability"—> investors risked only the amount of their investments, they were not liable for any debts the corporation might accumulate beyond that—> ability to sell stock to a broad public made it possible for entrepreneurs to gather money to undertake big projects.
Taylorism
New principles of 'scientific management' were known as Taylorism, named after Frederick Winslow Taylor's controversial ideas—> urged employers to reorganize the production process by subdividing tasks to speed up production and makes workers more interchangeable which would diminish a manger's dependance on any particular employee —> would also reduce the need for highly trained skill workers —> scientific management was a way to make human labor compatible with demands of the machine age - same as assembly line
Pools/Trusts/holding companies
Railroad companies began making pool arrangements which were informal agreements among various companies to stabilize rates and diver markets (later known as cartels) pools did not work very well because even if a few firms in an industry were unwilling to cooperate (almost always) the pool arrangement collapsed —> The Trust Agreement was the result of the failure of pools in which techniques of consolidation relied less on cooperation than on centralized control. Trust Agreement was pioneered by the Standard Oil Company and perfect by J.P. Morgan, under a trust agreement, stockholders in individual corporations transferred their stocks to a small group of trustees in exchange for shares in the trust itself. Owners of trust certificates had no direct control over the decisions of the trustees, they received a share of the profits of the combination. Trustees themselves could own only a few companies but have control over many.—> The Holding Company was a central corporate company that would buy up the stock of various members of the Standard Oil trust and establish direct ownership of the corporations in the trust
Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor
Representatives of a number of existing craft unions formed the Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada and was the most important and enduring labor group in the U.S. —> An association of skilled workers represented by craft unions. It was hostile to unskilled workers who were unfit for existing organizations —> Didn't believe women should join the workforce because they were weak and employers could take advantage of the, by paying them less than men, and as a result women drove down wages for everyone —> nevertheless sought equal pay for women who did work —> against poor working conditions which is what forced them to organize difference between knights of labor was that AFL represented skilled labors and was a union of unions —> trade unions developed for each profession of skilled labors —> put leverage on owners —> more successful than knights of labor but not really effective for changing conditions governments DO NOT support unions
Child labor laws
State legislatures established laws that were of limited impact —> children worked 12 hours a day picking or hoe-ing in the fields. The laws barely set an age minimum of 12 yrs old and a max of 10 hours of work per day, these were often ignored by employers. Children were easily injured and killed b/c they were often working with dangerous machinery
Railroad strike of 1877
The Eastern Railroad announced 10% wage cuts and expanded into something like a class war —> Strikers disrupted mail service and rioted in cities. State militias were necessary to suppress the rioters, it turned violent in baltimore and Philadelphia and over 100 people died —> first major national labor conflict and SHOWED HOW disputes b/w workers and employers could no longer be localized in the increasingly national economy —> Also SHOWED the depth of resentment among many American workers among their employers and toward the governments that allied with them - wanted one big union of workers and wanted capitalist owners to share wealth —> leaned towards new economic system that was less capitalist —> lead to problems b/c couldn't make a large impact
Pullman Strike
The Pullman car company cut wages by 25% caused by the depression at the time. Workers went on strike and persuaded the militant American Railway union to support them by refusing to handle Pullman cars and equipment (Eugene Debts). —> Railroad workers were instructed by the Union to walk off their jobs whenever workers were ordered to switch jobs to make cars for the Pullman company —> transportation from Chicago to the Pacific Coast was paralyzed—> the strike quickly collapsed with federal troops protecting the hiring of new workers.
