2. Causes of Rapid Industrialization
1. Unskilled & semi-skilled labor in abundance
2. Capital
3. Entrepreneurs
4. Market growing as population increased
5. Government willing to stimulate economic growth
6. Abundant natural resources

3. Social Darwinism
Law of the jungle
The strong survive, the weak fail
No government interference – “laissez faire”
Therefore, state intervention to reward society and the
economy is futile!
Most people liked this concept because it appealed to their
work ethic

4. The Gospel of Wealth:
Religion in the Era of Industrialization
$ Wealth no longer looked upon as bad
$ Viewed as a sign of God’s approval
$ Christian duty to accumulate wealth
$ Should not help the poor

5. “On Wealth”
$ The Anglo-Saxon race is
superior.
$ “Gospel of Wealth” (1901).
$ Inequality is inevitable and
good.
$ Wealthy should act as
“trustees” for their “poorer
brethren.”
Andrew Carnegie

6. Robber Barons
Men that do anything to achieve great wealth
Accused of exploiting workers
Forcing horrible working conditions
Unfair labor practices
Selling cheap, then raising price after competitor
goes out of business
“Captains of Industry”
(euphemism)

7. Modern Robber Barons

8. Trust
Stockholders turn their stock over to trustees and they
run the corporation
Many companies joined together
Merger
Company buys out competitor
Monopoly
Company buys out everyone
Only provider of that service

9. Oil Industry
John D. Rockefeller started Standard Oil Company
Used a trust to gain control of other companies

11. Andrew Carnegie
Builds steel empire using:
New machinery (better products)
Cheap production methods
Talented workers paid in stock
Competition among workers
Vertical and horizontal integration

12. Labor Unions

13. Workers were being exploited
1882 – 675 workers killed each week in factories
Wages – which often got cut later
Child .27 per day
Women - $267 per year
Men - $498 per year
No benefits
6 day work week – 12-14 hours per day
Unions improved wages, hours, and conditions over time

14. “Tools” of “Tools” of
Management Labor
“scabs” boycotts
P. R. campaign sympathy
demonstrations
Pinkertons
informational
lockout
picketing
blacklisting
closed shops
yellow-dog
organized
contracts
strikes
court injunctions
“wildcat”
open shop strikes

16. The Molly Maguires
(1860s - 1870s)
James
McParland

17. Pinkerton Agents
The Corporate “Bully-Boys”:

18. National Labor Union
1866-1873
Laid groundwork for future unions

19. Knights of Labor - 1869
 Eight-hour workday.
 Workers’ cooperatives.
 Worker-owned factories.
 Abolition of child and prison labor.
 Increased circulation of greenbacks.
 Equal pay for men and women.
 Safety codes in the workplace.
 Prohibition of contract foreign labor.
 Abolition of the National Bank.

20. Haymarket Riot (1886)
Chicago
Haymarket Affair – protest against police
brutality in breaking up strikes
Bombing at protest
Blamed on anarchists
8 Arrested
Knights of Labor lose support

21. American Federation of Labor
Started by Samuel Gompers 1886
By 1915 avg. work week went from
55hrs to 49 hrs
Avg. weeks wage rose from $17.50
to $24

22. Great Strike of 1877 – railroad strike that
stopped trains for a week, federal troops
called in to halt strike

24. Company Towns

25. A “Company
Town”:
Pullman, IL

29. The Socialists
Eugene V. Debs

30. Big Corporate Profits!

31. The Rise & Decline of Organized Labor