Chapter 24: Industry Comes of Age, 1865–1900 PDF

I. The Iron Colt Becomes an Iron Chapter 24 Horse Industry Comes of Industrial development of United States: Age, 1865–1900...

I. The Iron Colt Becomes an Iron Chapter 24 Horse Industry Comes of Industrial development of United States: Age, 1865–1900 – Railroads Outburst of railroad construction crucial 1865: 35,000 miles of railways 1900: 192,556 miles, much of it west of Mississippi (see Figure 24.1) Transcontinental railroad building required government subsidies because so costly and risky Construction of railway systems promised greater national unity and economic growth Figure 24-1 p513 I. The Iron Colt Becomes an Iron I. The Iron Colt Becomes an Iron I. The Iron Colt Becomes an Iron Horse (cont.) Horse (cont.) Horse (cont.) Arguments for military and postal needs impressed – Until determination of precise route for tracks, railroads – Railroads could turn land into gold by using it as collateral Congress to: withheld all land from other uses for loans from private bankers or by selling it – Advance liberal loans to two favored cross-continent – President Cleveland ended foot-dragging practice in 1887: – Average price of $3 per acre companies in 1862 » Threw open to settlement still-unclaimed public portion – Critics overlooked that land had relatively modest value until – Add enormous donations of acreage paralleling tracks of land-grant areas railroads had ribboned it with steel – Washington granted railroads 155,504,994 acres, and western Government benefits: Frontier villages along route flourished into cities: states contributed 49 million—for total area larger than Texas – Preferential rail rates for postal service and military traffic – Those bypassed became “ghost towns” (see Map 24.1) – Granting land a “cheap” way to subsidize much-desired – Ambitious towns held out monetary incentives to builders: – Land grants given in broad belts along proposed railroad route transportation system: » Who sometimes blackmailed them into contributing – Within these belts, railroads could chose alternate mile-square » Avoided new taxes for direct cash grants more generously sections in checkerboard fashion (see Map 24.1) II. Spanning the Continent with II. Spanning the Continent with Rails Rails (cont.) In 1862 Congress started long-awaited line: Laying of rails began in earnest after Civil War Argument for action was urgency of bolstering Union: – Credit Mobilier: – By binding Pacific Coast—especially gold-rich California—more security with rest of Republic Construction company that reaped fabulous profits – Union Pacific Railroad: Pocketed $73 million for $50 million worth of breakneck construction Note word Union: thrust westward from Omaha Bribed congressmen to look other way For each mile of track constructed: – Company granted twenty square miles of land – Alternating in 640-acre sections on either side of track – For each mile, builders given generous federal loans from $16,000 on flat land to $48,000 for mountainous country Map 24-1 p514  II. Spanning the Continent with II. Spanning the Continent with Rails (cont.) Rails (cont.) – Construction work: Central Pacific Railroad: Sweaty construction gangs, Irish “Paddies” (Patricks) Pushed east from boomtown Sacramento, through worked at frantic pace towering snow-clogged Sierra Nevada When Indians, whose land was seized, would attack, Four far-seeing men—Big Four—chief financial workers would use their rifles backers of enterprise: – Enterprising ex-governor Leland Stanford of California, used Scores of people died his political connections At end of tracks, workers tried to find relaxation in – Collis P. Huntington, an adept lobbyist tented towns – Big Four operated two construction companies, pocketed tens of millions in profits, kept hands clean from bribes p515 II. Spanning the Continent with II. Spanning the Continent with Rails (cont.) Rails (cont.) – Granted same princely subsidies as Union Pacific Results of railroad construction: – Had same incentive to haste – Used ten thousand Chinese laborers: – One of America's most impressive peacetime » Sweated from dawn to dusk undertakings » Proved to be cheap, efficient, and expendable – Welded West Coast more firmly to Union – Over Sierra Nevada, gained only a few inches each day tunneling through solid rock – Facilitated flourishing trade with Asia – While those sledgehammering westward crossed open plains – Penetrated arid barriers of deserts, paving way “Wedding of the rails” consummated near Ogden, for phenomenal growth of Great West Utah, 1869 with colorful ceremony Union Pacific built 1,086 miles; Central Pacific 689 miles p516 III. Binding the Country with Railroad III. Binding the Country with IV. Railroad Consolidation and Ties Railroad Ties (cont.) Mechanization Four other trans-continental lines completed: – Great Northern—Duluth to Seattle—finished in Western lines facilitated by welding and None secured monetary loans from government 1893: expanding older eastern networks All (except Great Northern) received generous grants Creation of far-visioned Canadian American James of land – Notably New York Central: “Commodore” Hill, probably greatest railroad builder Cornelius Vanderbilt amassed fortune of $100 – Northern Pacific—from Lake Superior to Puget His enterprise so soundly organized it rode through later financial storms with flying colors million by offering superior service at lower rate Sound—finished in 1883 – Pioneer builders often overoptimistic – Also pushed switch from iron to steel rails – Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe—from southwest deserts to California—finished in 1884 – Sometimes laid rails “from nowhere to nothing” – Eastern networks moved to standard gauge track – Southern Pacific—New Orleans to San Francisco – Endless bankruptcies, mergers, and – Westinghouse air brake increased safety —consolidated in 1884 reorganizations – Pullman Palace Cars  V. Revolution by Railways V. Revolution by Railways (cont.) Railroads intimately touched countless phases – Opened West with its wealth of resources of American life: – Made America largest integrated national market – For first time, sprawling nation united in physical in world sense, bound with ribs of iron and steel – Generated largest single source of orders for – America's biggest industry: adolescent steel industry Employed more people than any other industry – Stimulated mining and agriculture in West Gobbled up nearly 20% of investment dollars from Clusters of farm settlements paralleled railroads foreign and domestic investors – Railways boon to cities—led great cityward – Spurred amazing economic growth post-Civil War movement of late 1800s p517 V. Revolution by Railways V. Revolution by Railways VI. Wrongdoing in Railroading (cont.) (cont.) – Stimulated mighty stream of immigration Time itself bent to railroad's needs: Corruption lurks when fortunes can be made Land also felt impact: – Until 1880s, each town had its own “local” time overnight: Especially broad, ecologically fragile midsection – On November 18, 1883, major rail lines decreed – Jay Gould: most adept ringmaster of rapacity Settlers plowed up tallgrass prairies and planted continent would be divided in four “time zones” For years he boomed and busted stocks of major well-drained, rectangular cornfields – Most communities adopted “standard” time railroad companies by means of speculation – “Stock watering”—make cattle thirsty by feeding them salt Range-fed cattle displaced buffalo, hunted to Railroads made millionaires: and bloating them with water before weighing them for sale near-extinction – Using same method, stock promoters inflated claims about a White pine forests disappeared into lumber to build – Colossal wealth amassed by stock speculators rail line's assets and profitability to sell stocks and bonds far houses and fences and railroad wreckers in excess of actual value VI. Wrongdoing in Railroading VI. Wrongdoing in Railroading (cont.) (cont.) Railroads forced to charge extortionate rates and – These industrial monarchs: wage competitive battles to pay off financial Manipulated huge national monopoly: obligations – Exercised more direct control over people than Public interest trampled by railroad titans who waged president—with no limit to four year terms brutal wars – Eventually moved from cutthroat competition to cooperation – Entered into defensive alliances to protect profits Railroaders blandly bought and sold people: – Bribed judges and legislatures Early form of combination was the “pool”: – Employed arm-twisting lobbyists – Agree to divide business in given area and share profits – Elected their own “creatures” to high offices Granted secret rebates or kickbacks to large shippers: – Showered free passes on journalists and politicians in West – Slashed rates on competing lines—made up difference on – For a time, virtual industrial monarchs noncompeting lines – Result = small farmers paid higher rates than large shippers p518  VII. Government Bridles the Iron VII. Government Bridles the Iron VII. Government Bridles the Iron Horse Horse (cont.) Horse (cont.) – American people quick to respond to political Under pressure from Grange (Patrons of Epochal Interstate Commerce Act (1887): injustice, but slow to combat economic injustice: Husbandry)—organized agrarian groups: Prohibited rebates and pools Dedicated to free enterprise and principle that Required railroads to publish rates openly – Many Midwestern legislatures tried to regulate competition is soul of trade Forbade unfair discrimination against shippers railroads, but: Cherished pride in progress Outlawed charging more for short haul than long one In Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad Company v. Remembered Jefferson's hostility to government over same line Illinois (1886): interference with business Most important—set up Interstate Commerce – Supreme Court decreed individual states had no power to Above all, “American dream”: hope that in regulate interstate commerce Commission (ICC) to administer and enforce law catch-as-catch-can economic system, anyone might – If mechanical monster to be corralled, federal government Despite acclaim, ICC Act not represent a popular become a millionaire would have to do it victory over corporate wealth Cleveland did not look kindly on effective regulation VII. Government Bridles the Iron VIII. Miracles of Mechanization VIII. Miracles of Mechanization Horse (cont.) (cont.) – What ICC legislation did do was: Postwar industrial expansion: Most foreign investment went to private ventures, Provide orderly forum where competing business not public coffers – 1860—Republic ranked fourth in world interests could resolve conflicts in peaceable ways Investors from Britain, followed by France, Germany, ICC Act tended to stabilize, not revolutionize, existing – 1894—Republic ranked first the Netherlands and Switzerland: business system – Why sudden upsurge: – Owned all or part of an American business Act still ranks as red-letter law: Liquid capital, once scarce, now abundant – Or they lent money to European companies that invested in U.S. industries – First large-scale attempt by Washington to regulate business Word millionaire had not been coined until 1840s – Either way Europeans content to let Americans run in interest of society at large 1861: only a handful of millionaires business—until hard times hit—then they demanded more – Heralded arrival of independent regulatory commissions: say over company operations or government policies » Which commit government to monitoring private Civil War profiteering created huge fortunes which economy to protect public interest combined with investments from foreign capitalists Post-1865, massive foreign investment in U.S.A. VIII. Miracles of Mechanization VIII. Miracles of Mechanization VIII. Miracles of Mechanization (cont.) (cont.) (cont.) Innovations in transportation fueled growth: – Industrials continued to refine pre-Civil War “American – Brilliant ideas gave rise to whole new businesses: – Brought nation's abundant resources—coal, oil, iron—to System”—use specialized machinery to make interchangeable parts: Between 1860-1890, some 440,000 patents issued factory door – Shipping through Great Lakes carried rich iron deposits of » Culminated in Henry Ford's fully moving assembly line for Business operations facilitated by cash register, stock Mesabi Range, Minnesota to Chicago and Cleveland for Model T (see Chap. 12 and Chap. 30) ticker, typewriter refining – Captains of industry had major incentive to invent machines: Refrigerator car, electric dynamo, and electric railway » Became cornerstone of vast steel empire » Replaced expensive skilled labor with cheap unskilled workers speeded urbanization – Copper, bauxite, and zinc made similar journeys from mine to » Unskilled workers plentiful because of massive immigration One of most ingenious inventions was manufacture telephone—Alexander Graham Bell, 1876: Sheer size of American market encouraged innovators – Created gigantic communication network to invent mass-production methods: – Social impact when lure of “number please” took women – Anyone, who could make appealing new product in large away from stove to switchboard quantities and figure how to market it, thrived VIII. Miracles of Mechanization IX. The Trust Titan Emerges (cont.) Most versatile inventor—Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931): Most business leaders devised ways to – Severe deafness enabled him to concentrate without distraction circumvent competition: – Gifted tinkerer and tireless worker, not a pure scientist – Wondrous devices poured out of his “invention factory” in New – Andrew Carnegie, steel king Jersey—phonograph, mimeograph, dictaphone, and moving Integrated every phrase of steel-making operation picture His miners scratched ore from Mesabi Range – Best known for his perfection in 1879 of electric lightbulb » Turned night into day and transformed human habits His ships floated it across Great Lakes » People who slept average of 9 hours a night now slept just a His railroads delivered it to factories at Pittsburgh bit more than 7 No other hands had touched it when metal poured into waiting ingot molds p520 IX. The Trust Titan Emerges IX. The Trust Titan Emerges IX. The Trust Titan Emerges (cont.) (cont.) (cont.) Carnegie pioneered creative entrepreneurial tactic of Perfected device for controlling rivals—the trust: J. Pierpont Morgan: vertical integration: – Stockholders in small oil companies assigned their stock to – Combine into one organization all phases of manufacturing board of directors of Standard Oil Company (1870) – Devised other schemes to eliminate “wasteful” from mining to marketing – Standard Oil then consolidated operations of previously competition: – Goal to improve efficiency by: competing enterprises Depression of 1890s drove many businessmen, bleed by » Making supplies more reliable – Ruthlessly wielding vast power, Standard Oil cornered cutthroat competition, to Morgan: » Control product quality at all stages of production virtually entire world petroleum market – His remedy was to consolidate rival enterprises » Eliminate middlemen's fees – Inspired many imitators, and word trust used to describe any large-scale business combination – He placed officers of his own banking syndicate on various John D. Rockefeller mastered technique of horizontal boards of directors—known as interlocking directorates integration: » Allying with competitors to monopolize a market X. The Supremacy of Steel X. The Supremacy of Steel (cont.) “Steel is king”: new steel civilization—from What wrought transformation? skyscrapers to coal shuttles – Bessemer process: – Steel making, esp. rails for railroads, typified Invented in 1850s; a method of making cheap steel dominance of “heavy industry”— First, William Kelly, a Kentucky manufacturer, “capital goods” as opposed to “consumer goods” developed “air blowing” technique on red-hot iron – Steel expensive in 1860s and 1870s: Gradually Bessemer-Kelly process accepted Vanderbilt forced to import steel rails from Britain Two “crazy men” made present steel civilization By 1900, U.S.A. outdistanced all foreign competitors, possible making more than1/3 of world's steel p521  XI. Carnegie and Other Sultans of XI. Carnegie and Other Sultans of XI. Carnegie and Other Sultans of Steel Steel (cont.) Steel (cont.) Andrew Carnegie—kingpin steelmaster: J. Pierpont Morgan: financial giant Carnegie threatened to enter same business if Morgan did not meet his price – Gifted organizer and administrator: – Financed reorganization of railroads, insurance Carnegie's agents haggled with Morgan for eight Succeeded by picking high-class associates companies, and banks; he clamed: hours until he agreed to buy Carnegie out for over Eliminated many middlemen “Money power” not dangerous, except in dangerous $400 million His partnership involved about 40 “Pittsburgh hands—and he did not regard his own hands as Carnegie, fearing he would die “disgraced” with so millionaires” dangerous much wealth, dedicated his remaining years to giving By 1900, he produced ¼ of nation's Bessemer steel: – Circumstances brought Morgan and Carnegie into away money: – Partners, pre-income tax days, divided profits of $40 million a collision: » Public libraries, pensions for professors, and other year as take-home pay philanthropic purposes By 1900, Carnegie ready to sell his holdings – “Napoleon of the Smokestacks” received $25 million » Gave away about $350 million Morgan meanwhile plunged heavily into manufacture of steel pipe tubing XI. Carnegie and Other Sultans of XII. Rockefeller Grows an American Steel (cont.) Beauty Rose Morgan moved rapidly to expand new Emergence of oil industry—one of most industrial empire: striking developments before/after Civil War: – Took Carnegie holdings, added others, “watered” – In 1859 first well in Pennsylvania—Drake's Folly” stock liberally, and in 1901 launched enlarged poured out liquid “black gold” United States Steel Corporation Kerosene, derived from petroleum, first major – Capitalized at $1.4 billion—America's first product of infant oil industry billion-dollar corporation: Oil industry soon boomed Larger sum than total wealth of nation in 1800 By 1870s kerosene was America's fourth most valuable export Industrial Revolution had come into its own p522 XII. Rockefeller Grows an XII. Rockefeller Grows an American Beauty Rose (cont.) American Beauty Rose (cont.) – What technology gives, technology takes away: Rockefeller came to dominate oil industry 1885: 250,000 Edison's electric light bulbs in use – In 1870, organized Standard Oil Company of Ohio: 1900: 15 million Nucleus of great trust formed in 1882 New light bulbs rendered kerosene obsolete just as Locating his refineries in Cleveland, he eliminated kerosene had rendered whale oil obsolete middlemen and squeezed out competitors Oil might have remained shrinking industry but for Rockefeller flourished in age of completely free invention of automobile: enterprise – By 1900 gasoline-burning internal combustion engine surpassed rivals, steam and electricity, as superior means of Operated “just to the windward of the law” automobile propulsion Pursued policy of rule or ruin – Automobile age gave oil business new, long-lasting, and hugely profitable lease on life By 1877, controlled 95% of all oil refineries in U.S.A. p523  XII. Rockefeller Grows an XII. Rockefeller Grows an American Beauty Rose (cont.) American Beauty Rose (cont.) Rockefeller—“Reckafellow,” as Carnegie once called Other trusts blossomed in sugar, tobacco, him—showed little mercy leather Rockefeller's oil monopoly did turn out superior – Harvester trust amalgamated 200 competitors product at relatively cheap price Achieved important economies by its large-scale – Meat industry arose on western herds and methods of production and distribution kings—Gustavus Swift and Philip Armour Efficient use of expensive machinery and – Untrustworthy trusts and “pirates” who consolidation proved more profitable than ruinous captained them disturbingly new price wars – Arrogant class of “new rich” elbowed aside traditional patrician families p524 XIII. The Gospel of Wealth XIII. The Gospel of Wealth XIII. The Gospel of Wealth (cont.) (cont.) Credited heavenly help: Evolutionary proponents: Self-justification by wealthy involved “The good Lord gave me my money”—Rockefeller – Spencer and Sumner likened to Charles Darwin contempt for poor: Wealthy, entrusted with society's riches, had to prove who stressed adaptation of organisms – Russell Conwell became rich by delivering lecture themselves morally responsible according to “Gospel – Based more on: “Acres of Diamonds” thousands of times of Wealth”—Carnegie British laissez-faire economists David Ricardo and – Plutocracy took its stand on Constitution: Most defenders of capitalism relied on survival-of-the Thomas Malthus Clause that gave Congress sole jurisdiction over fittest theories of Herbert Spencer and William – Spencer, not Darwin, coined phrase “survival of the fittest” interstate commerce a godsend to monopolists Graham – “The millionaires are a product of natural – Social Darwinists argued individuals won their stations in selection”—Sumner Giant trusts also sought refuge behind Fourteenth life by competing on basis of natural talents Amendment XIII. The Gospel of Wealth XIV. Government Tackles the Trust XIV. Government Tackles the Trust Evil (cont.) Evil (cont.) Courts ingeniously interpreted a corporation to be a Masses of people began to mobilize against – Law proved ineffective, largely because contained legal legal “person” monopoly: loopholes Therefore it cannot be deprived of its property by a – First tried to control trusts through state – Effective in one respect: contrary to original intent, used to state without “due process of law” (see Amendment curb labor unions or labor combinations deemed to be XIV, para, 1 in Appendix) legislatures restraining trade – Prosecution of trusts under Sherman Act (1890) neither Giant industrialists incorporated in “easy states,” like – After failure, forced to appeal to Congress: vigorous nor successful N.J., where restrictions on big business mild or Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890): – More trusts formed in 1890s than during any other period nonexistent – Forbade combinations in restraint of trade, without any – Only after 1914 were paper jaws added to Sherman Act distinction between “good” trusts and “bad” trusts – Bigness, not badness, was sin XIV. Government Tackles the Trust XV. The South in the Age of XV. The South in the Age of Industry Evil (cont.) Industry (cont.) Still iron grip of monopolistic corporations threatened Economic conditions of South: Southern agriculture: New principles written into law by Sherman – 1900: South produced smaller percentage of U.S. – Boosted when machine-made cigarettes replaced Anti-Trust Act as well as by Interstate Commerce Act – Private greed should be subordinated to public need manufactured goods than it had before Civil War roll-your-own variety, and consumption increased Plantation system degenerated into pattern of absentee – James Buchanan Duke: landownership Used new technology to mass-produce “coffin nails” White and black sharecroppers tilled soil for share of 1890: absorbed main competitors into American crop Tobacco Company Or became tenants, in bondage to landlords who Showed such generosity to Trinity College, Durham, controlled needed credit and supplies N.C., that trustees changed it to Duke University p526 p526 p527 XV. The South in the Age of XV. The South in the Age of Industry (cont.) Industry (cont.) – Railroads gave preferential rates to manufactured goods – South remained overwhelmingly rural moving southward from North – “New South” booster Henry W. Grady: – In opposite direction they discriminated in favor of southern raw materials Editor of Atlanta Constitution – Net effect—kept South in servitude to Northeast Exhorted ex-Confederates to become “Georgia – E.g.,—“Pittsburgh plus” pricing system in steel industry Yankees” and outplay North at commerce and – In manufacturing cotton textiles, South fared better (see industry Figure 24.2 and Figure 24.3) – Obstacles in path of southern industrialization: – Textile mills proved to be mixed blessing to economically blighted South Regional rate-setting systems imposed by – Cheap labor was South's major attraction for investors northern-dominated railroad interests – Keeping labor cheap became almost a religion among southern industrialists Figure 24-2 p527  XV. The South in the Age of Industry (cont.) – Mills took root in chronically depressed Piedmont region of southern Appalachia – White rural southerners sought employment in company mill towns: Entire families—“hillbillies” or “lintheads”—worked from dawn to dusk Paid half the rate of northern counterparts Often received compensation in form of credit at company store, to which they were habitually in debt Many saw employment in mills as salvation for destitute farm families Figure 24-3 p528 p528 XVI. The Impact of the New Industrial XVI. The Impact of the New Revolution on America Industrial Revolution of America Economic miracles: Most affected group was women Standards of living rose sharply – Propelled into industry by new inventions, they discovered new economic and social opportunities U.S. workers enjoyed more physical comforts than in – “Gibson Girl” created by Charles Dana Gibson showed other industrial nations independent and athletic “new woman” Cities mushroomed as factories demanded more – Most women workers toiled neither for independence nor labor and more immigrants arrived seeking jobs (see for glamour, but out of economic necessity Map 24.2) – Faced long hours and dangerous conditions as did their Federal authority now committed to decades of mates and brothers – Earned less, as wages for “women's jobs” usually set below corporation curbing and “trust-busting” those for men's jobs Very concept of time revolutionized: – Not by clock of nature but by factory whistle Map 24-2 p529 XVI. The Impact of the New XVI. The Impact of the New XVI. The Impact of the New Industrial Revolution in America Industrial Revolution in America Industrial Revolution in America – Machine age accentuated class division: – A nation of farmers and independent producers – Strong pressures for increased foreign trade “Industrial buccaneers” flaunted bloated fortunes became a nation of wage-earners: developed: Spouses displayed glittering diamonds In 1860, half of all workers self-employed Factories saturated domestic market Such extravagances evoked bitter criticism By 1900, two of every three working Americans International trade became cheaper, faster, and easier Some of it was envy depended on wage Flag follows trade, and empire tends to follow flag—a Much arose from socialists and other radicals, some With dependence on wages came vulnerability to lesson America would soon learn recent European immigrants swings of economy and whims of employer Oligarchy of money demonstrated by fact that in 1900 Fear of unemployment constant about 10% of people owned 90% of nation's wealth Reformers struggled to introduce a measure of security—job and wage protection, provision for temporary unemployment—into lives of workers  XVII. In Unions There Is Strength XVII. In Unions There Is Strength (cont.) Workers did not share proportionately with – New machines displaced employees: employers In long run, more jobs created – Workers became mere lever-puller in giant Glutted market severely handicapped wage earners mechanism: Individual workers powerless to battle Individual originality and creativity stifled single-handedly giant corporations: – Corporation could dispense with individual worker much Less value placed on manual labor more easily than worker could dispense with corporation Now factory hands employed by corporation – Employers could pool vast wealth through thousands of –depersonalized, bodiless, soulless and often stockholders conscienceless – Retain high-priced lawyers Directors not know individual workers, and in fairness to – Buy up local press stockholders, not inclined to engage in large-scale private philanthropy p530 XVII. In Unions There is Strength (cont.) » Put pressure on politicians » Import strikebreakers (“scabs”) » Employ thugs to beat up labor organizers Corporations had other weapons: – Call on federal courts to issue injunctions ordering strikers to cease striking – If defiance and disorder ensued, company could request state and federal authorities send in troops – Employers could lock doors against rebellious workers—a “lockout”—and starve workers into submission – Compel workers to sign “ironclad oaths” or “yellow-dog contacts”—solemn agreements not to join labor union p530 p531 XVII. In Unions There is Strength XVIII. Labor Limps Along (cont.) – Put names of agitators on “black list” and circulate it among Labor unions boosted by Civil War: fellow employers Lost of human life drained labor supply – Often workers sank into perpetual debt to company stores Mounting cost of living provided incentive to unionize Middle class, annoyed by strikes, grew deaf to outcry of workers: By 1872 several hundred thousand workers had – Strikes seemed foreign and socialistic; hence unpatriotic organized – Big business might combine into trusts to raise prices, but 32 national unions, representing such crafts as workers must not combine into unions to raise wages bricklayers, typesetters, and shoemakers p532  XVIII. Labor Limps Along XVIII. Labor Limps Along XVIII. Labor Limps Along (cont.) (cont.) (cont.) National Labor Union: Colored National Labor Union: Knights of Labor: – Organized in 1866, represented giant bootstride – Their support for Republican Party and persistent – Seized torch dropped by National Labor Union: by workers racism of white unionists prevented two national Officially known as Noble and Holy Order of the – One of first national-scale unions to form: unions from working together Knights of Labor Began in 1869 as secret society, with private ritual, Aimed to unify workers across locales and trades to National Labor Union called for: passwords, and special handshake challenge ever more powerful employers Arbitration of industrial disputes Lasted six years and attracted impressive total of Secrecy, which continued until 1881, forestalled Eight-hour workday reprisals by employers some 600,000 members: Won latter for government workers Sought to include all workers in “one big union” – Including skilled, unskilled, and farmers – Excluded Chinese; made only nominal efforts to include Union crippled by depression of 1870s – Skilled and unskilled, whites and blacks, men and women women and blacks XVIII. Labor Limps Along XVIII. Labor Limps Along XIX. Unhorsing the Knights of (cont.) (cont.) Labor Sought only to bar “Nonproducers:” Under leadership of Terence V. Powderly: – Got involved in number of May Day strikes, 1886 – Liquor dealers, professional gamblers, lawyers, bankers, and – About half failed stockbrokers – Won a number of strikes for eight-hour day – Focal point was Chicago with 80,000 Knights Refused to enter politics – After Knights staged successful strike against Jay Haymarket Square episode: Campaigned for economic and social reform: Gould's Wabash Railroad in 1885: – Labor disorders had broken out – Producers'cooperatives Membership mushroomed to about three quarters of – On May 4, 1886 police advanced on meeting called to – Codes for safety and health protest alleged brutalities by authorities a million – Frowned on industrial warfare while fostered industrial – Suddenly a bomb thrown, killing or injuring several dozen arbitration people, including police – Waged determined campaign for eight-hour day – Hysteria swept Chicago: » Eight anarchists arrested because preached incendiary ideas; charged with conspiracy XIX. Unhorsing the Knights of XIX. Unhorsing the Knights of XIX. Unhorsing the Knights of Labor (cont.) Labor (cont.) Labor (cont.) » Five sentenced to death – Haymarket Square bomb helped blow props – Skilled workers sought refuge in American Federation of » Other three were given stiff prison terms Labor: from under Knights: » A federation of exclusively skilled craft unions – Agitation for clemency mounted Had been associated with anarchists John Altgeld elected governor in 1892: – Desertion of skilled craft unionists dealt Knights Their strikes met with scant success – After Altgeld studied Haymarket case exhaustively, he body blow: pardoned three survivors – Another fatal handicap of Knights was inclusion By 1890s, down to only 100,000 members who – Violent abuse showered on Altgeld by conservatives of skilled and unskilled workers: gradually fused with other protest groups – Praised by those who thought men innocent – Altgeld defeated for reelection Unskilled labor could be easily replaced by “Scabs” Craft unionists couldn't be replaced so readily – Hence they enjoyed better bargaining position  p534 p535 p535 XX. The AF of L to the Fore XX. The AF of L to the Fore (cont.) – Elitist American Federation of Labor: 1886 – Gompers adopted down-to-earth approach: Largely brainchild of Samuel Gompers Soft-pedaled attempts to engineer sweeping social Had been a cigar maker reform Elected president of AF of L every year except one Bitter foe of socialism, he shunned politics for economic from 1886 to 1924 strategies and goals American Federation of Labor was—a federation: Had no quarrel with capitalism: – An association of self-governing national unions – Demanded fairer share for labor » Each independent, with AF of L unifying overall strategy – All he wanted, he said, was “more” » No individual laborer could join central organization Promoted what he called “pure and simple” unionism: – Better wages, hours, and working conditions p536 XX. The AF of L to the Fore XX. The AF of L to the Fore XX. The AF of L to the Fore (cont.) (cont.) (cont.) One of his major goals was “trade agreement” Weathered panic of 1893 Gravest weakness of organized labor was it embraced authorizing closed shop—or all-union labor By 1900, a membership of 500,000 only small minority of all working-people—about 3% Chief weapons were walkout and boycott Critics referred to it, with questionable accuracy, as in 1900 – AF of L established on solid, but narrow ground: “the labor trust” – Attitude toward labor changing: Fell short of representing all workers – Labor conditions: Public conceding right of workers to organize: Composed of skilled craftsmen—carpenters, bricklayers: Labor disorders continued, more than23,000 strikes – To bargain collectively and to strike – Left unskilled laborers, including women and blacks, to fend for 1881-1900 Labor Day made a holiday by Congress in 1894 themselves Disturbances involved 6,610,000 workers, with total A few industrialists saw wisdom of bargaining with loss to employers and employees of $450 million unions to avoid strikes Strikers lost about half of strikes; won or Vast majority of employers continued to fight compromised remainder organized labor XX. The AF of L to the Fore (cont.) – Nothing handed to unions on a silver platter – Still some time before labor gained position of relative equality with capital – If age of big business had dawned, age of big labor still some distance over horizon p538