The Growth of Big Business

1
The Growth of Big Business

• American History
• Norris High School

2
Captains of Industry

• John D. Rockefeller
• Formed Standard Oil Company in 1870
• Used Predatory Underselling (undercutting of
  other businesses by selling his product
  dirt-cheap and then bought the other companies)
• Created a Horizontal Monopoly
• Dabbled in Philanthropy
• 500 Million

3
Captains of Industry

• Andrew Carnegie
• Formed US Steel
• Created a Vertical Monopoly (When a company
  expands its business into areas that are at
  different point of the same production paths)
• He owned the iron ore mines, the steel mills,
  shipping, railroads
• Dabbled in Philanthropy
• 350 Million

4
Social Darwinism

• Natural selection can also be applied to
  competition between human societies or groups
  within a society. The fit will be successful and
  the weak will be weeded out
• Survival of the Fittest
• OTSS

5
The Rise of Labor Unions

• Working conditions in factories are terrible, so
  workers begin to unite against their employers
• Unions mainly focused on issues of workers low
  wages, hours (Usually 10), and working
  conditions
• Unions wanted Collective Bargaining (A process in
  which workers negotiate as a group with
  employers, because working as a group they were
  strong)
• Increase in Urban living vs. Rural

6
The Employers Strike Back

• Forbade Union Meetings
• Fired Union Organizers
• Forced new employees to sign contracts saying
  they will never join unions
• Refused to bargain collectively
• Refused to recognize unions as legitimate
  representatives of workers

7
Strikes Rock the Nation

• Haymarket Strike of 1886
• Workers wanted 8-hour workday, began to fight
  with scabs, as fighting ensues police show up and
  kill several on both sides
• Homestead Strike of 1892
• Workers in a Carnegie plant organize a strike,
  followed by gunfighting (several killed), strike
  lasts for months

8
Strikes Rock The Nation

• Pullman Strike of 1894
• Pullman cuts wages, enrages the workers to
  strike, Federal Govt steps in and courts rule
  against labor unions and sends in troops to end
  the strike
• Now labor unions (and workers) have NO power