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2 Industrial America and Its Discontents Everett Collection/SuperStock In the Gilded Age a handful of industrialists grew enormously wealthy. Their workers, who formed the backbone of the nation’s economic expansion, struggled to make ends meet. While some called the industrialists “captains of industry,” others referred to them as “robber barons” because they gained wealth on the hard labor of their employees. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 31 12/18/14 3:01 PM American Lives: Andrew Carnegie Pre-Test 1. John D. Rockefeller was one of the most important industrialists of the Gilded Age. His name was synonymous with the rise of big business. T/F 2. Even though there was a growth of big business in the late 19th century, and some became very wealthy, there was little change in the nature of work for the average laborer. T/F 3. The United States was a destination for European immigrants through two main waves in the 19th century. The second wave emigrated primarily from Scandinavia, Germany, and Great Britain. T/F 4. The American Federation of Labor was the largest union in the United States. It welcomed into its membership all workers and sought to bring a fundamental challenge to the capitalist system. T/F 5. Chinese immigrants to the United States faced more racial prejudice and anti-immigrant sentiment than those hailing from other nations. T/F Answers can be found at the end of the chapter.

Learning Objectives By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Understand the role immigrants played in the transition from an agrarian to an industrial economy. • Explain the ways that cities changed in the Gilded Age and discuss the relationship between urbanization, immigration, and industrialization. • Explain the technological changes that occurred in the Gilded Age. • Understand how the rise of big business altered the American economy. • Discuss how the new technology and business organization affected American workers in the Gilded Age. • Discuss working-class activism in response to industrialization. Explain how the government and public responded to that activism. American Lives: Andrew Carnegie In March 1901 steel magnate Andrew Carnegie sold his vast business interests to industrialist and banker J. P. Morgan for a record $480 million. The sale made Carnegie, by some accounts, the richest man in the world, and it allowed Morgan to combine Carnegie’s holdings with his own to form U.S. Steel, the world’s first billion-dollar corporation.

Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1835. There his father was displaced from his skilled occupation as a hand weaver when textile mills mechanized cloth production. He brought the family to America in 1848, and after reaching Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Carnegies— Andrew, his brother Tom, and his parents—squeezed into two rooms a relative provided them free of rent. Photos.com/Thinkstock By the late 19th century, steel magnate and immigrant Andrew Carnegie was among the richest men in the world.

His life story represents the ultimate rags-to-riches dream of success in America. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 32 12/18/14 3:01 PM Since it was not possible to follow his father in the weaving trade, Carnegie took a messenger’s job at a Pittsburgh telegraph office. His earnest work and resourcefulness caught the attention of Thomas A.

Scott, a superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, who hired him as his personal telegrapher and pri - vate secretary at a salary of $35 a month, about $750 in today’s dollars.

Carnegie parlayed the connections he made through Scott into a series of business investments, little by little accumulating enough capital to strike out on his own. He eventually settled on steel manufactur - ing as his primary focus. Locating his first plant out - side Pittsburgh, Carnegie contributed significantly to the shift from skilled to unskilled labor in the steel industry. In many ways he was responsible for creat - ing a situation very like the mechanized textile mills that had pushed his father to leave their homeland in search of new ways to support the family . Immigrant workers from southern and eastern Europe were drawn to Carnegie’s mills, where they hoped to realize their own success in America. In real - ity, though, the drive for profit and increased produc - tivity meant that workers at Carnegie Steel faced low pay and increasingly difficult and dangerous working conditions. The average unskilled steel mill worker toiled 12 hours a day in hot and dangerous conditions for less than $2 a shift, about $45 in today’s dollars. When transitioning from day to night turns, which happened twice a month, workers endured a 24-hour shift, followed by a day off. Few experienced any of the upward mobility that characterized their employer’s immigrant experience. Instead, Carnegie fought against the workers’ unionization attempts and did little to assist workers injured on the job . Carnegie became emblematic of a number of industrialists who grew rich at the expense of their workers around the turn of the 20th century. Somewhat ironically, later in life Carnegie turned toward philanthropy. He established the Carnegie Corporation of New York and endowed nearly 3,000 libraries across the United States, Great Britain, and Canada. Many were located in the same communities as his steel mills, but few of his workers could enjoy the leisure of visiting a library. Giving away almost all his fortune, Carnegie spent his last years in a quest for world peace and harmony. He died in 1919 (Rau, 2006) . For further thought: 1. What does Carnegie’s life story reveal about industrializing America? 2. Do you think it is possible to succeed in business without exploiting the labor of others? Pre-Test 1. John D. Rockefeller was one of the most important industrialists of the Gilded Age. His name was synonymous with the rise of big business. T/F 2. Even though there was a growth of big business in the late 19th century, and some became very wealthy, there was little change in the nature of work for the average laborer. T/F 3. The United States was a destination for European immigrants through two main waves in the 19th century. The second wave emigrated primarily from Scandinavia, Germany, and Great Britain. T/F 4. The American Federation of Labor was the largest union in the United States. It welcomed into its membership all workers and sought to bring a fundamental challenge to the capitalist system. T/F 5. Chinese immigrants to the United States faced more racial prejudice and anti-immigrant sentiment than those hailing from other nations. T/F Answers can be found at the end of the chapter.

Learning Objectives By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

His life story represents the ultimate rags-to-riches dream of success in America. American Lives: Andrew Carnegie bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 33 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.1 The Immigrants 2.1 The Immigrants Between 1877 and 1900 industrialization, urbanization, and immigration reshaped Ameri - can society. In that period 12 million immigrants flooded into the United States seeking jobs, opportunities, and a better life. Millions of rural Americans abandoned the countryside to seek employment in the cities as well, especially once the mechanization of agriculture reduced the need for farm labor. Arriving in New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Birmingham, and other industrial centers, they found themselves amid a sea of unfamiliar faces from around the world.

Coming to America Unlike earlier waves of immigrants from Ireland, England, Germany, and Scandinavia, many of these “new immigrants” hailed from areas of eastern and southern Europe, as well as from Asian countries like China and Japan. There the forces of industrialization, unemployment, food shortages, and forced military service served as push factors that sent millions across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Among the earliest to arrive were thousands of Italians fleeing an 1887 cholera epidemic. Russian and Polish Jews sought refuge from anti-Semitic pogroms in the 1880s. The majority left their homelands after industrial pressures left them few job opportunities. So many immigrants arrived that by 1890 nearly 15% of the American popula - tion was foreign born (see Table 2.1).

Table 2.1: Immigration to the United States, 1860–1900 Year Foreign born Total population Percentage of total population foreign born 1860 4,138,697 31,443,321 13.16% 1870 5,567,229 38,558,371 14.44% 1880 6,679,943 50,155,783 13.32% 1890 9,249,547 62,662,250 14.76% 1900 10,341,276 75,994,575 13.61% Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 1999.

Just as economic and political factors served to push immigrants from their European and Asian communities, pull factors in America attracted them. Better and cheaper transpor - tation made the transoceanic passage affordable to many, but it was the lure of work that most often figured into the decision to emigrate. Although industrialization was a world - wide phenomenon, the United States was quickly growing to be the world’s largest indus - trial employer. A combination of new technology, capital investment, and especially abundant natural resources helped support the rise of natural resource extraction and manufacturing.

Transnationalism also serves to explain the flow of immigrants into the United States in the late 19th century. The global flow of capital, ideas, and resources among countries made the industrializing United States the natural temporary destination for immigrants bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 34 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.1 The Immigrants hoping to take what they earned and skills learned in the United States and use it to increase their resources and possibilities back in their homeland. Many of the earliest immigrants were young, single men who possessed few job skills. Particularly among Greeks and Ital - ians, some single men came with no intention of staying in America permanently. Called birds of passage , they arrived in the United States aiming to earn enough money to pur - chase land or make a start in a trade or business once they returned to Europe. They used connections in American ethnic communities to find employment and lodging but funneled resources home. Ellis Island Europeans initially arrived at East Coast port cities, including Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. The largest number landed at New York Harbor, where they were processed at Castle Garden at the Battery in Lower Manhattan. Before long, however, the ris - ing numbers of immigrants made it useful to estab - lish federal control over and unify the process. The Immigration Act of 1891 shifted immigration reg - ulation from the states to the federal government and established the Office of Immigration (later the Bureau of Immigration) to oversee the process.

With the increased influx of immigrants, Congress saw the measure as an important means to secure federal oversight and control. It also established an inspection process that aimed to exclude undesir - able immigrants. Those who were seriously sick, mentally ill, or likely to come under the public charge were to be returned to their homelands.

In 1892, in order to accommodate the rising num - bers of immigrants, the Office of Immigration opened a receiving center on Ellis Island , 1 mile south of New York City and virtually in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. The statue became an important symbol of hope for the new arrivals (Kraut, 2001). On it were words by poet Emma Lazarus that inspired many who came to America with the hope of a better life: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! (as cited in Young, 1995) The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY Not everyone supported the idea of an immigration center on Ellis Island.

This 1890 cover of Judge magazine shows immigrants being dumped at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Lady Liberty responds by saying, “If you are going to make this island a garbage heap, I am going back to France!” bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 35 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.1 The Immigrants At Ellis Island, new arrivals passed through a medical examination and were questioned about their destination and economic status. For the majority of immigrants, the entire process took no more than 7 hours, after which they were permitted to pass into the city.

Less than 1% of immigrants were rejected, but for those separated from family and denied their dream of coming to America (most often those from southern and eastern Europe), the processing center became known as the “Island of Tears.” Nearly 12 million immi - grants were processed at Ellis Island between its opening in 1892 and 1954, when it closed permanently.

The Immigrant Experience Once they passed through Ellis Island, immigrants experienced a life very different from what many had imagined. One Italian immigrant famously observed: I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here I found out three things: First, the streets weren’t paved with gold; second, they weren’t paved at all; and third, I was expected to pave them. (as cited in Puleo, 2007) Italians and other immigrants provided the labor for the growing industries and city con - struction. They built the New York subway system and worked 12-hour shifts in the steel mills of Pittsburgh and other northeastern cities. Many also worked as day laborers, launder - ers, and domestic servants.

The Italians, Poles, Hungarians, Russians, Greeks, Czechs, and others who came brought with them their own languages, lifestyles, and cultural traditions. Jews were most likely to emigrate in family groups, whereas many Irish arriving in the late 19th century were single women seeking employment as domestic servants. Although historians once believed that immigration was an alienating experience, more careful study has found that the new immi - grants transplanted many facets of their former lives to their new homeland.

Immigrants’ cultural and ethnic values and experiences often determined their work pat - terns. Greeks, often birds of passage who planned to return to the Old World, took itinerant jobs on the railroads or other transient positions. Italians, whose culture valued much family time, preferred more sedentary and stable industrial work. Jews often operated as shopkeep - ers and peddlers or in the needle trades—occupations they transplanted from the Old World, where anti-Semitic regulations restricted their work choices. Some ethnicities, such as the Irish and Slovaks, encouraged women to work in domestic service, whereas others, includ - ing the Italians and Greeks, barred women from working outside the home (Gabaccia, 1995).

Women in those groups often took in laundry or sewing work, and many cared for single young male immigrants who paid to board with established families.

Thousands traveled in patterns of chain migration , arriving in Pittsburgh or Buffalo to the welcome greetings of family or friends in an established ethnic neighborhood. In these tightly knit communities, new arrivals found many of the comforts of home, including newspapers in their native language, grocers specializing in familiar foods, and churches where their reli - gious traditions were practiced. Many ethnic groups established self-help and benevolent societies. In New York City the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society assisted Jews, and the Polish National Alliance and the Bohemian–American National Council aided those groups in their bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 36 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.1 The Immigrants transition to American life. In larger cities immigrant communities established their own the - aters and concert halls, as well as schools to educate their children (Bodnar, 1985).

In some cities tight-knit neighbor - hoods formed familiar cultural homes for multiple ethnic groups. In Pitts - burgh, for example, the more than 12,000 Polish immigrants in that city in 1900 lived primarily in the Strip District, a narrow slice of land along the Allegheny River. There they found stores that catered to their food tastes and ethnic newspapers that reported news from Europe as well as from the local community. From this vantage point they could easily learn about job opportunities in many industrial shops, including Carnegie Steel. By the 1880s Pittsburgh’s Poles had estab - lished their own churches and begun to expand their neighborhood to the nearby hill district, still known by some as Polish Hill (Bodnar, Simon, & Weber, 1983).

Nativism and Anti-immigrant Sentiment As ethnic communities grew and immigrants continued to transplant their cultures in Amer - ica, a growing number of native-born Americans, especially White Protestants, grew con - cerned. Describing the new immigrants as distinct “races” from inferior civilizations, these nativists pointed to the newcomers’ cultural differences and willingness to work for low wages as causes for alarm. Some argued that they had inborn tendencies toward criminal behavior, and others claimed that the presence of so many foreigners threatened to make fundamental (and undesirable) changes in American society. As feelings of anti-immigrant sentiment increased, the “golden doorway of admission to the United States began to narrow” (Daniels, 2004).

The Chinese faced the most dramatic reaction. From the 1850s through 1870, thousands of Chinese entered the United States to work in western gold fields, on railroad construction, and in West Coast factories. Like their European counterparts in the East, Chinese immigrants built tightly knit ethnic communities to insulate themselves from personal and often violent attacks by nativists and to perpetuate their distinct culture. San Francisco’s growing Chinese quarter stretched six long blocks, from California Street to Broadway (Takaki, 1990).

In response to anti-Chinese concerns, in 1875 Congress passed legislation barring the entrance of Chinese women, and a total exclusion policy began to gain supporters. In the West a growing Workingmen’s Party movement, led by Denis Kearney, lashed out at Chinese Everett Collection/SuperStock As more and more people immigrated to the United States, ethnic neighborhoods became common.

Shown here is Little Italy in New York City around 1900. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 37 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.1 The Immigrants laborers, claiming they unfairly competed with White American labor. Kearney delivered a series of impassioned anti-Chinese speeches, sparking violent attacks on San Francisco’s Asian citizens. Kearney was arrested in November 1877 for inciting a riot, but charges against him were subsequently dropped, and he continued his xenophobic campaign (Soennichsen, 2011).

As explained in Chapter 1, protests by Kearney and others led Congress to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which established a 10-year ban on all Chinese labor immigration.

Although law already barred non-Whites from becoming naturalized citizens, this marked the first time that race was used to exclude an entire group’s entrance into the United States.

Congress renewed the restriction after 10 years and made the exclusion permanent in 1902.

It remained in effect until 1943.

Despite the ban, some Chinese did still enter the United States. Merchants, diplomats, and the sons of U.S. citizens were permitted to immigrate. A trade in falsified citizenship records also allowed many so-called paper sons to pass through the system. Jim Fong, who arrived in San Francisco in 1929 with forged documents, recalled enduring 3 weeks of interrogation by immigration officials before eventually being admitted as a U.S. citizen, despite the fact that he spoke no English. After working as a fruit picker and dishwasher, Fong studied English at night and eventually succeeded as a restaurant manager. Under an amnesty agreement, he relinquished his fraudulent citizenship in 1966 and eventually became a naturalized citizen (Kwok, 2014).

Other nativist groups waged less successful attempts at restriction during the 1890s. The Immigration Restriction League, formed in Boston in 1894, sought to bar illiterate people from entering America. Congress adopted a measure doing so in 1897, but President Grover Cleveland vetoed it. Another guise to restrict immigrant rights came in the form of the secret or “Australian” ballot widely adopted in the 1890s. It ostensibly aimed to protect voter pri - vacy, but it also served to bar the illiterate from receiving help at polling places. American Experience: Ellis Island Versus Angel Island As steam ships carrying immigrants entered New York Harbor, passengers leaned over the rails to stare at the Statue of Libert y standing tall and proud. When they rounded Libert y Island, the immigrants beheld another marvelous spectacle: the grandiose buildings that made up the Ellis Island processing station.

Welcoming its first immigrants in 1892, Ellis Island served as the nation’s busiest process - ing station until 1924, when immigration laws reduced the tide of European immigrants to a trickle. Before it closed in 1954, 12 million immigrants passed through its buildings into the United States. For the vast majorit y, the immigrant processing center was a quick stop on their way to building a new life in America. (continued) bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 38 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.1 The Immigrants American Experience: Ellis Island Versus Angel Island As steam ships carrying immigrants entered New York Harbor, passengers leaned over the rails to stare at the Statue of Libert y standing tall and proud. When they rounded Libert y Island, the immigrants beheld another marvelous spectacle: the grandiose buildings that made up the Ellis Island processing station.

Welcoming its first immigrants in 1892, Ellis Island served as the nation’s busiest process - ing station until 1924, when immigration laws reduced the tide of European immigrants to a trickle. Before it closed in 1954, 12 million immigrants passed through its buildings into the United States. For the vast majorit y, the immigrant processing center was a quick stop on their way to building a new life in America. American Experience: Ellis Versus Angel Island (continued) After stepping off their ships, men, women, and children, most of them from Europe, stored their luggage in the bag - gage room and lined up for processing.

When it was their turn, they entered the Great Hall with its massive vaulted ceiling and mosaic tiled walls and f loor.

Although a daunting experience, the overall atmosphere was one of welcome.

Asian immigrants arriving on the Pacific coast found a very different experi - ence. The Chinese Exclusion Act greatly slowed but did not completely stop Chinese nationals from entering the United States. Beginning in the 1880s a significant number of Japanese also crossed the Pacific.

An immigrant station opened in 1910 on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay to process those arriving from Asia.

In sharp contrast to the Great Hall and opulent buildings of Ellis Island, Asian immigrants arrived at a series of wooden barracks, where furnishings consisted of wooden tables and benches and metal bunks for sleeping. The Chinese faced the most intense nativism of any immigrant groups; officials determined to isolate Chinese newcomers, whom they feared might conspire with residents of San Francisco’s growing Chinatown to slip into the cit y illegally.

Instead of mere hours, immigrants landing at Angel Island were often detained for weeks or even months, and a higher number—between 11% and 30%—were returned to Asia (compared to fewer than 1% at Ellis Island). Some were questioned at length about their backgrounds and asked about subjects of which they had no knowledge.

While confined under adverse conditions, many Chinese immigrants scrawled words and poems on the walls ref lecting their experience. One immigrant wrote: “Everyone says travelling to North America is a pleasure, I suffered misery on the ship and sadness in the wooden building. After several interrogations, still I am not done. I sigh because my compatriots are being forcibly detained” (Kraut, 2001). After processing several hundred thousand immigrants, the Angel Island processing center closed in 1940.

For further reading, see:

Lee, E., & Yung, J. (2010). Angel Island: Immigrant gateway to America . New York: Oxford University Press. Coan, P. M. (2004). Ellis Island interviews: Immigrants tell their own stories in their own words . New York: Barnes & Noble Books. © Anonymous/AP/Corbis At the Angel Island immigration processing center, Chinese and Japanese immigrants were often detained for weeks or months and were subjected to interrogations like the one shown here. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 39 1/9/15 9:04 AM Section 2.2 The City 2.2 The City Before the Civil War, America’s total urban population stood at 6.2 million, and most American cities, with the exception of a handful of large urban areas, boasted populations only in the tens of thousands. Luring residents from small towns, farms, and foreign countries, American cities increasingly became home to individuals and families seeking employment in the grow - ing numbers of factories and mills. By the turn of the 20th century, the United States counted 30 million urban residents, and six cities had populations reaching half a million. Three cities—New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia—were home to more than a million residents.

By 1920 more Americans lived in urban areas than on farms, and the city was established as a dominant force in economic, social, and cultural life.

City Dwellers and Changing Demographics The exponential growth of cities came largely from migration and immigration, with almost half of the influx originating from the American countryside. Falling farm prices and increased mechanization meant fewer rural opportunities. These largely working-class Americans joined millions of European immigrants seeking to better their lives in the cities.

Social class differentiated residential areas within the cities. In New York, with its central Wall Street financial center, middle- and upper-middle-class men and women traded and shopped at fancy retail stores and worked in newly constructed office buildings. Most middle-class residents moved their homes outside the city center to the fringes to avoid the growing num - ber of ethnic and working-class neighborhoods that straddled the new industrial zones. Sur - rounding Wall Street were rings of tenements and apartment buildings where rural migrants, immigrants and the city’s poorest residents sometimes packed their entire families into a single room (Shrock, 2004).

The Changing Shape of the City The city was a place of contrasts in the era that became known as the Gilded Age . This satirical term was coined by Mark Twain to describe the period of rapid urban and industrial change from 1877 to about 1900. In his 1873 novel, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today , Twain described a glittering society with serious problems beneath the surface. A city skyline itself was evoked as a breathtaking symbol of progress, featuring new buildings that crept ever higher toward the heavens. In New York, for example, the Manhattan Life Insurance building towered over the city at nearly 350 feet. The city’s second largest building, the American Surety Building, stood 21 stories tall and 312 feet upon its completion in 1894 (Korom, 2013). It appeared that the technological wonders of these new places knew no bounds.

But for all the examples of progress in the American city, the tragic realities of poor living conditions, ethnic prejudice, and unfair working environments significantly tainted the urban experience for many. The American city was a paradox, a place that exemplified hope for the future while at the same time demonstrating the worst that life had to offer. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 40 12/18/14 3:01 PM LivingRoom11x11’6” LivingRoom11x11’6” 7’x 9’6” BedRoom 7’x 9’6” BedRoom Parlor11’6”x12’6” Parlor11’6”x12’6” LivingRoom11x11’6” LivingRoom11x11’6” 7’x 9’6” BedRoom 7’x 9’6” BedRoom 7’x 9’6” BedRoom 7’x 9’6” BedRoom Parlor11’6”x12’6” Parlor11’6”x12’6” AIR SHAFT AIR SHAFT Fire Escape Fire Escape PUBLIC HALL W. C. W. C. Section 2.2 The City The Tenement In addition to stunning new skyscrapers, Gilded Age builders tried new construction tech - niques to enable cities to house more workers and their families. Construction of the dumb - bell tenement house, so named because of its distinctive shape, dominated between 1879 and 1901. Typically, these were very tightly packed structures with only a couple of feet between them. The entrance hallway was a long passage, sometimes less than 3 feet wide, that reached 60 feet to the back of the structure. Each floor was divided, with seven rooms on each side (see Figure 2.1). Only four of these rooms on each floor had ventilation or were reached by sunlight.

Figure 2.1: Dumbbell tenement house Built on a narrow, 25-foot-wide lot, the dumbbell tenement could house many families but lacked adequate ventilation and sanitary conditions. In 1901 New York City required new tenement buildings to have windows, ventilation, and indoor toilets. LivingRoom11x11’6” LivingRoom11x11’6” 7’x 9’6” BedRoom 7’x 9’6” BedRoom Parlor11’6”x12’6” Parlor11’6”x12’6” LivingRoom11x11’6” LivingRoom11x11’6” 7’x 9’6” BedRoom 7’x 9’6” BedRoom 7’x 9’6” BedRoom 7’x 9’6” BedRoom Parlor11’6”x12’6” Parlor11’6”x12’6” AIR SHAFT AIR SHAFT Fire Escape Fire Escape PUBLIC HALL W. C. W. C. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 41 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.2 The City Tiny interior airshafts were supposed to provide ventilation, but the air between the build - ings was so foul that residents often nailed their windows shut. Others used the shafts for garbage disposal, and the filth left to rot served as a breeding ground for disease. Privacy was impossible because the walls were paper-thin and windows often looked directly into the room of a neighbor.

An 1893 publication described the tenements in the following way: The Tenements display the lowly side and often dark side of New-York life. . . . Tenement houses are as a rule great towering buildings, many of them squalid and in bad repair, and devoid of anything but the rudest arrangements for existence. They are packed with human beings. . . . Frequently half a dozen people eat, sleep, and somehow exist in a single room, and tenants who have two or three rooms generally keep boarders besides their own large fami - lies. . . . The landlords of these old tenement houses become very rich out of the needs of the poor tenants. (King, 1893, p. 220) The buildings were also fire hazards with very few safety features. The bathroom facilities were primitive, generally just outhouses in the back alleys with poor sanitation. A very high percentage of the New York City population lived in these conditions. In 1901 the city had 3.4 million inhabitants, and 2.3 million lived in tenement houses (Veiller and New York State, 1903).

Reformers such as Jacob Riis worked to bring attention to the plight of those living in the tenements. In the middle of one night in 1888, Riis and a group of men slipped into a New York tenement building. Though most of the residents were still awake, no one stopped them from ascending the steps because no one possessed anything of value. The men entered an unlocked room that was dark and tiny with only one small window that opened to a clogged airshaft. Designed for a family of four, there were 15 immigrants living there, sleeping on every possible horizontal surface. The mysterious men set down some equipment, and one held what looked to be a gun. Before anyone said a word, a brilliant flash of light blinded the occupants, and while their eyes tried to adjust from the flash the men ran out.

Riis had taken his first of many images of tenement life and had begun his campaign to improve the tenements’ horrendous living conditions (Pascal, 2005). As a result of the work of Riis and others, city officials took small steps toward reform. For example, New York City’s 1901 Tenement House Act required more ventilation, windows facing outward, and indoor toilets (Dunbar & Jackson, 2005). Technology in America: Elevators and Structural Steel Before the Gilded Age, buildings were relatively low to the ground. Climbing multiple f lights of stairs made buildings of more than four stories inconvenient. The structural instabilities of mid-19th-century building materials also prevented architects from design - ing tall buildings. Elisha Graves Otis solved the first of these problems with his 1852 inven - tion of the mechanical elevator. An electric version appeared in 1889. Advances in cast-iron and steel-frame construction solved the second problem, giving architects the materials needed to build high into the sky. (continued) bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 42 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.2 The City A distinctly American contribution to architecture, the combination of the ele - vator and structural steel made possible the skyscraper and the upward growth of cities. Skyscrapers enabled a new t ype of urban expansion, with build - ings soaring ever higher. Mayors of the largest cities were in constant competi - tion to win the honor of possessing the world’s tallest building, with the tallest in New York reaching 350 feet.

Structural-steel construction also reduced the fires that struck wooden cit y buildings on a regular basis. Without modern fire hydrants and water systems, fires spread quickly, destroying vast swaths of cities. Each major fire led cit y planners to rebuild and reshape cities.

This was most notable after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Killing hundreds and destroying more than 3 square miles, the fire was the worst urban disaster in U.S. history to that point. Chicago planners and structural engineers used the newly available structural steel to reconstruct the cit y. Steel skyscrapers sprouted out of the burned footprints of their wooden ancestors.

For further reading, see:

Fogelson, R. M. (2001). Downtown: Its rise and fall, 1880–1950 . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Hoffer, P. C. (2006). Seven fires: The urban infernos that reshaped America . New York: PublicAffairs. Technology in America: Elevators and Structural Steel Before the Gilded Age, buildings were relatively low to the ground. Climbing multiple f lights of stairs made buildings of more than four stories inconvenient. The structural instabilities of mid-19th-century building materials also prevented architects from design - ing tall buildings. Elisha Graves Otis solved the first of these problems with his 1852 inven - tion of the mechanical elevator. An electric version appeared in 1889. Advances in cast-iron and steel-frame construction solved the second problem, giving architects the materials needed to build high into the sky. Getting Around in the New City As immigrants adjusted to their new lives in the United States, cities began to grow to pre - viously unimaginable sizes. Many aspects of city life changed to accommodate the influx of people and the growth of industry. Mass transportation was one of them, and some cities, including New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, began digging below the roads to construct vast networks of subways. Others built elevated train lines above the streets, and San Fran - cisco developed cable cars in 1873. These lines largely served the middle and professional classes who could afford to move outside the industrial zones. Most laborers clustered in less desirable housing near the dirt and pollution of the mills and factories. Technology in America: Elevators and Structural Steel (continued) Courtesy Everett Collection The Reliance Building, built in Chicago in 1890 and designed by architect Daniel Burnham, was the first building to be called a skyscraper. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 43 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.2 The City Although not all cities invested in expanded public transportation, all cities redefined the rules of the roads. In the Gilded Age, city streets were unstructured places where people, horses, bicycles, and eventually automobiles intermingled with few rules to govern them. By the 20th century the automobile emerged as the undisputed champion and earned the right of way in most all situations. People were relegated to sidewalks, and the cars dominated the central streets (Norton, 2008).

Entertainment in the City During this time, cities became centers of culture and entertainment. However, entertain - ment required leisure time , and up until the late 19th century this did not exist for most city residents. Time spent working, caring for family, sleeping, and surviving left few hours free for amusement. Eventually, however, working hours in the factories declined—from 70 hours a week in 1860 to 60 hours a week in 1900. Workers began to enjoy at least 1 day free from work each week (Grover, 1992). City dwellers spent their newfound free time on a variety of activities that included playing sports, visiting zoos, and going to the circus. The middle and working classes often mingled together to watch a performance or a boxing match, which middle-class mores had previously judged taboo because of its violent nature.

Cities were the central location for the development of organized sports and public parks.

Just about every major American sport had its birthplace in the city. Team owners organized, commercialized, and professionalized sports, and the inner cities were breeding grounds for athletes (Riess, 1991). By the late 19th century, baseball had become a professional sport, with the Cincinnati Red Stockings established as the first team in 1869. They played a series of nonprofessional teams until the formation of other professional clubs in succeeding years.

James Naismith invented basketball in the 1890s while working at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Football was more of an elite pastime because it emerged on college and university campuses across the East Coast. By the 1890s the Yale– Princeton game attracted 50,000 spectators each year.

Working-class men had long found release in the physical nature of boxing and other sports, and in the Gilded Age middle-class men increasingly found engaging in sports a viable means of asserting their masculinity. As more shifted their daily work regimes to sedentary clerk activities and desk work, playing baseball or watching boxing or other sports allowed men to gather to assert their physicality and thereby enhance their sense of manliness.

Women had athletic outlets as well, as they began enjoying the bicycle craze in the 1890s. The bicycle was culturally important for many reasons. Besides simply being fun, it initiated the idea of personal transportation. Bicycles also allowed women to explore new and freer types of fashion, because Victorian corsets were not conducive to riding.

Cities also brought nature and the exotic within their bounds with the introduction of the urban zoo. Philadelphia was the site of the first zoological park in the United States in 1874.

Zoos soon emerged in other cities, and they quickly became popular leisure destinations as families took pleasure in seeing exotic animals up close. The federal government created the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 1889 for the “the advancement of science and the instruc - tion and recreation of the people” (Rhees, 1901). It became part of the Smithsonian Institu - tion 1 year later. Courtesy Everett Collection This lithograph from 1898 advertises an upcoming performance of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth. The traveling circus was an event attended by city residents of all social classes. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 44 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.3 Industrial Capitalism in America Although not all cities invested in expanded public transportation, all cities redefined the rules of the roads. In the Gilded Age, city streets were unstructured places where people, horses, bicycles, and eventually automobiles intermingled with few rules to govern them. By the 20th century the automobile emerged as the undisputed champion and earned the right of way in most all situations. People were relegated to sidewalks, and the cars dominated the central streets (Norton, 2008).

Cities were the central location for the development of organized sports and public parks.

Cities also brought nature and the exotic within their bounds with the introduction of the urban zoo. Philadelphia was the site of the first zoological park in the United States in 1874.

Zoos soon emerged in other cities, and they quickly became popular leisure destinations as families took pleasure in seeing exotic animals up close. The federal government created the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 1889 for the “the advancement of science and the instruc - tion and recreation of the people” (Rhees, 1901). It became part of the Smithsonian Institu - tion 1 year later. Courtesy Everett Collection This lithograph from 1898 advertises an upcoming performance of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth. The traveling circus was an event attended by city residents of all social classes. There were other important leisure- time activities in the cities. The Gilded Age represented the birth of the mod - ern circus. Using the railroad to travel from city to city, promoters brought huge tents, animals, acrobats, and odd - ities of nature to audiences across the country. P. T. Barnum capitalized on this type of entertainment and became one of the most well-known showmen in the late 19th century. He became famous for sayings such as “There’s a sucker born every minute” (as cited in Saxon, 1989, p. 335). But to chil - dren, his demonstrations inspired awe and wonder at the “Greatest Show on Earth” (Saxon, 1989, p. 335).

The middle and professional classes enjoyed the most leisure time, includ - ing evenings, weekends, and even vacations, to experience these new activities and attractions. Sports and recreation offered some men and women an outlet for the social anxieties that the new social order brought. However, many in the middle class worried about the unruly behavior of working-class men and women at amusement parks, theaters, and ballparks and sought to reform and regulate commercial amusements. Through their own examples, they hoped to offer appropriate alternatives, but their efforts met with little positive response (Peiss, 1986).

2.3 Industrial Capitalism in America Although increased leisure-time activities allowed different classes of people to intersect, Americans in the late 19th century began to witness and experience growing tensions between industrialists and workers. A small minority of men—such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan—became so wealthy that they struggled even to give all their money away. The freewheeling competitive capitalism and enormous prof - its of industrialists contrasted sharply with the low wages and limited mobility that most Americans faced. Although the U.S. economic system had thrived on the individual ownership of property from its inception and inequalities had always existed among Americans, in the Gilded Age industrialists developed new methods of business combinations, mergers, and cooperative solutions that made it possible for a few to grow tremendously wealthy and for the gap between them and everyone else to widen dramatically (Porter, 1992).

In the era of industrialization, millions of workers fought to simply have the right to work in safe conditions, earn a fair wage, and organize for protection. Though there were dramatic strikes, or work stoppages, the power of labor could not match the domination of the indus - trialists, and the unionization drives of the late 19th century failed. Men like Carnegie came to be derisively called robber barons because many believed they increased their wealth by bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 45 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.3 Industrial Capitalism in America robbing their workers of a fair wage and safe working conditions. Many historians argue that it was the power of big business and the rise of global capitalism that prevented the workers from advancing their cause.

Although American workers did make some advances in terms of wages, the disparity between industrialists such as Carnegie and the workforce accelerated. Real wages rose fairly consis - tently during the Gilded Age. The average income for nonfarm families rose from $375 a year in 1870 to $573 by 1900. This increase was much higher than in industrializing Europe and helped pull many immigrants to the United States. During the same time, however, the dis - parity between the richest and poorest in America expanded. By 1900 the richest 2% owned more than a third of the nation’s wealth, and the top 10% controlled roughly 75% (Long, 1960).

Despite the reality of growing inequality in the United States, the myth persisted around the world that the streets in America were paved with gold and that the nation offered bound - less opportunities. Some came with the hope of realizing the American dream in the growing West, attracted by land offers the railroads provided. Most newcomers, however, entered the rapidly expanding American cities where new skyscrapers rose into the smoky skyline. The stunning success of men like Carnegie made many believe they, too, could prosper. This prom - ise lured new waves of immigrants to the nation’s shores and brought scores of rural men and women into the cities.

A New Industrial Order The industrial order that came to characterize America after 1877 was new and unfamiliar.

Before the Civil War, industries centered on textile production and especially on processing agricultural products like grains or natural resources like timber. Factories produced goods for local and regional markets, and the nation also exported important commodities such as cotton. Most industrial pursuits were thus a natural extension of farming, which employed the largest segment of Americans.

After the war, heavy industries such as steel, oil, and rubber introduced new commodities such as steel rails, gasoline, and rubber tires to the national and world markets. The growth of new technologies, methods of manufacture, and theories of work organization spawned new systems of business organization and combination, ultimately leading to massive, impersonal corporations. The dominance of big business fundamentally altered the way of life for both Americans and newcomers. Giant corporations caused many to lose their faith in the compe - tition and democracy that had long branded the nation as a place where individuals could rise on their own merits through hard work to wealth and accomplishment (Porter, 1992). The astounding rags-to-riches experiences of men like Andrew Carnegie quickly became an unat - tainable fantasy, and by the turn of the 20th century, big business would be seen as the root cause of many of society’s ills.

Gould, Vanderbilt, and the Railroads As discussed in Chapter 1, railroads spread settlement westward to the Pacific coast through a combination of private corporate investment and government assistance, primarily in the form of massive grants of federal land. As important as the western connections were, bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 46 12/18/14 3:01 PM Railroads Transcontinental Section 2.3 Industrial Capitalism in America however, the intense concentration of railroad lines across the Midwest and Northeast pro - foundly affected U.S. industrialization. After 1870 the nation’s railway mileage quadrupled, so that in 1900 the United States possessed more than 193,000 miles of track (see Figure 2.2) (Husband & O’Loughlin, 2004).

From this dramatic growth, railroads emerged as America’s first industrial corporations. The Pennsylvania Railroad that employed a young Andrew Carnegie became the world’s largest private corporation, employing more than 55,000 workers in the 1870s (Schaefer & Solomon, 2009). The rapid expansion of other railroads made fortunes for a small handful of investors.

Jay Gould, for instance, began life as a bookkeeper, but through a series of fortunate invest - ments in the stock market he became a notorious speculator who controlled thousands of miles of track. Among his holdings was the Union Pacific Railroad, part of the initial transcon - tinental network completed in 1869.

Never one to be concerned about public opinion, Gould ruthlessly pursued business oppor - tunities, practicing horizontal integration by secretly manipulating the market and buy - ing up smaller railroads and the telegraph lines that were strung alongside them. Invented by Samuel F. B. Morse in the 1830s, the telegraph revolutionized communication and was Figure 2.2: Railroads in 1900 By 1900 the nation boasted more than 193,000 total miles of railroad track including the well-known Transcontinental Railroad. The largest concentration of rail lines was in the Northeast. Railroads Transcontinental bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 47 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.3 Industrial Capitalism in America especially important for business growth in the evolving industrial age, allowing for immedi - ate and rapid communication. Gould gained control of the Western Union Company (by far the nation’s largest telegraph company) through a series of stock manipulations in 1879.

As the only real provider of telegraph service, Gould’s actions gave him monopoly , or exclu - sive control, over the nation’s most important means of communicating. Gould and other railroad magnates enhanced their wealth and strengthened their businesses by using secret agreements, pools that manipulated prices, and unethical means of consolidation (see Table 2.2). Through his actions and brashness, Gould especially characterized all that was unpopular with big business. He personified the image of the money-grabbing robber barons and came to be greatly despised throughout the nation.

Table 2.2: New business practices for an industrial age Business practice Description Pool An informal agreement between competing businesses to establish control over elements such as prices, production, and markets. Trust A formal organization of companies within an industry that aims to reduce com - petition, set prices, and control business practices. Monopoly The ownership of all or nearly all firms or factories within an industry. True monopolies were rare, but reformers often used the term to characterize big businesses. Corporation Through registration or legislative designation, this business organization shifts legal rights and liability away from individual owners or shareholders. Vertical integration A business gains control of all aspects of production for an industry, including raw materials, transportation, manufacture, sales, and marketing. Horizontal integration A consolidation of business through the purchase of smaller competitors, creating a monopoly-like control over an industry. Gould’s main rival, “Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt, gained his wealth investing in a steamship line during the California gold rush and later transferred his main investments into railroads. The most visible of the railroad magnates, Gould and Vanderbilt each claimed fortunes of more than $100 million, roughly $2 billion in today’s dollars. The wealth held by industrialists in the railroad and other developing industries far eclipsed the affluence of the nation’s upper class before the Civil War and led many to criticize the growing income disparities. Others celebrated the new era of big business and the men that gained fortunes through the new industries.

Carnegie and Steel The original iron railroads were brittle and could crack or break under stress or in bad weather. Railroad growth spurred a rush to expand production of more durable steel rails.

The growth of American cities and the birth of the skyscraper also increased demand for steel beams. Steel was in high demand in Europe for similar reasons and thus formed an important basis for global trade. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 48 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.3 Industrial Capitalism in America As described at the beginning of the chapter, Andrew Carnegie led development in the Ameri - can steel industry, building several mills near Pittsburgh. Others established important steel centers in Ohio and Alabama, and the discovery of a large iron ore deposit near Lake Superior in Minnesota gave a major boost to the industry. Although Britain had pioneered many of the steel methods used in the United States, a high tax, or tariff, on imported steel protected Carn - egie and other American manufacturers from international competition. By the turn of the 20th century, U.S. manufacturers provided the bulk of steel to a growing international market.

Carnegie Steel quickly grew to be the largest corporation in the industry. Steel manufactur - ers employed many of the business combinations practiced in the railroad industry (see Table 2.2). Carnegie also regularly invested almost all the company’s profits in the latest steel- making technology, and his Edgar Thomson Steel Works, located on the Monongahela River outside Pittsburgh, was a model for the industry. This increased the company’s efficiency but often disappointed investors, who rarely realized a dividend.

Using the Bessemer process , a steel-making method he brought back from an 1872 visit to England, Carnegie’s mill and others increased the speed and efficiency with which raw iron ore could be converted to steel. Soon the furnaces were pouring as much as 10,000 tons a week, compared to the average of 70 tons before the new technology (Krass, 2011). The new manufacturing method also allowed Carnegie to dramatically reorganize his workforce. For instance, skilled steel puddlers, who literally stirred great vats of molten metal until they determined it free of impurities, were no longer needed. The Bessemer process required fewer skilled workers and made room for low-paid unskilled workers, which greatly reduced wage costs.

Profitability and growth were also realized as Carnegie moved to control all aspects of the production process through vertical integration . Invest - ing in iron ore mines, railroad lines, and controlling the sale of the finished product, Carnegie Steel eliminated the need for outside business contracts or relations. Carnegie pushed his manag - ers and mill hands to the limit of their abilities, pitting supervisors against each other in a competitive manage - ment arrangement. Wages for steel - workers remained as low as possible, and Carnegie pushed back hard when mill hands moved to unionize for bet - ter wages and working conditions.

(See the discussion of the Homestead Strike later in this chapter.) Coming to realize that wealth brought social obligations, in 1889 Carnegie penned an article titled “The Gospel of Wealth.” In it he argued that the wealthy have an obligation and a duty to aid those less fortunate in society through philanthropy and that men such as himself were best suited to determine how such wealth should be distributed. His sale of Carnegie Steel to © Bettmann/Corbis The Bessemer converter, shown here in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, steel mill, revolutionized steel production in the United States. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 49 1/9/15 9:05 AM Section 2.3 Industrial Capitalism in America the financier J. P. Morgan in 1901 allowed him to devote more time to his philanthropic goals.

Morgan combined Carnegie’s holdings with his own to create U.S. Steel. Employing nearly 170,000, it controlled three fifths of the nation’s steel industry (Warren, 2001).

Rockefeller and Oil Carnegie’s dominance in steel was superseded only by the hold that John D. Rockefeller had on the manufacture of petroleum products. Rockefeller’s wealth grew once oil was discovered in the Lima oil field in northwest Ohio in 1885. It quickly became the largest oil field in the nation, and drillers rushed to the region to pump thousands of gallons of the black liquid from wells reaching as far as 1,200 feet below the earth. Within 2 years of the first drilling, the Lima oil field was the world’s largest producer of the rich natural resource.

The need for oil grew along with other industries in the late 19th century. Prior to the inven - tion of the gasoline engine and the automobile, petroleum was largely used to lubricate machinery and, when distilled as kerosene, for heating and lighting. Because construction of an oil refinery was inexpensive compared to a steel mill or textile factory, the industry grew quickly, with many small refineries serving local or regional markets.

Much like Gould and Carnegie, Rockefeller began his career as a clerk in a Cleveland merchant firm. The region also happened to include the nation’s largest number of oil refineries, and he invested in several of them through partnerships with other merchants. He ultimately set out to consolidate the industry under the auspices of the Standard Oil Company, which he incorporated in 1870. After accumulating and discarding several partners, the Standard Oil Company became Rockefeller’s sole vehicle for controlling the industry.

Through the practice of horizontal integration, Rockefeller focused solely on the refining pro - cess and bought out his competitors. He accelerated this process by taking advantage of an economic downturn among the railroads to demand deeply discounted shipping rates and rebates. Control of shipping rates allowed Rockefeller to put many of his competitors out of business. Most sold out to him, and Standard Oil’s near monopoly grew exponentially until by 1890 the corporation controlled 88% of the nation’s oil refining (Chernow, 1988).

In order to legitimize his company’s secret dealings, Rockefeller used a new form of corpo - rate structure, the trust (see Table 2.2). Under this system, a board of nine trustees held the stock of other refineries “in trust” for Standard Oil’s stockholders. The board was empowered to manage the business holdings of all the companies in the trust. This gave Rockefeller and Standard Oil the power to coordinate policies, set prices, and above all buy out small compet - ing refineries. Competition was quelled, and profits rose.

Controlling almost 90% of production and 85% of final sales, Standard Oil left no room for competitors in the industry. Its near monopoly also meant the corporation controlled the price that consumers paid for heating oil and gasoline. The Standard Oil trust was followed by similar arrangements in other industries, and soon an outraged public cried for government action against these monopolies.

Congress responded with the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890, which outlawed the unfair trust practices that removed competition and controlled prices in an industry. Rockefeller bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 50 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.3 Industrial Capitalism in America merely shifted tactics. Creating a holding company , the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, he organized all the competing companies under a single corporate umbrella. The holding company was incorporated but did not produce a product. Under this arrangement, Standard Oil could control competition without violating the antitrust statute. The action cemented Rockefeller’s monopoly, and Standard Oil grew to employ more than 100,000 workers as the world’s largest business.

Rockefeller’s business practices made him a very wealthy man but did little for his public image. He especially came to symbolize all that was wrong with big business after muckraking journalist Ida M. Tarbell published a lengthy expose, “History of the Standard Oil Company.” She and fellow investigative journalists combed through the “muck” of business dealings to expose corruption and unfair practices. Appearing as 19 serial articles in the popular McClure’s Magazine , Tarbell’s findings chronicled Rockefeller’s illegal and unfair takeover of the oil industry (Tarbell, 2003). By the finish of the 3-year run of articles, John D. Rockefeller had lost all standing with the American public and epitomized monopoly and the failings of the Gilded Age. The government eventually ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil in 1911.

The popularity of Tarbell’s expose illustrates America’s frustration with the veneer of the Gilded Age. At the onset of industrialization, many cheered the industrial leaders they believed would bring prosperity and greater opportunities to society. By the turn of the 20th century, social critics such as Tarbell and reform politicians began to underscore the damages done by economic exploitation and political corruption. The opulent displays of wealth on the part of newly rich industrialists served to further inflame the ire of the American public.

Conspicuous Consumption The business tactics of industrialists corresponded to novel cultural expressions among the newly wealthy. Sociologist Thorstein Veblen outlined the practice of conspicuous consumption in his 1899 book, The Theory of the Lei - sure Class . He argued that the affluent in society earn their status not by sim - ply being rich, but by exhibiting their wealth (Blackshaw, 2013).

The Gilded Age witnessed amazing displays of affluence among the new industrialists. They built enormous homes, hosted lavish parties, and trav - eled in outrageous vehicles, openly flaunting the extreme differences between themselves and average Americans. One of the most expansive displays of snobbery was embodied in “Mrs. Astor’s 400,” a list of the only people that Lina Astor determined to be appropriate members of New York’s fashionable society. The wife of busi - nessman William Backhouse Astor, Jr., © Chris Hellier/Corbis In this conspicuous display of wealth, railroad magnate Jay Gould and his family look on at a chess game in which humans stand in for chess pieces.

The event was a fund-raiser for the Boys Glee Club of Lakewood, New Jersey. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 51 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.4 The World of the Workers Lina Astor held lavish parties, but only those who received her personal calling card could attend. Her guest lists tended to include the richest and most flamboyant displayers of wealth.

Many cities retain the physical evidence of the industrialists’ conspicuous consumption, par - ticularly their homes. Rockefeller owned a mansion in Cleveland’s Millionaire’s Row, where he purchased the house next door and had it moved so that he could have a larger garden.

Carnegie’s New York mansion was the first home to have a steel structure and an elevator.

Vanderbilt’s family built massive homes in several states, including the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, which at nearly 180,000 square feet is still the largest privately owned home in the United States (Hansley, 2011).

Social Darwinism Conspicuous consumption on the part of the nation’s wealthiest citizens was in line with the popular theory of Social Darwinism, which emphasized the natural superiority of some members of society. Notions of physical or social superiority of some groups were not new in the Gilded Age; they had been applied to justify slavery and denigration of some immi - grant groups before the Civil War. The philosophy originated with the ideas of British scientist Charles Darwin, whose 1859 book, On the Origin of Species , introduced readers to the theory of evolution, which posited that animal species that were better suited to an environment were more likely to adapt and survive.

This concept of survival of the fittest , or natural selection , came to dominate 19th-century sci - entific thinking and was adapted and applied to American society. Social Darwinists argued that giant corporations emerged because they were naturally stronger and fitter than small businesses. Similarly, the richest members of society represented a better quality of citizen than the laboring classes, who were responsible for their own lowly position.

The ideas of Social Darwinism influenced the amount and types of assistance doled out to the unemployed and working classes during economic downturns. For example, aid workers and reformers spent time trying to identify the most worthy among the poor, offering widows and orphans charity but leaving adult men to fend for themselves. During the Gilded Age and beyond, most cities offered little if any public relief outside of local poorhouses. Advocates of this philosophy believed that workers should be more frugal and hardworking and not look to the government for assistance.

2.4 The World of the Workers Business consolidation, the conspicuous consumption patterns of the new rich industrialists, and Social Darwinism were not the only lasting changes of the Gilded Age. The growth of big business also reshaped the nation’s working class and brought a fundamental change in the very nature of work itself. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 52 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.4 The World of the Workers The Changing Nature of Work Before the Civil War, the United States was a nation of artisans with craft skills who defined for themselves the structure of their day and the environment in which they worked. After the Civil War, however, these artisans began to fade away as large organizations realized that mechanization and the division of labor increased profitability and decreased the need to rely on such self-directed skilled laborers. For an entrepreneur and business owner, it was much more profitable to invest in advanced machinery tended by unskilled laborers than to share power and control with a skilled workforce. As a result, the artisans gave way to the new wage earner. This laborer was dependent on an employer for defining the structure of the job, hours worked, working conditions, and wages. Of course, not all skilled workers disappeared.

Building and maintaining the nation’s industrial infrastructure required a high level of ability, but for the most part the new organization of labor undermined these skills.

The evolving work environment fostered many concerns, and one of the most pressing was health and safety. Undertaking repetitive tasks for 10 or more hours a day, 6 days a week, often led to accidents or chronic health problems. Many garment workers, for example, remained virtually motionless while hunched over a sewing machine and soon developed back prob - lems. The large iron and steel mills were even more dangerous, and there were few consider - ations given to workplace safety. Temperatures inside the mills regularly exceeded 100°F, and sparks from the Bessemer converters could easily burn a worker’s skin or leave the worker blind. Little attention was given even to simple sanitary issues like restroom facilities, eating areas, or clean ventilation. Thousands died on the job each year.

Women and Children in the Workforce The situation of many industrial workers required that all household members, including women and children, contribute to the family economy. A majority of families struggled to get by on low wages and unstable employment patterns. Among the 12 million families enu - merated in the 1890 census, 11 million survived on less than $100 per month, around $2,500 in today’s dollars (Upchurch, 2009). The labor of women and children was essential to house - hold maintenance and is included in this figure. Many women and chil - dren entered mill employment or took piecework in at home to contribute to the family economy.

Business owners employed at least 1.7 million children under age 16 in fields and factories during the Gilded Age (Hindman, 2002). Approximately 10% of all girls and 20% of all boys held jobs in unsafe conditions and worked very long hours. There were many examples of deplorable conditions. In Courtesy Everett Collection Industrial America included the growth of factories and mills but also the division of labor that brought women and children into the workforce by allowing them to work from home. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 53 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.4 The World of the Workers Pennsylvania thousands of boys worked in the coal mines doing a variety of jobs. Boys as young as 9 worked as “breakers,” sitting over coal chutes and separating pieces of slate from the coal, sometimes for longer than 10 hours a day. If a boy extended his arms too far, he would be sucked into the fast-moving coal. One observer who investigated these conditions at the turn of the 20th century reported, “While I was there, two breaker boys fell or were carried into the coal chute, where they were smothered to death” (Freedman & Hine, 1998).

It was not until 1906 that the federal government began to regulate working conditions for children (Whittaker, 2004).

Women’s employment increased dramatically during the period as well, accounting for as much as 15% of the labor force in some areas. In the post-Reconstruction South, textile mills became significant industrial employers and were as likely to hire women and young girls as men. As many as 92% of mill workers in the South lived in villages owned by the mill opera - tors, who controlled all aspects of their workers’ daily lives (Hall, Murphy, & Leloudis, 1987).

In the industrializing North, young women working in garment factories and other needle trades lived in cities, but many married women worked in the home. They took in sewing for which they were paid a piece rate, or they opened their homes to board single men who worked in nearby factories or mills. African American women, whose husbands generally earned the lowest pay at the most dangerous factory or mill jobs, found the new industrial economy to be especially taxing. They took in the laundry of others or worked outside the home as domestic servants. Like others among the working classes, African American chil - dren’s labor was often essential to family survival.

The Labor Movement Before the transition to unskilled industrial labor, craft unions existed to protect the rights and interests of various skilled workers. These unions continued to exist in the Gilded Age, but they represented an increasingly smaller segment of the workforce, and most were orga - nized at the local level and confined to a single trade. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, for example, formed in New York City to protect the interests of skilled workers in those trades (Greene, 2004). Many unskilled workers sought to organize similar unions in order to temper the negative effects of industrial capitalism and improve their lives.

The first labor organization, or industrial union , that broadly represented the entire work - force regardless of skill or trade was the short-lived National Labor Union (NLU) , which lasted from 1866 to 1873. Seeking to unite all existing trade unions and political activists clamoring for an 8-hour workday, it drew most of its support from skilled workers, especially those in construction trades who were less affected by the transition to industrial capitalism.

The NLU generally opposed strikes and supported the formation of a third political party to press for workers’ issues. Opening its membership to farmers and unskilled workers, it campaigned for the exclusion of Chinese immigrants in the West and was of little benefit to women or African American workers (Foner, 1947). Although the National Labor Union lasted only a few years, it was influential in pressuring Congress to implement an 8-hour workday for federal employees (Dulles & Dubofsky, 2004). bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 54 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.4 The World of the Workers The Knights of Labor , founded by Uriah S. Stephens in 1869, waged a more substantial challenge to industrial capitalism. Its only qualification for membership was that a person “toiled.” This included almost all workers, except professionals such as bankers and lawyers.

Like the NLU, the Knights of Labor campaigned to exclude Chinese immigrants because it feared their competition would further erode wages in the West. The Knights of Labor did, however, welcome women and African Americans (after 1878) to its membership, making it the most inclusive national union until the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organiza - tions (CIO) in 1935.

The Knights of Labor sought to end child labor and more generally called for more control by the workers over the economy itself. Members struggled to enact a cooperative or socialistic system to share power and economic control among workers, and they used the technique of organized strikes to achieve their demands. For example, in 1884 the Knights of Labor suc - cessfully protested wage cuts for workers on Jay Gould’s Union Pacific Railroad with a series of strikes and boycotts that affected thousands. This victory against one of the robber barons was a boon for the organization, which counted 15,000 local assemblies by 1886, represent - ing between 700,000 and a million workers (Fink, 1985).

Skilled workers sustained their own drives to form craft unions as their position and control at the top of the labor hierarchy slipped. To combine the interests of skilled workers, del - egates representing various trades met in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 to organize the American Federation of Labor (AFL) . Aiming to support the interests of the better paid and skilled laborers in industries transformed by industrialization and the changing nature of work, the AFL grew rapidly. Samuel Gompers, the federation’s first president and its leader until 1924, represented the Cigarmakers’ International Union, but many of its affiliates formed among iron and steelworkers in the expanding mills owned by Carnegie and others.

The AFL used the strategy of collective bargaining , or contract negotiation, to achieve its goals of improved wages, hours, and working conditions. Between 1898 and 1904 member - ship grew from 280,000 to 1.6 million, but it protected only White men (Greene, 2004). The AFL represented the elite craftsmen fighting to hold on to their skilled positions, but overall their burgeoning membership amounted to only a small percentage when compared to the growing workforce of unskilled laborers.

Workers Fight Back Skilled and unskilled workers used their organizations to fight back against rapid changes in the workplace. The last 2 decades of the 19th century witnessed hundreds of strikes. Some were organized under the control of union leadership, but many more were spontaneous wildcat strikes that broke out when laborers responded impulsively to conditions on the job.

The Great Strike of 1877 The first nationwide strike began on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad when workers in rural West Virginia stopped work in protest of a proposed wage cut. The telegraph lines that fol - lowed the railroad made it easy for word to reach workers far and wide, and the strike spread bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 55 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.4 The World of the Workers rapidly as workers on other railroads and related industries walked off the job. In a week’s time half a million workers from coast to coast demanded better pay and working conditions.

Pent-up anger from enduring years of unfair treatment and poor working conditions led some strikers to lash out violently against their employers and work property. Their actions were fueled by unstable job security, high unemployment, and loss of control over their lives.

Many were forced to travel and work long hours without extra compensation. Industrialists and those of the upper class viewed the strike as a revolution from below (Bellesiles, 2010).

Although the upper class controlled the economic system on which the workers depended, without their labor the income of industrialists would cease along with the transportation of goods across the nation.

The railroad operators reacted swiftly and established a pattern that became common in the Gilded Age. Instead of negotiating with the workers, employers responded with force, call - ing on local police and hiring private “detective” agencies to bring workers under control.

Workers responded to force with force. The ensuing chaos resulted in more than 100 deaths and millions of dollars in property damage stretching across at least four states. When the private police forces failed to end the strike, industrialists turned to the government for aid.

Pennsylvania Railroad superintendent Thomas A. Scott (Andrew Carnegie’s former boss) and other railroad executives called on Republican president Rutherford B. Hayes, whose recent contested election and inauguration ceremony they had generously supported.

The president ordered federal troops to various strike sites across the nation (Bellesiles, 2010). The army quickly scattered the remaining workers, and the strike ended about 45 days after it began. Industrialists and many middle-class Americans applauded the use of force against the strikers. A new pattern of using state power to crush labor activism had been established, which helped cement the growing relationship between industrialists and the Republican Party. In preparation for future labor strife, states organized militias, and National Guard armories were well stocked.

The Haymarket Incident For at least 2 years workers had made a concerted effort to secure an 8-hour workday, which spurred a surge in membership for the Knights of Labor. A confederation of union organi - zations called for a national general strike beginning May 1, 1886, to demand a shortened workday. The 8-hour movement spread to cities and towns across the nation, and in some places spontaneous protests drew large crowds. The leadership of the Knights of Labor actually opposed the unorganized protests, but at the local level many Knights were active participants.

In Chicago, radicals, including anarchists , who opposed any form of government, coordinated the 8-hour movement. On May 1 some 80,000 people marched peacefully through the city streets, but 2 days later a dispute between workers and police occurred during a strike at the McCormick Reaper Works. Police officers were beaten, and two unarmed strikers were killed.

Peaceful protesters gathered on May 4 in Haymarket Square to express their outrage, but when police arrived to break up the crowd a bomb exploded, killing seven officers. Although the bomb’s origin is still not known, eight anarchists were convicted of the crime. Ultimately, four were executed and one committed suicide (Green, 2006). John Joergen Kanberg/ © Corbis Labor activists (from top left) August Spies, Albert Parsons, Louis Lingg, George Engel, and Adolph Fischer were accused of being anarchists for support - ing an 8-hour workday. They were sen - tenced to death even though there was no evidence to support their involve - ment in the Haymarket Incident. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 56 12/18/14 3:01 PM Section 2.4 The World of the Workers The Haymarket Incident sparked a new anxiety among the middle and upper classes that spread beyond disapproval of labor organizations to a general suspicion of immigrants, radical socialists, Communists, and anarchists. The sheer numbers of dispossessed among the working class led many to speculate about a looming worker’s revolution.

Big business reacted with a sustained campaign to crush the 8-hour movement and to amplify fears of labor militancy. Employers moved to hire work - ers from different ethnic and racial backgrounds, believing that a judicious mixture in the work - place would discourage collective action. Mills and factories fired strikers and locked out those who joined unions.

Industrialists also relied on the power of the gov - ernment to keep workers quiet. Criminal charges— including trespassing, intimidation, and inciting a riot—came into regular use against unionists. Court injunctions prohibiting picketing and declaring strikes illegal became commonplace. In the after - math of Haymarket and the antiunion backlash, support for the Knights of Labor collapsed, so that by 1890 only 100,000 members remained. Although the organization continued its activities well into the 1890s, it was the skilled trades unions and the AFL that came to be the loudest voices pressing for changes in the workplace, leaving unskilled work - ers all but silenced. The Homestead Strike Carnegie Steel’s response to worker demands was to employ a private police force, the Pinkerton Detective Agency, to infiltrate labor organizations and provoke militancy that could then be brutally crushed. At the massive Homestead Steel Works, outside Pittsburgh, skilled members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers , the nation’s larg - est trade union and AFL affiliate, enjoyed wages a third higher than those at neighboring mills. Holding on to old traditions, the steelworkers took pride in their work and believed that unionization was a fundamental civil right. Carnegie disagreed. In order to increase the corporation’s profits, he and his manager, Henry Clay Frick, sought to break the union.

In June 1892, while Carnegie was conveniently away on vacation in Scotland, Frick cut off negotiations with the Amalgamated Association over a new contract, and on July 2 he locked out all 3,800 workers, shutting down the mill. He announced that the mill would reopen with nonunion labor. Workers mobilized in opposition, taking control of the town of Homestead and all outside access to the mill, save for the Monongahela River. A barge loaded with 300 rapidly as workers on other railroads and related industries walked off the job. In a week’s time half a million workers from coast to coast demanded better pay and working conditions.

Many were forced to travel and work long hours without extra compensation. Industrialists and those of the upper class viewed the strike as a revolution from below (Bellesiles, 2010).

Peaceful protesters gathered on May 4 in Haymarket Square to express their outrage, but when police arrived to break up the crowd a bomb exploded, killing seven officers. Although the bomb’s origin is still not known, eight anarchists were convicted of the crime. Ultimately, four were executed and one committed suicide (Green, 2006). John Joergen Kanberg/ © Corbis Labor activists (from top left) August Spies, Albert Parsons, Louis Lingg, George Engel, and Adolph Fischer were accused of being anarchists for supporting an 8-hour workday. They were sentenced to death even though there was no evidence to support their involvement in the Haymarket Incident. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 57 1/9/15 9:06 AM Section 2.4 The World of the Workers Pinkerton detectives floated up the river to the mill site to dislodge the workers, and on July 6 an infamous battle left three Pinkertons and seven workers dead. Facing workers determined to continue their resistance, the remaining Pinkertons retreated.

The standoff ended a few days later when 8,500 Pennsylvania National Guardsmen, ordered in by the governor at the company’s request, restored order to the town and retook the mill. The lock - out turned into a strike when the men refused to work without union protection. Strikes spread to other Carnegie mills. The Amalgamated Association held out for several months, but with cold weather approaching, the workers finally surrendered on November 20. More than 100 were indicted on charges of treason, murder, and aggravated riot.

The few trials held resulted in no convictions, but the events at Homestead had a devastating impact on organized labor. Those involved in the strike were fired, and the Amalgamated Association union was shattered (Krause, 1992).

It was a blow to all skilled unionists, who were quickly coming to realize that their once power - ful organizations were no match for the combined power of industrial capitalists and state and fed - eral governments. At the close of the conflict, Frick sent a telegraph to Carnegie. It read: “Our victory is now complete and most gratifying. Do not think we will ever have any serious labor trouble again” (as cited in Harvey, 2002, p. 172). In fact, it would be 40 years before steelworkers again enjoyed union protection.

The Pullman Strike Punctuating nearly 2 decades of labor strife, a disturbance that began with Pullman Company employees in mid-1894 once again threatened to stall the nation’s rail commerce. Located outside Chicago, the company-owned town of Pullman was home to many of the employ - ees who toiled in George Pullman’s railroad car manufacturing plant. Pullman cars were the luxury coaches of passenger rail and were often occupied by the wealthiest travelers. The porters servicing the cars were exclusively African American and highly trained to provide excellent customer service.

The dispute began when Pullman reduced wages and laid off many workers but did not reduce the rent on their company-owned housing. Unlike Carnegie’s steelworkers, many Everett Collection/SuperStock The strike at the Homestead Steel Works was of such significance that Harper’s Weekly made the retreat of the Pinkertons the cover story of its July 16, 1892, issue. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 58 12/18/14 3:01 PM Summary and Resources railroad employees were represented by the American Railway Union (ARU), formed by labor leader Eugene V. Debs (see Chapter 6) in 1893. Pullman workers did not enjoy the ben - efit of union membership because Pullman refused to recognize the union or enter in nego - tiations with the ARU, even after Pullman workers went on strike. Using his power across the national rail system, Debs called on all railroad workers to boycott any train pulling a Pullman car.

The massive boycott spread to almost every rail line west of Detroit and stopped trains in 27 states. More than a quarter million employees were affected. The General Managers Asso - ciation of railroad owners banded together in opposition and brought in private police to stop the boycott. The violence that ensued over the 2-month period resulted in more than 30 deaths and as much as $80 million in property damage. Siding with the railroad own - ers, President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to stop the strikers and boycotters from obstructing train commerce. The strike soon collapsed, and Debs was charged and convicted of inciting the incident and violating a court order. The ARU, one of the few unions open to workers regardless of skill level, was dissolved. As the new century approached, few workers in the railroad or steel industries enjoyed union protection.

Summary and Resources Chapter Summary • The Gilded Age, lasting from 1877 until 1900, was a time of phenomenal economic, social, and cultural change in the United States. During those years, the American economy grew at an astonishing pace as big businesses such as the railroads, steel mills, factories, and oil refineries came to dominate. • The workforce was changed forever through the influx of millions of immigrants.

Often displaced by the forces of industrializing society in their homelands, they came to the United States in droves to fill the labor needs of the new economy and settled in the growing cities. • Corporations consolidated through the creation of monopolies and trusts in several segments of the economy. A few industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller reached unprecedented levels of wealth, but many more Americans struggled to survive. • As industrialists flaunted their newfound wealth by building opulent mansions and hosting exclusive parties, workers organized unions and fought to make industrial capitalism more responsive to their needs. Their strikes produced little change and were often brutally ended through a combination of force and legal injunction. • Skilled workers found their jobs redefined or replaced by new technologies and soon came to find themselves embroiled in a society increasingly divided along class lines. • An era with a glittering facade, in reality the Gilded Age represents a transitional period in which the nation struggled to adapt to the size and organization of big business, ever-growing social and economic inequalities, and a diverse population. bar82063_02_c02_031-066.indd 59 12/18/14 3:01 PM 1877:

The Great Railroad Strike paralyzes national commerce. 1882:

The Chinese Exclusion Act severely restricts the entrance of Chinese immigrants. May 4, 1886:

The Haymarket Incident ends in a bombing and the death of seven policemen in Chicago. 1886:

The American Federation of Labor is created to protect the interests of skilled workers. 1890:

Jacob Riis publishes How the Other Half Lives exposing squalid living conditions among New York’s working class. 1891:

The Immigration Act shifts responsibility for processing immigrants from the states to the federal government. 1892:

The Ellis Island immigration station opens to process immigrants arriving in New York. 1892:

The Homestead Strike (lockout) ends the possibility of unionization in the steel industry. 1894:

Pullman Strike temporarily stops rail commerce, but results in the end of the American Railway Union. 1902:

Ida M. Tarbell begins her exposé of Standard Oil that contributes to the company’s disbanding. 1 875 1 9 05 1889:

Andrew Carnegie publishes The Gospel of Wealth outlining the social responsibilities of the wealthy. John Joergen Kanberg/ © Corbis Photos.com/Thinkstock Everett Collection/SuperStock © Corbis The Art Archive at ArtResource, NY Everett Collection/SuperStock © Anonymous/AP/Corbis Summary and Resources Chapter 2 Timeline 1877: