Age of Business and Industry Check your answers

Age of Business and Industry Check your answers and fill in all blanks.

Railroads 1869 Transcontinental RR connected US coast to coast. Ø Effect: made travel easier & people were able to migrate westward. Ø Federal Gov’t created regulation on railroad prices to help farmers. Ø Ø http: //www. brainpop. com/techn ology/transportation/railroadhis tory/

Steel Iron + coal = steel Ø Bessemer Process: remove carbon from iron makes steel strong used by Carnegie Ø Effect: Increased production of RR tracks, Brooklyn Bridge, Skyscrapers Ø

OIL Black Gold- Rockefeller. Standard Oil Ø Edwin Drake used a steam engine to drill for oil. Ø Effect: Kerosene and Gas are byproducts of oil. Ø *Gas thrown away until invention of cars.

Banking JP Morgan Ø Large financial corporations bought up smaller banks, failing RRs, steel and oil corporations. Ø Banks bail out gov’t when there is an economic crisis. Ø

Inventions Ø Light Bulb l l l 1876 Thomas Edison improved light bulbs and a system for distributing electrical power AC/DC. Real Deal: Edison stole Nikola Tesla’s ideas. Effect: Shift work in factories, street lights and safer than candles.

Typewriter l l l 1868: Sholes made first commercially successful typewriter. Effect: Office work and new jobs for women. More efficient & handwriting less important.

Inventions Ø Time Zones l l Railroads needed a new time plan that would offer a uniform train schedule for departures and arrivals. Four standard time zones for the continental United States were introduced on November 18, 1883. Ø Bessemer Press l l Englishman Henry Bessemer and American William Kelly – 1850 invented a way to inject air into molten iron to remove carbon and this created STEEL Used for Carnegie Steel

Telephone Ø Invented by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson in 1876. Ø Effect: Laid the groundwork for world wide communication. Ø Helped to increase office work and opened more jobs for women!

Business Leader Cornelius Vanderbilt Ø Ø American RR magnate Constructed Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Effect: Employment to thousands of unemployed people. Bought up RR companies that were failing – merged small companies into one large company. Anderson Cooper Great-greatgreat grandson of Cornelius

Andrew Carnegie Ø Rags to Riches Ø Carnegie Steel Ø Bessemer Process Ø "The Gospel of Wealth" called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, and stimulated a wave of philanthropy. Ø http: //www. history. com/topics/andrewcarnegie/videos#andrew-carnegie

John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil Company Ø Used ideas of trust to create one large corporation. Ø Paid low wages, drove competitors out of business by selling his oil at lower prices, then hiked prices up once the competition was gone. Ø Ø http: //www. history. com/videos/john-d-rockefeller-oil-money-andpower

Business Leader J. P. Morgan Ø Banker Ø After panics of 1893 and 1907, used his money to buy failing industries, RR, mines, manufacturing, insurance, shipping and communication systems. Ø His firms had enormous funds to help develop American resources. Ø http: //www. history. com/topics/john-pierpont-morgan/videos#jpmorgan-battles-coal-miners-in-1902

Organizational Structures Ø Monopoly l l l Complete control over an industry’s production, quality, wages paid. Increase prices buying up or driving out of business of all competitors Ø Trusts l l l Consolidating competing companies in which participants turn over stock to a board of trustees who run companies as one large corporation Intended to increase profit Reduce competion

Organizational Structures Ø Holding Company l l l Ø Vertical Integration l A company formed to buy up other companies Limits competition Raises prices l l Ø A company takes over it’s suppliers and distributors. Carnegie used this model. Limits competition. Horizontal Consolidation l l Merging of companies that make a similar product. Used to create a monopoly.

Government Attempts at Regulating Business Ø Granger Laws l Farmers attempted to combat the power of the RRs in late 19 th century l Why? Misuse of government funds, RRs agreed with each other to fix prices, and kept farmers in debt. l Raised money to get politicians elected to pass laws for them! Ø Munn vs. Illinois 1877 Supreme Court case Ø Regulate private industry for public interest. Ø Supreme Court upheld right of government regulation of RRs for the benefit of farmers. Ø Grangers set up funds to help farmers sue for violation of Granger Laws.

Government Attempts at Regulating Business Interstate Commerce Act Law passed by Congress in 1887 reestablished the federal governments right to supervise RR activities and created a 5 member ICC. Ø Gained control of RR in 1906. Ø Sherman Anti-Trust Act Law passed by Congress in 1890 intended to make monopolies illegal. Ø Worried monopolies would interfere with free trade. Ø Enforcement nearly impossible! Ø