Gilded Age Intro Gilded Age Industrialization During the

Gilded Age Intro

Gilded Age Industrialization • During the Gilded Age, American businesses were transformed: – Massive corporations replaced small, family businesses – New technology, transportation, marketing, labor relations, & efficient mass-production – By 1900, the U. S. was the most industrialized country in the world

The Business of Invention • 19 th-century inventors led to an “Age of Invention”: Cyrus Field’s telegraph cable – Business typewriters, cash registers, adding machines 1905, 10 million Americans had phones; – High-speed textile spindles, auto looms, sewing (Bell Telephone Co became AT&T) machines – George Eastman’s Kodak camera – Alexander G. Bell’s telephone – By

The Business of Invention • Thomas Edison, the “Wizard of Menlo Park, ” created the 1 st research lab in New York – Edison Illuminating Co was the to 1 st use electric light in 1882 – Tesla’s alternating current (AC) allowed electricity to travel over longer distances & to power streetcars & factories

Patents Issued (1850 -1899)

The Business of Invention • New technologies allowed for increased industrial production – New machines were incorporated into the first assembly lines which allowed for continuous & faster production of goods – The railroad linked every region of America & allowed for a mass consumption of goods

Chicago Meatpackers: The 1 st “Disassembly Line”

The Midwest Made Meat for America More regional specialization made mass production & mass consumption possible

New Methods of Marketing • Marketing became a “science”: o t l a s i e c i l o p S p a f e o t h i t y “ s r a o o e t ” h. m s t s T i r s n e e i f t w t e i r r f Da ness e h t i f s o u b l a v i v r u s – Advertising firms boomed – Department stores like Macy’s & Marshall Field’s allowed customers to browse & buy – Chain stores like A&P Grocery & Woolworth’s “Five & Ten” – Mail-order catalogues, like Montgomery Ward sold to all parts of America

New Forms of Business Organization “Trusts” a board “Holding companies” • Newuse types of business organization were used of to trustees to oversee & manage other increase profits: manage a company subsidiary companies – “Trusts” & “holding companies” integrated various businesses under 1 board of directors – Vertical & horizontal integration maximized corporate profits – Frederick Taylor’s “scientific management” emphasized time efficiency & mid-level managers

New Forms of Business Organization • Business leaders used a variety of ideas to justify their wealth: – The “Gospel of Wealth” argued that it is God's will that some men attained great wealth – Social Darwinism taught that natural competition weeds out the weak & the strong survive – Were monopolists “captains of industry” or “robber barons”?

The “Robber Barons”