CHAPTER 17: The Busy Hive: Industrial America at Work, 1877-1911

I BUSINESS GETS BIGGER

A) The Rise of the Corporation 1. Vertical Integration i Pioneered by Gustavus Swift ii Business model: one company controls all aspects of production iii Predatory pricing 2. Standard Oil and the Rise of the Trusts iv King of petroleum: John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil v Cleveland Ohio became great refining center vi Budding tycoons all used vertical integration

B) A National Consumer Culture 3. Corporation’s Innovations vii Bell Telephone & Westinghouse setting up research laboratories viii Steel Makers invest in chemistry and material science, making products cheaper 4. Thomas Edison ix Operated independent laboratory rather than working for corporation x Shrewd entrepreneur who focused on commercial success xi Introduced the incandescent light bulb, phonograph, and moving pictures 5. Department Stores xii Pioneered by John Wanamaker xiii Soon became urban fixture, displacing many small retail shops 6. Country Fairs xiv Allowed farming families to examine latest innovations 7. Mail-Order Enterprises xv Montgomery Ward and Sears xvi Annual catalogs

C) The Corporate Workplace i. White-collar workers: those who held professional positions within a corporation ii. Blue-collar workers: those who worked on the shop floor 8. The Managerial Revolution xvii Railroads led the way by separating day-to-day operations by department functions (Purchasing, machinery, freight traffic, passenger traffic) xviii Clearly defined lines of communication were established xix “Middle Managers” directed flow of good & information and oversaw departments 9. Company Salesmen xx “Drummer” or traveling salesman, became familiar site on city streets and in remote country stores 10. Women in the Corporate Workplace xxi Women’s work filled mostly by young single “girls” xxii Lower wages than all men xxiii 1/3:Domestic servants, 1/3: “Female white-collar jobs, 1/3: Garment and textile industries xxiv As opportunity grew women became secretaries, sales clerks, telephone operators, and teachers

D) On the Shop Floor 11. Autonomous craft workers flourished xxv Coal miners paid by amount of coal produced rather than hour wage xxvi Others: Hat finishers, Glass blowers, Machinists xxvii “Stint”: self-imposed limitation on daily production 12. Mass Production xxviii Henry Ford xxix Reduced independence of craft workers and skilled machinists xxx Relied on standardized parts 13. “Scientific Management” xxxi Frederick W. Taylor xxxii Would direct employees to work hard and more efficiently in specific ways (SOPs) xxxiii Determined by engineers (time and motion studies) and managers

II IMMIGRANTS, EAST AND WEST

E) Newcomers from Europe 14. “Ethnis Clustering” xxxiv occurred in Northern cities xxxv Relatives or fellow villagers of immigrants entered the same work roles and settled in the same neighborhoods xxxvi Germans-carpenters; Serbs- blooming mills; Poles- hammer shops xxxvii Most immigrants planned to return to European villages

F) Asian Americans and Exclusion 15. Newcomers from Asia in late 19th century faced harsher treatment from Americans xxxviii Hostility in the form of abysmal pay and threats from coworkers xxxix Leading many men to withdraw to the only niches open to them: running restaurants and laundries 16. Chinese Immigrants xl 1840- California Gold Rush xli Burlingame Treaty between U.S. and China opened way for increasing numbers to emigrate xlii Filled low-waged jobs in American labor market

III LABOR GETS ORGANIZED

G) The Emergence of a Labor Movement xliii Industrialization spurred formation of labor unions xliv American unions mostly rejected politics in favor of collective bargaining with employers

H) The Knights of Labor xlv Sought an egalitarian society where every citizen could become “economically independent” xlvi Founded in 1869 as a secret society (accepted women and blacks) xlvii Became national movement by 1878 w/ T.V. Powderly as leader xlviii Cooperation was seen as the catalyst to transformation of U.S. into an egalitarian society

I) Farmers and Workers: The Cooperative Alliance 17. New rural movement arose to take up many of the issues that Grangers and Greenbackers had earlier sought to address xlix Founded in Texas during the 1870s depression l Spread across the Plains states and the South li By late 1880s becoming the largest farmer-based movement in American History

J) Another Path: The American Federation of Labor (AFL) 18. Samuel Gompers led formation of AFL (1886) dedicated to “pure & simple unionism” lii “Pure”: workers only, organized by crafts and occupations liii “Simple”: goals of better wages, hours, working conditions to be achieved through collective bargaining rather than political action liv National trade unions banded together under the AFL and demanded the 8-hour day (highly symbolic at the time)