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Illinois HistoryUnit 6Farming on PrairieGrangers and GreenbackersRise of Mail Order HousesPackingtown USAJane Addams

Farming On The Prairie

Subsistence Farming •Farmers produced everything that

they needed•Used almost everything they

produced•Took little to market•Hardly ever had money

•Farmers made their own tools•Repair their own oxen yokes, harnesses,

wagons and harrows•Planted seed by hand and harvested the

crops by hand•Used a medieval wooden type plow that

was easily clogged and was not sturdy enough to break up the soil

Wood Plow

Steel Plow

Inventions That Changed Farming

•John Deere invented a plow made of steel which did not clog and cut through the soil

Cyrus McCormick

•Invented a reaper that cut wheat

•Allowed farmers to double their crop

•Seeders and cultivators were invented to sow the seed and cover it

The Railroad Comes to the Illinois Farmer •The Illinois Central railroad was

completed in the 1850’s, running the length of the state

•Previously the farmers could only get their products to market on flatboats that floated downstream

•the railroads brought easy transportation of farm products

•RR’s encouraged people to move to Illinois, selling off land they received from federal land grants

•RR’s offered prizes for new farm machinery

•RR’s experimented with new crops•RR’s encouraged farmers to grow fruit

Corporate Farming •Corporate farming began in Illinois in

the 1840’s and 1850’s•Corporate farmers have thousands of

acres•They employ hundreds of men and have

hundreds of machines to cultivate their great crop harvest

Average Farmers•Most farmers farmed between 100 and

150 acres•Made modest living

Grangers And Greenbackers

Farmer's Complaints After the War•At the end of the war demand for farm

products lessened. •The result was overproduction and

falling prices. •This made it difficult to repay the loans

they used to buy new machinery for the earlier demands.

•Farmers complained that manufacturers received trade protections that farmers did not

•Railroads and grain elevators charged higher than necessary rates

•Farmers standard of living decreased while city dwellers standard increased

Grangers•The Patrons of Husbandry was

founded in 1867•Known as the Granges, began to

agitate for railroad regulation•Granges in Illinois were able to

bring about change in state laws and affect election of public officials

•The Grangers' goals:▫protective tariffs on imported goods▫regulation of the rates which railroads

charged to ship goods to market▫regulation of storage rates at storage

elevators

Munn Vs. Illinois

•The Illinois railroad and warehouse commission sued Munn & Scott, a grain elevator firm, for failing to secure a state license for their business.

•Munn & Scott denied the state had a right to license business.

•Chief Justice Sidney Breeze wrote a landmark decision, which said that businesses, which affect the public, should be subject to government regulation.

•The decision was upheld in the Supreme Court.

Greenbackers •During the Civil War the government

issued $400,000,000 in paper money, nick-named "greenbacks."

•At the end of the war inflation had reduced their value to about half.

•Farmers, were called "green backers," wanted to be able to pay off their debts with cheaper money

•Supported the issuing of more paper money which would cause inflation

Long-term Effect of Granger Laws

•Illustrated the discontent of farmers•They provided a precedent for

national railroad regulation

The Rise of the Great Mail Order Houses

Montgomery Ward

Richard Sears

Mail Order Emerges•After the Civil War, the most of the

people and wealth were in the rural areas

•Rural residents had few opportunities to go to the cities to buy consumer goods

•Mail order businesses emerged to offer free delivery and catalogs to rural customers

Montgomery Ward•Founded business in 1872•Had lived w/ farmers; knew of their needs•Bought directly from manufacturer and

sold directly to farmers for cash•Idea was to make small profits on great

quantities of sales

•1st catalog was 1 page; grew to 240•Factors that brought success

▫Cash on delivery payment▫Was official supplier to the Grangers, who

bought in bulk▫Offered guarantee of satisfaction, paid

refund plus shipping

Richard Sears•As a young man worked as a station

manager for a railroad in Minnesota•In 1886, a local jeweler refused a

shipment of watches•Sears asked the manufacturer for

permission to sell the watches

•He soon sold all of the watches to other station agents

•Within 6 months his watch selling business was so successful that he quit the railroad

•Moved to Minneapolis to start a watch business at age 22

•In 1887 he hired Alvah Roebuck to handle the service department

•In 1893 he and Roebuck formed Sears, Roebuck and Co. and moved their offices to Chicago

•The Chicago location had better access to railroads

•Sears knew farmers and their needs•His 1st catalog was only watches•By 1895, his catalog was 532 pages and

contained many items farmers desired•Clothing, plows, bicycles, shoes, etc

•1897 Roebuck retires because of ill health

•1908 began selling home kits by mail order, delivered by train

•He retired later that year•1914 – died of Bright’s Disease

Packingtown, USA

Hog Butcher for the World•Civil War created a demand for source of

meat for Union Army•Chicago had the transportation facilities

and was near cattle producing areas and the grain belt

Giant meatpackers Philip Armour began business in Chicago

and became a household name within a few years

In 1891, the company was the largest meat packer in the country and controlled 30 percent of Chicago's grain supply

Gustavus Swift Believed that slaughtering and

dressing beef in Chicago would be better than transporting the animals live to the East

Cattle shipped to the market whole cost the meatpackers the price of freight for live animals

•The invention of the refrigerated train car allowed meatpackers to ship the carcasses to their destination in good condition

•To avoid waste, packers used by-products to in manufacture of other products

•“used everything but the squeal”

Criticisms•Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, which

shocked the nation depicting deplorable working conditions in the packinghouses

•The book inspired the government to begin inspecting the packing process

•Led to enactment of Pure Food and Drug Act

•During the Spanish-American War, spoiled canned meat was blamed for thousands of deaths to soldiers

•Public uproar forced the meatpackers to clean up their operations and comply with federal inspections

•Chicago stockyards remained in business until 1970

Merchant Princes

Marshall Field

Marshall Field Came to Chicago and worked a clerk,

later named a general manager in a wholesale house

Field and Levi Leiter bought into the store and built the business up during the Civil War

Both left to join a retail business run by Potter Palmer

1871 – Chicago fire destroyed their store

Rescued merchandise was moved to a barn on the south side of Chicago

Reopened 2 days after the fire in the barn

They rebuilt an even bigger store at the original location

•Business grew rapidly after the fire•To keep his stores supplied, Field

bought or built his own factories•Began importing exotic goods•1881- Field bought out Leiter•When he died, he was the richest man

in Chicago

Potter Palmer

Potter Palmer•Chicago merchant who owned a dry goods

store and made large profits•After the Civil War he sold out store to

Field an Leiter•Turned to real estate business

•Bought property along State St. , moved buildings back and persuaded city to pave the wide street

•Built a store which he rented to Field and Leiter for $50,000

•Built an expensive hotel called the Palmer House

•1871- fire almost ruins Palmer•Went into debt to rebuild, borrowed $2

million to rebuild State St. and the Palmer House

Palmer House

•After solvent, he bought swamp land along Lake Michigan

•Filled the swamp land and then built a row of fine stone houses

•Lake Shore Drive became the home of the wealthiest of Chicago society

Jane Addams

Problems caused by industrialization

•Contrast of bustling prosperity and tremendous growth

•Wealth for some, and terrible poverty for the working class.

Jane Addams

•Born in rural Illinois•Received college degree in 1881•Visited England and toured a

settlement house •When she returned the U.S., she

opened up a settlement house in Chicago

The settlement house idea

•The idea of the settlement was to live among the slum dwellers to give them continuing help.

• Addams opened up a house in the worst slum in Chicago

•Named Hull House

Hull House

Activities at Hull House

•Reading groups•Social clubs•Gymnasium•Art gallery•Kitchen and coffee house•Day care center•Primary function was as an

educational center

Jane Addams as a Suffragette •She knew that without the right

to vote , women could not influence the passage of legislation that would improve social conditions.

Factory Reform and Child labor laws

•Campaigned for:▫Improved factory safety standards ▫Regulation of hours and wages for

women▫Restrictions on child labor

Trade Unions•Addams provided a meeting place for working girls

•Was location for meetings of women’s unions

Nobel Peace Prize•She received the Nobel Peace Prize in

1931 for her work to promote peace. •Chairwoman of the Women's Peace

Party •She became the leader of the Women's

International League for Peace and Freedom

Assignment 6.11. Describe subsistence farming. 2. Name the problems faced by the early

farmers in Illinois. 3. What two inventions changed farming

methods substantially? Who were the inventors?

4. How did the coming of the railroad affect the farmer?

5. Describe corporate farming.

Assignment 6.21. What was the farmer's complaint after

the Civil War?  2. What did the Illinois Grangers hope to

accomplish?  3. Explain the Munn vs. Illinois case. How

was it decided? 4. Who were the greenbackers? 5. The Granger laws had a long term

effect. What was it?

Assignment 6.41.  What made Chicago the "Hog Butcher to the

World"? 2. Name the two most important meat packers

in the Chicago area. 3. How did the development of the refrigerator

car contribute to the growth of Packing Town?

4. What packing house conditions were portrayed in the book, "The Jungle," by Upton Sinclair?

5. Explain how the Spanish-American Civil War caused a scandal in the meat packing business.