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Big Business vs. The Working Class
Lecture 10/31/12
John D. Rockefeller: Captain of Industry
• “self-made man”
• Sold cheaper product because he owned all steps of oil refining process “vertical integration”
• Standard Oil Company made him one of the richest men in the world
• Philanthropist- donated millions to charities
John D. Rockefeller: Robber Baron
• Standard Oil Company soon became Standard Oil Trust Rockefeller’s techniques allowed him to lower prices and eliminate and buy out competition
• Ida Tarbell wrote A History of Standard Oil, describing his unfair business tactics
• He soon dominated 90% of America’s oil market
Andrew Carnegie: Captain of Industry
• “rags to riches”- Scottish immigrant, self-educated
• Owned US Steel Company
• Philanthropist- believed in helping people help themselves so created libraries, universities
Andrew Carnegie: Robber Baron
• American Steel Trust was a near monopoly- he used shady business tactics to buy out competition
• He exploited his
workers
Henry Ford: Captain of Industry
• Pioneered early auto engineering
• Ford Motor Company was first to use the assembly line
• Ford Model T was the first car avaiable to middle class- nearly half of all cars were model Ts in 1918
Henry Ford: Robber Baron?• Introduced the $5
work day to keep the best employees
• Reduced the workweek of his employees
• Was opposed to labor unions- tried to squash organizing of his factory workers
Homestead Steel Strike
• Andrew Carnegie (robber baron, captain of the steel industry) owned a steel mill in Homestead, PA, near Pittsburgh.
• Union at the steel mill, the Amalgamated Association (AA), formed and won a couple of early strikes.
• Homestead was run by Henry Clay Frick whose goal was to break the union.
• When the union’s contract was up in 1892, Frick refused to negotiate a new contract and locked workers out.
• Frick hired the Pinkerton Detectives to provide security and break the strike.
• When the Pinkertons tried to enter the mill, there was conflict. The conflict lasted for 14 hours and left 16 people dead.