The Business of the Gilded Era

America’s Industrialization:

1880-1920

SITUATION• You are an entrepreneur.

–You have started a business so that you can make money (profit) by selling things your business makes.

SITUATION• Your company is a proprietorship.

–You are the only owner of the business; you are the sole “proprietor”.

–You keep all of the profit but are also responsible for all of the risk of running the business. If the business fails, you are responsible!

SITUATION

• Your company is doing well, but you want more for yourself and for your company.

SITUATION

• In the slides that follow, you must make shrewd [or, wise] business decisions to make your business successful.

Choice 1

• You want to move your business to a better location. To which place should you move your business?

• Town A• Town B

Choice 1: BEST ANSWER• Town B: … You want your business in a location that has railways and

waterways. –Because trains and boats are better for transporting supplies and goods

Choice 2

• You want to move your business to a better location. To which place should you move your business?

• Town A• Town B

Choice 2: BEST ANSWER

• Town B: … You want to move your business to a location where people live close together, near their jobs.

–Because your workers need to be able to walk to work.

Choice 3

• You want to move your business to a better location. To which place should you move your business?

• Town A• Town B

Choice 3: BEST ANSWER

• Town B: You want to move your business to a location with many people that could work for you.

–Because you may need to hire hundreds of workers. If workers are competing for jobs, they may be willing to work for less money, just so that they have a job!

New York City "ghetto" fish market / Thomas A. Edison, Inc.

Choice 4• You want to move your business to a better

location. To which place should you move your business?

• Town A• Town B

Choice 4: BEST ANSWER• Town A: You want to move your business to a location that will

allow you to transport your product to other cities across the nation. –Because, that way you can sell your goods in markets nationwide.

Choice 5

• You want your business to grow.

Will you…

• Decision A: use machines and people.

• Decision B: use people without machines.

Choice 5: BEST ANSWER• Decision A: You use machines and people.

–Because, by using people & machines, your workers will be faster and produce more.

Girls winding armatures / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company

Choice 6

• You want your business to make things faster and more cheaply.

Will you…

• Decision A: use an assembly line.

• Decision B: have each person make each item completely.

Choice 6: BEST ANSWER• Decision A: You

will use an assembly line.–Because, you

want your business to make things faster and more cheaply.

Choice 7

• You want your business to grow.

Will you…

• Decision A: continue to run the business yourself.

• Decision B: select partners you trust to help you manage the business.

Choice 7: BEST ANSWER• Decision B: You

turn your business into a partnership by selecting to help you run the business.

–By turning your business into a partnership, you share the risk and profit of the business with other people

Choice 8

• You want your business to grow.

Will you…

• Decision A: borrow money from banks to use in expanding your business.

• Decision B: Use only your profit money to expand business.

Choice 8: BEST ANSWER• Decision A: You decide to take out a

loan from the bank to invest in your business.

–Because, borrowing money from the

bank allows your business to spend more money than it has earned to buy what it needs to grow.

Choice 9

• You want your business to grow.

Where will you advertise your business?

• Decision A: Locally• Decision B: Nation-wide

Choice 9: BEST ANSWER

• Decision B:

Advertise nation-wide to sell the most items.

Choice 10

• You want your business to grow.

How will you advertise your products?

• Decision A: Through word of mouth.• Decision B: Through printed

advertisements.

Choice 10: BEST ANSWER

• Decision B: Advertise in newspapers using printed ads to make your product more popular.

Choice 11• You want your

business to grow.

Will you advertise, sell, and send your products through the mail?

• Decision A: YES• Decision B: NO

Choice 11: BEST ANSWER

• Decision A: Advertise in mail-order catalogues. More customers means more profit!

Choice 9, 10, & 11: • I want my business to grow, so I

will advertise _______________,

through ___________________

and ______________________. Advertising brings more customers to you and makes the name of your business more well-known.

Sample pages from the Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue (1902)

Sample pages from the Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue (1902)

Sample pages from the Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue (1902)

Sample pages from the Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue (1902)

Choice 12• You want your

business to grow.

Will you improve your ability to do business by using new technology?

• Decision A: YES• Decision B: NO

Choice 12: BEST ANSWER• Decision A: Using typewriters

and telephones will help your company to communicate better.

• Using electricity will let you work longer hours and use more machines.

Choice 13• You want your

business to become a “big” business.

Will you turn your business into a corporation?

Choice 13+ As a corporation, the business will

be able to continue after you leave the business.

+ As a corporation, the business will be able to have enough money to expand, and even eliminate all of your competition.

Choice 13- As a corporation, you will

own only a “share” (a %) of the company.

These shares are sold to the public as “stock”. People who own stock in a corporation are part-owners of that corporation.

Choice 13+As a

corporation, if the business fails, the shareholders are not responsible for the company’s debt.

Choice 13

• Will you turn your business into a corporation?

• Decision A: continue to run the business as a partnership

• Decision B: Sell shares of your company’s stock and become a corporation

Choice 13: BEST ANSWER

• Decision B: You turn your business into a corporation by selling shares of your company’s stock.

Choice 13: BEST ANSWER+As a

corporation, if the business fails, the shareholders are not responsible for the company’s debt.

Choice 14• You want

to produce more at a lower cost.

How will you reduce costs?

• Decision A: Fire workers

• Decision B:

Buy-up companies that supply you with materials you use to make your products

Choice 14: BEST ANSWER

• Decision B: You buy-up companies that supply you with materials you use to make your products

-Because, you can get your materials cheaper by owning the companies that make them.

CONGRATULATIONS!• You wanted your business to grow.

You were willing to do anything to succeed

Consider yourself a

“Captain of Industry”!

Though, behind your back, other people may call you a

“Robber Baron” (“Baron” is a noble title, like Duke or Earl).

Video & Image documentation:listed in order of appearance in slide show

• The Old town hall at Osnabrock, North Dakota : note the gas lamp in the foreground. 190?. Fred Hultstrand History in Pictures Collection, North Dakota State University Institute for Regional Studies

• Negro tenement house. Fenton Place, N.E. near the Capitol building. Washington, D.C.. 1910. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

• [Workers in field]: From Alice Iola Hare Photograph Collection. 1850-1925. The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

• [Laundry Strike, man wearing a suit standing, running a piece of clothing through a machine, with laundry workers standing behind him]. 1903. Chicago Historical Society.

• New York City "ghetto" fish market / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. 1903. Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.

• [Molding machine and operators]. 1904. Chicago Historical Society.• [Blacksmith hammering on an anvil next to a brick oven with various tools and h

orseshoes hanging nearby in a blacksmith shop]. 1906. Chicago Historical Society.

• Girls winding armatures / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. 1904. Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.

• Wrapping chewing gum. 1915-1920. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Video & Image documentation:listed in order of appearance in slide show

• “The Yvonne Slipper” Excerpt from New York Times, December 21, 1913. Library of Congress, Serials and Government Publications Division.

• “Rexall Antiseptic Tooth Powder” Excerpt from New York Times, June 25, 1916, Library of Congress, Serials and Government Publications Division.

• “Glassberg Short Vamp Shoes” Excerpt from New York Times, March 18, 1917. Library of Congress, Serials and Government Publications Division.

• Sears, Roebuck & Co “Why We Ask 50 Cents for Our Catalogue” (1902) Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.

• At the telephone; Blanche Ring's telephone song; His Majesty. 1906. Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.

• [Miss Marie Reardon, stenographer, sitting at a typewriter in a room]. 1922. Chicago Historical Society.

• [John D. Rockefeller, Jr. standing on a street]. 1920. Chicago Historical Society.

• [Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Carnegie and Margaret Carnegie, far view]. 1910. Chicago Historical Society.