- given by the government to railroad companies to build railroads on - encouraged many railroads - including multiple transcontinental railroads (see specifics above)

- One of the “Big Four” who finically backed the CPRR - operated through 2 construction cos - 10s of millions in profits - Ex gov of CA - had useful political connections

- One of the “Big Four” who finically backed the CPRR - operated through 2 construction cos - 10s of millions in profits - an adept lobbyist

- ‘bearlike’ - probably the best RR builder of all - high sense of public duty - felt that RR would only prosper if the area it serves prospers too - sent “agricultural demonstration trains through” - gave bulls to farmers

- very adept scammer - for nearly 30 years he manipulated stocks of: - Erie, Kansas Pacific, Union Pacific, and the TX and Pacific

- the process of RR stock promoters grossly inflating their claims about a given line’s assets and profitability and sold stocks and bonds far in excess of the RR’s actual value

- an agreement to divide the business in a given area and share the profits

- decreed that individual states had no power to regulate interstate commerce. - federal government would have to stop monopolies - Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 (passed by cong) - prohibited rebates and pools and required the railroads to publish their rates openly - set up the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to admin- ister and enforce the new legislation

Ch 24 Flashcards by Sarah G

Union Pacific Railroad

commissioned by congress to travel westward from Omaha, Nebraska
- company was granted 20sq miles of land alternating to different sides of the track in 640 area sections
- received generous grant loans from the gov’t
- building really started after the civil war

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Central Pacific Railroad

Granted same same incentives and subsidies as Union Pac.
- build by Chinese immigrant labor
- laid track “at the CA end” from Sacramento eastward

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Land Grant

given by the government to railroad companies to build railroads on
- encouraged many railroads
  - including multiple transcontinental railroads
    (see specifics above)

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Leland Stanford

One of the “Big Four” who finically backed the CPRR
- operated through 2 construction cos
- 10s of millions in profits
- Ex gov of CA
- had useful political connections

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Collis P. Huntington

One of the “Big Four” who finically backed the CPRR
- operated through 2 construction cos
- 10s of millions in profits
- an adept lobbyist

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James J Hill

‘bearlike’
- probably the best RR builder of all
- high sense of public duty
  - felt that RR would only prosper if the area it serves prospers too
    - sent “agricultural demonstration trains through”
    - gave bulls to farmers

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“Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt

had made millions with steamboats
- uneducated but had a clear vision
  - offered better derive at lower prices
- amassed a fortune of $100 Mil
  - contributed 1 mil to found a University in his name (Tenn)

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Jay Gould

very adept scammer
- for nearly 30 years he manipulated stocks of:
- Erie, Kansas Pacific, Union Pacific, and the TX and Pacific

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Stock Watering

the process of RR stock promoters grossly inflating their claims about a given line’s assets and profitability and sold stocks and bonds far in excess of the RR’s actual value

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Pool

an agreement to divide the business in a given area and share the profits

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Rebate

a kickback

- granted by rail barons to powerful shippers in return for steady assured traffic

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Grange (ADD MORE)

Patrons of Husbandry

- got many midwestern legislatures tried to regulate the railroad monopoly

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Wabash Case (1886)

decreed that individual states had no power to regulate interstate commerce.
- federal government would have to stop monopolies
  - Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 (passed by cong)
    - prohibited rebates and pools and required the railroads to publish their rates openly
    - set up the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to admin- ister and enforce the new legislation

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Alexander Graham Bell

Introduced the telephone in 1876
- teacher of the deaf
- telephone created a giant communication network
  - more jobs for operator women

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Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

Most versatile inventer
- deaf, but that allowed him to work without distraction
- his “invention factory” in NJ produced the:
  - the phonograph
  - mimeograph
  - dictaphone
  - the moving picture
- 1879- he perfected the electric lightbulb

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Vertical Integration

combining into one organization all phases of manufacturing from mining to marketing
- goal
  - improve efficiency by making supplies more reliable
  - control over quality of all aspect of the product
  - eliminate middleman’s fees

Horizontal Integration

allying with competitors to monopolize a given market

- Rockefeller was good at this

Trust

a combination of corporations, usually in the same industry, in which stockholders trade their stock to a central board in exchange for trust certificates.
- Rockefeller perfected the “trust” to control his rivals
- stockholder in smaller CO’s assigned their stock to the board fo directors of his CO
- Then it consolidated operations

Interlocking Directorate

process of placing men from your company on the board of directors of other competing companies
- used to gain influence and reduce competition

Andrew Carnegie

Started as a poor immigrant and rose to power
- started steel business in Pittsburgh area
  - streamline - eliminated many middlemen
- disliked monopolies
- formed a partnership with 40 “Pittsburgh Millionaires”
- 1900- made 1/4 of nation’s bessemer steel
  - profits of 40-25 mil
- donated much of his money

Gospel of Wealth

essay written in 1889
- Andrew Carnegie
- described the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich.

Bessemer Process

The first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. - named after its inventor, Henry Bessemer
- took out a patent on the process in 1855
- Key principle = removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron.
  - The oxidation also raises the temperature of the iron mass and keeps it molten.

J. Pierpont Morgan

made reputation for himself by
- financing the reorganization of RRs, insurance cos, and banks
- didn’t believe that money power was dangerous

United States Steel

JPM bought out Carnegie who no longer wanted the wealth
- payed $400 mil
1901- JMP launched and enlarged the US Steel Corporation
- capitalized at $1.4 billion
- first billion dollar co

John D. Rockefeller

- born into a wealthy family - 1870 - organized the Standard Oil Company of Ohio - refineries in Cleveland eliminated the middleman - 1882- oil trust formed - low business ethics, ruthless - 1877- controlled 95% of all US oil - did turn out a superior product at a better price

William Graham Summner

- Yale professor and social darwinist - “the millionaires are a product of natural selection, they get high wages and live in luxury, but the bargain is a good one for society”

Plutocracy

- government by the wealthy - caused increase in class divisions - the rich used the constitution to support their monopolies - some used 14th amendment and interpreted person as a cooperation

Yellow Dog Contract

- similar to an ‘ironclad oath’ | - agreement between an employer and a worker that the worker will not join a labor union

New South

- Industrialists tried to modernize the south - region remained overwhelmingly rural - promoted by Henry W. Grady the editor of the Atlanta Constitution (newspaper)

National Labor Union

- organized in 1866 - lasted for 6 years and had 600,000 members - excluded Chinese and did not try to include blacks and women - blacks made their own union - hard hit during the 1870s depression

Terence V. Powderly

- irish-american - leader of the Knights of Labor - won them a number of strikes for the 8 hour day - had a successful strike against Jay Gould’s Wabash RR in 1885 - membership increased to 3/4 of a mill

Haymarket Riot

- organized by the Knights of Labor - May 4 1886 - Chicago police advanced on a meeting to protest alleged brutalities by the authorities - dynamite bomb was thrown - killed or injured several dozen people - 8 people rounded up and 5 were sentenced to death and the others sent to prison

Injunction

- method used by corporations to handle strikes | - court order against strikers to get them to stop striking (or walkout-ing)

John P. Altgeld

- german-born democrat - gov of Illinois - pardoned the 3 survivors - much opposition from conservatives - was not re-elected - showed opposition for what we thought was an injustice

American Federation of Labor

- founded in 1886 - brainchild of S. Gomers - a federation - consisted of an association of self governed national unions - each union kept independence - was not very inclusive of women and blacks - 1900 membership=500,000 - “the labor trust”

Samuel Gomers

- Jewish from London - elected as president as AF of L every year except for one from 1886 to 1924 - hated socialism - no problems with capitalism - demanded a faired share for labor - sought better - wages - work hours - conditions - chief weapons= walkout and boycott