Chapter 24-Industry Come Of Age Flashcards
Congressional legislation that established the Interstate Commerce Commission, compelled railroads to publish standard rates, and prohibited rebate and pools. Railroads quickly became adept at using the act to achieve their own ends, but it gave the government an important means to regulate big business.
Interstate Commerce Act(519)
The practice perfected byAndrew Carnegie of controlling every step of the industrial production process in order to increase efficiency and limit competition.
Vertical integration (521)
The practice perfected by John D. Rockefeller of dominating a particular phase of the production process in order to monopolize a market, often by forming trusts and alliances its competitors.
Horizontal integration(521)
A mechanism by which one company grants control over its operations, through ownership of its stock, to another company. The Standard Oil Company became known for this practice in the 1870s as it eliminated it competition y taking control of smaller oil companies
Trust(521)
John D. Rockefeller’s company, formed in 1870, which came to symbolize the trusts and monopolies of the Gilded Age. By 1877, Standard Oil controlled 95% of the oil refineries in the US. It was also one of the first multinational corporation and at times distributed more than half of its kerosene production outside the US. By the turn of the century it had become a target for trust-blustering reformers, and in 1911 the Supreme Court ordered it o break up into several dozen smaller companies.
Standard Oil Company(521)
The practice of having equities or directors from one company serve o not he boarded of directors from one company J.P. Morgan introduced this practice to eliminate banking competition in the 1890s
Interlocking directorates(521)
Believers in the idea, popular in the late 19th century, that people gained wealth by survival of the fittest. Therefore, the wealthy had simply won a natural competition and owed nothing to the poor, and indeed service to the poor would interfere with this organic process. Some Social Darwinists also applied this theory to whole nations and races, explaining that powerful people were naturally endowed with gifts that allowed them to gain superiority ver others. This theory provided one of the popular justifications for the US imperial century’s like the Spanish-American War.
Social Darwinists(524)
A law that forbade trusts or combinations in business, this was landmark legislation because it was one of the first congressional attempts to regulate big business for the public good. At first the law was mostly used to restrain trade unions, as the courts tended to side with companies in legal cases. In 1914 the act was revised so it could more effectively be used against monopolistic corporations.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act (525)
This First national labor organization in US history gained 600,000 members from many parts of the workforce, although it limited the participation of Chinese, women and blacks. The organization devoted much of its energy to fighting for 8 hour workday before it dissolved in 1872
National Labor Union(532)
The second national labor organization, organized in 1869 as a secret society and opened for public membership in 1881. The Knights were known for their efforts to organize all workers, regardless of skill level, gender, or race. After the mid1880s their membership end declined for a variety of reasons, including the Knights’ participation in violent trikes and discord between skilled and unskilled members.
Knights of Labor(532)
A national federation of trade unions that included one skilled workers, founded in 1886. Led by Samuel Gompers for nearly four decades, the AFL sought to negotiate with employers for a better kind of capitalism that rewarded workers fairly with better wages, hours, and conditions. The AFL’s membership was almost entirely white and male until the middle of the 20th century.
American Federation of Labor(533)
A May Day rally that turned violent when someone threw a bomb into the middle of the meeting, killing several dozen people. Eight anarchists were arrested for conspiracy contributing to the disorder, although evidence linking them to the bombing was thin. Four were executed, one committed suicide and three were pardoned in 1893
Haymarket Square (533)
A union-organizing term that refers to the practice of allowing only unionized employees to work for a particular company. the AFL became known for negotiating, closed shop agreements with the employers, in which the employer would agree not to hire nonunion members.
Closed shop(536)
The railroad owner who built a railway connecting Chicago and New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad, which made railroads safer and more economical. This man was one of the few railroad owners to be just and not considered a “Robber Barron”
Cornelius Vanderbilt
He was an American inventor who was responsible for developing the telephone. This greatly improved communications in the country.
Alexander Graham Bell
