Social Studies 8, Big Business, Test Flashcards
What were the effects of the electric lightbulb and power plants?
- One of the biggest affects were longer working hours because the light could supply reliable light instead of sunlight or fire/candles
- More production in the power plants and factories because you have more hours
- Power Plants created new products to help expand there profit by making the people think they need the new product
- Advertising also was important and grew during this time period
What is the “Gospel of Wealth”?
- The idea that people who make a lot of money or have a lot of money need to use and spend their money for the benefit of the society, should be used for the greater good, and should give it away to charitable causes
What is a Robber Baron?
- A business man who puts the other companies out of business and makes their money through unfair business practices
- Someone who is just naturally selfish
- Also sometimes had very low wages for their employees
What is Social Darwinism?
- Refers to the idea of the rich deserve to be rich because they are more fit to survive physically, in business, and in evolution. Also means the people that are rich are more capable to rule society
What were the effects of the Haymarket Riot?
- Strikers were protesting the wages of the factory
- Effects were that the bombings were blamed on immigrants, increased the belief that immigrants are bad for the country, made many people in the middle class less trusting of labor, and increased tension between the workers and labor unions and the middle class
- After this period, Labor unions became more organized and businesses increased their efforts to stop the creation of labor unions
What were the Homestead and Pullman Strikes?
Homestead
- Workers went on strike for an extension for their contract
- Resulted in the company locking all of the workers out of the steel mill and the workers went on strike
- Company sent 300 mercenaries and the strikers won
- Workers eventually gave up though and took a worse contract
Pullman
- In order to make money Pullman wanted happy workers so he supplied worker with food, clothing, and shelter
- The economy went down though so he cut wages but didn’t cut prices but not rent and store prices so all the workers went into debt
- Workers went on strike with Railroad people from his company and refused to work on the Pullman rail cars or any train they were on
- President eventually used the militia to end the strikes because the workers would not work on the trains which interfered with the federal mail
- The strikes ended after that
What is Laissez-Faire economic policies?
- The government doesn’t interfere with business and the economy
- Considered the purist form of Capitalism
What are Cartels, Trusts, and Monopolies
Cartel
- When different companies i the same industry agree to work together to charge the same prices and charge the same for labor
Trust
- When different companies are controlled by the same person or the same group of people
Monopolies
- When one person or one group of people own every aspect of an industry from beginning to the end
What are some good things abut bid business leaders?
- Managed to lower prices by lowering waste and cost
- Donated money to charity
- Created new products
- And in some cases, lower prices
Why was Gustavus Swift important?
- Cerated new products with waste
- Created refrigerator car
- Donated money
What did J.P. Mrogan do?
- He merged companies
What are Corporations?
A company where other people own very small amounts of the company so there is less risk
What is Vertical and Horizontal Integration?
Vertical
- Own a part of each of the steps from raw material to final product
Horizontal
- Owns one part of an entire step in the industry
What are Corporations and how do you form them?
- When a business decides to sell very small portions of a company (shares) so that there is not as much responsibility or risk involved when the company makes a discussion because more than just the company is involved
- Also sometimes used to help the company raise capital to help it.
What is Laissez-Faire Capitalism?
Laissez-Faire Capitalism
- Companies are free to do what ever they can to make money
- Consumers are free to spend their money when and where they
- Workers are free to work where they want
- Government does not interfere with any of the industries except for collecting taxesAgainst
- Capitalism and competition are good but the government should be able to interfere in some way in order to make sure there is competition, prevent monopolies, and to protect workersToday the government has laws to prevent child labor and to help prevent monopolies For - If companies are competing with each other to get customers to spend money on there products, they should increase the quality because consumers are more likely to buy things with a higher quality
