Big Business and Labor

How did Andrew Carnegie vertically integrate the steel industry?

• buying his competition and closing their plants
• buying iron mines and means of transportation
• persuading laborers and managers to cooperate
• bribing government officials to allow a monopoly

Use the excerpt below to answer the question.
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of this act shall apply to any common carrier or carriers engaged in the transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad . . . from one State or Territory of the United States . . . to any other State or Territory of the United States. . . "
—Interstate Commerce Act, 1887
What was the importance of this act?

• It protected the rights of workers in unions
• It was the first federal food-safety regulation
• It prohibited the formation of monopolies
• It was the first federal law to regulate industry

Use the list below to answer the question.
_{Late-Nineteenth Century Organizations} 
Knights of Labor (KOL) --1869 -- include all labor regardless of skill or type
American Federation of Labor (AFL) --1886 -- organized skilled laborers into trade unions
What was the primary reason for the early popularity of these organizations?

• They organized the industrial sector into a single voting bloc.
• They educated workers to help new technology.
• They advocated for the rights of workers in a market economy.
• They increased profits for the owners of industry.

Use the quote below to answer the next question.
"Liberty produces wealth, and wealth destroys liberty. . . . Our bignesses-cities, factories, monopolies, fortunes, which are our empires, are the [problems] of an age gluttonous beyond its powers of digestion."
—Henry Demarest Lloyd, 1894
Which statement supports Lloyd’s assertion?

• Industrialization improves the working conditions for employees.
• Government regulations prevent industrial innovation.
• The growth of industry is weakening the nation.
• Democratic government prevents industrialists from gaining power.

What was Henry Ford’s main contribution to U.S. industry?

• inventing rubber tires
• supporting worker safety laws
• perfecting the combustion engine
• utilizing the assembly line

Why would the U.S. government seek to limit the development of business monopolies?

• to guarantee low prices
• to encourage competition
• to increase production levels
• to improve hiring practices

Powerful industrials like Carnegie and Rockefeller were called both “Captains of Industry"and “Robber Barons” because

• they provided good paying jobs, but produced unsafe products.
• they provided new goods and services while underpaying their laborers.
• they supported workplace reform but drove their competitors out of business.
• they worked closely with their competitors and charged consumers incredibly high prices.

Use the list below to answer the question.
--
• promotion of the interests of small farmers,  ranchers, and laborers
• preservation of public land/protection of land from  large landowners
• regulation of the railroads
• increase of the amount of money in circulation
--
Which group of people pushed for the reforms listed in the list?

• Buffalo soldiers
• Populists
• Communists
• Social Darwinists

Use the excerpt below to answer the next question.
"If they ask us here why it is we say more on the money question than we say upon the tariff question, I reply that if protection has slain its thousands the gold standard has slain its tens of thousands. If they ask us why we did not embody all these things in our platform which we believe, we reply to them that when we have restored the money of the Constitution, all other necessary reforms will be possible, and that until that is done there is no reform that can be accomplished."
—William Jennings Bryan, 1896
Which group most directly supported this speech?

• laborers who wanted increased wages
• immigrants who needed to obtain jobs
• businessmen who wanted decreased taxes
• farmers who were burdened by debt

The first anti-trust law to include a provision prohibiting price setting and price discrimination was the

• Interstate Commerce Act
• Sherman Antitrust Act
• Clayton Antitrust Act
• Federal Trade Commission Act