US 2.3

This is an excerpt from the autobiography of Rose Cohen, a worker in a sewing factory in New York City.

This excerpt is evidence of what generalization about the Industrial Age?

• Workers were given many opportunities to advance in their jobs.

• Female workers did not have to work as many hours as men.

• Child laborers often had to work long hours in poor conditions.

• Sewing jobs gave many workers creative outlets for their work.

Use the information to answer the question.

The Homestead Strike of 1892 began when Henry Frick, manager of a steel plant in Pennsylvania, proposed wage cuts for workers. When negotiations with the union failed, he closed the plant and hired hundreds of private guards to secure the plant. When workers tried to prevent the guards from reaching the plant, gunfire was exchanged. The Pennsylvania governor called out the state militia to support the plant manager. The plant was re-opened with non-union workers who received much lower wages and worked more hours per day.

Which statement describes a result of the Homestead Strike?

• Workers turned to the courts to protect their wages.

• The government protected the interests of business owners.

• Business owners began offering better benefits to their workers.

• Labor union membership in the steel industry grew dramatically.

What was the main reason disease spread rapidly in American cities in the late 1800s?

• Mass transit was unclean and caused air pollution.

• There was not enough electricity to safely preserve food.

• City officials used funds meant for clean-up to bribe supporters.

• Crowded tenements put more people in contact with each other.

Use the information below to answer the question.

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded in 1886 as a union for skilled workers. In 1920, the AFL had more than four million members. During the 1920s and 1930s, many members began urging the union to represent unskilled workers as well.

What was the result of this problem?

• The federal government required the union to choose new leaders.

• The federal courts required the union to be more inclusive.

• The union divided over the question of member qualifications.

• The union membership declined because of increased unemployment.

Use the passage below to answer the question.

A Texas act passed in 1899 made it legal for people to establish “trade associations and other organizations for the purpose of protecting themselves in their personal work. . . .”

What conclusion can be drawn from the passage about Texas at the turn of the 20th Century?

• Agriculture in Texas continued to be based on small family farms.

• Texas women were moving into the workplace in large numbers.

• African Americans in Texas found it difficult to find high paying jobs.

• Workers in Texas began forming unions in order to promote their interests.

Use the excerpt below to answer the question.

Several times I have been asked what in my opinion was the most important single incident in the labor movement in the United States and I have invariably replied: the strike of the anthracite miners in Pennsylvania . . . from then on the miners became not merely human machines to produce coal but men and citizens. . . . The strike was evidence of the effectiveness of trade unions. . . . —Seventy Years of Life and Labor: An Autobiography, Samuel Gompers, 1925

What was one result of this incident?

• Police ended the strike by force.

• Federal courts ruled in favor of the workers.

• Presidential involvement in strikes decreased.

• Union membership rose after the strike’s success.

Which of these labor organizations would have advocated the abolition of capitalism?

• American Federation of Labor — supported raising wages for skilled laborers

• United Farm Workers in California — wanted to improve working conditions for farmworkers

• Congress of Industrial Organizations — encouraged admission of unskilled workers into unions

• Industrial Workers of the World — endorsed liberating the working class

Which factor encouraged Progressive reform efforts in the early 1900s?

• unions coming to agreements with businesses to avoid lockouts

• unions coming to agreements with businesses to avoid lockouts

• quotas that were enacted to limit the number of immigrants

• rapid growth of immigrant populations in urban areas

Read the song lyrics and answer the question.

The writer of this song is using sarcasm to express which idea?

• gratitude for a sympathetic boss

• appreciation for each new day

• fear of not waking up on time

• frustration over the plight of workers

What conclusion can be drawn from this cartoon?

• Labor unions are unlikely to win against big businesses.

• Labor unions are often corrupt and arrogant.

• Large corporations are not prepared to fight against labor unions.

• Large corporations use tools like the strike to destroy labor unions.