Industry and Immigration Topic 1 Review

“Meanwhile they live in a place of infernal dins. The crash and thunder of the machinery is like the roar of an immense cataract. The room shrieks and blares and bellows. Down in the midst of it sit these tiny urchins, where they earn fifty-five cents a day each. They breathe this atmosphere until their lungs grow heavy and sick with it. But they are uncowed; they continue to swagger. And at the top of the 'breaker' laborers can always be seen dumping the roaring coal down the wide, voracious maw of the creature.”

—Stephen Crane, “In the Depths of a Coal Mine,” 1894 Crane describes young coal miners as mistreated but nonetheless

• happy.

• healthy.

• proud.

• satisfied.

.   “This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of Wealth: First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial result for the community—the man of wealth thus becoming the sole agent and trustee for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer—doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves.”

—Andrew Carnegie, “Wealth,” 1889

What is Carnegie’s message in the text above?

• People who are wealthy deserve the money that they have.

• It is the responsibility of wealthy people to give back to society.

• Regardless of social class, everyone should accept their place in society.

• America is a land of opportunity, where anyone can work to make a fortune.

How did business leaders in the late nineteenth century utilize vertical integration?

• They maintained control of production and distribution of their products.

• They maintained control of the raw materials necessary for their products.

• They allowed market forces to dictate how their products were distributed.

• They delegated responsibility for production and distribution to subsidiaries.

One major reason for the growth in urbanization between 1860 and 1900 was that

• politicians in major cities demanded fair working conditions for all laborers.

• the upper-middle class was prosperous and able to afford city dwellings.

• many new immigrants were unable to find work on Midwestern farms.

• many factory jobs were located in cities near transportation routes.

“All charges made for any service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of passengers or property as aforesaid, or in connection therewith, or for the receiving, delivering, storage, or handling of such property, shall be reasonable and just; and every unjust and unreasonable charge for such service is prohibited and declared to be unlawful.”

—Interstate Commerce Act, 1887

What did the Interstate Commerce Act do?

• It controlled the railroads’ transactions.

• It broke up all remaining railroad trusts.

• It monitored the rates charged by railroads.

• It regulated all railroads in the United States.

“Ten dollars a week was to him a fortune. . . . Indeed, he would have been glad, only the day before, to get a place at three dollars a week. . . . Then he was to be advanced if he deserved it. It was indeed a bright prospect for a boy who, only a year before, could neither read nor write. . . . Dick’s great ambition to “grow up ‘spectable” seemed likely to be accomplished after all.”

—Horatio Alger, 1868

The works of Horatio Alger promoted the idea that

• life in the cities was preferable to rural life.

• workers were being exploited by industrialists.

• anyone could become successful with hard work.

• children in the workforce deserved better treatment.

“[Rockefeller’s company] killed its rivals, in brief, by getting the great trunk lines to refuse to give them

transportation. Vanderbilt is reported to have said that there was but one man—Rockefeller—who could

dictate to him.”

—H. D. Lloyd, The Atlantic, 1881

 

In this text, Lloyd describes how John D. Rockefeller built an oil

• cartel.

• corporation.

• monopoly.

• trust.

“We recognize that peaceful industry is necessary to successful civilized life, but the right to strike and the preparation to strike is the greatest preventive to strikes. If the workmen were to make up their minds tomorrow that they would under no circumstances strike, the employers would do all the striking for them in the way of lesser wages, and longer hours of labor.”

—Report on the (U.S.) Industrial Commission on Capital and Labor, 1890

In this report, Samuel Gompers is explaining the need for

• unions.

• pensions.

• wage labor.

• freedom of contract.

“Go into any of the ‘respectable’ tenement neighborhoods . . . you shall come away agreeing [that] . . . life there does not seem worth living. . . . [T]he airshaft. . . . seems always so busy letting out foul stenches . . . that it has no time to earn its name by bringing down fresh air. . . .”

—Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives

In this paragraph, Riis drew attention to the

• political conditions in large cities.

• economic conditions in large cities.

• living conditions of the urban poor.

• working conditions of urban workers.

. “When Rockefeller founded Standard Oil, kerosene was 30 cents a gallon. Twenty years later, Rockefeller had almost a 90 percent market share and kerosene was only eight cents a gallon. Customers were the real winners here, because Rockefeller’s size allowed him to cut costs. . . .”

—Historian Burton W. Folsom, Jr.

Folsom would be most likely to call John D. Rockefeller a

• carpetbagger.

• robber baron.

• philanthropist.

• captain of industry.