Railroad and Big Business Transcontinental Railroad George Pullman Interstate Commerce Act Andrew Carnegie Social Darwinism John D. Rockefeller Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Dec 16, 2015
Railroad and Big Business Transcontinental Railroad George Pullman Interstate Commerce Act Andrew Carnegie Social Darwinism John D. Rockefeller Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Transcontinental RR Linked the coast by rail in 1869 Other lines followed
1890: 180,000 miles of track
Towns grew and died because of the rr
George Pullman 1880: Built a sleeper car Created a “company town”
Pullman , IL Provided for the basic needs
Company controlled the town No alcohol
Depression in 1890s led Pullman to cut wages Didn’t cut prices in town
RR cont. Farmers wanted gov’t oversight of rr
companies Companies were corrupt
Wanted farmers kept poor Price fixing
Granger Laws Laws sponsored by the Grange Regulated rr companies
More rr RR companies challenged laws in court Supreme Court found the laws to be
constitutional It is okay for the gov’t to regulate private industry
for the good of the public
Interstate Commerce Act 1887 Established the right of the Feds. to
supervise rr activities and establish an interstate commerce commission
ICC was ineffective until Theodore Roosevelt
Andrew Carnegie Former rr mogul
Moved to producing steel in 1873 Carnegie Steel Company
Made production cheaper
Vertical Integration Carnegie bought out supplier and shippers He controlled everything from mining to
production to delivery
Horizontal Integration Buy out competition By 1901 Carnegie controlled most of the
steel industry in the U.S. Both processes allowed Carnegie to control
costs
Social Darwinism Based on Charles Darwin’s theory of
evolution “Natural Selection” weeded out the unsuccessful
This allowed for monopolies to be created Social Darwinism said that the riches were
a reward from God and the poor were lazy and deserved what they got
John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil Company Joined into a trust with many other
companies Board of directors controlled those companies Smaller companies were able to earn $$ from the
larger trust
Rockefeller was able to control the entire oil industry
J.D.R. cont. 1880: Rockefeller controlled 90% of the
refineries in U.S. Paid low wages Drove competition out of business
Sold oil at a below market price Killed his competition After comp. was gone he hiked oil prices up
“Robber Barons”
Not All Bad Rockefeller and Carnegie were also
philanthropists R. gave $500 million to Univ. of Chicago Carnegie donated 90% of his wealth