Chapter 18 Immigrants & Cities 1870-1900 - Rose State College

Chapter 18Industry, Immigrants &Cities 1870 - 1900Vernon Maddux 168/14/2006Cincinnati, Cincinnati, 1848. 1848. “Cassilly’s “Cassilly’sRow”business business district. district. The The brand brand new new riverboat riverboatpacket-side packet-side wheelers wheelers are are Embassy Embassy (sank (sank1849) 1849) and and Car Car of of Commerce Commerce (sank (sank 1848). 1848).Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.1

American Corporate SystemThe New York StockExchange established in1792 on Wall Street• Pools versus Cartels• Maturation of joint stockcompanies into giant “Trusts.”• Horizontal-Vertical integration Horizontal – same type factories –-intended to reduce competition. Vertical – all elements required toproduce the finished goods, fromraw material to retail stores –-no middlemen. 1880. NY Stock Exchangetrades worldwide. 1884. Charles Dow introducesDow Average of 11 stocks (rr).8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.2

Effect of Industrial Revolution on Labor• Jobs more plentiful, but different.Women and Girls at Work: aNew York City silk factory Less skilled labor required. Farm labor shrinks rapidly.Between 1860-1910 US Railroadlabor increased from 80,000 tonearly a million: mostly Irish,Italian, Chinese laborers.Women and Child LaborExtensive in UrbanaGirls -silk mills.Boys -coal mines.8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.3

Change in Work becomes routine.• 1870-1910. The UScompletely changes its basicsocial, industrial and urbanruralmakeup.• Industry corporations bring inmore foreign workers fromdifferent European countriesthan before.• Big Labor organizes moreintensely than ever before.• Agriculture loses 20% of itsworkforce as new machinesmake rural life more efficient.8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.4

Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe peak at a few hundred in 1882.Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe peak at a million in 1907.Immigrants from Latin America peak at a few hundred in 1910Immigrants from Asia peak and 600K in 1883 (per year).Post Civil WarImmigration• The Civil War halted nearlyall immigration fromEurope.• After 1878 new immigrantsare overwhelmingly non-Protestants from theEastern Mediterranean,primarily Italy, Greece andSicily.• Nine out of ten of these areyoung unmarried men.• These Immigrants sendmost of their wages homeand plan to go back.• 1880. West Coast: steeprise in Chinese immigrants(transcontinental railroad).8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.5

New Technology powers theAmerican Industrial Revolution1870–1910: 900,000 patents areissued in the U.S.The Ford Model “T”For the first time, the U.S. is aworld-class technology exporter.1876 Alexander Graham Bell(telephone)1879 Thomas Alva Edison creates“Invention Factory” at MenloPark, NJ (electric light) (motionpictures)1903 Wright Bros (HTA airplane)1907 Ford’s “Model T” built on firstmoving assembly line (ends 1927).8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.6

Immigration Concerns: NY City Riots1845 Ireland: An Irish Family thrown out oftheir house struggle to find food and shelter.British land owners were forced to buy thempassage to North America.• 1847. “Five Points” is celebratedas the poorest district onManhattan Island.• Five Points is dominated by Irishimmigrants who fled the potatofamine. Theirs is “the worst slumin America.”• 1863, July 13-19. Five Points DraftRiots explode after rumors spreadabout slum dwellers being forcedinto uniform to fight the Civil War.• New York City burned for fivedays; hundreds of buildings weredestroyed and looted; 2,000 peoplewere killed.8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.7

Poverty vs Wealth, economic gap widens8/14/2006Jane Addams• NY tenement apartments-slums• 1889. Chicago. Jane Addamscreated Hull House –poorhousing, food, work facilities andeducation for intact families.• Addams insinuated that the mostsuccessful American captains ofIndustry were guilty of beingRobber Barons and should beashamed and benevolent.RBs: Jay Gould, Leland Stanford,Andrew Carnegie,Their defense: Gospel of Wealthand Social Darwinism.Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.8

Jay Gould 1836-92• 1869. Gould cleared $11 million ina gold cornering scheme.• When news of the scheme becamepublic, Gould was attacked by anangry mob.• He barely escaped.• Because of his schemes, scores ofbrokers went out of business on“Black Friday” when the price ofgold collapsed. One shot himself.• His friend, Jim Fisk, laterrepudiated all trades as the price ofgold rose, claiming he had notwritten anything down. Fisk said,"Nothing is lost, save honor."8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.9

Leland Stanford1824-93• 1865-1880.Stanfordacquired immense wealthfrom railroad building andlived a lavish life withenormous vineyards and alarge horse-raising ranchnear Palo Alto.• 1884. death of his 15-yearoldson prompted him toendow Stanford Universityin his memory.• 1885. Stanford arranged tohave California legislatureappoint him to U.S. Senatewhere he served withoutdistinction until his death in1893.8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.10

Rise of American Labor Unions8/14/20061886 Haymarket Riot Memorialto fallen Workers• 1869. Knights of Labor KOL est.,it was open to all workers butdied out after 1886 HaymarketRiot• 1886. American Federation ofLabor for craft workers only,racist and gender biased. It wasthe most powerful union.• 1905. IWW-Industrial Workers ofthe World (“Wobblies”) foundedby European immigrants for semi& unskilled workers.• It was a violent foe of the U.S.government and was stampedout during WWI.Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.11

Problems with Labor UnionsBaltimore Labor Riot 1887• European anarchist ideas ofstate run business alien toAmericans. Unlike Europe,all men here could vote.• Differences in ethnic groupsdisturbed the united front.• Native-born Americansdisliked collective actiondictates from above.• Many Wobblies wereimmigrant anarchists –violent and confrontational(press loved them).8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.12

1900. NYC is morecrowded than IndiaLife on the Roof NYC tenement dwellerstrying to sleep in hot weather.8/14/2006• 1870. After the Civil War,NYC slums such as FivePoints were proclaimed asthe worst slums in theworld.• By the turn of the century,the population density inNYC is more crowdedthan any other place onearth, including India.Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.13

Five Points, New York CityConjunction of Worth, Park and Baxter streetsMap of Lower ManhattanIrish Immigrants were living “in a …room, not more than fifteen feetsquare, 26 human beings reside.A man could scarcely stand erectin it … women lay on a mass offilthy, unsightly rags in the corner,sick, feeble, and emaciated, six orseven children were in …thecorner …. The stench of the roomwas so suffocating that it could notbe long endured.” (Five Points, p. 69).8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.14

New Middle Class and Leisure Time1908 Cy Young pitching for theBoston Americans• 1876: Department Stores 30 -thousands by 1920.• 1900: 1.4 million telephones.• 1910: All Electric Homes.• Newspapers become cheaper,easier to read. “Urban Tabloids.” New York World: Joseph Pulitzer. New York Journal: WilliamRandolph HearstRise of Amusement Parks:NYC - Coney IslandSports: Professional Baseball: 1876,College Football: 1896.8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.15

Baseball •Origins from British Cricket• Probably created in New YorkCity. Knickerbockers wrote downthe first rules in 1845.• 1861-65. Popular during CivilWar on both sides.• 1869. First Professional sport.• 1876: American Associationestablished.• 1883: National League formedand together with the otherleague, creates a trulyprofessional sport.• Baseball was first “democratic”sport intended to be viewed byworking class men at theirleisure.8/14/2006Chapter 18 Industry Immigrantsand Cities.16