History 2112
Dr. Hild
June 24, 2009
Big business and Organized Labor
Early 20
th
century
Technologies and Transportation
Before 19
th
century – impossible
Transportation
Steamships 1807
Widely used 1830’s – 1840’s
Cheaper, quicker
Canals 1820s-1830s
Erie Canal 1825
Atlantic Ocean to Great Lakes
Trains/Railroads
1828 1
st
Steam Locomotive
by 1890 every major city had train tracks
National Transportation Route and International transport
Communication Technologies
Snail mail originally
Telegraph Samuel Morse 1844
Telegraph cable 1861 but eroded by salt water from ocean
After CW rebuilt telegraph lines
1876 Bell patented telephone
⇒
essential to business
After CW business moved from “mom and pop” to big business
General Stores popular
1840s commercial banks loaned money to start business
Specialized insurance company
Large companies
⇒
make safe
Freight Carriers
RRs, steamships charged commercial rates and passenger rates
Specialized merchants
One line of goods
Drugs, cotton, pre-made clothing
Railroads
1850-1940 #1 Industry in the US
Chain of command began – complex, large, company organization
Board of Directors, CEO, sell stocks nationally and internationally
Accountants/bookkeepers more intense, complex, sophisticated
Guidelines for how corporations are run began with RRs
Laissez Faire capitalism – government out, people in
“company should build itself”
Received 131 million acre land at no cost and $64 million gift (loan)
No government regulations – do business how they see fit
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Cutthroat practices – underhandedness – rebates under the table
Rates depend on starting and ending cities

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- Summer '08
- FLEMMING
- Erie Canal, Trade union, Strike action, RRS, laissez faire capitalism
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