Topic 2: Industrialization

Required reading:
"If You Men Don't Withdraw, We Will Mow Every One of You Down," William C. Kasthaus, Essay 5, Flyover
"The Terrible Triangle Fire," Tom Brooks, Essay 6, Flyover
"Spindletop," James R. Chiles, Essay 7, Flyover

Quiz:
"If You Men Don't Withdraw, We Will Mow Every One Of You Down"

1. Why did workers move toward a decision to unionize?
A. lack of benefits and no paid time off
B. miserable and dangerous work for meager pay
C. mandatory overtime without any hourly breaks
D. compulsory drug testing and lack of bathroom facilities

2. Why did workers strike at Carnegie's steel mills?
A. they wanted to have their differences resolved by an outside arbitrator
B. they wanted to deal directly with Carnegie rather than Henry Clay Frick
C. they refused the sliding-scale minimum of 24 dollars a ton set on their labor
D. they refused the 22 dollar a ton minimum price fixed on their labor

3. How did powerful Americans respond to the pleas of the poor people in their midst?
A. lobbied Congress to arrest undocumented immigrants
B. created self-help charity organizations
C. despised those who attempted to change the system
D. felt empathy toward their dire conditions

4. Who said to the steelworkers- "If you men don't withdraw, we will mow every one of you down"?
A. Andrew Carnegie, owner of Carnegie Steel
B. John Potter, superintendent of the Homestead Mill
C. Frederick Heinde, captain of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency
D. Henry Clay Frick, Homestead chairman and plant manager

5. What was the goal of the A.A.I.S.W. (Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers)?
A. to improve job security and social conditions for its members
B. to organize workshops betweeen labor and management
C. to desegregate the industrial workforce in Pittsburgh's mills
D. to provide educational opportunities for workers' families

6. Which workers were the unskilled labor force at the Homestead mill?
A. English and German
B. Hungarians and Slavs
C. Irish and Scottish
D. Welsh and Norwegian

7. What were the Homestead workers wages fixed to?
A. the price of steel
B. the cost of bituminous coal
C. the number of years they worked
D. their level of formal education

8. What did Andrew Carnegie due before leaving the United States for vacation in the spring of 1892?
A. told Frick to build a three mile long, barbed-wire fence around the mill
B. sent a note to the AAISW saying their union was beneficial to labor and to capital
C. told the AAISW that their union must merge with the American Federation of Labor
D. sent Frick a note that the Homestead mill must become non-union

9. What strengthened Frick's resolve to destroy the AAISW?
A. the shoot-out between the Homestead strikers and the Pinkertons
B. the strikers oratory that Homestead is what "men hold dearest"
C. the Pinkertons rapid takeover of the "beseiged steel mill"
D. the large number of casualties sustained by the strikers

10. Whose side did the Pennsylvania State Militia take?
A. AAISW
B. The Advisory Committee
C. Mayor McLuckie's Rally Supporters
D. Carnegie Steel Company

11. What suffered the greatest from the Homestead Strike?
A. steel production
B. unions
C. Frick's health
D. the Pinkertons

12. Who was condemned in the press for being "the arch-sneak of his age" and later attempted to re-build his image as a philanthropist?
A. Henry Clay Frick
B. Andrew Carnegie
C. Robert Pattisua
D. Alexander Berkman

13. Through what industry did Andrew Carnegie become the world's richest man?
A. steel
B. railroads
C. oil
D. cotton


The Terrible Triangle Fire

14. Where did the Terrible Triangle Fire occur?
A. New York City
B. Boston
C. Philadelphia
D. Chicago

15. What was the major factor that contributed to the overwhelming number of Triangle Waist Company employee deaths?
A. doors on the floors were locked
B. fire exits were poorly illuminated
C. workers fled to the factory’s roof
D. the fire department responded late

16. The majority of those killed in the fire were:
A. older men.
B. mostly young women.
C. all older women.
D. mostly children.

17. One result of the fire was that it:
A. acted as a catalyst on social reform.
B. acted as the spark that burned the whole city down.
C. helped raise wages for all the workers.
D. forced the city to modernize the Fire Department.


Spindletop

18. What did Pattillo Higgins try to convince geologists to look for when drilling for oil?
A. sand dunes
B. coal deposits
C. dinosaur tracks
D. salt domes

19. Where was Spindletop?
A. Beaumont
B. Dallas
C. Houston
D. San Antonio

20. Before 1901, 90% of America's petroleum was produced in a stretch of land from:
A. Texas to Louisiana.
B. Oklahoma to Texas.
C. California to New Jersey.
D. Ohio to New York.

21. The company that held a monopoly on oil production before 1901 was:
A. Texaco Oil Corporation.
B. Exxon Oil Corporation.
C. Standard Oil.
D. Petty Engineering.

22. What oil company began at the Spindletop field?
A. Standard
B. Exxon
C. B.P.
D. Texaco


A: Andrew Carnegie is often held up as the quintessential American rags-to-riches story. Read about his life, and in your brief essay, describe what you see as the factors that make him such an icon. What did you notice about contradictions in his personality/actions? What did he to to resolve these inner conflicts? Is there anyone we can compare to Carnegie in today's society? Describe any similarities you notice between Carnegie and others like him in contemporary society.

 

B: In the Gilded Age, the rich got richer and the poor stayed poor. One way to save money as an employer was to hire children. It was legal and they worked for much less than adults. Take a look at this collection of Child Labor in America photographs taken by Lewis W. Hine from 1908-1912. What can be learned from these photographs about the conditions of child labor in the Gilded Age and beyond? How has child labor in the United States changed in the last century? What were some of the justifications given when child labor was outlawed in later years?

 

C: The Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in 1911 made workplace conditions a topic of great concern. Read through the website to learn about the sweatshops of the Gilded Age. Why were the workplaces called sweatshops, anyway? Describe the conditions for workers in them. What government agency oversees conditions for workers now? Who was working in these sweatshops, and why was it so easy for employers to exploit them?

 

D: While the factory owners made their millions during this time of industrialization, workers rarely saw much of the profits that were being made on their labor. The lives of the working class and the poor in the cities were horrifying in some cases, and among the chroniclers of their lives was Jacob Riis. His eye-opening book, How the Other Half Lives, was a description of the people who were jammed into the tenements of New York, eking out a living as best they could. Here's an excerpt from the book:

"Be a little careful, please! The hall is dark and you might stumble over the children pitching pennies back there. Not that it would hurt them; kicks and cuffs are their daily diet. They have little else. Here where the hall turns and dives into utter darkness is a step, and another, another. A flight of stairs. You can feel your way, if you cannot see it. Close? Yes! What would you have? All the fresh air that ever enters these stairs comes from the hall-door that is forever slamming, and from the windows of dark bedrooms that in turn receive from the stairs their sole supply of the elements God meant to be free, but man deals out with such niggardly hand. That was a woman filling her pail by the hydrant you just bumped against. The sinks are in the hallway, that all the tenants may have access--and all be poisoned alike by their summer stenches. Hear the pump squeak! It is the lullaby of tenement-house babes. In summer, when a thousand thirsty throats pant for a cooling drink in this block, it is worked in vain. But the saloon, whose open door you passed in the hall, is always there. The smell of it has followed you up. Here is a door. Listen! That short hacking cough, that tiny, helpless wail--what do they mean? They mean that the soiled bow of white you saw on the door downstairs will have another story to tell--Oh! a sadly familiar story--before the day is at an end. The child is dying with measles. With half a chance it might have lived; but it had none. That dark bedroom killed it."

Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York

Look at the photos and illustrations created by Riis for his famous book, and read at least one chapter from the on-line book. Many people had written reports about poverty before Riis' book was published, and gained some attention, but nothing like the instant notoriety of Riis' book. Why do you think Riis' book prompted the huge reaction it did in American society? Can you think of any photographs in your lifetime which have gained such iconic status? Why do photographs affect us and our perception of the accompanying story so much more than text alone?

 

E: Watch the Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times (1936). As a background to the film, read the Teach With Movies Guide to Modern Times. What was Charlie Chaplin showing the viewer regarding work, culture, and society in twentieth century industrial America? How does he portray the workers? How does he portray those in charge? What symbolism does Chaplin use in the film? How effective is Chaplin in conveying his points? How might a 1930's American audience react to the film? (What events were occurring in the 1930's?) How did you react to the film? (Watch the film with a child and see how he/she reacts.) Read the critique: Modern Times and the Question of Technology for more insight into Chaplin's film.


F: Historian Daniel Yergin in his book The Prize argued that oil was the most important commodity of the twentieth century. In 1900, coal fueled America's industrial dynamos, the Navy's warships, and warmed residences. When oil was struck at Spindletop in 1901 (Essay 7, Flyover) our world was changed. Why was Spindletop considered such a longshot? What obstacles as well as benefits did nature place in the paths of adventures in search of oil? What kind of impact did the wholesale search, drilling, and extraction of oil have on the environment and towns like Beaumont? Are we a world that will continue to be addicted to fossil fuels well into the twenty-first century?