The document of “The Railway Army of 1894”, focuses on management of industries. Subordination allows managers to observe how well employees follow instruction. It is comparable to the saying “when I say jump, you say how high”. If the employees pursue this method, they would be the strongest industry. In fact, Marshall M. Kirkman writes “labor, to exist at all, must act in harmony with those who give it employment, and in due subordination to the interest of society as a whole” (Johnson, 43), meaning, employees and employers must work respectfully amongst each other, in order to create a harmonious environment. The document also elaborates on the balance between the amount of money the company pays employees, how many hours they work, and …show more content…
Many workers, not far from Thomas O’Donnell, got laid off during business slumps by being replaced with handy machinery, or a worker with a lower wage. This was cheaper and more efficient. This left numerous workers without a job, especially when being replaced by a machine. Thomas O’Donnell, an ex-mule spinner, located in mills in Fall River, Massachusetts, testified before the U.S Senate about the relationship between labor and capital. In this document, O’Donnell reenacts his trial on the labor market. He started working at a remarkably young age to start forming a living. He received no education, thus he lived by his common knowledge. He got married and had two kids, ages three and one. He has always worked at the mill by the river with a pay of $1.50 a day. Later on, after the workers went on strike, three years before he testified, he got cut down to part time. He worked thirteen weeks since Thanksgiving, which is about seventy-eight days, equalling $117 a year. This was less than he would usually produce working full time. Working full time allowed him to work fifteen weeks a year, foraging about $133. He paid a weekly amount of $1.50 for his small house, and had to conserve every other penny for necessary needs. He would frequently hunt for clams to feed his family and would gather wood by the shore. He would obtain bread and meat here and there, but sometimes had no food …show more content…
If you legitimately think about it, the Gilded Age formed our country in an evil way. Monopolies are indeed awful, and that is why they are illegal today. They took money from innocent workers by fighting against the labor market, but those men were tremendously important. America was in the process of forming their country and the monopolies had a magnificent impact on this transformation. They made wonderful trading industries in the country to make money on. I have an immeasurable amount of gratitude to those men, even though they caused much pain to the families working for monopolies. As the monopolies fought against labor laws, families struggle to survive. The workers only earned a pay around $1.50 a week, while the monopolies had millions of dollars and started becoming the richest men in America. I am grateful that the workers took a stand in what they believed in, and changed the way we will live forever. Today, we have multiple laws against the events that happened in the Gilded Age. This was since it was a horrific period to live in for anyone that was not involved in government or monopoly. This was when the middle class was being developed, allowing every man and women to achieve the American Dream. Numerous people live in that category today and if those workers never stood up and fought strongly to change those laws, we would still be in that age today. As I have said, I am
The late 19th century was a period of greed and deceit. Everyone was out for themselves to earn a living regardless of how they obtained it. Businesses as well as people were practicing dishonest business deals, lying, stealing, cheating, killing and whatever else they had to do to persevere. (rbhayes) Basically everyone went crazy and was out for themselves.
The productions that these men were in charge of are still big corporations today. They are still very important and sufficient in the economy. If these men had failed with their ideas, imagine how different our society would be today. Imagine what we would be lacking, if not for this business. We would certainly be lacking money.
The Gilded Age was one in which the rich became richer, and the poor became destitute. The middle and lower class were forced into dangerous, labor intensive jobs
Inability to complain about work, low wages, and charge for necessities that they thought should have been provided by Pullman all caused rage in the employees. An economic depression made life more difficult for Pullman’s employees, because They quit their jobs and sought to get fair treatment in the work environment.
In Document H, when Hamlin Garland, a journalist, visited the Homestead steel mill, the journalist said that everywhere in the mill felt like the mouth of hell. Hamlin saw grimy men with sallow and lean faces everywhere and when Hamlin asked one of the workers how their job is, they replied that they work twelve hours a day and mostly receive between $1.40 and $2.25 a day and rarely $5/$10 a day. There was also a machine known as deathtrap that kills workers occasionally. With Carnegie being so rich, he could’ve paid his workers more. Additionally, in Document O, Andrew Carnegie reduces the worker's pay wage by 20% in order to donate more money for his own selfish needs.
Labor strikes and riots were common during the time. Policies were put into place to prevent individuals from gaining this much power ever again. In todays’ modern Gilded Age loopholes have been exploited and the rich are becoming just as powerful as they have ever been. Individuals such as the Koch Brothers have taken up the plutocratic mantle, they “buy politicians” in order to further their agenda and business
The AF of L wanted “unionism” and opposed socialism. TheKnights of Labor, another labor union, was created in 1869 and enlisted in their ranks not only alllaborers but also everyone who could be truly classified as a producer. Labor unions, the two major depressions and the three “robber barons” were three of theforemost reasons the Gilded Age got its name. The “robber barons” invested in things that wouldultimately lead to a “Golden Industrial Age” but they didn’t achieve it totally legitimately, and thecreation of the labor unions sided with the workers, but at times, grew violent in their methods.
The Knights of Labor, founded by Terence Powderly and Uriah Stephens in 1869, helped create a union contract with Carnegie’s Braddock Mill. While the Knights of Labor were trying to have broad social reform around the country, they created a lockout in the Braddock Mill. Workers like Kratcha did not care as much about the union’s goals, instead they wanted the mills to be open so that they could earn money (25). Large business owners, like Carnegie, tried, and usually succeed, at breaking strikes and unions in their mills. In Homestead and Braddock, Kratcha experienced the effects of strikes, and they were not positive.
Some Americans could enjoy the changes since the market revolution whereas others saw it as the end of their liberty. Farmers were happy before the market revolution they had the freedom to be their own boss. However, after the market revolution, they were forced out of their home, breaking up families and the community system, which was a form of support. “Although many Americans welcomed the market revolution, others experienced it as a loss of freedom. Especially in the growing cities of the Northeast, economic growth was accompanied by a significant wondering of the gap between wealthy merchants and industrialists, on the one hand, and impoverished factory workers, unskilled dock workers, and seamstresses laboring at home, on the other.
This significant growth shows that Gompers not only established a system that helped workers, but also a system that worked. What made the American Federation of labor different
During this time three different president- Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson-each played a part in fixing the monopolies and corporate greed. Breaking up one company into many, securing that not one person made all the profit. Which is good for the economy, being able to share the wealth. Yet, the government didn 't bother in touching other important
This was also a time of no personal or corporate income taxes. This allowed the heads of businesses to become very wealthy such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockfeller. A few people were becoming very wealthy and otheres were growing more poor. " Class divisions became more and more visible," (pg. 601).
Profits for the farmers were getting smaller and smaller due to the increase in prices for the goods to be sold. These farmers believed in many different things- they believed in rules and regulations for the road (which included the fact that the government should control the railroad), lower tariffs, and that money should be based off of silver standard. For the industrial workers, their working conditions were not ideal. Each worker did not get paid nearly enough to support them and their families, even though they worked ten plus hour days, six days a week. Workers were not paid for sick days or injury.
Workers and families for the Pullman Palace Car Company in Illinois lived in a small town called Pullman and paid wages to the business in order to live there. The Pullman Company in 1894 cut wages but did not lower the price of living for these workers making them absolutely penniless “George M. Pullman, you know, has cut our wages from 30 to 70 percent. George M. Pullman has caused to be paid in the last year the regular quarterly dividend of 2 percent on his stock and an extra slice of 1 1/2 percent, making 9 1/2 percent on $30,000,000 of capital. George M. Pullman, you know, took three contracts on which he lost less than $5,000.” (U.S. strike commission, 1894) These workers and train car workers around the nation stopped working and started protesting all organized by a man named Eugene Debs.
At the time, most Americans were of middle class status, families were living the life that they had dreamed of for many years. The standard of living