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i. John D. Rockefeller
ii. Andrew Carnegie
iii. J. Pierpont Morgan
iv. Sears and Roebuck
v. The Gospel of Wealth
III. The Alliance of Business and Politics

A. Republicans and Big Business
B. Laissez-Faire
IV. An Industrial Society

A. The Ways of the Wealthy
B. A Growing Middle Class
i. Middle-Class Women
ii. Neurasthenia
iii. Jane Addams
iv. The Ladies’ Home Journal
C. The Working Class
i. Working Women
ii. Child Labor
iii. Organized Labor
iv. The Great Railroad Strike (1877)
v. The Sand-Lot Incident
vi. The National Labor Union
vii. The Knights of Labor
viii. Mother Jones
ix. Anarchism
x. The Haymarket Riot (1886)
xi. A Backlash Against Unions
xii. Gompers and the AFL
xiii. The Homestead Steel Strike
xiv. The Pullman Strike
xv. The Lattimer Massacre
xvi. The Western Federation of Miners
xvii. The International Workers of the World
D. Economic Success and Excess
FOCUS QUESTIONS
1. What factors stimulated the unprecedented industrial and agricultural growth in the late nineteenth
century?
2. Who were the entrepreneurs who pioneered the growth of Big Business? What were their goals,
and what strategies did they use to dominate their respective industries?
3. What role did the federal government play in the nation’s economic development during this period?
4. Analyze the ways in which the class structure and lives of women changed in the late nineteenth
century.
5. Assess the efforts of workers to organize unions to promote their interests during this era.
TRUE/FALSE
1. In a capitalist democracy like America, a common source of social instability is the tensions
between equal political rights and unequal economic status.
ANS: T DIF: Easy REF: Page 688 OBJ: 17.1

TOP: Introduction
2. The number of inventions registered at the U.S. Patent Office remained fairly constant
through the nineteenth century.
ANS: F DIF: Moderate REF: Page 690 OBJ: 17.1

TOP: Industrial and Agricultural Growth
3. Westinghouse’s system of transmitting electricity over long distances lost the “battle of
the currents.”

4. The railroad merged transportation and communication in that it paralleled a network of

telegraph poles.
ANS: T DIF: Moderate REF: Pages 693–694

OBJ: 17.1 TOP: Industrial and Agricultural Growth
5. Many people followed the construction of the transcontinental railroad, as the major
newspapers printed sensational stories about it.

6. The term “robber baron” was used to describe executives known for their shady
financial practices.

TOP: The Rise of Big Business
7. Andrew Carnegie invented the process that enabled a dramatic increase in steel production.

8. J. P. Morgan was born in poverty but became a wealthy man through hard work, unlike
Carnegie and Rockefeller.
ANS: F DIF: Easy REF: Page 704 OBJ: 17.2

9. Andrew Carnegie was an outspoken opponent of the idea of the “Gospel of Wealth.”
ANS: F DIF: Easy REF: Pages 705–706

OBJ: 17.2 TOP: The Rise of Big Business
10. During and after the Civil War, the Republican party supported protective tariffs that raised
revenue and protected domestic industry from foreign competition.
ANS: T DIF: Moderate REF: Page 706 OBJ: 17.3
TOP: The Alliance of Business and Politics
11. By the 1880s, most states had outlawed child labor.

TOP: An Industrial Society
12. The Sand-Lot Incident in San Francisco in 1877 was an attack against Chinese immigrants.
ANS: T DIF: Easy REF: Page 715 OBJ: 17.4 | 17.5

13. Like the AFL, the Knights of Labor admitted only skilled workers.
ANS: F DIF: Moderate REF: Pages 716–717

OBJ: 17.4 TOP: An Industrial Society
14. One of the causes Mother Jones actively pursued was to end the exploitation of children
in the workplace.
ANS: T DIF: Moderate REF: Page 717 OBJ: 17.3

15. Anarchists oppose all forms of government.

16. The Haymarket Riot helped grow the membership of the Knights of Labor.
ANS: F DIF: Difficult REF: Pages 719–720

17. The events of the Lattimer Massacre involved ethnic tensions, not just those between
protesters and authorities.
ANS: T DIF: Difficult REF: Pages 724–725

18. The Western Federation of Miners rejected the violent approach of some labor organizations
but continued to welcome only white male members.
ANS: F DIF: Moderate REF: Pages 725–726

MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following occurred from the end of the Civil War to the turn of the century?
a. The value of manufactures increased sixfold.
b. Farm production declined.
c. The nation’s population greatly decreased.
d. Fewer women and children worked.
e. Innovation in business remained stagnant.
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: Page 687 OBJ: 17.1
TOP: Introduction MSC: Applying
2. What was the post–Civil War marketplace increasingly becoming over the years 1860–1900?
a. essentially a replica of the European marketplace, as the United States acquired the capital to model
goods and services after European businesses without enough left over to allow for ingenuity
b. a collaborative marketplace, as leaders of Big Business sought to increase competition because it
would lead to a greater diversity of goods and services and better working environments
c. a transparent marketplace that strongly discouraged lobbying out of fear that, in response, the small
pool of consumers would grow distrustful of corporations and only support small businesses
d. a truly national marketplace for the sale and distribution of goods and services, in large part thanks
to the expansion of transportation systems and instantaneous communication networks
e. a constrained marketplace due to the loss of the cotton economy in the South and the resulting long-
term blow to the North’s main industries, including textiles and oil
ANS: D DIF: Difficult REF: Page 688 OBJ: 17.1
TOP: Industrial and Agricultural Growth MSC: Evaluating
3. Which of the following statements accurately describes the conditions affecting the industrial development of the
United States during the second half of the nineteenth century after the Civil War?
a. The end of the slave labor system following the war irreparably disrupted the national economy in
such a way that for the rest of the century, the standard of living declined.
b. In response to the horrific practices of slavery, federal and state regulation prioritized the creation
of safe workplaces and fair business practices across industries.
c. The rising tide of immigrants at the time created a large workforce willing to work for low pay as
well as a market of consumers.
d. The intense fighting and movement during the war had resulted in the debilitating depletion of
natural resources across the country, such as minerals, oil, coal, and iron ore.
e. The United States experienced fierce competition with foreign manufacturers resulting from strong
wartime alliances, which ultimately slowed domestic growth.
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: Pages 688–689
OBJ: 17.1 TOP: Industrial and Agricultural Growth MSC: Understanding
4. What were so-called bonanza farms that spread across the country during the second half
of the nineteenth century?
a. farms that were fertilized using new chemical compounds developed in labs
b. farms that were fortunate enough to have large deposits of oil discovered on them
c. farming communities established in Kansas by African American migrants from the South
d. socialist farming collectives established in unorganized western territories
e. corporate-owned farms that were run like factories
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: Page 689 OBJ: 17.2
TOP: Industrial and Agricultural Growth MSC: Remembering
5. What does the term “economies of scale” describe?

a. government efforts to develop the economy on solid investments and produce goods carefully
without concern for cost
b. Edison’s development of small parts that could be interchanged between machines manufactured in
his labs
c. the ability of the economy to respond to changes in supply and demand from year to year without
disturbing investor confidence
d. business enterprises that produced large quantities of product cheaply thanks to large workforces
and machines
e. the sort of economy that capitalists feared would result from too much government regulation
ANS: D DIF: Moderate REF: Page 690 OBJ: 17.2
TOP: Industrial and Agricultural Growth MSC: Understanding
6. Which of the following statements accurately describes the significance of post–Civil War
inventions to women in particular?
a. Advances in technology reaffirmed that the use of all new inventions would be reserved strictly for
men and that women of all classes would be expected to remain inside the home.
b. The invention of the typewriter and sewing machine opened up new employment possibilities to
many women, although often on the basis of the idea that women would work for lower pay.
c. New inventions spurred the creation of sweatshops, which largely turned away women applicants
because the cramped, stifling conditions were deemed unfit for them.
d. Employment opportunities from new inventions were closed to immigrants, especially immigrant
women, because inventors worried they would bring back blueprints to their home countries.
e. Because women had made immense strides as nurses during the Civil War, they were entrusted
with using important new medical inventions and often went on to become doctors.
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: Pages 690–691
OBJ: 17.3 TOP: Industrial and Agricultural Growth MSC: Understanding
7. Which of the following did Thomas Alva Edison invent?

a. a long-lasting electric lightbulb d. the telephone
b. the air brake for trains e. the mechanized cotton textile weaver
c. the airplane
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: Page 692 OBJ: 17.2
8. George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla invented which device that revolutionized American industry?
a. the internal combustion engine d. the lightbulb
b. the telegraph e. the telephone
c. the dynamo, or electric motor
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: Page 692 OBJ: 17.1
9. Who developed the first alternating current electric system?

a. George Westinghouse d. Thomas Edison
b. John D. Rockefeller e. Alexander Graham Bell
c. Andrew Carnegie
10. Why was the development of the alternating current electric system significant?
a. It was essential for Edison to invent the lightbulb.
b. It powered the transcontinental railroad.
c. It enabled electricity to be transmitted across long distances.
d. It was safer than direct current electrical transmission.
e. It was J. Pierpont Morgan’s first successful investment.
TOP: Industrial and Agricultural Growth MSC: Analyzing
11. What was one main reason electric motors were significant to the industrialization of the
late nineteenth century?
a. They were used in the first automobiles, which made personal travel much easier.
b. They powered the first lightbulbs, which allowed people to work at night.
c. They freed factories to locate wherever they wished, not just by waterfalls and coal deposits.
d. They forced railroads to abandon the use of steam power.
e. They eliminated the need for oil during the industrial revolution.
TOP: Industrial and Agricultural Growth MSC: Analyzing
12. What was the first industry to contract with “investment banks” to raise capital by selling
shares of stock to investors?
a. the electric motor industry d. the agriculture industry
b. the railroad industry e. the textile industry
c. the oil industry
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: Page 694 OBJ: 17.1
13. What was one of the downsides of the state of the railroad industry?
a. As the railroad industry was in a state of decline, companies rarely hired many employees and
instead relied on intense animal labor.
b. As the railroad industry was in a state of decline, there were not enough supplies or a process in
place for moving employees from one part of the country to another.
c. As the railroad industry was, for a time, experiencing a boom, successful companies tended to
refuse to engage in lobbying and, thus, missed the chance to form relationships in Washington.
d. As the railroad industry was experiencing a boom, companies often cared more about money than
preventing dangerous work conditions for their laborers.
e. As the railroad industry was experiencing a boom, not nearly enough railroads were built to meet
the public demand, and other competing transportation technologies sprang up in the meantime.
14. A transcontinental railroad had not been built before the Civil War because
a. the Appalachian Mountains presented great engineering problems.
b. Congress refused to consider federal subsidies for a private railroad.
c. the technologies for building tunnels through the Rockies did not yet exist.
d. many southern states used the states’ rights argument to reject federal aid for railroads.
e. North–South sectional differences prevented Congress from selecting a route.
ANS: E DIF: Moderate REF: Page 696 OBJ: 17.1
15. Which of the following is true of the first transcontinental railroad?

a. The passage of the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 indefinitely postponed its construction.
b. The Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads built it along a north-central route.
c. The route ran south through Texas and the Arizona and New Mexico territories.
d. Little competition took place during the process thanks to major government subsidies.
e. Only one company built it, winning a contest to get to work on the project.
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: Page 696 OBJ: 17.1
16. The railroads were key in helping the United States to emerge as a
a. model in workers’ rights. d. world power.
b. largely socialist government. e. country on the brink of war.
c. racially integrated nation.
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: Page 699 OBJ: 17.1
17. Which of the following is true of the Pennsylvania oil rush?
a. In terms of economic importance, it outweighed the California gold rush of a decade before.
b. It gave J. Pierpont Morgan his start in business and helped establish him as a tycoon.
c. It ended the monopoly in petroleum production that Oklahoma had enjoyed for half a century.
d. It had little impact on everyday tasks because oil could not yet be refined for cooking and heating.
e. It illustrated to many Americans that a dependence on oil might prove problematic in the future.
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: Pages 700–701
OBJ: 17.1 TOP: The Rise of Big Business MSC: Applying
18. What is the name for the business strategy in which a dominant corporation buys or forces out
most of its competitors?
a. horizontal integration d. vertical integration
b. tariffs e. economies of scale
c. laissez-faire
TOP: The Rise of Big Business MSC: Remembering
19. Which of the following best accounts for the success of Standard Oil?
a. Its scientists found new technical processes for refining oil more efficiently.
b. It bought out the Erie Railroad in order to keep transportation charges of goods low.
c. It was one of the first companies to invest heavily in advertising.
d. Rockefeller was lucky to find the highest-quality oil on his Ohio farm and sell it for profit.
e. Its eventual corporate structure, known as vertical integration, allowed it to grow tremendously.
ANS: E DIF: Difficult REF: Page 702 OBJ: 17.2
TOP: The Rise of Big Business MSC: Analyzing
20. What are holding companies?

a. firms that control the stock of other companies
b. corporations that produce and sell their own goods
c. a means of focusing on a smaller segment of an industry
d. a prominent business structure that illustrated the effectiveness of the Sherman Act
e. firms in which union membership was required by all of its participants
21. Trusts, like Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust, were vulnerable because they
a. were often too large to earn a profit.
b. were forced to spend great sums of their money on philanthropic endeavors.
c. were appealing targets for prosecution on the grounds of monopoly or restraint of trade.
d. controlled companies that had nothing to do with one another.
e. paid their various subsidiaries enormous and unjustified profits.
ANS: C DIF: Difficult REF: Page 702 OBJ: 17.2
TOP: The Rise of Big Business MSC: Analyzing
22. What industry did Andrew Carnegie dominate by 1900?

a. oil d. lumber
b. steel e. coal
c. railroads
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: Pages 702–703
OBJ: 17.2 TOP: The Rise of Big Business MSC: Remembering
23. J. Pierpont Morgan is similar to business leaders Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller
because he
a. had a rags-to-riches story.
b. was an immigrant living in New York City.
c. came from an elite, privileged background.
d. believed in freewheeling capitalism but hated competition.
e. supported unions in order to gain trust among workers.
24. Sears, Roebuck and Company was a pioneer in

a. selling goods by mail order, thereby helping transform rural towns.
b. opening a chain of grocery stores across the United States.
c. incorporating far more middlemen in the retail process.
d. providing electric power for New York City.
e. selling luxury items to the social elite.
TOP: The Rise of Big Business MSC: Understanding
25. During the Gilded Age, which of the following could be said of the wealthy in America?
a. The number of millionaires actually decreased significantly, but they were far wealthier than they
had been previously.
b. The gap between rich and poor was in many ways beginning to close, as most wealthy individuals
engaged in important philanthropy projects.
c. Many of the newly rich engaged in “conspicuous consumption,” such as through elaborate parties,
making class divisions appear more pronounced.
d. As the rich got richer, the standard of living in the United States plummeted such that living there
became less enticing to potential immigrants.
e. Rags-to-riches stories abounded in such a way that this trajectory became the new norm for most
Americans.
TOP: An Industrial Society MSC: Applying
26. What was one of the main tensions experienced by middle-class women in Gilded Age America?
a. Middle-class women were entering professions once exclusively held by men, such as doctors and
lawyers, in record numbers; however, they were denied the proper schooling that would enable
them to be successful in these fields.
b. More middle-class women were gaining access to higher education, helping lead to their growing
presence in the workforce, but social expectations still kept many tied to the home or steered
toward so-called home economics–type courses.
c. Middle-class women had advanced greatly in terms of the breadth of the roles they played in
society, partly because of their responsibilities during the Civil War, so that by the time the Gilded
Age arrived, the sole issue was women’s voting rights.
d. Due to the lack of women’s colleges or co-ed institutions, few middle-class women entered the
workforce, which contributed to the great struggle most middle-class families at the time faced in
being able to afford their lifestyles.
e. Because of the state of the economy following the Civil War, most middle-class women were
forced to work exclusively outside the home; however, the women’s movement of the time resisted
this as it prized the domestic sphere.
ANS: B DIF: Difficult REF: Page 710 OBJ: 17.3
TOP: An Industrial Society MSC: Evaluating
27. What was neurasthenia?

a. an illness caused by the sudden spread of sugary foods and beverages, which greatly increased the
caution the public displayed toward the rise of consumerism
b. a widespread post-traumatic stress disorder that affected soldiers who had fought in and
experienced the horrors of the Civil War
c. a resistant strain of cholera that grew into an epidemic due to the terrible, unsanitary conditions of
tenements in cities during the Gilded Age
d. a crippling malady miners faced due to exposure to unclean air that led the federal government to
pass sweeping legislation guaranteeing the health of workers
e. a condition with symptoms such as hysteria and depression, often diagnosed by male physicians to
force women back into the cult of domesticity
ANS: E DIF: Moderate REF: Page 711 OBJ: 17.3
TOP: An Industrial Society MSC: Understanding
28. Jane Addams is best associated with

a. publicizing the work of Mother Jones.
b. leading the Molly Maguires.
c. promoting the International Workers of the World.
d. founding Hull House.
e. joining the Knights of Labor.
TOP: An Industrial Society MSC: Remembering
29. What was the guiding philosophy behind the Ladies’ Home Journal?
a. Jane Addams and other female writers edited it to provide a woman’s perspective on science and
politics.
b. It advocated for women’s equality with men and at first was circulated in secret among women
readers.
c. It promoted middle-class values of the time and the idea that women had a domestic role in life.
d. It focused solely on social movements as a means to help draw readers to the work of unions and
other groups.
e. It was a muckraking newspaper that predominantly published stories about the exploits of
millionaires.
30. Which of the following statements describes the experiences of industrial workers in Gilded
Age America?
a. Real wages fell because of rising prices.
b. A forty-hour workweek was the standard.
c. Government regulations provided a safe work environment.
d. Working and living conditions remained dangerous.
e. Forging a work permit for children was seen as taboo.
ANS: D DIF: Difficult REF: Pages 712–713
OBJ: 17.4 TOP: An Industrial Society MSC: Applying
31. Which of the following statements accurately describes child labor in Gilded Age America?
a. Child laborers tended to go to work against the will of their parents.
b. Child laborers often received an education funded by their employers.
c. Child laborers suffered many more accidents relative to adult workers.
d. Child labor laws at the federal and state levels regulated how long children could work per week.
e. Child laborers were hurt more often in farm roles than industrial roles.
TOP: An Industrial Society MSC: Analyzing
32. How did unions often fare in organizing labor around the years 1860–1900?
a. Conditions were so terrible in the various work environments that unions experienced no trouble
with recruiting members, growing unimpeded.
b. A defining principle of unions was that they refused to engage in violence of any sort, so they had a
difficult time getting through to executives.
c. Immigrants from many different ethnic groups were far more likely to join unions than white
Americans.
d. Unions faced significant obstacles, such as the so-called blacklisting of union organizers to keep
them from getting hired.
e. Only middle-class Americans had the means to join unions, which resulted in the exclusion of the
working poor.
33. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was provoked by

a. wage cuts that followed a depression.
b. the railroad’s refusal to hire blacks and women.
c. concerns over workplace safety.
d. worker demands for paid vacations.
e. the deaths of four children in an explosion at Pullman’s factory.
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: Pages 713–714
OBJ: 17.5 TOP: An Industrial Society MSC: Remembering
34. What was the effect of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877?
a. It demonstrated that immigrants, especially those from China, had reached such numbers that they
were becoming highly influential in compromising with executives to meet their needs.
b. It won higher wages for railroad workers due to the participants’ persistence and the sympathy of
influential individuals who had followed the events in the newspapers.
c. It was the last nationwide labor uprising because it convinced other workers that such events were
fruitless and that the government did not care enough even to send troops.
d. It revealed how polarizing the relationship between the working poor and executives had become
and ended when the workers, who lacked organized bargaining power, returned to work.
e. It was not taken seriously because only white working men participated, having failed to convince
the large numbers of women and minority laborers to join the protesters.
35. Which of the following is true of the Workingmen’s Party of California?

a. It was the political wing of the National Labor Union.
b. It was based on anti-Chinese sentiment, which came to be a national issue.
c. It campaigned on increasing immigration to provide a larger workforce.
d. It ended when the 1877 railroad strike ushered in better working conditions.
e. It folded when Grant sent the military to occupy the mines.
36. The Sand-Lot Incident refers to

a. a women’s movement event that made voting rights more likely.
b. white workers refusing to work on the railroads.
c. white workers attacking a group of Chinese workers.
d. the growth of baseball as a spectator sport.
e. Chinese workers protesting poor working conditions.
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: Page 715 OBJ: 17.5
37. Which of the following statements accurately describes the National Labor Union?
a. It developed in response to and was helped by the decreasing power and size of corporations.
b. It opposed reforms such as cooperatives and equal rights for women and blacks.
c. It opposed the printing of paper money to inflate the currency and thereby relieve debtors.
d. It was influential in getting Congress to enact an eight-hour workday for federal employees.
e. It was less concerned with political and social problems than with bargaining with employers.
38. Why was there a growth of craft unions during the Civil War?
a. The end of slavery flooded the labor market with workers.
b. The war sparked an increased demand for skilled labor.
c. Unskilled laborers were constitutionally prohibited from unionizing.
d. Craft unions would not have to admit the freedmen.
e. The American education system expanded dramatically during that period.
39. How was the Knights of Labor unique as a labor group?

a. It formed a successful political party that greatly influenced the topics and outcomes during the
campaigns of Gilded Age presidential elections.
b. It celebrated the current version of the wage system and capitalism in general, believing they were
beneficial to laborers so long as they could get health insurance through unions.
c. It organized members strictly by their particular trade, allowed only men to join, and sought to
ensure that men would continue to receive higher pay than women.
d. It grew rapidly, even as trade unions collapsed during the depression of the 1870s, and continued
advocating the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism.
e. It encouraged doctors, lawyers, and bankers to join its ranks because the elite nature of its
membership would make positive legislation more likely to be passed.
ANS: D DIF: Difficult REF: Page 716 OBJ: 17.5
40. Of which of the following was Mary “Mother” Jones a member ?

a. the Socialist party d. the Democratic party
b. the Republican party e. the Whig party
c. the Tea party
41. Mother Jones promoted

a. workers’ rights and unions. d. temperance.
b. laissez-faire economics. e. the free press.
c. alternating current electricity.
OBJ: 17.5 TOP: An Industrial Society MSC: Applying
42. What was the Haymarket Riot of 1886?

a. It was a fight for child labor rights started by the Knights of Labor and, because so many people
were sympathetic toward children, improved public opinion of unions in general for years to come.
b. It was an insurrection led by miners that evolved into a productive meeting between workers and
management, ushering in an era of improved relations in industries across the nation.
c. It was a days-long demonstration for railroad workers’ rights that angered the government, but
because it remained peaceful in nature, none of the events’ leaders
could be prosecuted.
d. Occurring amid a strike in favor of the eight-hour workday, it was what journalists called
America’s first terrorist bombing and was blamed on anarchist leaders despite a lack of evidence.
e. Primarily a demonstration for African American rights in the workplace, it resulted in government
officials emerging as martyr figures, as several of them got hurt trying to stop the demonstrators.
43. What was the American Federation of Labor (AFL)?

a. It was a group of separate national unions organized by delegates from craft unions and primarily
concerned with securing concrete economic gains.
b. It was a union that grew rapidly because it only comprised larger manufacturing industries such as
steel, textiles, and tobacco.
c. It started out as industrial unions that joined with craft unions to increase their bargaining power
and adopt a unified identity.
d. It was a governmental organization initiated by Congress to get a better sense of workers’ needs
before passing legislation.
e. It was established in response to the thriving organized labor movement signaled by the Homestead
Steel strike and Pullman strike.
44. What was the significance of the Homestead Steel strike?

a. It greatly improved the public reputations of business tycoons such as Carnegie and Rockefeller, as
their reluctance to dissolve unions made them appear more moral and compassionate.
b. Waged against a Carnegie company, it represented a test of strength for the organized labor
movement and resulted in the elimination of a prominent union of iron and steel workers.
c. It was the first major strike that took place in the Far West on settlers’ homesteads, signifying that
labor unions were sure to not only survive but thrive despite the tests of time and space.
d. Although it grew violent, it established a precedent in which the government would refuse to send
the militia or military to labor demonstrations in order to maintain everyday people’s trust.
e. It showed that in terms of putting down labor demonstrations, business leaders were strongly at
odds with local, state, and national officials and rejected the idea of working together.
ANS: B DIF: Difficult REF: Pages 721–722
OBJ: 17.5 TOP: An Industrial Society MSC: Evaluating
45. Violence erupted during the Homestead strike when

a. Andrew Carnegie announced his plans to sell the plant to J. P. Morgan.
b. chief executive Henry Frick tried to break the strike by bringing in Pinkerton agents.
c. police attempted to break up a secret protest meeting organized by homesteaders.
d. it became clear that Carnegie’s profits had been slashed in half and he was close to bankruptcy.
e. Andrew Carnegie fired chief executive Henry Frick, who was sympathetic to the organizers.
46. What contributed to Eugene V. Debs’s success as leader of the American Railway Union?
a. his detachment from anything related to politics
b. his resolve not to negotiate at all costs
c. his anti-immigrant sentiment
d. his opposition to labor radicalism
e. his genuine goodness and nonviolent approach
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: Page 723 OBJ: 17.5
47. What was the significance of the railcars connected to Pullman cars during the Pullman strike?
a. They allowed the strikers to create as big a disruption as possible, as they set railcars on fire and
derailed whole trains.
b. They greatly increased the likelihood that Pullman would accept Eugene V. Debs’s initial plea for a
negotiated settlement.
c. They were used as justification for a federal intervention, as President Cleveland claimed that the
strike must be ended because it interfered with the mail.
d. They allowed union leaders throughout the country to exchange correspondence during the strike,
greatly shifting the odds in their favor.
e. They were a bargaining tool that Eugene V. Debs used to successfully avoid prison and go on to
enjoy a private life out of the spotlight.
48. President Grover Cleveland’s response to the Pullman strike was to

a. declare his sympathy for the strikers.
b. order George Pullman to restore his workers’ wages.
c. appoint Eugene Debs to his cabinet.
d. send federal troops to keep the trains running.
e. socialize the industry by allowing the government to manage the company.
49. Which of the following accurately describes the events surrounding the Lattimer Massacre?
a. Many workers, especially immigrants from central or eastern Europe, were killed while peacefully
protesting dangerous mining conditions, and all of those accused of the killings were acquitted.
b. Violent protests led by anarchists broke out near an important harvesting machine company, and
amid the confusion, an individual threw a bomb into the crowd, maiming or killing dozens.
c. White miners brutally murdered fellow African American miners out of fear that they would take
their jobs, but a landmark court case resulted in sentencing the perpetrators to life in prison.
d. The federal government figuratively killed all major laws that effectively benefited Big Business in
response to a series of unusually fatal mining accidents in Pennsylvania.
e. Swayed by unions, several elite factory owners dramatically resigned from their positions, and for
the first time, a widespread public uproar ensued in response to poor working conditions.
OBJ: 17.5 TOP: An Industrial Society MSC: Understanding
50. What was the purpose of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)?
a. It would serve largely as a mediator, bringing all rival socialist parties together under one mission
and prioritizing compromise over any sectarian disputes.
b. It was an organization that had originated in Europe and that spread to the United States with the
chief goal of improving international trade.
c. It was a labor union geared toward middle-class white workers, as they had a difficult time
identifying with the immigrants and migrants of typical unions.
d. It was intended to be one giant labor union that would take back the means of production and would
be open to all workers.
e. It was a labor union that focused solely on the practical details of writing policy affecting workers,
rather than bringing in more emotional topics such as human rights.
51. Which of the following statements accurately summarizes an impact of the urban-industrial
revolution at the dawn of the twentieth century?
a. Because they tended to be formed by agricultural workers, unions became a relic of a bygone era in
which the majority of the workforce was centered on farming.
b. Despite irreparable economic setbacks after the Civil War, it enabled the United States to start
slowly inching toward a modernized economy and jumpstarted a regulated capitalist economy.
c. It had brought about the decline of the middle class, as nearly all Americans became either
extravagantly wealthy or stricken by poverty.
d. It shrank the country’s population because the industrialized economy required fewer workers, and
the number of overall jobs plummeted, leading Americans to emigrate in response.
e. It had transformed the size, scope, and power of the American economy such that only
governmental intervention could restore economic fairness and social stability.
ANS: E DIF: Difficult REF: Page 727 OBJ: 17.5
ESSAY
1. What factors account for the dramatic growth in business after the Civil War? Write an essay
that explains why each factor you identify was significant.
ANS:
Answers will vary.
2. Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner published a book after the Civil War titled The
Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. What did they mean when they described the era in which
they lived as “gilded.” Do you agree with their description? Why or why not?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
3. Describe Andrew Carnegie’s philosophy concerning Big Business growth and how this
reflected the perspective of some Americans. Why are the views of this single individual so
significant to understanding late-nineteenth-century American economic history?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
4. Discuss how growth of industry after the Civil War changed the lives of women in the United
States. Consider, as part of your response, how class and race may have played into the roles
that women occupied in this industrialized economy.
ANS:
Answers will vary.
5. Compare the aims and achievements of the Knights of Labor, the American Federation of
Labor, and the Industrial Workers of the World. What common ground do they share? What
factors help explain their differences?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
6. Write an essay that explains the significance of railroad expansion in the latter half of the
nineteenth century. Discuss how these railroads were financed, who the people were behind
the expansion, and how they affected the economic development of the country in the late
nineteenth century.
ANS:
Answers will vary.
7. What were the major technological advancements of the post–Civil War era? How did these
advancements contribute to the expansion of America’s industrial revolution?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
8. Compare and contrast the major industrial leaders of the late nineteenth century. How did
each rise to power, and what did they do to ensure they would stay at the top of their
respective industries? What do they have in common, and what differences distinguish them
from each other? What makes each of them important to understanding the late nineteenth
century?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
9. Discuss the various major strikes that occurred after the Civil War. Include the Great Railroad
Strike of 1877, the Homestead strike, and the Pullman strike. What were the similarities and
differences with each?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
10. Describe the growth of radicalism in America’s unions after the Civil War. What were the
driving forces pulling the unions to the left, and how successful were they? What forces
limited radicalism’s success in the American political context?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
MATCHING
Match each description with the item below.

a. organized a week-long march of child workers from Pennsylvania to President Theodore
Roosevelt’s home in New York
b. maintained his commitment to high tariffs after the war despite concerns that they would increase
consumer prices
c. led the Knights of Labor and emphasized the strategy of winning political control of the areas
around unions
d. wrote the essay “The Gospel of Wealth,” which held that with great wealth came great
responsibility
e. met to form the Industrial Workers of the World but withdrew and went on to become a presidential
candidate of the Socialist Party of America
f. was the head of the National Labor Union who died suddenly in 1869, resulting in its support
declining
g. organized the Workingmen’s Party of California and blasted railroad barons for exploiting the poor
h. invented the telephone, which would become the most valuable patent ever issued
i. convinced middle-class women to enter the so-called real world by engaging in social work
1. Andrew Carnegie
2. Eugene V. Debs
3. Ulysses S. Grant
4. Alexander Graham Bell
5. Denis Kearney
6. Jane Addams
7. Terence V. Powderly
8. Mother Jones
9. William Sylvis
1. ANS: D
2. ANS: E
3. ANS: B
4. ANS: H
5. ANS: G
6. ANS: I
7. ANS: C
8. ANS: A
9. ANS: F
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After this, the atomic weight is always more than double the
atomic number. It will be seen that the above elements all have even
atomic numbers and have atomic weights which divide by 4. We may
therefore regard their nuclei as composed wholly of helium nuclei.
In the case of elements which have odd atomic numbers, there is
only one instance, nitrogen, in which the atomic weight (14) is just
double the atomic number (7). In this case, we may suppose that the
nucleus consists of three helium nuclei and two hydrogen nuclei. In
other cases, in the early part of the periodic table, the atomic weight is
greater by one than the double of the atomic number. Thus
phosphorus has the atomic number 15, and the atomic weight 31. The
same is true of the other early elements with odd atomic numbers,
except nitrogen. (From the element onward the atomic weight is
larger than it would be by this rule.) The inference is that the nuclei of
atoms which have odd atomic numbers usually consist of an
adequate number of helium nuclei together with three hydrogen
nuclei. The peculiarity of nitrogen is perhaps connected with the fact
that Rutherford found it the easiest element from which to detach
hydrogen nuclei.
The fact that the atomic weights are whole numbers, together with
the facts of radio-activity and of Rutherford’s bombardment, lead
irresistibly to the conclusion that the weight of an atom is due to
helium nuclei and hydrogen nuclei which exist together in its nucleus.
The overcrowding in the nucleus of a heavy atom must be something
fearful. Radium C, which emits the -particles that Rutherford used in
his experiments, has a nucleus whose radius is about three million-
millionths of a centimetre (about one million-millionth of an inch). Its
atomic number is 83 and its atomic weight is 214. This means that in
this tiny space it must contain 53 helium nuclei and 2 hydrogen nuclei;
it must also (as we shall see in a moment) contain 131 electrons. It is
no wonder that helium nuclei and electrons move fast when radio-
activity liberates them from this slum.
The -rays show that the nucleus of an atom contains electrons.
This appears also from the fact that the atomic number (which
represents the net charge of the nucleus) is less than the atomic
weight which represents the gross positive charge. (Each hydrogen
nucleus contributes one unit of positive charge.) The difference
between the atomic weight and the atomic number represents the
number of electrons there must be in the nucleus, in order to bring its
net charge down to the atomic number. In this argument, however, we
have assumed that the helium nucleus itself consists of four hydrogen
nuclei and two electrons. We have still to examine the reasons in
favour of this view.
There is no experimental evidence that a helium nucleus can be
broken up into hydrogen nuclei and electrons. Radio activity and
Rutherford’s bombardments show that the helium nucleus is very
stable, and that no known process will disintegrate it. Nevertheless it
is believed by all students of the subject that the helium nucleus
consists of four hydrogen nuclei and two electrons. There is first of all
the argument from the atomic weight; the weight of the helium atom is
so nearly four times the weight of the hydrogen atom that we cannot
bring ourselves to attribute this fact to chance. But why is it not
exactly four times the weight of a hydrogen atom? If we take the
weight of a helium atom as 4, that of a hydrogen atom is not 1, but
1.008. According to every-day notions, this would be impossible if a
helium nucleus consisted of four hydrogen nuclei. (The electrons may
be ignored, as their contribution to the weight is negligible.) We are
used to thinking that if we place four pound weights in a scale, they
will weigh four pounds. This, however, is only approximately true. In
ordinary cases it is so nearly true that we could never discover the
error experimentally; but in extraordinary cases, such as the helium
nucleus, it may be sufficiently untrue for our measurements to be able
to detect the difference.
It used to be thought that the mass of a body (which is the
scientific conception that replaces the popular conception of weight)
could be defined as the “quantity of matter.” But Einstein has
revolutionized the conception of mass, as well as all the other
elementary conceptions of physics. Mass is now absorbed into
energy, and the mass of a body is not by any means always constant.
[10] A system of electrons and hydrogen nuclei may have different
amounts of energy in different arrangements; when the system
passes from an arrangement with more energy to one with less, the
energy it loses is radiated into the surrounding medium, in the sort of
way with which we became familiar when we were considering the
spectrum of hydrogen. When the system loses energy it also loses
mass. The loss of mass is very small compared to the loss of energy;
it is obtained by dividing the loss of energy by half the square of the
velocity of light, which is enormous. When the system has arranged
itself in a shape in which its energy is diminished, it can only go back
to its former shape if the lost energy is supplied from outside.
Therefore the shapes involving least intrinsic energy are the most
stable. This is what we must suppose to happen when four hydrogen
nuclei and two electrons come together to make a helium nucleus.
They arrange themselves in a configuration in which their energy is
less than when they were separated; the loss of energy can be
inferred from the loss of mass (or weight, to speak popularly), and is
got by multiplying this loss of mass by half the square of the velocity
of light. This represents an enormous amount of energy. Sommerfeld
calculated that it is about 10 million times greater than the amounts
involved in chemical combinations (for instance, in combustion). The
helium nucleus could only be disintegrated by supplying this amount
of energy from outside, which does not happen in any known natural
process. Thus the loss of weight in the helium atom is accounted for,
and by the same argument the extreme stability of the helium nucleus
is explained.
It is clear that, for the sake of unity and simplicity, it is desirable, if
possible, to regard the helium nucleus as consisting of hydrogen
nuclei and electrons. If we do not do so, we shall have to admit the
helium nucleus as a third ultimate constituent of matter, having, by a
strange coincidence, just twice the electric charge and four times the
amount of matter that exists in the hydrogen nucleus. It must be
admitted that this is a possible hypothesis; there are no known facts
that prove it to be false. But until we are forced to adopt it, we shall
prefer the simpler view that the helium nucleus is complex, like every
other except hydrogen, and that its relations of mass and charge to
the hydrogen atom are not a lucky fluke. Everything known about
nuclei is consistent with the hypothesis that they are composed of
hydrogen nuclei and electrons. The evidence that they consist of
hydrogen nuclei, electrons, and helium nuclei is overwhelming; the
further step, which dissolves the helium nucleus, is more or less
hypothetical, but it is a step which we may take with a reasonable
assurance that it will prove justified. The study of nuclei is still in its
infancy, but is likely to make rapid advances in the near future.
Meanwhile, we may assume, though not with complete certainty, that
all matter consists of hydrogen nuclei and electrons, which are
therefore the only “elements” in the strict sense of the word. Whether
these two will ultimately prove to be modifications of some one more
fundamental substance, it is quite impossible to say. For the present,
they represent the frontier of scientific knowledge, and what lies
beyond is as yet mere speculation.
As to the way in which the four hydrogen nuclei and the two
electrons are arranged in the helium atom, mathematical
considerations ought to be able to give us information, but so far they
have not given much. One model which is suggestive is the following:
Imagine a somewhat primitive wheel, with four spokes, and an axle
that sticks out some distance to either side. Place the two electrons at
the ends of the axle, and the four hydrogen nuclei at the ends of the
spokes, and imagine the wheel going round with suitable velocity.
(The wheel and spokes and axle are of course imaginary, and are
only intended to illustrate the relative positions of the nuclei and
electrons.) This gives a configuration which has a certain degree of
stability, and a fattish shape which is indicated by a certain amount of
experimental evidence. It seems, however, that the degree of stability
in this model is less than that required to account for the fact that no
known process will disintegrate a helium nucleus. There is also a
difficulty as regards the size of the helium nucleus. Taking our model
and applying the quantum theory to the revolutions of the hydrogen
nuclei, we can determine the radius of the circle in which they move
as we determined the minimum orbit in the hydrogen atom. The result
is that the size of the radius should be about 5 million-millionths of a
centimetre. This is about seventeen times too large, according to
Rutherford’s experimental evidence. It is possible, nevertheless, that
our model may be right, because the forces between electrons and
hydrogen nuclei may obey different laws, at such very tiny distances,
from those which they obey at ordinary distances. We may hope to
know more on this subject at no distant date, but for the present we
must remain in doubt.
[10] This subject of the variability of mass will be resumed in
chapter XIII.
XII.
THE NEW PHYSICS AND THE WAVE
THEORY OF LIGHT
IN the physics of the atom, as it has become in modern times,
everything is atomic, and there are sudden jumps from one condition
to another. The electron and the hydrogen nucleus are the true
“atoms” both of electricity and of matter. According to the quantum
theory, there are also atomic quantities, not of energy as was
thought when the theory was first suggested, but of what is called
“action.” The word “action,” in physics, has a precise technical
meaning; it may be regarded as the result of energy operating for a
certain time. Thus if a given amount of energy operates for two
seconds, there is twice as much action as if it operated for one
second; if it operates for a minute, there is 60 times as much action,
and so on. If twice the amount of energy operates for a second,
there is again twice as much action, and so on. If the energy which is
operating is variable, and we wish to estimate its action during a
given time, we divide the time into a number of little bits, during each
of which the energy will vary so little that it may be regarded as
constant; we then multiply the energy during each little interval of
time by the length of the interval, and add up for all the intervals. As
we make the intervals smaller and more numerous, the result of our
addition approaches nearer and nearer to a certain limit; this limit we
define as the total action during the total period of time concerned.
Action is a very important conception in physics; from the point of
view of theory it is more important than energy, which has been
deposed from its eminence by the theory of relativity. Planck’s
quantum is of the nature of action; thus the quantum theory
amounts to saying that there are atoms of action.
So long as we confine ourselves to what goes on in matter, this
theory is self-consistent and explains the facts, nor is it easy to
suppose that any theory which was not atomic would explain the
facts. But when we come to what goes on in “empty space,” or in the
“æther,” we find ourselves in difficulties if we adhere to the quantum
theory. Consider what happens when a wave of light is sent out by
an atom, with only one quantum of action in each period. The wave
spreads out in all directions, growing fainter as it goes on, like a
ripple when a stone is dropped into a pond. The evidence that light
consists of waves remains quite unshaken; it is derived from the
phenomena of interference and diffraction. As to interference, a few
words may be necessary. If two sets of waves are travelling more or
less in the same direction, if their crests come together they will grow
bigger, but if the crest of one comes in the same place as the trough
of the other, they will neutralize each other. Now it is possible to
arrange two sets of light-waves so that in some places their crests
come together, while in others the one covers the trough of the other.
When this is done, we get a lattice pattern of alternate light and
darkness, light where the waves reinforce each other, and darkness
where they neutralize each other. If light consisted of particles
travelling, and not of waves, this phenomenon, which is called
“interference,” could not take place.
The difficulties which arise for the quantum-theory out of the
phenomenon of interference have been forcibly stated by Jeans in
the following paragraphs:[11]
“If light occurred only in quanta, interference could only occur at a
point at which two or more quanta existed simultaneously. If the light
were sufficiently feeble the simultaneous occurrence of two or more
quanta at any point ought to be a very rare occurrence, so that all
phenomena, such as diffraction patterns, which depend on
interference, ought to disappear as the quantity of light present is
reduced. Taylor has shown that this is not the case; he reduced the
intensity of his light to such an extent that an exposure of 2,000
hours was necessary to obtain a photograph, and yet obtained
photographs of diffraction patterns in which the alternation of light
and dark appeared with undiminished sharpness. In Taylor’s
experiment the intensity of light was ... about one light-quantum per
10,000 cubic centimetres, so that if the quanta had been
concentrated nothing of the nature of a diffraction could possibly
have been observed.”
“Thus it appears that there is no hope of reconciling the
undulatory theory of light with the quantum-theory by regarding the
undulatory theory as being, so to speak, only statistically true when a
great number of quanta are present. One theory cannot be the limit
of the other in the sense in which the Newtonian mechanics is the
limit of the quantum-mechanics, and we are faced with the problem
of combining two apparently quite irreconcilable theories.”
Other similar difficulties might be mentioned, but the difficulty of
interference may suffice, since it is typical. It may be questioned
whether the difficulty still exists when the quantum theory is stated in
the form which it takes in Sommerfeld’s work. We no longer have
little parcels of energy; what we have is a property of periodic
processes. It would not be accurate to state this property in the form:
the total action throughout a complete period of any periodic process
is or an exact multiple of . But although this statement would not
be accurate, it gives, as nearly as is possible in non-mathematical
language, a general idea of the sort of thing that is affirmed by the
modern form of the quantum theory. In order to reconcile this
principle with the facts about the diffusion of light, it is only necessary
to avoid dividing the æther into imaginary particles. As the light-wave
travels outward, so long as it meets no obstruction its energy
remains constant, though it is more diffused, so that there is less of it
in any given area of the wave-front. But while we remain in empty
space, the wave must be treated as a whole, and the quantum-
theory must not be applied to separate little bits of it. The quantum
theory has to do, not with what is happening in a point at an instant,
but with what happens to a periodic process throughout its whole
period. Just as the period occupies a certain finite time, so the
process occupies a certain finite space; and in the case of a light-
wave travelling outward from a source of light, the finite space
occupied by the process grows larger as it travels away from the
source. For the purposes of stating the quantum principle, one
period of a periodic process has to be treated as an indivisible
whole. This was not evident at the time when Jean’s report was
written (1914), but has been made evident by subsequent
developments. While it makes the quantum principle more puzzling,
it also prevents it from being inconsistent with the known facts about
light.
It must be confessed that the quantum principle in its modern
form is far more astonishing and bewildering than is its older form. It
might have seemed odd that energy should exist in little indivisible
parcels, but at any rate it was an idea that could be grasped. But in
the modern form of the principle, nothing is said, in the first instance,
about what is going on at a given moment, or about atoms of energy
existing at all times, but only about the total result of a process that
takes time. Every periodic process arranges itself so as to have
achieved a certain amount by the time one period is completed. This
seems to show that nature has a kind of foresight, and also knows
the integral calculus, without which it is impossible to know how fast
to go at each instant so as to achieve a certain result in the end. All
this sounds incredible. No doubt the fact is that the principle has
assumed a complicated form because it has forced its way through,
owing to experimental evidence, in a science built upon totally
different notions. The revolution in physical notions introduced by
Einstein has as yet by no means produced its full effect. When it has,
it is probable that the quantum principle will take on some simple and
easily intelligible form. But it will only be easily intelligible to those
who have gone through the labour of learning to think in terms of
modern physical notions rather than in terms of the notions derived
from common sense and embodied in traditional physics. In the last
chapter of this book we shall try to indicate the sort of way in which
this may affect the quantum principle.
It is necessary, however, to utter a word of warning, in case
readers should accept as a dogmatic ultimate truth the atomic
structure of the world which we have been describing, and which
seems at present probable. It should not be forgotten that there is
another order of ideas, temporarily out of fashion, which may at any
moment come back into favour if it is found to afford the best
explanation of the phenomena. The charge on an electron, the equal
and opposite charge on a hydrogen atom, the mass of an electron,
the mass of a hydrogen nucleus, and Planck’s quantum, all appear
in modern physics as absolute constants, which are just brute facts
for which no reason can be imagined. The æther, which used to play
a great part in physics, has sunk into the background, and has
become as shadowy as Mrs. Harris. It may be found, however, as a
result of further research, that the æther is after all what is really
fundamental, and that electrons and hydrogen nuclei are merely
states of strain in the æther, or something of the sort. If so, the two
“elements” with which modern physics operates may be reduced to
one, and the atomic character of matter may turn out to be not the
ultimate truth. This suggestion is purely speculative; there is nothing
in the existing state of physics to justify it. But the past history of
science shows that it should be borne in mind as a possibility to be
tested hereafter. If the possibility should be realized, it would not
mean that the present theory is false; it would merely mean that a
new interpretation had been found for its results. Our imagination is
so incurably concrete and pictorial that we have to express scientific
laws, as soon as we depart from the language of mathematics, in
language which asserts much more than we mean to assert. We
speak of an electron as if it were a little hard lump of matter, but no
physicist really means to assert that it is. We speak of it as if it had a
certain size, but that also is more than we really mean. It may be
something more analogous to a noise, which is spread throughout a
certain region, but with diminishing intensity as we travel away from
the source of the noise. So it is possible that an electron is a certain
kind of disturbance in the æther, most intense at one spot, and
diminishing very rapidly in intensity as we move away from the spot.
If a disturbance of this sort could be discovered which would move
and change as the electron does, and have the same amount of
energy as the electron has, and have periodic changes of the same
frequency as those of the electron, physics could regard it as what
an electron really is without contradicting anything that present-day
physics means to assert. And of course it is equally possible that a
hydrogen nucleus may come to be explained in a similar way. All this
is however, merely a speculative possibility; there is not as yet any
evidence making it either probable or improbable. The only thing that
is probable is that there will be such evidence, one way or other,
before many years have passed.
[11] Report on Radiation and the Quantum Theory, p. 87.
XIII.
THE NEW PHYSICS AND RELATIVITY
THE theory of quanta and the theory of relativity have been
derived from very different classes of phenomena. The theory of
quanta is concerned with the smallest quantities known to science,
the theory of relativity with the largest. Distances too small for the
microscope are concerned in the theory of quanta; distances too
large for the telescope are concerned in the theory of relativity.
Relativity came, in the first instance, from astronomy and the study
of the propagation of light in astronomical spaces, and its most
noteworthy triumphs have been in regard to astronomical
phenomena—the motion of the perihelion of Mercury, and the
bending of light from the stars when it passes near the sun. The
material of the quantum theory, on the contrary, is mainly derived
from small quantities of very rarefied gases in laboratories, and from
tiny particles running about in a vacuum as nearly perfect as we can
make it. In the theory of relativity, 300,000 kilometres counts as a
small distance; in the theory of quanta, a thousandth of a centimetre
counts as infinitely great. The result of this divergence is that two
theories have been pursued by different investigators, because they
required different apparatus and different methods. In this final
chapter, we shall consider what bearing the two theories have on
each other, and, in particular, whether there is anything in relativity
that makes the theory of quanta seem less odd and irrational.
The theory of relativity, as every one knows, was discovered by
Einstein in two stages, of which the first is called the special theory
and the second the general theory. The first dates from 1905, the
second from 1915. The first is not superseded by the second, but
absorbed into it as a part. We shall not attempt to explain the theory
of relativity, which has been done popularly (so far as is possible) in
a multitude of books and scientifically in two books which should be
read by all who have sufficient mathematical equipment: Hermann
Weyl’s Space, Time, Matter, and Eddington’s Mathematical Theory
of Relativity. We are only concerned with the points where this
theory touches the problem of atomic structure.
The special theory of relativity, as we have already seen, is
relevant to the problems we have been considering at several points.
It is relevant through its doctrine that mass, as measured by our
instruments, varies with velocity, and is, in fact, merely a part of the
energy of a body. It is part of the theory of relativity to show that the
results of measurement, in a great many cases do not yield physical
facts about the quantities intended to be measured, but are
dependent upon the relative motion of the observer and what is
observed. Since motion is a purely relative thing, we cannot say that
the observer is standing still while the object observed is moving; we
can only say that the two are moving relatively to each other. It
follows that any quantity which depends upon the motion of a body
relatively to the observer cannot be regarded as an intrinsic property
of the body. Mass, as commonly measured, is such a property; if the
body is moving with a velocity which approaches that of light, its
measured mass increases, and as the velocity gets nearer to that of
light, the measured mass increases without limit. But this increase of
mass is only apparent; it would not exist for an observer moving with
the body whose mass is being measured. The mass as measured by
an observer moving with the body is what counts as the true mass,
and it is easily inferred from the measured mass when we know how
the body concerned is moving relatively to ourselves. When we say
that any two electrons have the same mass, or that any two
hydrogen nuclei have the same mass, we are speaking of the true
mass. The apparent mass of an electron which is shot out in the
form of a -ray may be several times as great as the true mass.
There are two other points where the variability of apparent mass
is relevant in the theory of atoms. One concerns the “fine structure”
and the analogy between the electron in a hydrogen atom and the
planet Mercury; this was considered in Chapter VII. The other is the
explanation of the fact that the helium nucleus is less than four times
as heavy as the hydrogen nucleus, which concerned us in Chapter
XI. On both these points, as we have seen, the theory of relativity
provides admirably satisfactory explanations of facts which would
otherwise remain obscure. Both, however, raise the question of the
relativity of energy, which might be thought awkward for the quantum
theory, because this theory uses the conservation of energy, and
something merely relative to the observer cannot be expected to be
conserved.
In elementary dynamics, as every one knows, energy consists of
two parts, kinetic and potential. Ignoring the latter, let us consider the
former. The kinetic energy depends upon the mass and the velocity,
but the velocity depends upon the observer, and is not an intrinsic
property of a body. The result is that energy has to be defined in the
theory of relativity. It turns out that we can identify the energy of a
body with its mass as measured by the observer (or, in ordinary
units, with this mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light).
Although, for a particular body, this mass varies with the observer, its
sum throughout the universe will be constant for a given observer,
however he may be moving.[12]
In the theory of relativity, there are two kinds of variation of mass
to be distinguished, of which so far we have only considered one.
We have considered the change of measured mass (as we have
called it) which is brought about by a change in the relative motion of
the observer and the body whose mass is being measured. This is
not a change in the body itself, but merely in its relation to the
observer. It is this change which has to be allowed for in deducing
from experimental data that all electrons have the same mass. We
allow for it by means of a formula, which enables us to infer what we
may call the “proper mass” of the body. This is the mass which it will
be found to have by an observer who shares its motion. In all
ordinary cases, in which we determine mass (or weight) by means of
a balance, we and the body which we are weighing share the same
motion, namely that of the earth in its rotation and revolution; thus
weighing with a balance gives the “proper mass.” But in the case of
swiftly-moving electrons and -particles we have to adopt other
ways of measuring their mass, because we cannot make ourselves
move as fast as they do; thus in these cases we only arrive at the
“proper mass” by a calculation. The “proper mass” is a genuine
property of a body, not relative to the observer. As a rule, the proper
mass is constant, or very nearly so, but it is not always strictly
constant. When a body absorbs radiant energy, its proper mass is
increased; when it radiates out energy, its proper mass is
diminished. When four hydrogen nuclei and two electrons combine
to form a helium nucleus, they radiate out energy. The loss of mass
involved is loss of proper mass, and is quite a different kind of
phenomenon from the variation of measured mass when an electron
changes its velocity.
There is another point, not easy to explain clearly, and as yet
amounting to no more than a suggestion, but capable of proving very
important in the future. We saw that Planck’s quantum is not a
certain amount of energy, but a certain amount of what is called
“action.” Now the theory of relativity would lead us to expect that
action would be more important than energy. The reason for this is
derived from the fact that relativity diminishes the gulf between
space and time which exists in popular thought and in traditional
physics. How this affects our question we must now try to
understand.
Consider two events, one of which happens at noon on one day
in London, while the other happens at noon the next day in
Edinburgh. Common sense would say that there are two kinds of
intervals between these two events, an interval of 24 hours in time,
and an interval of 400 miles in space. The theory of relativity says
that this is a mistake, and that there is only one kind of interval
between them, which may be analyzed into a space-part and a time-
part in a number of different ways. One way will be adopted by a
person who is not moving relatively to the events concerned, while
other ways will be adopted by persons moving in various ways. If a
comet were passing near the earth when our two events happened,
and were moving very fast relatively to the earth, an observer on the
comet would divide the interval of our two events differently between
space and time, although, if he knew the theory of relativity, he would
arrive at the same estimate of the total interval as would be made by
our relativity physicists. Thus the division of the interval into a space
portion and a time portion does not belong to the physical relation of
the two events, but is something subjective, contributed by the
observer. It cannot, therefore, enter into the correct statement of any
law of the physical world.
The importance of this principle (which is supported by a
multitude of empirical facts) is impossible to exaggerate. It means, in
the first place, that the ultimate facts in physics must be events,
rather than bodies in motion. A body is supposed to persist through a
certain length of time, and its motion is only definite when we have
fixed upon one way of dividing intervals between space and time.
Therefore any physical statement in terms of the motions of bodies is
in part conventional and subjective, and must contain an element not
belonging to the physical occurrence. We have therefore to deal with
events, whose relative positions, in the conventional space-time
system that we have adopted, are fixed by four quantities, three
giving their relations in space (e.g. east-and-west, north-and-south,
up-and-down), while the fourth gives their relation in time. The true
interval between them can be calculated from these, and is the same
whatever conventional system we adopt; just as the time-interval
between two historical events would be the same whether we dated
both by the Christian era or by the Mohammedan, only that the
calculation is not so simple.
It follows from these considerations that, when we wish to
consider what is happening in some very small region (as we have to
do whenever we apply the differential or integral calculus), we must
not take merely a small region of space, but a small region of space-
time, i.e. in conventional language, what is happening in a small
volume of space during a very short time. This leads us to consider,
not merely the energy at an instant, but the effect of energy
operating for a very short time; and this, as we saw, is of the nature
of action (in the technical sense). A quotation from Eddington[13] will
help to make the point clear:
“After mass and energy there is one physical quantity which plays
a very fundamental part in modern physics, known as Action. Action
here is a very technical term, and is not to be confused with
Newton’s ‘Action and Reaction.’ In the relativity theory in particular
this seems in many respects to be the most fundamental thing of all.
The reason is not difficult to see. If we wish to speak of the
continuous matter present at any particular point of space and time,
we must use the term density. Density multiplied by volume in space
gives us mass or, what appears to be the same thing, energy. But
from our space-time point of view, a far more important thing is
density multiplied by a four-dimensional volume of space and time;
this is action. The multiplication by three dimensions gives mass or
energy; and the fourth multiplication gives mass or energy multiplied
by time. Action is thus mass multiplied by time, or energy multiplied
by time, and is more fundamental than either.”
It is a fact which must be significant that action thus turns out to
be fundamental both in relativity theory and in the theory of quanta.
But as yet it is impossible to say what is the interpretation to be put
upon this fact; we shall probably have to wait for some new and
more fundamental way of stating the quantum theory.
There is one other respect in which some of the later
developments of relativity suggest the possibility of answers to
questions which have hitherto seemed quite unanswerable. Our
theory, so far, leads us to brute facts which have to be merely
accepted. We do not know why there are two kinds of electricity, or
why opposite kinds attract each other while similar kinds repel each
other. This dualism is one of the things which is intellectually
unsatisfying about the present condition of physics. Another thing is
the conflict between the discontinuous process by which energy is
radiated from the atom into the surrounding medium, and the
continuous process by which it is transmitted through the
surrounding medium. Relativity throws very little light on these
points, but there is another point upon which it throws at least a
glimmer. We find it hard to rest content with the existence of
unrelated absolute constants, such as Planck’s quantum and the
size of an electron, which, so far as we can see, might just as easily
have had any different magnitude. To the scientific mind, such facts
are a challenge, leading to a search for some way of inter-relating
them and making them seem less accidental. As regards the
quantum, no plausible suggestion has yet been made. But as
regards the size of an electron, Eddington makes some suggestive
observations, which, however, require some preliminary
explanations.
We saw that, according to the theory of relativity, the interval
between two events may be separated into a time-part and a space-
part in various ways, all of which are equally legitimate, and each of
which will seem natural to an observer who is moving suitably. The
first effect of this is to diminish the sharpness of the distinction
between space and time. But the distinction comes back in a new
form. It is found that the interval between two events can, in some
cases, be regarded as merely a space-interval; this will happen if an
observer who is moving suitably would regard them as simultaneous.
Whenever this does not happen, the interval can be regarded as
merely a time-interval; this will be the case when an observer could
travel so as to be present at both events. It takes eight minutes for
light to travel from the sun to the earth, and nothing can travel faster
than light; therefore if we consider some event which happens on the
earth at 12 noon, any event which happens on the sun between
11.52 a. m. and 12.8 p. m. could not have happened in the presence
of anything which was present at the event on earth at 12 noon.
Events happening on the sun during these 16 minutes have an
interval from the event on earth which will, for a suitable observer,
seem to be a spatial separation between simultaneous events; such
intervals are called space-like. Events happening earlier or later than
these 16 minutes will be separated from the event on earth at noon
by an interval which would appear to be purely temporal to an
observer who had spent the interval in travelling from the sun to the
earth, or vice versa as the case may be; such intervals are called
time-like. Two parts of one light-ray are on the borderland between
time-like and space-like intervals, and in fact the interval between
them is zero. But in all other cases there is a separation which is
either time-like or space-like, and in this way we find that there is still
a distinction between what is to be called temporal and what is to be
called spatial, though the distinction is different from that of every-
day life.
For reasons which we cannot go into, Einstein and others have
suggested that the universe has a “curvature,” so that we could
theoretically go all round it and come back to our starting-point, in
the sort of way in which we go round the earth. All the way round the
universe, in that case, must be a certain length, fixed in nature.
Eddington suggests that some relation will probably be found
between this, the greatest length in nature, and the radius of the
electron, which is the least length in nature. As he humorously puts
it: “An electron could never decide how large it ought to be unless
there existed some length independent of itself for it to compare itself
with.”
He goes on to make another application of this principle, which is
suggestive, though perhaps not intended to be treated too solemnly.
The curvature of the universe, if it exists, is only in space, not in time.
This leads him to say:[14]
“By consideration of extension in time-like directions we obtain a
confirmation of these views which is, I think, not entirely fantastic.
We have said that an electron would not know how large it ought to
be unless there existed independent lengths in space for it to
measure itself against. Similarly it would not know how long it ought
to exist unless there existed a length in time for it to measure itself
against. But there is not radius of curvature in a time-like direction;
so the electron does not know how long it ought to exist. Therefore it
just goes on existing indefinitely.”
But even if the size of an electron should ultimately prove, in this
way, to be related to the size of the universe, that would leave a
number of unexplained brute facts, notably the quantum itself, which
has so far defied all attempts to make it seem anything but
accidental. It is possible that the desire for rational explanation may
be carried too far. This is suggested by some remarks, also by
Eddington, in his book, Space, Time and Gravitation (p. 200). The
theory of relativity has shown that most of traditional dynamics,
which was supposed to contain scientific laws, really consisted of
conventions as to measurement, and was strictly analogous to the
“great law” that there are always three feet to a yard. In particular,
this applies to the conservation of energy. This makes it plausible to
suppose that every apparent law of nature which strikes us as
reasonable is not really a law of nature, but a concealed convention,
plastered on to nature by our love of what we, in our arrogance,
choose to consider rational. Eddington hints that a real law of nature
is likely to stand out by the fact that it appears to us irrational, since
in that case it is less likely that we have invented it to satisfy our
intellectual taste. And from this point of view he inclines to the belief
that the quantum-principle is the first real law of nature that has been
discovered in physics.
This raises a somewhat important question: Is the world
“rational,” i.e., such as to conform to our intellectual habits? Or is it
“irrational,” i.e., not such as we should have made it if we had been
in the position of the Creator? I do not propose to suggest an answer
to this question.
[12] Eddington, op. cit., pp. 30-32.
[13] Space, Time and Gravitation, p. 147.
[14] The Mathematical Theory of Relativity, p. 155.

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Test Bank for America: A Narrative

History Brief, 11th Edition, Volume 2,

Test Bank for America: A Narrative History Brief, 11th

Test Bank for America A Narrative History Brief, 11th

Test Bank for America A Narrative History 11th by Shi

Test Bank for America A Narrative History, Brief Tenth

Test Bank for America: The Essential Learning Edition

Test Bank for America A Narrative History, Tenth High

Test Bank for Visions of America: A History of the

Test Bank for Traditions and Encounters: A Brief Global

III. The Alliance of Business and Politics

IV. An Industrial Society

ANS: T DIF: Easy REF: Page 688 OBJ: 17.1

ANS: F DIF: Moderate REF: Page 690 OBJ: 17.1

ANS: F DIF: Moderate REF: Page 693 OBJ: 17.1

4. The railroad merged transportation and communication in that it paralleled a network of

ANS: T DIF: Moderate REF: Pages 693–694

ANS: T DIF: Easy REF: Page 697 OBJ: 17.1

ANS: T DIF: Easy REF: Page 700 OBJ: 17.2

ANS: F DIF: Moderate REF: Page 703 OBJ: 17.2

ANS: F DIF: Easy REF: Page 704 OBJ: 17.2

ANS: F DIF: Easy REF: Pages 705–706

11. By the 1880s, most states had outlawed child labor.

ANS: F DIF: Moderate REF: Page 713 OBJ: 17.4

ANS: T DIF: Easy REF: Page 715 OBJ: 17.4 | 17.5

ANS: F DIF: Moderate REF: Pages 716–717

ANS: T DIF: Moderate REF: Page 717 OBJ: 17.3

15. Anarchists oppose all forms of government.

ANS: T DIF: Easy REF: Page 718 OBJ: 17.3

ANS: F DIF: Difficult REF: Pages 719–720

ANS: T DIF: Difficult REF: Pages 724–725

ANS: F DIF: Moderate REF: Pages 725–726

5. What does the term “economies of scale” describe?

7. Which of the following did Thomas Alva Edison invent?

9. Who developed the first alternating current electric system?

15. Which of the following is true of the first transcontinental railroad?

20. What are holding companies?

22. What industry did Andrew Carnegie dominate by 1900?

24. Sears, Roebuck and Company was a pioneer in

27. What was neurasthenia?

28. Jane Addams is best associated with

33. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was provoked by

35. Which of the following is true of the Workingmen’s Party of California?

36. The Sand-Lot Incident refers to

39. How was the Knights of Labor unique as a labor group?

40. Of which of the following was Mary “Mother” Jones a member ?

41. Mother Jones promoted

42. What was the Haymarket Riot of 1886?

43. What was the American Federation of Labor (AFL)?

44. What was the significance of the Homestead Steel strike?

45. Violence erupted during the Homestead strike when

48. President Grover Cleveland’s response to the Pullman strike was to

Match each description with the item below.

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