Unit 1 - Urbanization and

Unions
Welcome to life in the big city!
 Learning Goal: What impact did the growth of cities have on
Americans before 1920?
Essential Questions for the Unit:

1. How did living and working conditions in US cities change?

2. How did labor relations change in this period?
3. Why did Progressivism become popular?
4. How effective was Progressivism in this period?
 Unit Objectives
This is an overall list of all the Unit objectives. The list will grow as we progress through the unit.
Objectives will be listed several times in the powerpoint.

1. What were 3 population trends that happened in the US from 1790 to 1920?
2. Explain why cities grew in size from 1890 to 1920.
3. How did technology impact cities and people?
4. What caused farmers to struggle and lose money in the late 1800’s?
5. What was living in cities like during the early 1900’s, in terms of housing, work, sanitation,
entertainment/culture?
6. Why did immigrants come to the US in the late 1800’s? What was their lives in cities like?
7. What were working conditions like in factories in the early 1900’s?
8. Explain the relationship between factory owners and factory workers. Explain why their
relationship was the way it was.
9. Why were labor unions formed? What were their goals?
10.Who were the Wobblies and what did they believe?
11. How did the public view labor unions? What caused them to see unions this way?
12.How did the major strikes (Haymarket, Homestead, Pullman) affect unions?
 The Growth of Cities (1890 - 1920)
Objectives:
1. Explain why cities grew in size from 1890 to 1920.
2. What was living in cities like during the early 1900’s, in terms of housing, work,
sanitation, entertainment/culture?
● Urban Population in the US:
○ 1790 - 95% lived in rural areas, 5% Lived in urban areas (Towns of 2,500 or
more)
■ New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston - Only Cities over 15,000 people
○ 1890 - 62.9 Million People in the US, 40 to 42% live in urban areas
■ New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago are over 1 Million People
■ The Frontier region of the US is officially gone
○ 1920 - 106 Million People (+15% from 1890) 51% lived in urban areas. First
time that more people lived in urban areas than rural areas
■ New York City - 5.6 Million, Chicago - 2.7 Million, Philadelphia 1.8 Million,
and Detroit 993,000
Regional Population 1890 vs 1920

1. What trends to we see in the regional population of the US during this time
2. Think Pair Share:: What possible explanations are there for these trends? (Why
did the areas gain or lose people?) Why did population Increase in the US?
Possible Answers to population growth and regional population shift (According to
Students):

Family
Immigration
Work
Escape unjust laws
Better living conditions
Weather
New York City - 1660 New York City - 1860
New York City - 1900 New York City - Today
 What caused cities to grow? (1890 to 1920)?
1. A second Industrial Revolution
2. Technological Advancements
3. Agricultural Crisis
4. Immigration

5. The Second Industrial Revolution (1870 - 1914)

● What: A second boom in American Industry from 1870 to 1914 marked by rapid
technological advancements
● Advancements in Industry:
○ Creation of New Industries: Steel, Oil, Chemicals, Expansion of Railroads
○ Advancements in Manufacturing and Production: The Assembly Line,
Interchangeable parts, Mass production, electrification, machine tools
● We’ll Look at these aspects in more detail now.
 The Steel Industry
● Steel vs Iron - Steel has carbon and other impurities removed making it stronger than
iron.
● The Bessemer Process - Discovered by Sir Henry Bessemer.
○ What: Removes impurities from Pig Iron by blowing oxygen through the molten
iron to create steel
○ Impact: Producing 3-5 tons of steel went from an all day process down to 10-20
min
■ Cost of Steel dropped from around $40 per ton to $7 per ton
● The Stronger and cheaper steel revolutionized construction
○ Cheaper steel meant cheaper railroad construction
■ Since it was stronger it allowed for heavier trains
that could carry more cargo
○ Sturdier bridges could be built - The Brooklyn Bridge is the most famous
○ Skyscrapers could now be constructed - Increased population density in urban
areas
 Andrew Carnegie
● Who? - American Steel tycoon
○ Born in Scotland and moved to America at age 12
○ He started working as a telegrapher before investing in railroads.
● He would eventually for Carnegie Steel,sold to J.P. Morgan for
$300 Million in 1901, the company would later become US Steel
● How did he get so successful?
○ I. He adopted the Bessemer Process eary
○ II. He mastered Vertical Integration
■ What’s that? It is when a company owns all aspects of production.
Carnegie owned iron mines, steel refineries, railroads, cargo ships, etc.
■ The Good: He was able to save money because he owned all facets of his
business. This made it possible to pass savings on.
■ The Bad: Vertical Integration reduces competition (That is always bad) by
creating higher barriers to entry into the marketplace.
● Industrialist to Philanthropist
○ Carnegie believed in an idea called “The
Gospel of Wealth”. He believed the rich
should use their money for the betterment of
society
○ Starting in 1901, until he died in 1919, he
gave away over $50 Million dollars ($80
Billion Today) to fund schools (Carnegie-
Mellon University), the Arts (Carnegie Hall),
he built over 3,000 libraries, and funded
pensions for thousands of former workers
 Henry Ford and the Assembly Line
● Who: American businessman known for automobile productions
● Why is he important? - He revolutionized the production line and mass production
○ Led to: Cheaper cars
■ The cost of a car went from $2000 ($45,000 Today) in 1900 to $300 ($6000 Today)
by 1922
● How did he make cars cheaper and quicker? (Advancements in Manufacturing)
○ 1. Interchangeable parts - Not a new concept, Eli Whitney pioneered in in the early
1800’s. Ford perfected it
■ Built machines that could stamp out parts faster than any person could.
○ 2. Division of Labor - Ford brake production into 84 Steps. People only had to do one
job...i.e. Bolt of the right front tire
○ 3. Assembly Line - Ford’s greatest achievement was the moving assembly line.
■ He would start a chassis on a conveyor belt (6 Feet per minute) and workers would
stay at their station and perform their duty, the car would roll on to the next station
■ It went from taking eleven hours to make a car down to 6 hours
● “When I am Through everyone will have one” - Henry Ford
● How did Ford’s innovations help reduce the cost of cars?
○ 4. Economies of Scale - The more units that are produced the cheaper it is to
produce them
■ Ford eventually produced a Model T every 24 seconds - As he produced
more cars the price dropped to $270 by 1927
■ Economies of Scale also applied to machine stamped parts - Parts were
made cheaper, faster, and in higher quantity (more of them)
○ 5.. Efficiency - Ford was a master of efficiency
■ Assembly line made production faster - 12 hours to 24 seconds
■ Factory ran 2 shifts of 9 hours each then he went to 3 shifts of 8 hours so
his plant worked around the clock.
■ By cutting out waste and staying open all day he made more cars for less
○ 6. Use of Low Skilled Workers - Training a worker to do one task took little time
and anyone could do it.
■ This gave him a large number of possible workers.
■ Initially Ford paid low wages, as he improved production though he raised
worker pay to an unheard of $5 per shift (Double that of some factories)
● Wouldn’t this lose money? He did was created new customers as his
workers could now afford a Model T
● Working Conditions
○ Conditions were harsh, boring, and repetitive
■ You stood there doing the same task, hour after hour, shift after shift,
month after month
○ There was a high worker turnover (370%)
■ Ford would hire 4 men hoping that 1 would stay over a few weeks
■ In 1913 He went through 52,000 workers to keep a full time labor force or
14,000 going.
● He would need 1,000 extra workers per day to cover those who
missed shifts
■ Managers were American and line workers tended to be southern or
eastern European so language barriers became an issue
● This is what prompted Ford to increase pay and reduced shifts to 8
hours (3 shifts of 8 hours a day)
● Ford also created schools in the factory to teach his workers English
■ Lastly, there were character requirements - Had to have a savings account,
no lavish living, no drinking, etc
● Like Carnegie Ford began Vertical Integration
○ He bought a rail road, coal mines, thousands of acres of timberland, a sawmill,
a fleet of Great Lakes ships, glass manufacturers, and South American rubber
plantations
○ This created thousands of new jobs outside of the assembly line.

● Ford’s Impact:
○ Thousands of jobs created
○ Cheap cars meant farmers could travel to town and people living in cities no
longer needed to live within walking distance of their work
■ This led to the development of the suburbs (See Next Slide)
○ Helped create the Middle Class
○ Helped shape American Consumerism culture
○ Related industries began to develop - Gas Stations, Motels, etc.
Ticket out the Door: How would cheaper steel and Henry Ford’s assembly line impact
the lives of everyday Americans?
2. Technological Advancements

● Creation and adaptation of technology: radio, expansion of newspapers, telegraph,

telephone, gas water and sewage systems, etc. allowed cities to grow and changed
the way Americans lived
● Sewage Systems - If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down
○ First used in ancient Rome - Then ignored until the Mid 1800’s
■ Waste used to be thrown into the streets and washed into nearby rivers
○ Problem: It’s gross, also water with sewage in it spreads water borne diseases
like cholera
■ There were numerous world wide cholera outbreaks during the 1800’s.
● Growing city populations overwhelmed the rivers
● Firefighting
○ 1871 - Great Chicago Fire - 300 Dead, 3.5 Square miles burned, 100,000
Homeless
■ Started in the O’Leary Barn (By a Cow?)
■ 2/3rds of homes in Chicago were made of wood and roofed with tar
○ Fire Departments were volunteers without a set area to protect.
■ At times rival departments would fight over who got to put out the fire.
● Politically motivated - Vote for us we take care of you
 ● 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
■ 7.6 in magnitude, caused a fire to start when gas mains ruptured
■ 3,000 people killed, 400 city blocks destroyed, 25,000 buildings burned
■ Firefighters tried to dynamite buildings to make firebreaks, but made the
fire worse.
■ Some fires were set on purpose - Buildings protected against fire not
earthquakes
● 1903: Chicago Iroquois Theater fire kills 600 - Many killed because doors opened
inward and the crowd panicked
● Tragedies like these would lead to building codes, fire codes, fire escapes, trained
firemen and fire departments, etc
○ This made cities safer as they grew larger and larger
● Electricity
○ Streets used to be lit by oil lamps
○ 1878 - Menlo Park, NJ - Thomas Edison develops the first practical
incandescent light bulb.
■ Numerous others had experimented with electricity and light bulbs, but
Edison was the first to make them practical
○ 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago - Nikola Tesla lights the fair and introduces the
world to the wonders of electricity
● HH Holmes - The serial killer of the Chicago World’s Fair
- Holmes owned a pharmacy and had a building near the fair he used as a hotel.
He would kidnap and kill fair goers from there
- The press would sensationalize his deeds (Preview of the sensational press)
● Impact of Electricity
○ 1887 Richmond, VA - 1st electric Street Car
○ 1897 Boston, MA - Electric Subway system
■ The rise of Mass transit along with the automobile led to suburbs
○ Factories could now stay open all night and could automate
○ Stores stay open longer and business boomed
○ 1935 Crosley Field in Cincinnati the Reds beat the Phillies 2-1 in the first night
baseball game.
○ Radio and Movies would become popular entertainment
○ Evators reached the highest skyscrapers
○ Electricity revolutionized the way Americans worked, lived, and spent their free
time
Times Square 1890 Times Square 1920
3. Agricultural Crisis

● 11 Million people moved from rural to Urban areas between 1870 and 1920….Why?
○ 1. Ag prices decline steadily after 1870
○ 2. High Operating costs/Debt
■ Sharecroppers = Slavery with extra steps
■ Tariffs
○ 3. Weather
○ 4. Economic Crisis of the 1890’s

● What previous concepts that we have discussed reappear with the Ag crisis?
● Ag Prices Decline
○ Why?
■ 1. Domestic Overproduction
● 1860’s to 1920 saw advancements
in farm machinery
○ Cyrus McCormick’s Reaper,
Steam Threshers, Tractors,
Combines
■ Allows farmers to grow
more with less work
○ Removal of Indians on the
Plains and Railroads to the
West add millions of acres to
production
■ 2. Foreign Competition
● Australia and Argentina saw similar
agriculture booms
● High Operating Costs
○ Elevators and Railroad rates made storing and shipping grain difficult
■ Especially in the west (Prices were Low in the East), Why? Look at the
map on the next slide
○ Farmers were forced to borrow money to pay for land and equipment
■ New Equipment cost a lot of money. Farmers also had to pay for seed and
land, as well as the supplies their families need to survive
■ Free SIlver vs Gold Debate
● Farmers favored minting silver or printing greenbacks - More money in
circulation = inflation = easier to pay debts
● Eastern businessmen, bankers, and industrialist favored the gold
standard - Less money in circulation = stable currency. Great if you
are loaning $$$$
■ High Tariffs - Made machinery more expensive to buy.
○ Without machinery farmers could not produce enough to get by
● Sharecroppers
○ Became the agricultural system in the south post Civil War
○ Freed slaves (75%) and poor white farmers (25%) affected most
○ What is it?
■ Tenant Farming = Farmer rents land and buys supplies with cash
● There's little cash or credit in the South post Civil War
■ Cashless farmers would rent land from landowners for a percentage of the crop (33%
cotton, 25% grains).
● Also needed seeds, supplies, food, clothing, etc
○ Crop Lien System - Could buy that stuff on credit from the landowner or a credit
merchant. You pay when your crop is harvested (lien) plus interest.
■ That’s not so bad….
● And a 60% mark up fee over cash. Interest was not specified but was
thought to be at least 25%
○ At the end of the year the payment to the landowner plus the lien would be more than the
farmer made, that contractually obligated them to work for the same landlord next year and
again until the debt is paid (It never got paid)
■ Thats, thats, thast …………………..
● That is exactly what Sharecropping was. The former slave owners took advantage
of poor, newley free blacks and got them bound by debt in a system they could
never escape.
○ The only chance was to plant cotton again and again. This led to soil depletion
….which led to less yields, and so on
● Weather
○ The 1880’s and 1890’s were marked by extremely hot weather, drought, and
brutal winters
■ 1888 and 1889 Saw numerous heat waves in the midwest
■ 1890 saw a severe drought in the midwest
● People believed “rain follows the plow” - This caused them to farm
areas in the western Great Plains not suited for farming.
● Dry conditions and hot temps destroyed crops in KS, NE, OK, and TX
● Farmers had to decide between selling their grain and feeding their
animals (Grazing grass had died out)
● Banks could not sell foreclosed farms and soon whole towns went
under
■ The summer of 1896 saw a heat wave that killed 1,500 people
● The winter of 1899 was one of the worst on record
● Feb 1899 is either the coldest or second coldest month ever for 12
States
○ It was called the great Arctic Outbreak, it was a 2 week cold from
that came out of Canada and covered everywhere east of the
Rockies. It brought with it up to 30 inches of snow
○ It got -10 F ……… in Louisiana
■ Ice chunks flowed down the Mississippi into the Gulf of
Mexico
○ Cattle in the midwest froze to death overnight
● Weather in the Great Plains is unpredictable and has both temperature extremes
● Farmers get 1 crop per year, if it is a dry summer or an early winter and the crop is
damaged, that farmer loses a large chunk of their income.
○ Crop Insurance would not exist until the 1930’s
● The loss of income means they can’t pay their debt and would likely lose their land
to the bank in a foreclosure.
● After losing their land farmers moved to cities to work in the factories.
● 1890’s Economic Crisis
○ Cause: Several railroads declare bankruptcy and British bank failures cause British
investors to sell American stocks for gold
■ Cleveland asks for repeal of Sherman Silver purchase Act - can no longer trade
silver certificates for gold
● Makes things much worse, had to borrow 3.5 Million oz of Gold from JP
Morgan to cover the governments nearly gone gold supply
○ Panic of 1893
■ Causes:
● 1. Failed coup in Argentina dropped wheat prices
● 2. Colorado Silver Boom led to oversupply of silver
● 3. Railroad Bubble Burst
■ Led to: 1. Bank Runs (Everyone tries to get their money out of the bank at once),
2. Railroads going out of business, and 3. massive unemployment
○ In addition to poor crops caused by the weather, a drop in Ag prices and mounting
debt, farmers now had to deal with their only way of selling their crops suffering
massive bankruptcies.
● Farmers Fight Back (Students answer these: Grangers, Populists, Coxey’s Army
○ Western and Southern farmers felt like the elites in the east had abandoned them
○ Granger Movement (1870’s to 1890’s)- Initially started as social gatherings to
combat plains loneliness they eventually develop into a political movement that
supported co-ops and got legislation passed to regulate railroad and elevator
rates.
■ Gave way to the Farmers Alliance and Colored Farmers Alliance which
formed the Populist Party
○ Populist Party
■ Supported nationalizing railroads and Free Silver
■ Omaha Platform: Graduated income Tax, direct election of senators, 8 hour
work day
■ Nominated William Jennings Bryan
■ Election of 1896: Ran on a single issue (Free Silver) - Lost the election and
the support on their other reform proposals
■ Populism lives on today?
3. Immigration

● What would cause a person to leave their home country and maybe even their
family behind and immigrate to the US?
● 25 Million people immigrated to the US between 1870 and 1920….Why?
○ 1. Crop failure
○ 2. Economic Opportunity
○ 3. Religious Freedom
○ 4. Political Persecution
○ 5. Adventure
● Give an example of a group that came to the US. for 1-4
 Old Immigrants
● Came From: Western and Northern Europe
○ English, French, German, Norwegians, Swedes, etc.
● Religion: Protestant
● Came with: Their families
● Often spoke some english and assimilated quickly
● They tended to be literate and skilled workers who often came to the US with some
money
● Politically similar to the United States
● Peaked in 1880
 New Immigrants:
● Came From: Southern and Eastern Europe
○ Italians, Greeks, Balkan regions, Polish, Czechs, Russians
● Religion: Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish
● Came: Alone, tending to be birds of passage (Work and send $ home)
○ Sometimes one person would immigrate and get a place to live, a job, etc then
work on bringing their family over
● Tended to settle around similar groups and were slow to assimilate
● They tended to be illiterate and unskilled workers who did not have much money
when they immigrated
● More politically radical and autocratic than the US.
● Peaked in 1910
● How were Old and New Immigrants Similar?

● How were old and New Immigrants Different?

Reasons for Immigration

1. Crop failure

2. Economic Opportunity

3. Religious Freedom

4. Political Persecution

5. Adventure
 Push and Pull Factors
● Push Factor: Something that forces a person to leave their country
○ Ex: War, Political Unstability, Racial Discrimination, Genocide, Religious
Persecution, Crop Failure
● Pull Factor: Something that draws a person to move to and settle in a different area
or country.
○ Ex: Higher Pay, More Job Opportunities, Religious Freedom, Safety and
Security, Better Environment, Political Freedom, Better Housing
 Coming to America
● Where did most immigrants enter the country?
○ East Coast: Ellis Island - New York City, NY
■ 12 Million Would pass through in the island’s history
● What was the processing process like?
○ West Coast: Angel Island - San Francisco, CA
■ 500,000 processed from 1910 to 1940
■ Ellis Island of the West
■ Immigrants from over 80 countries were processed here but the main
group processed were Chinese
● Chinese poems can be found on the Angel Island detention center
walls - They describe the journey of those being held there
○ Which center was tougher and why?
 Settling in America
After passing through Ellis Island where did Immigrants go?

1. Some met family and were reunited

2. The majority settled in New York City or other large east coast cities
3. The rest went to the south or west
● Railroads involvement: Railroads would recruit european settlers to move to the
Midwest and Great plains and farm
○ This would provide Railroads a customer base
○ Full travel packages would be arranged by the railroad companies
 Working and Living in America
● What work was mainly done by immigrants upon coming to the US?
○ 1. Low skilled factory work and general labor
■ How did Americans in these fields of work view immigrants?
○ 2. Farming - Recruited by Railroads
○ 3. There were a small amount of skilled artisans
● What was the most common living arrangement for Immigrants and the working
poor?
○ Tenement Housing - By 1900 2/3rds of NYC residents lived in Tenements (2.3
Million People)
○ What was life like in a Tenement?
■ Cramped, dark, dirty, crowded, they lacked indoor plumbing and proper
ventilation
● People would dump their trash down the center area of the tenement
● Where did the previous residents of these tenement areas go to?
● What is a Ghetto and why did the appear in the US at this time?
 Irish
● Why did the Irish come to the US
○ 1. Escape Potato Famine in the mid 1800’s
○ 2. Escape oppressive British Rule
● How did Americans Treat the Irish and Why?
○ Hated them, would often not hire irish workers for jobs
○ Low wage American workers believed Irish immigrants were lowering wages for them
○ Irish immigrants brought irish style pubs with them and got the drunken Irishman stereotype
○ Distrusted the Irish because they were Catholic America was largely protestant at the time)
■ Some thought the Irish coming to America was a plot by the Pope to spread Catholicism.
● How did the irish respond to the bigotry and persecution?
○ Irish used their large numbers to elect Irish American

politicians to help bring about reforms

 Chinese
● Why did Chinese Immigrants come to America?
○ In the 1850’s they began coming to the US to escape economic turmoil in China and try to strike it rich in the CA
Gold Rush
■ They would often send money home to help their family in CHina (Birds of Passage)
○ Once the Gold Rush ended they were seen as a source of cheap labor
■ Chinese immigrants were the main builders of the western part of the transcontinental railroad
■ They also worked largely in the laundry industry
● How did Americans react to/treat Chinese Immigrants and Why?
○ In the 1870’s an economic depression hit and jobs became scarce in the west. Hostility had been growing against
the Chinese, but this escalated the tension
■ Chinese Immigrants needed to send money home and repay loans that they used to get to the US so they
would work for just about anywage. This angered American Workers
■ Chinese immigrants tended to live in the same area (Chinatown) - This fostered distrust and flamed anti-
chinese sentiments
● The Chinese had a radically different culture
● Chinatown also got the reputation as a seedy place full of opium dens and prostitution
○ Argued that allowing Chinese in would lead to the moral decay of the US
● What is the Chinese Exclusion Act?
○ 1882 The US passed the Act which ended Chinese immigration to the United States - The treaty would be adjusted
over the years, but not officially ended until 1943
 Labor Relations & Unions
Essential Question: How did labor relations change in this period?

Objectives:

1. What were working conditions like in factories in the early 1900’s?

2. Explain the relationship between factory owners and factory workers. Explain why
their relationship was the way it was.
● Working Conditions in the Late 1800’s
○ Low Pay - As companies and their profits grew workers wages stayed low.
■ Owners disconnect from the workers. Many don’t know whois working for
them
○ Low Standard of Living - Lived in crowded tenements.
■ Crowded conditions meant disease spread easily
■ Would live with other families to save on rent
■ Lacked adequate healthcare and food or clothing
○ Little to No Job Security
■ Low skill work meant there was a line of people waiting to take someone’s
place - The line getting longer as immigrants arrive (easily replaced)
○ Unsafe Working Conditions
■ Shifts would last between 9 and 12 hours with minimal breaks
■ As industrial machines advanced the became more powerful & dangerous
● Safety precautions were minimal to non-existent
● Armour Meat Packing in Chicago had 2,000 ill and injured in 1 year

● Read PBS Deadliest Workplace Accidents article

● Owners Attitudes
○ Owners had no incentive to treat workers better or raise their pay.
■ There was a surplus of workers
■ Entire work forces could be replaced. - Fire the troublemakers
○ Scientific Management
■ Starts in 1877 at Midvale Steel near Philadelphia
■ Concerned with reducing waste and improving efficiency
● Worker safety was ignored in favor of efficiency
○ Owners do not know their workers
■ There is little care or concern for the pay, standard of living, or safety of the
workers.
■ Workers are almost robots in managements eye
○ Bottom LIne: As long as the factory is running and making money…...

● What are some possible ways for workers to improve their pay, working hours, and
and job safety?
 Labor Unions
● Alone an unskilled worker has little to no power in negotiations
○ There is strength in numbers though.
■ If ALL workers in a factory or industry joined together and negotiated with
management as a collective, then they have a lot of power
● This is called Collective Bargaining - When all workers in one job/trade
negotiate as a group
● What if the Owner’s still won’t listen? (Union Tactics to force owners to negotiate)
○ Arbitration - Owners must agree to it, but both sides present their case to a
neutral 3rd party. The 3rd party (Arbitrator) decides who is right
○ Slow Down - Everybody shows up to work their shifts but work at a slower pace
■ This hurts efficiency and costs the owner money
○ Sit In - Like a slow down but they sit there
○ Strike - The nuclear option. Workers do not show up to work. The will often
protest outside of their work.
● The Owners Strike Back - Tactics owners used to curb union power
○ Fire the trouble makers - Doesn’t work if the union is strong or skilled
○ Lockouts - The Owners lock the factory doors, preventing workers from
entering and working
■ This is a battle of wills. Who can stand to lose money longer
○ Legal Action - The courts and federal government often sided with the owners
○ Hire Scabs - Scabs are workers who cross the picket lines and work the job
when a union is on strike
■ Scabs are not well liked by union members and would often get jumped by
Union members
○ Hire the Pinkertons or other Strike busters - To go in and physically break up
the strike
○ Blacklisting - Firing a worker, usually a union leader, and giving their name to
other owners in the industry. The owners agree to never hire the blacklisted
person
○ Yellow Dog Contracts - A Contract that stated the worker would not join a union.
● Major Labor Unions in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s
○ Knights of Labor
■ Began 1869 - Secret Society of Tailors in Philadelphia
■ Terence Powderly: responsible for growing the KOL to 700,000 members
after a successful strike against Jay Gould’s railroad
● Wanted: Higher pay, 8 hour work day, end child labor, equal pay for
equal work, and a graduated income tax
● Supported restrictions on immigration and the Chinese Exclusion Act
■ Members: The Knights took all workers regardless of skill or trade.
● They also accepted women and African Americans - Unheard of in
those days
■ Tactics: Powderly supported boycotts and arbitration but was against
strikes
■ The end of the Knights - The Haymarket Square Riot
● Powderly objected to the Knights participating
● The event began as a protest against Chicago police after they killed a
few striking workers at nearby McCormick Reaper Plant
○ Someone threw a bomb into a crowd of police who were
dispersing the crowd, killing 8
● The Knights Were blamed for the attacks and saw their membership
dwindle to 100,000 by 1890
● A wave of fear also began aimed at foreign radicals
○ 8 Anarchists were convicted of the bombing (little to no proof) and
sentenced to death (4 were hanged)
○ AFL (American Federation of Labor)
■ Founded 1886 in Columbus Ohio
■ Founded after a dispute with the Knights of Labor
○ The Knights were taking other trade union members costing those
unions $ from union dues
○ Samuel Gompers was elected president (Gompers was a Cigar
Union member)
● Initially only allowed skilled workers
○ They were more difficult to replace
● Promoted higher pay and shorter work days
○ They became a conservative alternative to working class
radicalism
○ Supported restricting immigration
○ Did not allow blacks or women
● Tactics: Gompers favored strikes but preferred peaceful negotiations
■ Became the largest Union in the US in the early 1900’s
■ The AFL is still around today, now known as the AFL-CIO
○ IWW (Industrial Workers of the World)
■ AKA: The Wobblies
■ Founded: 1905 in Chicago
● Best known Founder: Eugene Debs - Socialist Activist
■ Revolutionary Industrial Unionism
● The IWW was made up of socialists, Marxists, and Anarchists
■ Often fought with the AFL - IWW saw AFL as to conservatve, AFL saw
IWW as too radical
■ Membership declined in the 1920’s after the first Red Scare
● The IWW does still live on today
■ Promoted the idea of one big union that contained all workers who would
unite as a social class and supplant capitalism
● Supported workplace democracy where workers elected their own
managers.
■ Best known for being the only union that allowed everyone to join - Blacks,
women, chinese, skilled, unskilled, etc etc
● Public Views toward Labor Unions
○ People tended to view unions negatively because they were associated with
violence
■ Started to dislike Unions after the Haymarket Square Riot
● The bomb and deaths put most Americans off
● The Knights of Labor were associated with the riot and saw their
membership plummet after
○ The Homestead Strike (Homestead, PA July 6th, 1892)
■ Carnegie Steel vs Its Workers
■ Cause: Henry Clay Frick was given Carte Blanche by Carnegie to break
the Union when their del expired
■ Frick cut wages, locked the factory then surrounded it with barbed wire.
He would then fire all 3,800 workers
■ Frick then hired 300 Pinkerton Detectives to guard the plant
● The workers found out and figured it was a prelude to hiring scabs
● Workers stormed te docks where the Pinkerton’s boat had landed and
a 12 hour firefight ensues
■ 10 were killed and dozens injured
● The PInkertons would surrender and be taken to the local jail for
protection
○ On the way there several were assaulted and severely beaten by
striking workers
■ The workers occupied the plant
● This forced the governor to send in 8,500 national guard troops
● The plant was surrendered on July 12th
○ July 15th it was running with replacement workers
■ The workers continued to fight the replacement workers until November
when a race riot between striking whit workers and African American
replacement workers ended with white workers reapplying for their jobs
working a 12 hour shift for reduced wages
■ Results:
● The violence of the Homestead Strike further hurt unions reputations
● The Pullman Strike (May 11th, 1894)
○ Cause: Workers wages were cut 25% in response to the Panic of 1893
■ Rent at the company town of Pullman was not reduced, leaving many
families near starvation
■ A delegation tried to talk to George Pullman about the low wages and
16 hour days
● He refused to meet an fired all of them - Workers voted to strike
○ The American Railway Union (35% of Pullman workers were members)
voted to boycott Pullman railcars
■ Attempted to get arbitration and were refused
■ This led to more workers in railroad unions to strike, bringing traffic to
a halt in the midwest
○ Eugene Debs urged the ARU to stay calm but tapers flared and a riot
derailed a locomotive carrying US Mail
■ This got President Cleveland involved
 ○ The federal government got an injunction against the ARU banning union
leaders from talking to their union members
■ Cleveland then sent thousands of Federal troops to Chicago to get
the trains running
■ This set off a massive riot (6,000 plus rioters) on July 4th, 1894
● The 14,000 law enforcement troops could not contain the riot
● July 7th the National Guard fires into a crowd killing around 30
○ Debs wanted to call off the strike and have workers rehired. Pullman
refused and hired non-union workers. He would hire the strikers back if
they signed a yellow dog contract
● Results:
○ 250,000 were on strike. The rail shut down worried the nation
■ Some saw it as a rebellion against the US others worried about
shipping crops and shortages of goods
○ The mainstream press supported the use of federal troops while they
demonized Debs and labor unions
○ ARU leaders and Debs were arrested and jailed for contempt of court
(violating the injunction)
● The Pullman Strike Cemented the anti union view in the public thanks to the
press
● “Yellow Journalists” made the strike seem worse, calling it a war
against the government
○ Railroads were the battlefield and soldiers needed to kill those
who opposed them - Rev. Herrick Johnson, Chicago Presbyterian
Society. Op ed in the Washington Post
○ NY Times Editorial called Eugene Debs, leader of the Pullman
Strike a lawbreaker and an enemy to the human race
● The Press was against the Unions and people formed their opinions
from the press
○ They supported government action against unions
■ The government was portrayed as the heroes,” coming in and ending the
violent outbursts from these crazed socialist unions”
○ People also feared that unions were socialist in nature
○ People agreed that workers needed higher pay, shorter days, and higher safety
standards, but the violence was difficult to overcome
● Shift in public perception
○ 1, The Jungle
○ 2. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire