Problems of the Industrial Revolution

Businesses• Business Owners looking to make as much $ as

possible, used strategies like:

– Vertical Integration – buy all industries needed to make your product so its cheaper to make

• Ex. Standard Oil, Carnegie Steel

– Horizontal Integration – Monopolies and Trusts• Ex. Standard Oil

– Ruthlessness• Vanderbilt – railroad magnate – said “Cant I do what I want

with my own?”

– Corruption• Ex. Bribes and discounts for better rates – usually railroads

and Standard Oil, Carnegie Steel

No Regulation on Businesses

• Monopolies = no competition = price soar

• No Regard for wildlife or land preservation

• Products made were not always sanitary– Ex. The Jungle

Conditions for Workers

• Avg. income of American worker was $400-$500 a year, below the $600 figure considered the minimum for a reasonable level of comfort.

• No job security• 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, Steel worked 12 hours a

day• Unsafe, unhealthy factories – accidents were

frequent/severe, little or no compensation for injuries• Workers had no control over their workplace• Women - $6-8 a week = Avg. women salary $314 a year

Avg. Men salary $597• 1.7 million children under 16 employed in 1900.

HUGE GAP BETWEEN THE POOR AND WEALTHY

The Breakers Mansion, Newport, RI The 70 room Italian Renaissance- style palazzo inspired by the

16th century palaces built for Cornelius Vanderbilt

Built on 11 acres of oceanfront property in Newport, RI

The Breakers Mansion Ballroom

The Breakers Mansion Front Entrance

The Breakers Mansion

Andrew Carnegie’s home on 91st Street in NYC

Andrew Carnegie’s Mansion in New York City

J.P. Morgan’s Home - 231 Madison Avenue at 36th Street

J.P. Morgan’s House

The John D. Rockefeller House was a brownstone built between

1864 and 1865 at 4 West 54th Street in New York City.

The former winter home of John D. Rockefeller in Ormond Beach, Florida

John D. Rockefeller’s Homestead at Forest Hill in Cleveland, OHIO

James J. Hill’s Home in Minnesota

James J. Hill’s Home in Minnesota – Dinning Room

James J. Hill’s Home in Minnesota - Front Entrance

And “How the Other Half Lived”…

Tenements in NYC – Photo taken by Jacob Riis

A Tenement in NYC – Photo taken by Jacob Riis

The only playground equipment the children in this neighborhood had was a cellar door they used as a slide.

Is there anything wrong with these pictures?