gilded+age-other+outside+readings

Based on NBC Archives Video “John D. Rockefeller Creates Giant Oil Empire” EMB— John D. Rockefeller entered into the oil business in the 1860’s and revolutionized it entirely, starting with making secret pacts with the railroad industry. This is something that was new to the business; so as other refiners vigorously went up against each other, Rockefeller worked behind the scenes, dabbling in ideas of which his competition had not previously thought. First striking Cleveland, where a vast majority of oil producers were competing with one another, Rockefeller struck a deal with the three top railroad companies. By secluding his business to just these three and their business with just him, Rockefeller set up a business where he ensured the profits would come primarily to Standard Oil. Because the railroad companies were responsible for shipping the oil from various producers to the competitive refineries and so on, striking a deal with them was key in Rockefeller’s plan for dominating his competition. The deal was that he would provide the three selected companies the majority of the oil traffic he produced if they provided Standard Oil with huge rebates as opposed to providing his competitors with far lesser rebates. The large rebates given to Standard Oil by these railroad companies that were held back from other oil refining businesses allowed Standard Oil to profit far more than the other businesses; thus this allowed Rockefeller to easily buy them out, but also caused their profit to decrease quickly. Therefore, as a result of this secret pact, Rockefeller hit it huge and went well on his way to creating a monopoly of the oil industry. His competitors quickly fell into bankruptcy and he bought them out for far cheaper prices than they were worth, but the refiners hardly had any other options but to sell to him. This became known as horizontal integration, a business strategy that, however inhumanely executed by Rockefeller, resulted in his domination over the oil refining process. After gathering control over Cleveland, he quickly went on to control approximately ninety percent of all oil refining industry in the world. Rockefeller’s increasing wealth frightened Americans and in 1911 the Supreme Court ruled his monopoly illegal. This ruling called for Standard Oil to be broken up, but this did not hinder Rockefeller’s economic growth. He maintained control over the separate factions that his monopoly had broken into and this tripled his wealth; thus maintaining his status as one of the wealthiest men to have lived while also the most intelligent businessman. Even though there are still some government-sponsored monopolies in the United States today in an effort to prevent vast hordes of competitors that overcomplicate business, they are carefully monitored in order to maintain the idea of the free market; as this is something John D. Rockefeller blatantly ignored in his race to control the oil refining industry. reads as the story of JDR -- lacks analysis

KBM Barbed wire seems to be a small invention (more of an innovation because fences were already being used) but this new creation of the 2nd industrial age triggered a massive effect on the western United States. Barbed wire was patented in 1874 and provided a cheap and effective way to enclose land, and was mainly used by farmers to keep livestock out of their crops. Previously, cattle ranchers practiced free-reign farming and allowed their cattle to roam while only needing to own little or no land for the process. This was beneficial for the ranchers who maintained their cattle at little or no cost, but was a nuisance to many farmers whose crops were being harmed. Barbed wire became immensely popular in the west as it defined the farming land that evolved out of the empty, unsettled plains. Since now farmers prevented the livestock of cattle ranchers from feeding off their land and using their water sources, the ranchers were required to purchase their own land, stop cattle ranching, or use ‘public land‘. Those who could not afford their own land relied on the public land which was rapidly becoming overused and eventually this lead to the downfall of free-reign cattle ranching. For those cattlemen who owned their own land, the quality of their livestock improved. Only the cattle owned by these cattlemen could access the pastures and water sources so they were less likely to be depleted. Conflicts raged between those free-reign ranchers who believed that even privately-owned grasslands should be considered public and the farmers who worked to preserve precious water sources and protect their crops. Many politicians overlooked this disputes, but eventually certain laws (such as the outlawing of wire-cutting) were put in place, showing that the farmers had one the fight. Barbed wire led to the ease of maintaining western land but also sparked the downfall of free-reign cattle ranching- two large effects from a relatively tiny innovation. reads as all about barbed wire -- where is analysis???

KBM Monopolies nowadays are spotted before they can erupt and immediate action is taken before they can fully reach that point. However, in the Gilded Age, business was developing and it was more of an experimental period for the corporations that earned the bad reputation that monopolies maintain today. The two ways people reached monopolies were demonstrated within the oil refinery business and the steel business. Horizontal integration was used by the Standard Oil business which was maintained by Rockefeller. He managed to buy out the majority of oil refineries around the world and was able to control 97% of the world’s refineries. It is unsettling that this man was able to maintain such a vast amount of worldly power and for this reason the government sets out to identify these intentions before they are executed. Vertical Integration was utilized by Andrew Carnegie who sought to control his Steel-producing business from the start of natural resources all the way to the distribution and selling. It’s not as unsettling as the horizontal monopoly because it does not seek to run other competing companies out of business, but it still exemplifies the vast amount of power that one person was able to maintain back in the gilded age and would be unacceptable in times today, as the government was able to learn in this period. Expansion was key to the improving of these companies but it could also be risky for them, as all investments are. It was balanced decision that required trial and error and also displays the experience gained by business and financial leaders of the time. Businesses are now able to successfully run today with the examples of the past such as a balance of the prices for customer appeal while still maintaining a decent profit. All in all, the Gilded Age served as an experimental business age setting an example of extreme monopolies which are now avoided at all costs. hi-lited statement is inaccurate -- rest just tells about different stuff -- no analysis

CJD- NBC Archives - Robber Barons Create New Wealthy Class While the figureheads of the second Industrial Age did represent the extreme high class of late 19th century America, their exploits led to as much poverty as wealth. Ruthless business practices, such as aggressive horizontal integration, were demonstrated by economic leaders of the time. John D. Rockefeller controlled nearly all aspects of the oil industry, and spent much effort in making Standard Oil one of the most powerful corporations in the world. His company took over drilling towns at the deficit of the townspeople, but this made Rockefeller the sole distributor of his product. This is a major example of how the powerful businessmen in the late 19th and early 20th century gained their affluence as most common people became poorer. Steel entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie treated his workers as a conduit toward making money, and cut down on production costs as much as possible, including the salaries of his workers. Efficiency was key for giant American corporations, as they held the responsibility of distributing worldwide. Frederick Taylor was an engineer whose innovative ideas made companies like Ford Motor more proficient. Hard-working laborers were often cut out of the manufacturing process, as their payment was an extra cost that men like Henry Ford did not see necessary. Less people had jobs working in production during the second industrial age, but the company leaders made more money than they could use. Hundreds of millions of dollars were attributed to the principal men such as Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Ford. An inclination for philanthropy at the end of their lives was likely due to an otherwise sour image of these men. By enriching themselves, they took away from many others and enlarged the poor class of America. nice summary -- had you selected one person and looked at their business practices in light of short and long term rewards/impact you might have ad a nice analysis -- wikis should center on ONE thing

From NBC Archives: “John D. Rockefeller Creates Giant Oil Empire”

AJJ- John D. Rockefeller proved a cunning businessman through many shrewd and innovative decisions. Though Rockefeller grew up in an upper class household, he was a self-made businessman exiting the grocery store industry and entering the oil industry. In 1866, Rockefeller went into the Oil industry purchasing a refinery in Cleveland with two other business partners. Through a series of smart business decisions, the partnership would lead the Cleveland plant to eventually become one of the top five refineries in America. Rockefeller became the primary shareholder of a new company called Standard Oil in 1870.

Within a few years Rockefeller had bought out or eliminated all of his competition in Cleveland. This absorption of his competition would set the standard of Rockefeller’s business practices for years to come. One strategy that Rockefeller began to use is to lower prices to starve off competition and to make prices very affordable for the everyday citizen. This practice was original and without practices such as this one, Standard Oil wouldn’t have become the monopoly that it did.

Another business decision that increased the power of Standard Oil was his pact with the top railroad companies. Three railroads made a compromise that their business would be solely with Standard Oil. This deal ensured that both the railroad companies and oil companies would work towards the same goal of increasing both of their power. It also eliminated his competitions chances of striking a deal with a railroad company making it impossible to compete with Rockefeller. With the decreased probability of his competitors being able to compete, Rockefeller had a greater chance to buy them out at a low value.

Rockefeller and Standard Oil’s value increased dramatically over the next several years. Rockefeller formed a Standard Oil trust, which unified all of the individual Standard Oil companies setting prices and insuring that the companies would not compete with each other and drive down prices. The United States Government eventually realized the vast power that standard oil had and declared it was a monopoly in 1911. The company dissolved into the individual state companies once again many of which would rise to prosperity themselves. Nevertheless, Rockefeller and Standard Oil’s rise to prosperity would set the standard for many future company’s business practices and would leave an inerasable mark on the history of business.

JGF - The Age of Steel Replaces the Age of Iron Progress never comes without sacrifice. The Age of Iron had to be left behind so that the Age of Steel could prosper. Though, of course, the transition period was less than ideal, the changes wrought were enough to bring the United States to the forefront of technological achievement in the 1900s. Dr. Albert Hibbs asserts that the sacrifices made were too high, saying “Green valleys soon were blackened with the grit from locomotives... Canals… became open sewers. Streams were poisoned with acids which ran off from slag heaps and mines… Clouds of smoke shut out the sun by day and reflected the glow of the furnaces at night.” Though his facts may be correct (and they may not be), his use of dramatic language makes him seem extreme, and negatively impacts his credibility as a speaker. It is even harder to take Hibbs seriously when one considers the progress that has been made as a result of the achievements made. For example, buildings would not have reached their current soaring heights if not for steel. And modern automotive industry would suffer, as would other methods of transportation. Hibbs fails to see the situation in a truly historical context, using phrasing such as “Many old timers and children wondered why this was called progress.” With Hibbs’ extremist diction, he alienates people who view the Age of Steel in a positive light. Obviously, he’s only examining one side of the proverbial story, and conveniently leaving out why the other sectors of the population (not old timer and children) were able to view it is “progress.” They had a more comprehensive idea of what the innovations could mean, technologically and economically. Hibbs ignored these views, and in doing so, he gave himself a dearth of credibility as a historian. you start out very well and then get into trouble overdoing it -- your use of the second quote would have been fine had you stopped at poitive light -- from there on you are dealing with the second and not the central quote

SW - John D. Rockefeller Creates Giant Oil Empire John Steele Gordon Author Ron Chernow Discusses the Life of John D. Rockefeller John D. Rockefeller is often portrayed as a ruthless man that does anything to be on top. Although this is true, Rockefeller also had a human side to him. He started out in a not very rich family and had a complicated childhood. His mother was a pious churchgoer while his father was a bigamist. He was convinced that he was going to be successful because his priest told him that he would make a lot of money but he had to also give back to the community. This religion drove a lot of what he did and why he did it. Rockefeller felt that money should not get to his head or to his families head’s. Because of this he did not spoil his children and kept them in an austere environment. Rockefeller Jr. was even dressed in girls clothing because he was not bought new clothing and had to use hand-me-downs from his sister. His wife also did not have any expensive things and even their wedding ring cost $3. Rockefeller made sure that money did not take the better of his family and he used the money for good causes. He made the Rockefeller Foundation and built libraries. He was a huge philanthropist. All of his good will did not put aside the fact that Rockefeller was a brutal businessman. Everything he did was in order for his business to be successful. He went to extremes to establish this. He bribed railroad companies to favor his oil and so that eventually other companies went out of business. He had control over most oil and developed his business into a monopoly. All of the oil companies other that his went bankrupt and were bought out by Rockefeller. All of this was to make his company bigger and better. Rockefeller was obviously a merciless man but still had a personable side. He wanted to use all of his wealth and give back like his priest had said in the beginning. But Rockefeller was not often seen as a generous man because the bad and extreme things he did to reach the height of prosperity outweighed any good things he had done. nice job showing his human side but what are you analyzing??

CJD- NBC News Archives - "Consumer Culture in the Late 19th Century"

A rural American consumer market was born during the latter half of the 19th century, as retail catalogues such as Montgomery Ward rose up to offer a large assortment of merchandise to people living outside of cities. Part of the reason for this rise of consumerism was the Civil War, which required uniform goods such as shoes and pants to provide to soldiers. People buying from this mail-order retailer would have a good idea of what they were purchasing, because the stock was standardized for all people who bought the catalog, which contained roughly 10,000 items by the end of the 19th century. This development was a great change in the consumer business, as it made goods that were once available only to people in urban areas now attainable by everyone. Montgomery Ward had the trustworthy promise of “satisfaction guaranteed or your money back,” which convinced people in rural areas that they would receive the item, and it would be what they wanted without risk. Merchandise was shipped by train to areas throughout the country, and this cross-national delivery method paved the way for modern retailers, many of which only take orders online rather than in a store. Just as mass-consumerism was growing in the United States, Montgomery Ward was able to broaden its reach even to people entirely isolated from cities. too much what and how -- not enough why

MDS Based on the article “Wealth” by Andrew Carnegie and NBC Archives video “Andrew Carnegie and the Gospel of Wealth”.

Andrew Carnegie, out of the numerous “robber barons” or “captains of industry” of the gilded age, industrialists who had become extremely wealthy, is often regarded as the least corrupt and the most philanthropic. This viewpoint, however, is somewhat of a misconception. While Carnegie, in his article “Wealth”, clearly wished to portray himself as working towards a better life for everyone and distributing wealth for the greater good, he revealed the part of himself that espoused social Darwinism and the belief that only the industrialists such as himself are worthy of deciding how wealth should be allocated in society. As was noted in the NBC video “Andrew Carnegie and the Gospel of Wealth”, Carnegie is suspected to have only so encouraged philanthropy to retaliate against his critics, who saw him as having little care for the poor classes, especially his workers. 

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">GEB’s interpretation of Carnegie’s article on the first period page almost extols him as the epitome of the wealthy philanthropist who believed wholeheartedly in providing for the lower classes, but I must respectfully disagree with this view. Not to say that Carnegie was not sympathetic to the plights of the poor, as his charitable contributions were some of the greatest seen during the gilded age, but his ideologies and motivations are questionably contradictory of such generosity. Carnegie was patronizing and critical of those lower than him in the social system and firmly believed that their poverty was a result of their own incompetency. Despite his attempts to make it look differently, his belief in individualism and his right to the millions he had earned always presided over his wish to help the needy. In believing that the wealthy acquired their riches because they were capable of managing them appropriately, his generous contributions to things such as public works were more based on his belief that the wealthy should use their riches to control society for the greater good than on altruistic aspirations. Carnegie was of course not heartless, and saw the injustice in selfishly hoarding all of his money from the rest of society, but his usage of it directly reflected the business ideologies of the wealthy “captains of industry” of the time. <span style="color: #009cff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">well done

"This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: first, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds which he is called upon to administer,” Andrew Carnegie 1899.  MJM. In 1899 people were finally beginning to notice the class differences between the poor and the rich. There was yet to be a sizable middle class and therefore the differences in the distribution of wealth were alarming. The small population of wealthy men included Rockefeller, Duke, Carnegie and Morgan among others. Beneath them were poor factory workers and shop owners. These men utilized horizontal and vertical integration to get monopolies on businesses and leaving no room for others to enter the market. Carnegie himself started from a modest background as an immigrant family from Scotland. He worked menial jobs in the city as a tailor’s assistant and a newspaper boy. He was self educated from the public library. He either appreciated the money he made even more because of his background or did not understand the immense value it had because he was never privy to copious amounts of wealth as a child. He was in fact more of a philanthropist than his rich contemporaries starting libraries, theaters and funding education. He even was the founder and proprietor of Carnegie- Melon, a now internationally renowned university. For all the good that Andrew Carnegie did for the nation and its economy there was also a lot more he could have done. He workers still did not live comfortably and some of them could not afford to send their children to school. This is an example of how a trickle down economy does not necessarily work because the money that the owner invests into his workers does not always reach down to the lowest levels. Carnegie had good intentions but compared to his employees, he lived in a lap of luxury. This is directly opposed to his above statement about living modestly. His expression of concern for losing his money is demonstrated when he mentions trust funds. he was raised in a situation to save his money and provide for a poor family and perhaps that is why he did contribute more- he was afraid of returning to that state and class level. <span style="color: #009cff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">too much what and how -- not enough why

ADB - NBC Archives Video "City Problems and Machine Politics" During America’s Gilded Age, a great number of immigrants began flowing into the nation, one of the most prevalent being the Irish. A big factor in their immigration was the Great Famine (Potato Blight [from 1845-1852]), which had created a huge amount of poverty and death in Ireland, and made people consider emigrating. The Irish were the most heavily involved group in what became known as the “political machine”, which involved helping immigrants get a “leg up onto the horse” in exchange for their vote. This allowed the machine, led by a “Party boss”, to effectively decide elections for whichever candidate it supported. The biggest change the rise of machine politics created was that city governments were transformed from small, ineffective committees to something reminiscent of the Japanese shogun governments (that is, there was an //official// leader in place, but the shoguns [military leaders] were the //real// leaders of the nation, just as the Party bosses were over the city governments). This signified not only American city growth, but also groups that were reminiscent of what would become the Mafia in the 20th century (think Boss Tweed). Another significant development due to the political machine could be called an ancestor, if a slightly twisted one, of the 20th century civil rights movement: immigrants were given a voice in politics. The Irish affiliated with Tammany Hall in particular were given stronger voices in America due to the fact that they dominated the machine with a combination of knowing English, firm loyalties, and a penchant for politics. For them, they //could// express their political opinions through the machine because they //were// the machine. For American immigrants at large, it was the first time in American history that they could express their political opinions in the public and accomplish something because of them. In this regard, the political machine, despite its many fallacies, can be seen as a forebear to the Civil Rights Movement. <span style="color: #009cff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">saved by your second paragraph