THE INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY.PPT

THE INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY America: Past and Present Chapter 18 Industrial Development Late nineteenth-century U.S. offers ideal conditions for rapid industrial growth Abundance of cheap natural resources Large pools of labor Largest domestic market in the world Capital, government support without regulation Rapid growth 1865-1914 An Empire on Rails U.S. industrial economy based on expansion of the railroads Steamships made Atlantic crossings twice as fast The telegraph and telephone transformed communications Emblem of Motion and Power Railroads transform American life end rural isolation allow regional economic specialization make mass production, consumption possible lead to organization of modern corporation stimulate other industries Railroads capture the imagination of the American people Building the Empire 1865-1916--U.S. lays over 200,000 miles of track costing billions of dollars Expenses met by government at all levels Federal railroad grants prompt corruption Railroads save government $1 billion in freight costs 1850-1945 Federal Land Grants to Railroads as of 1871 Railroad Construction, 1830-1920 Linking the Nation via Trunk Lines No integrated rail system before Civil War After 1860 construction and consolidation of trunk lines proceeds rapidly East linked directly with Great Lakes, West Southern railroad system integrated in 1880s Rail transportation becomes safe, fast, reliable Rails Across the Continent 1862--Congress authorizes the transcontinental railroad Union Pacific works westward from Nebraska using Irish laborers Central Pacific works eastward using Chinese immigrants May 10, 1869, tracks meet in Utah By 1900, four more lines to Pacific Railroads, 1870 and 1890 Problems of Growth Intense competition among railroads Efforts to share freight in an orderly way fail After Panic of 1893, bankers gain control of railroad corporations Bankers impose order by consolidating to eliminate competition, increase efficiency In 1900, seven giant rai