Term
| How and why did railroads become America's first big business? What roles did jay Gould, James J. Hill and Cornelius Vanderbilt play in developing the railroad industry? |
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Definition
New rail lines created a national market that enabled businesses to expand from a regional to a nationwide scale.
Cornelius Vanderbilt built the New York Central Railroad. Jay Gould, who pioneered the expansion of Americas's railway system and became the era's most notorious speculator, James J. Hill built the Great Northern Railroad and built it well. |
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Term
How did the railroads affect economic development? How were they connected to developments in communications? Why was there some public alarm about the railroad industry and railroad magnates? |
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Definition
The relationship between shares of stock and actual value, then as now, was never clear-cut. In the worst cases, unscrupulous brokers peddled stocks in nonexistent mines to buyers looking to get rich quick. But the volatility of the market and the manipulations of speculators meant that even shareholders in solid companies fell prey to boom-and-bust cycles in the stock market. As the scale and complexity of the financial system increased, the line between investment and speculation blurred, leading to the exuberant era of risk and speculation Twain skewered as the gilded age.
A revolution in communication accompanied and supported the growth of the railroads. The telegraph, developed by Samuel F. B. Morse, marched across the continent alongside the railroads.
The magnates were having railroad grow so big that it was cutting off other parts of industry. Like Twain said.
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Term
| How did agricultural production and natural resources affect industrialization? Why was population growth important in the process? |
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Definition
| They all stimulated industrialization. The agricultural process actually had a double positive effect on industrialization. Increased technology in the area of farming increased production which allowed more workers to be fed. It also meant fewer people were needed on the farm so more rural persons moved to the city to be industrial workers. |
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Term
. How and why did Andrew Carnegie become such a success in the steel industry? What was meant by "vertical integration?" |
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Definition
Carnegie became a big success in the steel industry becau;se he had stronger steel for railroad development.
To guarantee the lowest costs and the maximum output, Carnegie pioneered a system of business organizaion called vertical integration. All aspects of the business were under Carnegie's control from the mining of iron ore, to its tranport on the Great Lakes, to the production of steel. Vertical integration, in the words of one observer, meant that "from the moment these crude stuffs were dug out of the earth until they flowed in a stream of liquid steel in the ladles, there was never a price, profit, or royalty paid to any outsider." |
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Term
How and why did Andrew Carnegie become such a success in the steel industry? How did the rust and holding company help him achieve his objectives? Why and how did Ida Tarbell criticize Rockefeller? |
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Definition
Instead of attempting to control all aspects of the oil business, from the well to theconsumer, Rockefeller used horizontal integration to control the refining process. Several trustees held stock in various refinery companies “in trust” for Standard’s stockholders. This elaborate stock swap allowed the trustees to coordinate policy among the refineries, giving Rockefeller a virtual monopoly on the oil-refining business. The Standard Oil trust, valued at more than $70 million, paved the way
for trusts in sugar, whiskey, matches, and many other products.
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