The Powerful Few vs. The Many Powerless 2

In the 19th century during the rise of corporate America, it was truly a battle between labor and big business.  People, places, and power all contributed to this fight.  Last time, many different people involved in big business were discussed as well as the workers who worked for these powerful men and many of the inventions that gave rise to this era.  After engaging with an online interactive activity, knowledge of a particular fight between laborers and big business was learned. Primary sources about The Homestead strike were examined and grouped into three different categories based on the documents perspectives.  The three main perspectives were strikers who worked in Homestead, Pennsylvania, the media including journals and various article, and the Carnegie Steel company who employed those working in Homestead.  Through this investigation, the understanding of corporate America in the 19th century was strengthened.

A link to the online interactive activity: http://ftp.learner.org/courses/amerhistory/interactives/sources/E5/e1/event.php#

Samuel Morse- Invented the telegraph which was a machine that provided a way to send messages.

Edwin L. Drake - First to successfully drill for oil leading to it becoming a major industry.

Thomas A. Edison-An inventor who invented many things including the electric light bulb.  He had a power plant built so many people could use the new electrical lighting and not need their own generator.  Electric power from power plants was used to also power fans, printing presses and other new appliances.

Alexander Graham Bell- An inventor who invents the telephone in Boston, MA.  Bell and partners create the American Telephone and Telegraph Company which becomes a monopoly.

Transcontinental Railroad- A railway extending from coast to coast.

Bessemer Process- A new process for making steel independently developed by Henry Bessemer and William Kelly.

Andrew Carnegie -A businessman and investor from Pittsburgh who had a "rags to riches" story.  He became rich with his investments and his steel company, Carnegie Steel Company.  He started and owned the steel rolling mills at Homestead where he employed thousands of men.  He learned that to make money you need money.  He was also a major public figure.  He believed people should make money but give most away.  He wrote a now famous book titled The Gospel of Wealth.  He also put a lot of money towards education.

John D. Rockefeller- A powerful and wealthy businessman in the US who earned his fortune after starting the Standard Oil Company in 1870.

Oligopoly- A market structure where a few large profitable firms dominate.

Monopoly-Complete control of a product or service which gives protection to the company.

Vertical consolidation- Gaining control of the many different businesses that make up all phases of a product's development.

Economies of Scale- As production increases the cost of each product is lowered.

Horizontal consolidation- The bringing together of many firms in the same business.

Trust- A single unit that manages and controls a company/companies.

Sherman Antitrust Act- An act that outlawed any combination of companies that restrained interstate trade or commerce.

Division of Labor-A method where each worker is assigned a different, small task to perform for the production of a product.  

The Knights of Labor Union - A union that accepted many different people and pursued broad social reforms.  In 1882 they sponsored the first Labor Day.

Craft Union- A union where not all workers are organized; rather only skilled workers in a network of smaller unions, each devoted to a specific craft are organized.

Collective Bargaining- A process in which workers negotiate as a group with employers.

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877- A series of strikes that resulted after large wage cuts angered workers.  These workers decided to run strikes to prevent running trains.  They also attacked railroad property and the federal government was requested to step in to help stop the strikes.  Federal troops were sent in multiple times to stop the violence.  It started in Martinsburg West Virginia and continued in Pittsburgh, Chicago, St. Louis and other cities.  These strikes symbolize the start of a new and violent era.

Eugene V. Debs -A man that took a leadership role in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen.  He spoke out against 1877 strike and did not believe strikes should be violent.

Industrial Union- A union that organized all workers from all crafts in a given industry.

The American Railway Union- A union that united all railroad workers.

Haymarket 1866-A national demonstration on May 1st for eight hour workday in Chicago Haymarket Square that caused other strikes to break out in other cities.  On May 3rd, fighting between strikers and scabs in Chicago's McCormick reaper factory occurred.  On May 4th a rally started by Union leaders occurred in Chicago Haymarket Square which quickly became violent with a bomb being thrown and multiple casualties.

Scab- A negative term for a worker called in by an employer to replace striking laborers.

George Pullman-An inventor who invented a luxury sleeping car.  He made a town just for workers.  He cut wages causing people to become angry and strike.  He responded by killing some of the strikers.

J.P. Morgan-A son of a banker who sold stocks for railroads as well as defective rifles.  He started the J.P. Morgan & Company, acquiring a fortune.  He brought rationality and organization to the national economy.  He acquired many businesses including the Carnegie Steel Company which he turned into the U.S. Steel Corporation.  

Henry Clay Frick - A man who worked for Carnegie and planned to cut wages causing the union to go on strike.  He (Frick) hired Pinkertons to shoot at the striking workers and stop the strike.

Anarchism- A political philosophy where people do not believe in having government or authority with people in charge.  Many of the workers in America were anarchists and opposed being ruled by wealthy men and the government who supported these wealthy men.

Pinkertons- An organization of armed detectives who were often hired by wealthy business owners to stop strikes.  They fought with and shot many strikers.

Homestead Strike- A strike of workers of the Carnegie Steel Company in Homestead for wages being lowered by a dollar.  The strike became violent when Pinkertons were hired to stop the strike.  Strikers and Pinkertons fought and shot one another with the strikers ultimately defeating the Pinkertons.

Amalgamated Association (AA)- A union for iron and steel workers.  It was one of the largest labor unions in America.  They formed to assert their (labor) rights.

Enduring Understanding: The creation of new ideas by people allow a small amount of people to obtain a large amount of power.

• Drilling for oil was a new idea discovered by Edwin L. Drake (America: Pathways to the Present).  John D. Rockefeller took advantage of this new idea and bought an oil refinery starting the Standard Oil Company which made him become a wealthy and powerful man with a fortune of two billion dollars (A People's History of the United States: Robber Barrons and Rebels 256-257)
• Andrew Carnegie saw the new method for producing steel known as the Bessemer method and built a steel plant which he in turn sold to J.P. Morgan for 492 millions dollars.  Carnegie became another wealthy and powerful business man (A People's History of the United States: Robber Barrons and Rebels 257)
• “The high tariff on imported steel had greatly boomed the American steel industry.” (Emma Goldman, Living My Life (New York: Alfred Knopf, Inc., 1931) 83–88).  As mentioned before steel was being made using a new method known as the Bessemer method.  Steel now had a high tariff meaning that steel was very profitable and allowed people like Andrew Carnegie, who owned the Carnegie Steel Company to obtain large amounts of wealth and power.

Enduring Understanding: Large groups of people, sometimes coming from different places, work in similar places for a few people who in turn gain immense power.

• Italian, Russian, Jewish, Greek, Chinese and other immigrants who came to the United States all worked for powerful men.  These men often mass-contracted the immigrants to various businesses.  For example, some immigrants worked together in sulfate mines in poor conditions in the South which created wealth and power for the owners of the mines (A People's History of the United States: Robber Barrons and Rebels 265-266).
• 75% of the nation's wealth was held by the richest 9% of Americans, meaning most of the money was going toward a few powerful men in a consolidating effect.  The annual salary of the average worker was only a few hundred dollars while the owners of businesses that many of these workers worked for sometimes accumulated millions or hundreds of millions of dollars from these workers' efforts (America: Pathways to the Present).
• “At 12 o'clock last night every department of the immense Carnegie steel works at Homestead was shut down, throwing about 3,800 men out of employment” (The Pittsburgh Post, 30 June 1892).  Thousands of men worked together in the same place, the Carnegie steel works at Homestead.  All of these men working for a few wealthy men including Andrew Carnegie allowed them to obtain immense power.  Carnegie gained enough power as one individual to be able to put thousands of people out of work when their yearly contracts ended.
• “A certain man, who has risen from the ranks of labor by thrift, cleverness, and lucky transactions, has amassed riches. His name is Andrew Carnegie; his fortune is written in the millions. Much of this fortune is invested in steel rolling mills at Homestead. These works cover one hundred and fifty acres of ground; here work four thousand five hundred men” ("The Incident" of the 6th of July. From the July 16, 1892 issue of Illustrated American.).  Carnegie as an individual gained immense wealth and power and started the steel mills at Homestead.  Carnegie’s wealth led to him gaining power.  He keeps his power through the work of thousands of workers.  A large group of workers work at the Homestead leading to one individual, Andrew Carnegie, gaining immense wealth and power.

Enduring Understanding: People with power will try to oppress those working in the same places that do not have power, especially when these people try to change the distribution of power.

• George Pullman cut wages for his workers who all lived in the town he created for them, in order to achieve more wealth and power for himself.  When the workers protested, Pullman fired three protesters causing the union to go on strike.  He did not give in and instead shut down his plant (America: Pathways to the Present).
• The Texas & Pacific Railroad fired someone who was a leader of a union called the Knights of Labor which lead to many workers of the railroad to go on strike.  The company had these strikers arrested for refusing to work (A People's History of the United States: Robber Barrons and Rebels 269).
• “When a grasping corporation had the audacity to say:"You must all renounce your union and forswear your liberty And we will give you a chance to live and die in slavery." ("Song of a Strike": George Swetnam, "Song of a Strike," (1892). Reprinted in Linda Schneider, "The Citizen Striker: Workers' ideology in the Homestead Strike of 1892," Labor History 23 (Winter 1982): 60.)  This is a line from a song strikers at the Homestead sung.  This particular line shows that the corporation which is run by a few powerful men, tried to oppress their workers by trying to make them leave their unions which provided them with some power.  They oppress the workers so badly that they make them feel like slaves.
• “Finding that it was impossible to arrive at any agreement with the Amalgamated Association we decided to close our works at Homestead” (Interview of Frick, Pittsburgh Post, 8 July 1892. Reprinted in House Report 2447, 52nd Congress, 2nd Session: Employment of Pinkerton Detectives (Washington, D.C.: 1892).)  Henry Clay Frick, a powerful man at the Carnegie Steel Company speaks at an interview and explains that the workers in the Amalgamated Association who worked together at the Homestead would not agree to the proposed lower wages.  Instead of keeping the wage the same, he asserts power and oppresses the workers by closing all work at the Homestead.
• “Frick curtly refused the peace advances of the workers' organization, declaring that there was "nothing to arbitrate." Presently the mills were closed. "Not a strike, but a lockout," Frick announced. It was an open declaration of war” (Emma Goldman, Living My Life (New York: Alfred Knopf, Inc., 1931) 83–88.).  Henry Clay Frick who took charge of the Carnegie Steel Company was seen as cruelly oppressing the workers at Homestead.  He refused to compromise with the workers, starting a “war”.

Enduring Understanding: People without power who work in the same place will join together to gain power in numbers so that they can fight the wealthy and powerful people who control them.

• “They want to lower our wages, we think it is not right; So for union's cause I want you all to shout.  We will sing the union's praise while our voices we can raise” ("The Homestead Strike": The Homestead Strike Songster (New York: n.d.). Reprinted in Philip S. Foner, American Labor Songs of the Nineteenth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975), 243.).  Many workers who work together in the Homestead are angered that the powerful owners of the Carnegie Steel Company want to lower their wages, so many of them join together to strike.  In their song they say that they will all raise their voices together to create change.
• “ Let us unite with heart and hand and spread the news through this broad land, We'll not give in until the company yield, And fight with might and main and travel hand in hand To win this strike or die upon the field” ("The Homestead Strike": The Homestead Strike Songster (New York: n.d.). Reprinted in Philip S. Foner, American Labor Songs of the Nineteenth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975), 243.).  The strike song continues to say that the workers will join “hand in hand”.  By working together they gain some power and use this small amount of power to try to fight the company and owners for better wages.
• “convinced that Sheriff McCleary is unable to restore order at Homestead, has ordered out the entire National Guard–8,500 men-all the available military force of the state, to Homestead for service” (New York Herald, July 11 1892).  The strikers had very little power as individuals, but when they join together to strike they cause such disorder that the National Guard comprised of thousands of men are needed to be called in to stop the strikers.  The powerful men in charge of the workers cannot stop the strikers on their own.
• “From past experience, not only with the present sheriff but with all others, we have found that he has been unable to furnish us with a sufficient number of deputies to guard our property and protect the men who were anxious to work on our terms” (Interview of Frick, Pittsburgh Post, 8 July 1892. Reprinted in House Report 2447, 52nd Congress, 2nd Session: Employment of Pinkerton Detectives (Washington, D.C.: 1892).). Frick explains that when the strikers on the Homestead work together they gain enough power that just having a sheriff is not enough to stop the strikers from causing trouble for the powerful men and their company.  The strikers have power in numbers causing Frick to look for people to help stop the strikers.  Frick says “we knew of no other source from which to obtain them than from Pinkerton agencies, and to them we applied” (Interview of Frick, Pittsburgh Post, 8 July 1892. Reprinted in House Report 2447, 52nd Congress, 2nd Session: Employment of Pinkerton Detectives (Washington, D.C.: 1892).).  Frick highers Pinkertons to fight and stop the strikers.
• “The spokesman of the Pinkertons announced that they would surrender if assured of protection from the mob”  ("The Incident" of the 6th of July. From the July 16, 1892 issue of Illustrated American.)  The strikers at the Homestead were able to gain enough power by working together in large numbers that the Pinkertons hired by the wealthy and powerful men in charge of the company surrendered.

• 

(G.A. Davis, from a sketch by C. Upham. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly. “The Labor Troubles at Homestead, Pennsylvania — Attack of the Strikers and their Sympathizers on the Surrendered Pinkerton Men”. July 14.)

This picture shows the power of the strikers who formed into a mob and fought the Pinkertons.  This picture shows a Pinkerton, who has been hired by the wealthy and powerful men in charge of the Carnegie Steel Company to stop the strike, being shot and killed by a striker.

• 

(W.P. Snyder after a photograph by Dabbs. Harper’s Weekly. “The Homestead Riot–The Pinkerton Men Leaving the Barges After the Surrender”. July 16.)

This picture also shows the large number of strikers and the overwhelming force and power they created for themselves which helped them take on the hired Pinkertons and succeed in defeating them.

During the 19th century and the rise of corporate America, men who worked in factories for wealthy businessmen were at the bottom of the power structure.  Life was obviously much harder for workers who were poor and powerless than for the millionaire businessman who owned the companies these men were working for.  

Many workers worked for Andrew Carnegie’s company, Carnegie Steel Company.  These workers worked at the Homestead with thousands of other workers at steel rolling mills.  These men were treated poorly by the Steel Company.  The company made them work very hard.  In a strike song, the men sang that “"You must all renounce your union and forswear your liberty And we will give you a chance to live and die in slavery." ("Song of a Strike": George Swetnam, "Song of a Strike," (1892). Reprinted in Linda Schneider, "The Citizen Striker: Workers' ideology in the Homestead Strike of 1892," Labor History 23 (Winter 1982): 60.).  The men were being told that they must leave their unions which help them protect each other from being oppressed by the companies that employ them.  They also sang that their work made them feel like dieing slaves showing how terrible the work was.  

Not only did workers feel their jobs enslaved them, but they made very low wages.  Henry Clay Frick said in an interview how they were trying to lower the already low wages, but of course the labor union Amalgamated Association was against it.  Frick said that “We had originally asked a reduction to $22, but subsequently agreed to compromise the rate at $23. The Amalgamated Association was unwilling to consider a reduction below $24 on steel billets” (Interview of Frick, Pittsburgh Post, 8 July 1892. Reprinted in House Report 2447, 52nd Congress, 2nd Session: Employment of Pinkerton Detectives (Washington, D.C.: 1892).).  The workers struggled to keep wages from lowering.  This change in wages is what caused the Homestead Strike.  Workers were outraged and did not want their wages to become any lower than they already were.  In a strike song they sang that “They want to lower our wages, we think it is not right” ("The Homestead Strike": The Homestead Strike Songster (New York: n.d.). Reprinted in Philip S. Foner, American Labor Songs of the Nineteenth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975), 243.).  Workers did not want the wages to drop any lower because they were struggling to even buy food.  In the song they sang that they wanted to “drive the demon Hunger from our door” (("The Homestead Strike": The Homestead Strike Songster (New York: n.d.). Reprinted in Philip S. Foner, American Labor Songs of the Nineteenth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975), 243.).  Workers were literally starving with wages so low.

During the Homestead strike, the workers were faced with oppression from the powerful company.  Henry Clay Frick who was in charge of the Carnegie Steel Company at the time was seen by almost everyone, not just the workers, as cruel.  Emma Goldman, an anarchist, wrote that ““Frick curtly refused the peace advances of the workers' organization, declaring that there was "nothing to arbitrate." Presently the mills were closed. "Not a strike, but a lockout," Frick announced. It was an open declaration of war” (Emma Goldman, Living My Life (New York: Alfred Knopf, Inc., 1931) 83–88.).  As a worker, one was not only faced with hard work and poor wages, but further oppression from the company when one tried to improve his conditions and wage.  Workers felt they had no other option but to join together and they sang “ Let us unite with heart and hand and spread the news through this broad land, We'll not give in until the company yield, And fight with might and main and travel hand in hand To win this strike or die upon the field” ("The Homestead Strike": The Homestead Strike Songster (New York: n.d.). Reprinted in Philip S. Foner, American Labor Songs of the Nineteenth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975), 243.).  Workers tried to gain power through numbers to have a chance to successfully gain the better wages they sought.

 Finally, as a worker on strike, one faced violent opposition.  Frick realizing that the strikers had power in numbers, hired Pinkertons, a group of armed detectives, to stop the strikers.  As described in one article, “Every Pinkerton man levelled his Winchester rifle. A few of the bravest of them endeavored to land” during a fight between strikers and Pinkertons ("The Incident" of the 6th of July. From the July 16, 1892 issue of Illustrated American.).  The Pinkertons and workers ended up not just fighting, but shooting at each other.  As a worker, you may have died striking.  Emma Goldman, an anarchist, describes the opposition from the Pinkertons that the strikers faced saying that “in the dead of night, a barge packed with strike-breakers, under protection of heavily armed Pinkerton thugs, quietly stole up the Monongahela River” (Emma Goldman, Living My Life (New York: Alfred Knopf, Inc., 1931) 83–88.).  Workers had to risk their lives in order to try to even slightly improve their lives.

            Workers who went on strike at the Homestead faced many problems.  They had difficult work at the steel mills, low wages, and faced oppression and violent opposition.  The life of a worker was extremely different than that of the people who were at the top of power structure.  Workers in the 19th century had a very difficult life.