How Industrialization Affect The Economy In The Late 1800s

Industrialization had swept America off its feet as big industries took over the entire country in not just an economical perspective, but in social and political environments as well. As leadership was lacking on a political level and technology and inventions began to expand, the business industry boomed as more and more citizens moved away from urban areas into industrialized cites to provide for their families. Corporations such as the railroad industry had participated in the growth of capitalism, as they became the central hub for commerce, labor, and transportation. But, since big industries started to take over so much of the economy in such little time, corruption became a problem as business owners took advantage of their authority

Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant who was a self made man, had changed the way the economy produced its wealth forever. After creating a way to “revolutionize steel production in the United states”, the cost of doing things like making factories, goods, and transportation became a lot cheaper (Andrew Carnegie Biography). The birth of railroad companies took over the majority of the economy during the late 1800’s just after Carnegie found a way to make the mass production of steel. The railroad industry influenced many things throughout the country like the growth of towns and transportation of raw goods and finished products to the factories and consumers. The practice of vertical integration, growth through the acquisition of the materials the make the product, allowed big business to control all aspects of their company instead of paying a supplier their profit margin to do a task (Document A). Since most companies took the advantage of gaining a large profit, they disregarded everything else like the lives of laborers. George E. McNeil in The Labor Movement: The Problem of Today compares railroad owners to kings as they both “collects tithes by reduce wages” and essentially do as they please to make more money (Document C). The owners were all able to manipulate their workers because there was no one stopping them; not even the government.

In the business, the workers are the one doing all of the dirty work while the business owner receives all of the credit. They have to endure harsh conditions, long hours with little or no breaks, and low wages all to try to support their family who are all working as well. The tasks given to the laborers were repetitive task that required no skill and were often in dangerous conditions. David A. Wells, an engineer and economist, compares manufacturing conditions to that of a “military organization” since an individual can no longer work independently, but is pushed to work with others as a whole (Document D). To the greatest degree, individualism was destroyed as a man used to take pride in his hard earned unique accomplishments is now working a degrading and mainstream job. Along with having a boring task, the tasks were also dangerous. The ones put on the most threatening jobs were the youngest, children. According to an article written by Central Illinois, the machinery that children were so dangerous it can cut limbs off, paralyze, and kill them in an instant (Eastern Illinois University). Statistics like these comes to show how out of hand the situation had got and it was still not a crime according to the law. In document I, the picture shows lines of seamstresses before The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire that killed