The Rise of Big Business

Flashcards about The Rise of Big Business in the Gilded Age.

What was the typical business firm like in 1860?

Small, family-owned, specialized, labor-intensive, and producers of small batches of goods in local markets.

What kind of business concern had taken precedence by 1900?

Large, corporately owned, bureaucratically managed, multi-functional, capital-intensive, and marketers of mass-produced items nationally and internationally.

Between 1895 and 1907, what was the average number of firms absorbed annually due to mergers?

An average of 266 firms a year were absorbed through mergers.

Which sectors experienced large consolidations between 1886 and 1896?

Mining, food, tobacco, textiles, lumber, furniture, paper, printing, chemicals, petroleum, leather, etc.

By 1893, what percentage of the population owned what percentage of the nation's wealth?

9% of the population owned 71% of the nation’s wealth.

How did Jay Gould accumulate his wealth?

Through the frequent buying and selling of companies and the related manipulation of the securities market.

During the Civil War, what did Jay Gould buy and sell to his advantage?

Buying and selling government bonds, gold, and currency.

In 1869, what rumor did Jay Gould leak when he hatched a plot to corner the gold market?

He leaked rumors that he was a representative of the U.S. government to drive up prices on expectations of massive demand.

Originally, what kind of business did John Rockefeller prosper in as a clerk in the office of Hewitt & Tuttle?

Salt, mess pork, breadstuffs, and commodities needed by northern armies.

How did Rockefeller expand his business over time?

Purchasing, manufacturing, marketing, and transporting commodities like oil in the most economic way.

Besides oil, what other by-products did Rockefeller deal in?

Paints, dyes, and lubricants.

According to Nevins, why was scale important to Standard Oil?

Make larger use of cost-saving machinery, arrange for the sub-division and specialization of labor, buy materials at wholesale prices, and establish research departments.

What business practice was Standard Oil practicing by 1871 that allowed them to control all aspects of production?

Vertical Integration.

Who did Carnegie come under the wing of, who had also accumulated a fortune from his investments?

Thomas Scott, superintendent of the PA RR who had also accumulated a fortune from his investments.

In 1875, what works did Carnegie open?

Carnegie opened the Edgar Thomason Works.

What was Carnegie's achievement during the Panic of 1873 and 1893?

He survived the worst of times without defaulting on his loans or having to declare any of his firms bankrupt.

What policies of the Republican Party protected industrial capitalism?

High tariffs, maintenance of the gold standard, and the provision of the minimum anti-trust regulation.

According to Carnegie, what could workers expect when an employer sees high vs low yield?

Workers could expect high wages when the employer is fetching high yield for the product; low wages when the employer is making low yield for the product (called the sliding scale).

Rather than paying his workers higher wages, what did Carnegie advocate?

He advocated free laws of accumulation so that enterprising individuals could accumulate lavish sums and then give them away to the betterment of society.

Who devised a system of preserving the meat in transport by using refrigerated railroad cars?

Gustavus Swift.

What did Swift have inserted in his refrigerated Railroad cars to keep dressed beef fresh?

Blocks of ice from the Great Lakes.