Late 19th-Century U.S. Labor, Immigration & Politics

Labor Conditions, Industrial Change, and Unionization

• Rapid industrial expansion (late $19^{th}$ century)
  • Mass-production techniques emerging ⇒ fewer skilled craftsmen needed.
  • Early precedents to the assembly-line appear before Henry Ford formalizes it with the Model-T.
• Skilled vs. unskilled divide
  • Unskilled labor viewed as “a dime a dozen.”
  • Employers favor cheap, easily replaced workers; suppress wage growth for skilled trades.
• Early unions & internal tensions
  • Knights of Labor (KOL)
  • Open to both skilled & unskilled; highly militant/radical.
  • Internal fights: permanent skilled members vs. transient unskilled.
  • Haymarket Riot (Chicago, $1886$)
  • Heightened public fear of “dangerous” unions; many organizations become “radioactive.”
  • Firms retaliate with yellow-dog contracts (workers pledge never to join a union).
• American Federation of Labor (AFL)
  • Founded $1882$ by cigar-maker Samuel Gompers.
  • Not a single union → federation of craft/trade unions (“umbrella”).
  • Membership: primarily skilled labor; brings smaller craft unions under one “corporation.”
  • Program (“labor trust”):
  • $8$-hour day, $6$-day week.
  • Ban on child labor.
  • Seniority/job-tenure protections.
  • Collective bargaining & the closed shop (employer hires only union-vetted workers → weeds out radicals and boosts union density).
  • Pragmatic tactics: lobbying state legislatures, arbitration, partnership with moderate employers.
  • Survives because it fits dominant U.S. culture of incremental change and “fair share of profit.”
• Split & re-merger with industrial unions
  • $1930s$ schism: Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) organizes mass-production workers.
  • Reunite $1955$ as AFL-CIO; led by anti-Communist president George Meany.

Contract Terminology Refresher

• Yellow-Dog Contract: employment agreement forbidding union membership (still exists in modified modern forms).
• Closed Shop: employer signs collective-bargaining pact requiring all hires to be union members—union also screens out radicals.

Immigration Waves, Regulation & Nativism

• Push factors: poverty, repression, pre-WWI European tensions (Mediterranean, Balkan instability).
• Pull factors: U.S. liberties & economic promise (“land of freedom,” not merely “diversity”).
• Passage mechanics
  • No airplanes yet → low-fare steerage berths in empty cargo holds of steamships.
  • Steamship ads in multiple languages + prepaid tickets supplied by employers.
• Word-of-mouth amplification
  • Immigrants write glowing “American letters”; sometimes employer-drafted for recruitment (quasi-fraud).
• Processing
  • Castle Garden (pre-$1892$) → Ellis Island (view of the Statue of Liberty, though statue actually honors the Revolution, not immigration).
  • Screening for disease, criminality; political prisoners not excluded.
  • Initial entry tax: $.50$ per immigrant (European Restriction Act, $1882$) funds medical/administrative checks.
• Major statutes
  • European Restriction Act $(1882)$ — first federal immigration regulation; mild.
  • Chinese Exclusion Act $(1882)$
  • $10$-year ban ⇒ extended $1892$ “indefinitely.”
  • Driven by California labor lobbying; only fully repealed $1943$.
• Growing nativism
  • American Protective Association (Midwest) & other groups push total bans, literacy tests.
  • Employer lobby blocks literacy tests until WWI era; post-$1917$ Red Scare & $1920s$ quotas tighten admissions.
• Scale
  • Peak year $1910$: millions enter; migration is individual, not group-based.

Money, Markets, and Farmers’ Hardships

• Financing a farm
  • Mortgages renewed constantly at $20!–!30\%$ interest.
  • Dependence on railroad freight/storage monopolies with exorbitant rates.
• Global competition lowers U.S. crop prices (Canada, Argentina, Australia).
• Monetary policy cleavages
  • Republicans = gold standard, high protective tariffs.
  • Democrats (esp. Southern/Western) = bimetallism (silver + gold).
  • Desired ratios floated (e.g., $16{:}1$, $10{:}1$, $5{:}1$) to inflate currency & ease debt.
  • Ohio Idea: repay Civil-War bonds in greenbacks, not gold.

Federal Revenue & Taxes

• Pre-$1913$ federal funding =
  • Tariffs (import duties) — function like a sales tax; protect industry.
  • Excise taxes on liquor & select goods.
• $16^{th}$ Amendment $(1913)$ introduces income tax (originally for top earners).
  • WWII top marginal rate hit $94\%$ (but loopholes meant few paid full rate).
  • Withholding system (1940s) extends income tax to ordinary workers.
  • Refund myth: “refund” = interest-free loan you gave the Treasury.

Patronage, Corruption & the Push for Civil Service Reform

• Spoils System (“to the victor belong the spoils”)
  • Winning party fires prior appointees, awards jobs to loyalists (state & federal).
  • Intended to democratize government (Jackson era) but becomes cesspool of graft.
• Grant Administration (“Era of Good Stealing,” nadir of national disgrace)
  • Credit Mobilier Scandal — Transcontinental RR finance company overbills; bribes congressmen (incl. VP Schuyler Colfax) with stock.
  • Treasury/Sanborn Contracts — tax collector pockets >$50\%$ of receipts, extorts railroads.
  • Belknap Indian Trading Post — Interior Secretary sells franchises.
  • Whiskey Ring — president’s private secretary takes bribes on liquor taxes.
  • Salary Grab Act $(1873)$ — Congress votes retroactive raise; public outrage forces repeal.
• Party factions (Republicans)
  • Stalwarts — defend spoils system; loyal machine politicians.
  • Half-Breeds — favor civil-service exams & merit appointments.
• Election $1876$: Hayes (R) vs. Tilden (D)
  • Disputed electoral votes → Compromise of $1877$: Hayes becomes president if federal troops leave South, ending Reconstruction ⇒ rise of Jim Crow.
• Assassination catalyst
  • $1880$: James Garfield (Half-Breed) elected; chooses stalwart Chester Arthur as VP.
  • Charles Guiteau shoots Garfield ($1881$) shouting, “Now a stalwart is president!”
  • Garfield’s death hastened by medical malpractice; Alexander Graham Bell’s metal detector rejected.
• Pendleton Civil Service Act $(1883)$ (Arthur’s surprise reform)
  • Competitive exams, tenure protection for ~$10\%$ of federal jobs.
  • Bans mandatory political assessments (“dues”) on government salaries.
  • First step toward professional bureaucracy; costs Arthur renomination.

Mud-Slinging Elections of the 1880s

• Election $1884$: James G. Blaine (R) vs. Grover Cleveland (D)
  • Blaine tainted by “Mulligan letters” (railroad bribes he allegedly burned).
  • Introductory speaker brands Democrats the party of “rum, Romanism & rebellion” → alienates Irish-Catholic vote in NY.
  • Cleveland admits paying child support for illegitimate son → GOP chant: “Ma, ma, where’s my pa?”
  • Democrats’ rejoinder after victory: “Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!”
• Cleveland’s trajectory
  • Wins $1884$; loses $1888$ (to Benjamin Harrison); returns $1892$ — only president with non-consecutive terms (parallel drawn to modern Trump attempt).
  • Second term crippled by $1893$ depression; Democratic coalition frays.

Grass-Roots Agrarian Revolt

• Cultural shift: Jeffersonian yeoman ideal supplanted by industrial urban dominance.
• The Granger Movement (National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry)
  • Farmer cooperatives organize local & state elections; pass Granger Laws capping railroad/storage fees.
  • Landmark litigation:
  • Munn v. Illinois $(1877)$ — Court upholds state regulation of grain elevators (business “affected with a public interest”).
  • Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Ry. v. Illinois $(1886)$ — Strikes down state regulation of rates on interstate traffic; only federal gov’t may regulate interstate commerce.
• Federal response
  • Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC, $1887$) — first federal regulatory agency; investigates, recommends, but initially weak ("meet, eat & retreat").
  • Later revitalized by Progressive Era (e.g., Theodore Roosevelt uses ICC to dissolve railroad mergers).
• Foreshadowing of populism
  • Farmers, miners, and indebted Westerners push silver coinage, anti-monopoly laws.
  • Sets stage for People’s (Populist) Party and nationwide reform campaigns.

Key Terms & People to Remember

• Samuel Gompers, Knights of Labor, AFL, CIO, George Meany.
• Yellow-dog contract, closed shop, collective bargaining, seniority.
• European Restriction Act $(1882)$, Chinese Exclusion Act $(1882)$.
• Protective tariff, excise tax, gold standard, silver/bimetallism, Ohio Idea.
• Credit Mobilier, Whiskey Ring, Salary Grab, Pendleton Act.
• Stalwarts vs. Half-Breeds; Compromise of $1877$; Blaine, Cleveland, Garfield, Arthur.
• Granger Laws, Munn v. Illinois, Wabash case, ICC.

Conceptual Connections & Implications

• Labor: Shift from craft autonomy to centralized mass production parallels move from militant KOL to pragmatic AFL.
• Immigration: Employer-driven recruitment of cheap labor mirrors union battles over “dime-a-dozen” workers and fuels nativist backlash.
• Politics: Spoils-system corruption sparks civil-service reform, analogous to labor’s closed-shop vetting—both seek predictable, loyal workforces.
• Economics: Farmers’ call for silver inflation links to workers’ push for shorter hours—each aims to reclaim “fair share” against industrial capital.
• Regulation: ICC born from Granger pressure foreshadows Progressive trust-busting; demonstrates grass-roots capacity to force federal action when parties stall.

Quick Reference Timeline (Select Milestones)

• $1868$ — Grant elected; start of “Era of Good Stealing.”
• $1873$ — Salary Grab; Panic of $1873$ undermines GOP.
• $1876/77$ — Hayes-Tilden dispute; Compromise ends Reconstruction.
• $1882$ — AFL founded; European Restriction & Chinese Exclusion Acts.
• $1883$ — Pendleton Civil Service Act.
• $1884$ — Blaine-Cleveland mud-fest; Cleveland wins.
• $1886$ — Haymarket Riot; Wabash decision.
• $1887$ — ICC created.
• $1890$s — Farmers’ Alliances and Populist surge (to be covered next lecture).