6.7 Labor in the Gilded Age

Wealth surpassed previous generations.
Practiced "conspicuous consumption" (Thorstein Veblen).
Example: The Biltmore House:
- Largest private residence in the U.S.
- Over 175,000 sq ft, 35 bedrooms, 45 bathrooms.
- Owned by Vanderbilt as a vacation home.
Not all wealthy individuals were as extravagant as Vanderbilt, but the practice was common.

Many lived in poverty with wages below a comfortable standard of living.
Suffered during economic downturns like the Panics of 1873 and 1893.
Despite hardships:
- Mass production led to decreased prices of goods.
- Wages rose across the board.
- More goods and services were available to industrial workers (immigrants and migrants).
Many Americans experienced a rising standard of living despite the growing gap between rich and poor.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877:
- Railroad companies cut wages during a recession.
- Unionized workers protested.
- Spread to 11 states, shutting down over 60% of railroads.
- Violence erupted, and President Hayes sent in federal troops.
- Over 100 people died.
- Railroad employers eventually negotiated with workers.
Pullman Strike:
- Pullman company (sleeping cars) cut wages during the Panic of 1893.
- George Pullman fired workers who tried to bargain.
- Eugene V. Debs (union leader) directed members not to work on trains with Pullman cars.
- Railroad owners sided with Pullman and connected Pullman cars to trains carrying federal mail.
- Eugene Debs and other leaders were jailed for hindering federal rail traffic.
- The strike was broken.

Went public in 1881.
National union (open to almost anyone).
- Included black laborers and women.
Goals:
- Destruction of trusts and monopolies.
- Abolition of child labor.
Child Labor:
- Children as young as 10 worked in factories.
- By the end of the 19th century, children aged 10-15 constituted ~18% of the workforce.
- Children were subject to the same injuries and deaths as adults.
Peak membership: over 700,000.
Decline:
- Haymarket Square Riot (1886):
  - Members gathered to celebrate the May Day labor movement and protest for an 8-hour workday.
  - A bomb exploded (likely set off by an anarchist unaffiliated with the Knights).
  - The public associated the bombing with the Knights of Labor.
  - Labor unions were viewed as violent and radical.
  - Membership declined.