American_Industry

The Industrial Giant Known as America

Many factors led to America having a tremendous rise in industry.  The five points

that made the most impact were technology, mass distribution and production, education,

railroads, management ideas and structure, and immigrant labor.  These five points not

only improved the existing industry, but they revolutionized how the American industry

would be run for the next generation.  As with any change in an existing system, there

were a few problems, the main problems where with workers so management just replaced

them with machines.  Many people weren’t ready to make the adjustment from small town

farming to big city living but the benefits far out-weighed any unusual situations, so the

people and the nation when along with it.

In the 1850’s and on, most Americans were wondering about  the benefit of a

society dominated by cities, factories, and masses of  wage earners.  Along with cities and

factories, pollution, and unhygienic situations was rising as well.  Industrializing of the

nation was wanted by many people but  on the other hand, many people did not want to

see the nation industrialize. The United States, at this point, mostly an agricultural society,

and most of  the people lived on farms or in small towns, and had lots of open space to

live in.  These caused a slowing of the United States transforming into a industrial nation.

Depression set and there was unrest in the work force. This began to change in the 1870’s

when the Populist Party gained a strong foothold.  In 1897, the economic depression

finally came to an end. In 1910, the United States firming planted itself as the world’s

Probably the most important  feature aiding the nation’s growth was technology.

Two major inventions during this period were the invention of the gasoline-powered,

internal combustion engine and harnessing of electric power.  Harnessing electrical power

opened many doors for technological advancements.  The  cheaper and cleaner electrical

power allowed for longer working days and easier working day for the laborers.

Metal-working went right hand in hand with electric generators and related equipment.  In

1878 the first gas engine was patented.  This was responsible for the first production of

the Model-T, the nations first automobile made by Henry Ford.  Millions of people bought

the Model-T, and that in turn called for millions of pounds of steel ,glass, rubber,

petroleum, and other materials viable materials to be produced.  This called for millions of

jobs in coal and iron-ore mining, oil refinery, steel making, rubber manufacturing, machine

tooling, and service stations.  These and many other jobs led to corporations and new jobs

Management of business is the next issue.  The number of managers grew, as

elaborate corporate hierarchies deformed both the tasks and status of individual managers.

Day to day operations were replaced by middle managers, who oversaw a single

department in corporate headquarters.  This rapid expansion within corporate managerial

ranks created a new middle class.  They were loyal to their employers, but were at odds

with both the blue-color workers, and with the older middle class of shopkeepers. Also

small businessmen, an independent craftsmen were not too happy with the idea of this

also.  With all of this happening, there was a growing need to ship goods, which in turn

led to a major need for the railroads.

The next factor that helped the industrial growth was immigrant labor.  Immigrant

labor constituted about 70% of all the labor in the twentieth century.  Immigrants built the

nation’s tunnels and railroads , mined iron ore, coal and other minerals. They stoked the

hot steel furnaces on the trains and in steel factories also.  In the railroad industry was

where the immigrants really made their mark.  Immigrants worked long hours because

really they were all of the early work force so they built much of the early railroad and

were in on most of its matinence.  

Domestic markets were growing at such a enormous rate, manufacturers had to

improve on mass-production.  To speed up production, they needed to lower the cost of

all shipped items.  This often meant that most workers  were replaced by machines.  Aside

from an occasional matinence the machines worked cheaply.  Also, manufacturers often

found that distribution systems need to be revamped.  This led to specialized sale forces,

and on-going customer service.  Duke who started a regional sales offices, made it so that

his saleman could keep in touch with local retailers.  This helped manufacturers tap into

what the public wanted in turn keeping sales high.   Duke also started national advertising

which was a huge success.  Duke was the father of advertisers of early industry.

Many factors helped contribute to the growth of the nation’s industry.  The five

emphasized are the main factors that contributed the most to improvements in the

industry.  The improvements not only changed not only in increased revenue, but also in

the way people lived their daily lives.  The adjustment from small town, rural living and

farming to big city living and urbanization led to some conflict of ideas among early

workers.  Other conflict of interest in business also surfaced as everyone wanted the get

there hand in the money.  All conflicts were overcome, as America became the world’s