The great differences in the lifestyles of owners and workers was highly publicized, notably through the Anthracite Coal Strike. Several long and violent strikes occurred during the 1900s, and some of these work stoppages required government intervention to resolve the disputes. Throughout the decade many workers joined organized labor unions, but their efforts to improve pay and workplace conditions were often unsuccessful. The rise of big business and poor working conditions for common laborers led to increased tensions between employers and employees. The general prosperity of the decade made many Americans eager consumers, especially as companies began to spend more time and money on product advertising. The 1900s witnessed the founding of numerous corporations that have since become fixtures in American life: Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (1900), United States Steel Company (1901), Quaker Oats Company (1901), J.C. They feared that these business groups would destroy America's image as the land of opportunity where it was possible for an individual to succeed through his or her own business efforts. Many Americans became concerned about the continued rise of big business through trusts, trade associations, cartels, or pools. The result was the elimination of competition. The century began with businesses expanding by merging with similar companies (horizontal integration) and taking on additional functions in the production and sale of their products (vertical integration). Unskilled laborers especially faced many difficulties, since their income would not support a family of five even if they worked twelve hours a day every day of the year. The average workweek in the decade was fifty-three hours. Average union wages in 1900 were thirty-four cents per hour, compared to non-union, unskilled pay of fifteen cents per hour. In 1900 more than 250,000 children under the age of fifteen worked in factories for minimal pay. Until regulation ended the practice, child labor was common. Children were often exploited as workers. Although by 1910 one-third of the workforce was female, half of these women workers were involved in agriculture or domestic service, leaving little female representation in industry. In the industrial sector, men had opportunities and could claim jobs that required physical strength, while women were confined to lowpaying jobs using light machinery. Men and women rarely competed for jobs, primarily because of division of labor according to gender. The record year for immigration was 1907, when 1.29 million people entered the United States. Nearly nine million immigrants journeyed to America during the decade, with most arrivals coming from Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. Many of the workers who were employed by the nation's expanding industrial base were immigrants. Americans who entered the century riding horse-drawn buggies could, by the end of its first decade, drive cars and dream of someday flying in a plane. The decade was further marked by major technological innovations, such as the birth of the automobile and aviation industries. Among the most prosperous businesses of the era were the oil, steel, textile, railroad, and food production industries. This business expansion meant increased wealth as raw materials became cheaper to obtain, driving prices down and consumption up. The United States was expanding its economic interests around the globe and emerging as a world power.
Agriculture, which had been the nation's primary employer throughout the previous century, was gradually being replaced by industry. The 1900s Business and the Economy: OverviewĪmerica's business and economic sectors changed dramatically during the first decade of the twentieth century.
0 kommentar(er)
