The Gilded Age
Much of our class discussion this week will hinge on one of the most important topics in any society: the fair distribution of wealth (and since, in every modern society wealth equals power, we can truly say the basis of all class structure in the modern era). In the last century all of the previous social structures were swept away by changes in technology which changed the way that people worked and related to each other. In the confusion that accompanies such changes all the relationships had be re-imagined, based on the question "What is fair?"
Consider this: in every business transaction, there are usually three participants. There is the entrepreneur, the worker, and the customer. All three desire to get the best deal they can; the entrepreneur claims that he or she deserves the profits because of the creativity and risk that went into providing the good or service. The worker wants part of the profits as well because he or she is doing the work, and of course the customer wants a good deal (ie, doesn't want to pay enough to make both the entrepreneur and worker happy). Let's get specific: we recently escaped the spector of a basketball season with no NBA. Fortunately (for the basketball-addicted) a profit sharing scheme was agreed upon between owners and players and the season will get underway on Christmas day. Now, who deserves to benefit from the spectacle of professional basketball the most? The owners? Kobe and LeBron? And what about the fan sitting in the bleachers?
For years arguments have been made the the owners (entrepreneurs) are either the most important part of the equation, or the least important part of the equation. Now, obviously, this homework assignment isn't about basketball, but about the struggle between big businesses and the working people at the end of the nineteenth century. What do you think? Who deserves the biggest part of the profits - the owners or the workers? And don't make the argument that both of them make enough, because I could have just as easily used an example of a fastfood restaurant owner, worker, and customer. Here are the questions I want you to address:
1) In the context of this discussion, what is fair?
2) How can that fairness be established without unconstitutional government intervention in the workplace? In other words, what kind of agreement must be reached between owners and workers and how can it be maintained for the long-term?
3) Most importantly, what would happen if either side of the equation (owners/workers) were to be too weak to effectively bargain with the other?
In addition, go to the link http://www.hippocampus.org/US%20History%20II and choose two of the following lessons under the "Gilded Age" heading to review and use as evidence in your essays:
Corruption in Business and Government
Entrepreneurs
The Government Steps In
Workers in America
Union Organizations
Major Strikes
As always, 200 words, 150 words of response, due on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Don't put this off to the last minute!
Major Strikes
ReplyDeleteIn the 19th century there were about 23.000 strikes and half of them the workers did not won. The bloody strikes became a problem for the industries. In 1870, Irish miners made a big strike in Pennsylvannia. Because the terrible working conditions in the mines. As the owner ignored the problem the miner used, also known as Molly Maguires, violence. In 1874/75 it was so bad that the owners Pinkerton Detective Agency instigated. The agency found out enough to topple the leaders of the group. The Molly Marguires became a model for other groups of workers. The first national wide strike was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. The railway service decreased and some railways were closed. President Hayes sent troops to restore order in the cities again. This strike inspired support for Greenback-Labor Party. A major strike was in 1894 in Pullman, IL, where Pullman Palace Car Company housed its employees. Pullman took pay cuts, but maintained rent prices for houses company. The workers try to negotiate with Pullman without success.Through the intervention of troops were violence and unrest in other states the result.
The Government Steps In
In the 19th Century, the reformers were concerned about the growing separation between rich and poor. They also feared that the entrepreneurs get a lot of power and take control over the government. Merchants and professionals did not like the change in the society. By Charles Darwin's writings were a lot of economic problems. Herbert Spencer, the prophet of Social Darwinism, Darwin's theory used for the promotion of the virtues of free market capitalism. Andrew Carnegie, not a social Darwinist, thought that the rich have a moral responsibility to ensure. In 1887 the Interstate Commerce Act was because of the plight of the farmers and the practice among the railroads of giving kickbacks. The Interstate Commerce Act gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) out. These investigate complaints and issue orders, when the railroads ware traded illegally. In 1890 President Harrison signed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The act turned symbolic because Subsequent negotiations did not very much.
First off if you have a business and you need to determine who deserves the largest part of the profits. I think that obviously the owner should receive most of the profits, like what we said in class how the owners had sacrificed a lot to start and maintain his/her business, and I still think workers should make good profit to depending on how long they work (duh). So it all depends really on a lot of different things but overall I think the person who owns the business should make most profit. To answer the second question I would have to say that to keep the workers they must make the worker somewhat happy or enough for them to keep their job. My dad’s a builder and for people to want to keep their job or for them to continue working for him then he has to keep them happy in order for him to have employees. And lastly to keep your workers the employers have to “keep them happy” or give them a good bargain at least or they won’t have anyone to work for them.
ReplyDeleteAnd as my last paragraph I chose to write on the topic: Workers in America. With the new machinery and technology was gradually getting more complex the workplace began to change drastically the need for “unskilled workers” began to rise. Anyone would start working including immigrants, women and even children. By 1920 nearly all workers were WOMEN! And 13% of textile workers were under 16 years old.
I find this assignment potentially controversial because really this could definitely go either way... But in my own personal opinion I'd have to say that the owner should definitely gain a larger percent of the profits... I mean they are the ones that started everything and without their business the employee wouldn't have a job anyways so yea that's my thoughts on that. As a way to establish and maintain a flow it would be necessary for the owners and employees to have a good but also business based relationship because if that doesn't happen then issues can arise, but honestly the financial aspect just has to be an understood thing from the start. And in the event of one not being able to financially bargain with the other I'd just say that the weaker party should either find a way to fix the problem or be replaced.
ReplyDeleteMajor Strikes:
Due to the conversation we had in class this particular topic struck my interest.Throughout the years of 1881 and 1900 around 23,000 strikes happened involving well above six million workers. Sadly in over half the strikes the workers came out empty handed, and in the other half they were only able to receive minute amounts of benefit. In the period of time that these strikes continued they got worse and worse, at some points the government had to step in and others turned brutal and deadly. These things seem pretty scary!
The Government Steps In:
So all of a sudden the progress of industry grew excessively and began increasing the economy super fast, because of this massive expansion the citizens began to question the ability of the government. This sent the reformers into somewhat of a tizzy and they began to wonder if the businessman increasing power would eventually overcome the government... because of this they believed something had to be done, so they did just that.
K.Sellmaier,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your essay. It was very informative and you put in a bunch of information that I failed to notice! In the major strikes section I really liked how you broke down every strike individually it helped me to understand everything gave the reading a lot more detail.
Amanda,
I really liked your essay... the wording was wonderful and I fully agree on everything you said, the owner being the prime 'money maker' and the worker getting 'enough to satisfy' seems reasonable if every one is happy then I don't see the conflict but again if it had been the other way around it could have been quite understandable too. Also when you talked about the government stepping in I really liked how you through in that the woman and children were even working in this time. You just shined light on an important issue that I otherwise wouldn't have noticed. Great job!
Today I will talk about the business at the end of the 90's. I think that both sides (owner and employers) are really important; a company can't go on without a leader and it can go on without people that work in it. Anyways, the owners has more responsability than the workers so he/she has to be paid more than a worker. A good way to mantein this is pay a worker 35/40 % of the profit and leave to the owner the majority part of the money. I think that it could work only if there is a good leader that can make all the things all right.
ReplyDeleteWorkers in America: There was a drammatic impact of the face of the American workers. the women had a big part in the industial evolution. Infact in 1920, 20% of all manufactured worker were women! This change also the type of family; infact for the women now it was comune to go to work.
The Government Steps In: During the Industry time the economy grow so fast that people dubt about the governament. So the try to work with businessman for incrising power.
Corruption in businesses and politics:
ReplyDeleteBusinesses: The business sector had several tactics to get money from the shareholders and never pay it back. The first was, that a larger company bought all the stocks of a smaller company and then transferred the assets of the smaller company to the bigger one and declare it bankrupt. Another practice was, to form a new company with the same board of directors like the old company and after people invested in the new company take all the money and declare it bankrupt.
Politics: During the gilded age it was common for politicians to give their supporters and friends high paid jobs they were not qualified. This was a huge problem, because the government could not run too efficient with this tactics. After president James Garfield was assassinated by a layer who expected a job, the government passed laws to stop this practice.
The Tweed Ring and Machine Politics:
After the civil war many immigrants came to America, because of the labor and opportunities. They often lived in bad conditions and poverty. Is some neighborhoods people formed groups to help new arrivals and people with problems. Some rich business owners saw an opportunity in this and supported these groups. When they later ran for an office in politics many people from their district supported them. They became known as Political machines, because they could get so many votes as fast as a machine could produce them.
1 I think that the business owner should get the greatest part of the profit, because without the entrepreneur there would not be a company where people could work and earn money. Also he is the person who risking all his money and time in the business, when his business fails the work just searches for a new job, while the owner lost a great part of his investment.
2 The owner of the business should pay the worker as much as the worker needs to live and support his family with food, clothing and shelter. The worker on the other hand should not demand to much of the companies profit, because when the business goes bankrupt or is unable to expand the worker will loose his job and there are no more new jobs for other people who want to work too.
3 When one side can not compete with the other, there are very bad conditions. The worker is paid to few to live and will die or live a very poor life. When the owner of the business is to weak, the business goes bankrupt and the people will loose their job.
@ K. Sellmaier
ReplyDeleteI think you did a good job with your essay. It contains a lot of information about the problems the people and the government were facing. It explains the slow change from more radical capitalism to a more socialistic system. And how it was inspired by the workers. I never heard that Charles Darwin was responsible for some of the problems the society was facing in this time, it is really hard for me to imagine that Charles Darwin’s writings had a greater influence on the economy then any other writing. But perhaps you a write when you just look at his big influence on biology.
@ Jessi.lynne
I really like your essay you did a good job with saying your opinion, but not offending people. You also did a good job on researching you topics and provide us with good information about them. I hope your next essay will be like this, I is very good! :-D
The idea of fairness in the business world is arguable on both sides. The owner should gain more because they took the risk to start their business in the first place, but the worker is making the actual product so they should get their share too. The establishment of fairness can only be established by a good business relationship between the worker and employer, but each should be paid according to their influence on the betterment of the company’s profit. If either the employer or the worker was too weak or was a pushover then the working conditions and the business’s productivity would be negatively affected.
ReplyDeleteWorkers in America:
With the Industrial Age came a cultural shift from a more agrarian society of farmers to an industrialized society of factories and machines. The work force in factories mainly consisted of immigrants, women, and children because of the need for cheap labor. Many of the workers were underpaid and required to work long days. All these things eventually led to the construction of labor unions.
Union Organizations:
The 1842 court case Commonwealth v. Hunt allowed the formation of organized labor unions. Following this court case many laws were passed that improved working conditions for both men and women. The workday was shortened to 8 hours; equal work required equal pay; a minimum wage was established, and safety and health requirements for the workplace were put into action. Unfortunately, some of the strikes led to violence and even the deaths of innocent bystanders. Unions still exist today, but have many requirements and rules to prevent such violence.
My personal opinion regarding fairness in the business market is that the owner or entrepreneur should receive a majority of the profit. I say this because this person risked whatever to start the business and without this person the business in question wouldn’t even exist. But, the worker should also receive their share because they are the people actually running the business and make sure everything is the way it should be. To achieve fairness, like Catelyn said, there must be a good relationship between the owner and employee. If either side was too weak, destruction to both the owner and worker would be imminent.
ReplyDeleteWorkers in America
During the industrial age many people were in the workplace and at least 20% were women and 13% were younger than sixteen! That’s our age and younger! Because there were so many people in the workforce, the wages were below the cost of living-even if you put in a 10 hour day. This also really brought out the distinction of classes. In addition, the working conditions were terrible and extremely dangerous. The people couldn’t retaliate in fear of never getting a job again.
Entrepreneurs
After the Civil War, entrepreneurs came up with ideas and took risks to build business to meet the national needs. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary entrepreneur means one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. Two good examples of entrepreneurs are Andrew Carnegie (who worked with steel) and John D. Rockefeller (who worked with oil).
Thanks,
Rebecca
I dont think there will be a fair deal between the worker and the owner, they both deserve the same thing but the owner is always going to win. He can pay its workers what he wants, treat them as he wants and tell them to do what he wants for the same amount of money. Now, if the worker is smart to see what's happening he kind kind of start a revolution and protest to his boss, and i guess in those times you wouldn't want to do that because they needed the jobs in the city really bad also the majority of the workers were inmigrants, they didn't speak english or maybe they were ok with their check if all they needed was money for the family. Now you can just go to the government and ask for help, I don't think you can fix the problem by talking to the owner of the business because in most of the cases you will never met the boss (depends on what place you have in the business) but of course if you have a good job and place you don't want to start a rebellion against your boss. So I think it's kind of hard to come in a agreement with him.
ReplyDeleteFor my first paragraph Im going to talk about the Entrepreneurs:
What I understood, is that the entrepreneur is the first boss, the owner, the one that started the business and the wealthy guy. There is no one above him in the business. As an example I'm going to use the guy that started making and selling steel in the US: Andrew Carnegie turned the iron into steel. It was generally produced for locomotives and rails which was very important in those times so people could travel, translate food etc... That's how he became one of the first entrepreneurs of the U.S.A.
For my second paragraph i'll write about corruption:
As the business field grew, the people wanted to have more and more money, doesn't matter how to get it. One of the most important examples, as my partner Christian said it was that big companies would buy other companies not that important but with investments, transfer the money to the big company and then bankrupt the small one. All the money from the small company was gone and the stock and bondholders would lost their investment. That's how corruption worked back then.
Daniel Gonzalez.
The two subjects I researched were: Entrepreneurs and Major Strikes. I believe that it is fair for the entrepreneur/owner to receive the majority of the profit from the good and/or service, but the worker should be paid what he/she deserves, not what is more convenient for the owners pocket. To avoid the arguments between the owners and workers over pay and benefits there should be a set minimum wage (like already) and set benefits. If the owners and the workers cannot agree on a set wage and benefits there can be consequences like striking and sometimes ultimate failure of the company. The entrepreneur deserves the most profit because the company, service, and/or good was their original idea, risk, and hard work. Monopoly's are a dangerous thing though if someone gets too much power and money by business and treats their employees unfairly. Cheap labor is the major abuse in a monopoly. Major strikes can be the downfall of businesses, but they have also helped the American worker receive their proper pay. Though I believe the owner/entrepreneur deserves the excess of the profit, it is their responsibility to pay the employees what they have earned for their work.
ReplyDelete“Is it fair?” That is a question that we as high school students are always asking. This is what many would call unfairness is main theme of the gilded age- entrepreneurs making lots of money while the workers made hardly anything. The challenge is finding a balance between who gets the money, the hard worker or the smart, risk taking entrepreneurs. The businesses grew more and more corrupted. Business men already where started to have a stronger presence in the government as well. Business men like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller started to have large monopolies. While the workers continued to have little.
ReplyDeleteSo what is fair? What is the line between government oversights off private business and government control? I think that workers need to pay their employees fairly, and like they would want to be paid. I also feel that the government needs to have some regulations like a national minimum wage and making employers give certain benefits. There is also a part of the equation that also needs to be addressed- the consumer. What is in it for the person buying the product? If the consumer does not get a good, high-quality product he will not buy the product again.
So to summarize what I believe on this topic; the entrepreneurs should make a good deal of money. Also the worker should be paid more than enough than he needs to live. And the consumer should get a good, high quality product.
Catelyn: Your essay was great! I could tell that you researched your topic and had the correct information. It was written very well, good job!
ReplyDeleteBobby: Great job on your essay! I like how you restated the question. Your essay was well researched and written well, good job!
Daniel: Your essay was very good! Your information, facts, and opinions were written clearly and understandably. Good job!
Christian: As always, your essays are very informative on the topics you are writing on and are written well. Your essays are always packed with info, good job!
Jessi: Your essay was really good! I liked how you stated your opinion and backed it up with facts, good job!
Marta: You had a great essay! Your facts were very informative and just cool to know, good job!
Amanda: Great work on your essay! Your essay was full of facts and easy to read. Your essay was writen very well, good job!
Katharina Sellmaier: You did really good job! I really like it! It's well written and it has a lot of information in it. It was really helpful for me!
ReplyDeleteChistian Scheit: I really like you essay! It's really interestig and as usual you help me a lot to undestand this. Another time, good job!
Jesus Daniel Gonzàles Guzmàn: Good job on your essay (I tell you a compliment wooow ahahah) Anyways there are a lot of information and it's well written; another time, good job!
Jessica Horning: you did really good job on your essay! There are a lot of information in it!
Rebecca Dunmore: I really like your essay! Good job! It's well written and it's really interesting! Keep to do it as well!
Lydia Ramsey: Good job on your essay! It's really informative!
Workers in America. “Back in the old days” people could have not went to school and get an education but still work and raise families. In this time things have changed and many people can’t do that. How could they do it “back then?” Things were cheaper; people had a different mindset than what they have now. People worked when they were young and still got bye. There is a good and bad side to that. People need a good education. Back then things were cheaper and they didn’t need as much money as we have to have now.
ReplyDeleteMajor strikes. I think people in those days (1850-1930) really desired to work. They realized that it was important to work and be able to raise your own family. The strikes were strikes about labor and how important it was to them. A long with having and them needing to work I think the realized that they loved to work. Our generation needs to get back in that mindset that we need to and have to work and we need to love it. Like I said people went on strikes to work and they showed that they loved to work, even though times were tough and they didn’t get payed as much as we do now.
Bobby: You did great on your essay! I love how you put that question that we discussed in class at the beginning!! I could tell you put some time and thought into it!! Good Job!
ReplyDeleteRebecca: I like how you put the definition of an entrepreneur and I like the detail on the ages!! You also put some time and thought into your essay (like always!)
Marta: I really loved your essay!!! I like how you talked about leaders and why we need a leader I agree with your thoughts. If we didn’t have a leader there would be a lot of arguments on what should go.
jesse: you did a really good job on your essay! it was very informative and i really understood it well when i read yours!
ReplyDeletelydia: well of course all of your essays are wonderful and perfect haha but this one was really explanatory on the subject and i really got it!