Inequalities In The Second Industrial Revolution

Inequalities still exists in todays world. We still have strikes. We still want better pay. People will always want more than what they are given. The years between 1865 and 1915 can more of less be summarized as the Second Industrial Revolution in America. The first Industrial Revolution was a transitioning period to new processes of manufacturing. This involved going from using machines over a more hands on approach of production, new iron production processes, an increase in steam power, a better way to harness water power, and a big rise in the use of factories. This put many of people out of jobs.

Like the first Industrial Revolution, the Second Industrial Revolution was also a period of quick industrial development in the United States. During this time the United States built a lot of railroads, developed an even
larger scale of iron and steel production, a widespread use of machinery in the manufacturing process, an even bigger use of steam power, a widespread use of a new invention known as the telegraph, and the beginning of the use of electricity.

The years between “1870 and 1890 saw what was considered the greatest increase in the economic growth”( (Life in Industrial America)), in what was a relatively short period of time. It was actually the greatest increase in economic growth in United States history. Due to this, living standards improved significantly. This was caused by the price of goods falling dramatically due to the increase in productivity in the country. As a result of this, unemployment rose greatly. Part of this was because many of the laborers were being replaced by machines and factories. So, while the country was prospering and making numerous advances, a lot of people who weren’t so wealthy weren’t benefitting from it at all. It was actually hurting them due to many of them being out of work.

In 1889, British author Rudyard Kipling visited Chicago, and he described it as ‘a city captivated by technology and blinded by greed’. (Kilpling) He described it as a rushed city, with miles and miles of terrible roads, and terrible people. “I listened to people who said that the mere fact of spiking down strips of iron to wood, and getting a steam and iron thing to run along them was progress, that the telephone was progress, and the net-work of wires overhead was progress. They repeated their statements again and again”, said Kipling.

Chicago embodied the Second Industrial Revolution. It’s meat packing industry was a perfect example as to what America was becoming, and what was taking place all over the country. *The last several years of the 1800’s was filled with the formation of big corporations, which were ran by trained salaried managers and beaurocrats doing national and international business. Chicago’s meat packing industry consisted of five firms, and between those five firms, they produced four fifths of the meat consumed by Americans. * (American Emprire)

Like other industries in Chicago, the meat packing industry was closely tied to immigration and urbanization. The city was rapidly growing. In the year of 1850, Chicago’s population was around 30,000 people. Twenty years later, the population was around 300,000 people. Fast forward to The Great Chicago Fire in 1871. The fire consumed 3.5 square miles and left a third of the people of Chicago homeless. Despite the great loss, Chicago rebounded quickly, and continued its “rapid growth. By the start of the 20th century, Chicago was home to roughly 1.7 million people.” (American Empire) What was happening in Chicago was a great example as to what was happening everywhere else in the country. “By 1870, almost a quarter of the nations inhabitants lived in cities or places with a population greater than 2,500. 50 years later, a majority of them lived in such places.” Life in Industrial America) Many of these people came from rural America, while the others immigrated overseas. “By 1900, about 80% of Chicago’s residents were immigrants, or the children of immigrants”(Life in Industrial America). This was around the time that the new industrial ways of production were taking place in the United States. With this, came the rise of cities, the change of American Immigration, a change in American labor, the making of mass culture, the formation of concentrated wealth, the emergence of a middle class, the rise of poverty, widening inequalities, the destruction of independent farming, breakthrough technologies, and the destruction of the environment. Industrialization and mass “production thrusted America forwards as one of the leading producers in the world, and by 1913, the United States produced one third of the worlds output.” (Life in Industrial America)

Industrial capitalism made the greatest advances in productivity that the world has ever seen.
It also created millions of low paid, unskilled, and unreliable jobs with long hours and awful, dangerous working conditions. Industrial capitalism also created many inequalities. The sudden, and extreme wealth of industrial leaders and owners far outweighed that of rural and urban Americans. Theses included railroad tycoons such as Cornelious Vanderbuilt, oilmen like J.D. Rockefeller, steel owners such as Andrew Carnegie, and bankers like J.P. Morgan. These people earned such fortunes that, even when accounting for inflation, are the largest that the country has ever seen. It was astonishing. “In 1890, the wealthiest one percent of America’s inhabitants owned own about a quarter of the nations assets, and the top ten percent owner about seventy percent of the nations assets.” (Terence V) Sadly, thanks to such things such as Social Darwinism, inequalities like this weren’t just tolerated, but encouraged. Social Darwinism believe all growth should occur at the top, that the strong should get stronger, and not bother with uplifting the
weak.

Due to the majority of Americans not accepting such things, many of them went on strikes. They wanted things like higher wages, better working conditions, and shorter work days. Mergers among larger companies made this worse, and only widened the gap. Those who profited, profited greatly. There was no distribution of wealth “The wealthy got wealthier, and it was all at the expense of the laborers, who got paid poorly and worked in horrible conditions.” (Terence V)

Granted, we still have inequalities today. We still have strikes today. We have those who are rich, those who are somewhere in the middle, and some who are living in poverty. It may not be as noticeable now, and the gaps may not seem that wide, but they exist.