Labor in the age of industrialization

During the late 19th century and early 20th century, there was much labor conflict in the railroad, steel and mining industries.  In the 1880's there was estimated to have been 500 strikes a year, involving a whopping amount of 150,000 employees, and by 1890, 500 went to 1,000, involving 700,000 workers.  By the 1900's, the number of strikes became 4,000 a year.  500 times or so, the Government would would send federal troops or militias to put down Labor strikes.  There was many a bloody incident involving state militias, private police forces and federal troops.

"During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, labor struggles were more acute in the United States than in many European countries. Today, in contrast, labor relations in the United States are more cooperative and less conflict-ridden than elsewhere. The story of how the United States forged an enduring and workable system of collective bargaining after more than half a century of bitter struggles is one of the most important themes in modern American history." -Digital history.

The University

The Gilded age brought about a major intellectual institution to America: the university.  These universities were modeled after the ones in Germany. They offered graduate and professional training in medicine, engineering, law and other fields, as we;; as undergraduate's training.

"By the 1890s, universities began to borrow organizations and procedures from business. University presidents delegated responsibility to subordinates known as the administration. University education was better organized numerically, with credit hours, grade points. The faculty divided into departments and divisions. Modern higher education had been born."
(digital history, the university.)

The Wizard Of Menlo Park

The New York World of 1901 had many a name for him.

"Our Greatest Living American," 

"The Foremost Creative and Constructive Mind of This Country,"and "Our True National Genius."

Micky Rooney and Spencer Tracy both portrayed him in the movies.

Thomas Edison was well known and considered a genius by most that knew of him.  He had 1,093 patents to his name, and made way for many electricity based technologies long before the physics of electricity was understood.  His invention's list are as follows:

The Electric Light

The Dictating Machine

The Electrified Railroad

The Fluorescent Lamp

The Mimeograph Machine

 The Movie Camera

The Phonograph

Portland cement

Wax paper

It is said, however, that his greatest invention was the development of the modern research laboratory, and a research team. 

He was born in Ohio, 1847.  When he was just ten years old, he had a small chemical lab in his cellar and was working a home made telegraph.  He even worked a small job when he was twelve, but due to a fire caused by one of his experiments, he lost his job.  He was partially deaf, and was made fun of b his fell class mates.  His teacher then pronounced his mind as "addled," and because of this, he never finished grade school.  His mother took him out of school and educated him herself.  Years later, Edison said that being deaf had saved him from many distractions.

                                               

His first invention to make money was a "tickler tape to convey stock market prices to brokerage houses." (Digital History.) Edison became a millionaire in his forties.  He was devoted to his work.  With the exception of five minute naps, Edison worked 24 hours straight.  One of his famous quotes states:  

"Genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine perspiration."  

Not everyone saw Edison as the genius he was, however.  In 1877, Thomas Edison announced his invention, the Phonograph.  A Yale University professor told the New York Sun that "the idea of a talking machine is ridiculous."

Contrary to popular belief, Edison did not invent the light bulb.  He found a way to make it durable and inexpensive. He promised to make light bulbs "so cheap, only the wealthy will be able to afford to burn candles."  He tested over 6,000 filaments to make it long lasting.  He employed over 200 laboratory assistants and machinists as his facilities in Menlo Park and West Orange, N.J.   In the mid 1910's, His West Orange factory had 10,000 employees.  He had a goal to have "a minor invention every ten days, and a big thing every six months or so."    He was the first inventor to have major corporations be willing to finance his inventions.  He formed links with Cornelius Vanderbilt (who owned Western Union and the telegraph company) and J.P. Morgan.

He make some mistakes, as all people do. He pushed for direct current when George Westinghouse pushed for alternating current.  He stuck with a battery powered electric car, when Henry Ford went out for a cheaper gas-powered vehicle.

Being the prankster he was known to be, he gave his children nicknames, Dash and Dot. He also proposed to his second wife in Morse Code.

Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland was the first Democrat to be elected as president after the Civil War.  He was a single man when he was elected his first term, and he became the first president to be wed in the White House. Frances Folsom was twenty seven years younger than her husband when they were wed.  Grover Cleveland was not only the first to be married in the White House, but the first to have children while in office.  The Baby Ruth candy bar is named for one of his children.

The Cleveland Wedding

When Grover Cleveland was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock, he immediately admitted that the accusation was true.  He also admitted that he had paid a substitute to take his place in the Civil War.  

"What is the use of being elected or reelected unless you stand for something?" was Grover Cleveland's response to being warned, that if he should fight for lower tariffs, it could cost him the election of 1888.  Benjamin Harrison was his successor in the Electoral College, even though Cleveland won the popular vote of over 90,000 votes.  However, he failed to win the votes of his home state, New York.  

"As president, he signed the Indian Emancipation Act, established the Departments of Agriculture and of Labor, lowered tariffs, and successfully defended the gold standard." -Digital History.

The Gilded Age: The election of 1884

 

The Presidential campaign of 1884 is one of the most remembered in American History.  The Republican nominee was James G. Blaine.  He was christened with the nick name "Plumed Knight," but unhappy Republican reformers saw Blaine as a symbol of corruption.  These unhappy Republicans decided that they would bolt their own party and support a Democrat, as long as he was an honorable and decent man.  The man Grover Cleveland seemed to fit their qualifications.  He had started out as sheriff of Erie County.  Whilst there, he personally hung two murders, "to spare the sensitivities of his subordinates." (Digital History, The Election of 1884.) Cleveland was known as the "veto" Mayor of Buffalo for rejecting Political Graft.

Grover Cleveland and James G. Blaine

As Governor, Grover Cleveland refused to be associated with Tammany Hall.

Tammany Hall, 1884.

The Republicans attacked Cleveland, waving the "bloody flag" because Cleveland had hired a substitute to take his place in the Civil War.  The Democrats fought back, however, attacking Blaine by publishing letters from a Boston bookkeeper, stating that Blaine had personally benefited from helping a railroad keep a land grant. Democrats would chant: 

"Blaine! Blaine! James G. Blaine!  The Continental Liar from the State of Maine!"

Then, the newspaper threw Cleveland a hard ball. The headline, "A Terrible Tale," caught many an eye, but it was the story beneath it that had made their eyes pop.  The newspaper conveyed the Grover Cleveland had a child out of wedlock.  The Republicans charged that Grover Cleveland had put the mother in the Insane Asylum, and had put the child in an orphanage. The Republicans would chant: "Ma, Ma, where's my pa?"  The Democrats would reply:  "Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!"  

Despite this, Blaine lost the popular vote anyway.  The phrase "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion" had caused him to lose New York by 1,149 votes.  Although Cleveland had won by Popular vote, he lost the electoral vote to Republican Benjamin Harrison in 1888.

Benjamin Harrison.

Grover Cleveland was reelected in 1892, all thanks to a Third party movement: The Populists. But his second term was ruined by the economic depression of the mid 1890's.

In the end, Grover Cleveland's policies were repudiated by his own party. 

(Digital History, The Election Of 1884.)