HIST 2620 Section 008 Lecture 9 Outline of Last Lecture 1 Three Geographic zones of Development c New South Movement continued i Scale of the expansion ii Causes of the boom iii Leading industries Outline of Current Lecture 2 Three Geographic zones of Development c Industrial Boom in the North cont d i Philosophy of big business ii Organizing labor movement Current Lecture I Industrial Boom in the North cont d a Philosophy of big business i Social Darwinism 1 Life is a constant struggle for existence in which those best adapted to the world around them will succeed In a social sense succeeding in business 2 Benefits competitiveness allows big businesses to succeed more and more the weak businesses are thus weeded out Successful business men saw this as advancing society you aren t making someone bankrupt you re just helping society 3 Side Effects A social Darwinist would be against labor unions because they treat all the workers the same and the business men want to allow people to compete for things and money is an incentive to do that Also paying the employees the same rewards the slow workers and makes the fast workers want to stop trying 4 Side Effects A social Darwinist would be against government regulation because it protects the weak Government regulation of business interferes with the natural selection of the best b Organizing the labor movement i Less than 10 of industrial labor belonged to labor unions despite horrible conditions These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute 1 The labor movement is subdivided into different ethnic groups an Irishman would not join a labor union with an Englishmen 2 Big business opposed labor unions Sometimes thugs were hired to beat up union men 3 The American Dream was rags to riches so they thought they d eventually get rich They saw labor unions as giving up a Carnegie was an immigrant child who went from rags to the 2nd richest man in US history Other immigrants used those types of stories as an example of what to do ii 2 Important national labor organizations 1 Knights of Labor blue collar men Founded in 1869 during reconstruction Anyone could join even employers They wanted to reform society Strikes and boycotts were considered too confrontational They said any disputes between the company and the workers should be settled via arbitration a Arbitration each side submits it s side in the dispute to a neutral third party and make their argument The arbiter makes the decision b Late 1880s the Knights of Labor membership began to diminish They didn t offer any immediate observable benefits 2 American Federation of Labor organized in 1886 It is a group of unions most of which were unions of skilled workers They had membership restrictions They used strikes and boycotts Their demands higher wages shorter work weeks better working conditions They wanted the tax bracket more you make more you pay Wanted government to own railroad so private companies didn t overcharge a Samuel Gompers of the AFL union of cigar makers b AFL is still in place today It was more successful because it had more direct change