Building Power In The 19th Century

Submitted By CharlieRocks
Words: 1551
Pages: 7

CORPORATIONS GAINING POWER IN THE 19TH CENTURY

HIST102 I028 FALL 12
NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Between 1840 and 1860 corporations were the way to finance and organize a business. By 1860 most major rail systems were apart of the eastern industry with western and southern agriculture. The up coming of transportation, communications, and production made it very hard for all corporations to have a lot of competition amongst each other. By the end of the nineteenth century huge corporations ruled the United States economy . At the beginning of the century corporations were not very large yet do to it being family owned and operated with know partnership to branch out on a bigger scale. The really large corporations were the iron foundries and the shipyards with around about 50 or more workers on hand. Corporations started to arise and become more efficient around 1815 from the increase of machinery. Corporations started to find themselves with investors coming there way which then also lead to the creating of Wall Street. Once this all took place corporations found themselves at ease with multiple ways to expand the re business. Once Corporations found a way to better grow and branch out. Railroads were the most popular way of get out there goods instead of the older traditional ways of rivers and roads. Railroad companies were established and made up there own staff so that people and goods could be transported together organized. The Employees of the railroads were extremely professional and have to be trained to meet there standards of work which also lead to well salary pay. These goods for transportation ranged to just about everything and the tickets were fairly affordable for anyone to purchase and travel along the railroad to different destinations . Coal soon became the main product for the newer machines in factories. These machines produced a lot more product that how it was originally done so. Coal fueled the machinery to build up steam which in turn the steam made the machinery function at its maximum effort. “The development in the 1880s of continuous-process technology, whereby a series of integrated machines processed raw materials into finished products in a matter of hours, contributed to astronomical increases in the production of a diverse group of items, such as cigarettes, matches, soap, photographic negatives, flour, and canned goods“. (Carey ) Due to mass production there was now a need for professional management. Hundreds of workers began to work for these vast growing corporations and had to be trained mostly on the job. Openings in the higher management began to come into play making sure these hundreds of workers were doing there jobs properly. “General managers and their staffs made sure that the various departments worked together in harmony, thus guaranteeing the steady flow of finished products from plant to public”. (Carey ) “On the one hand giant corporations created millions of jobs for unskilled and property less workers, many of whom were immigrants, thereby enabling them to support their families“. (Carey) Many intelligent average people of middle class earnings were now able to make a difference with themselves on earning a lot more income on changing to management levels . Workers were although very vulnerable to economic downturns and from there employers. Workers had to accept dangerous working conditions along with long hours and poor low pay from these large corporations . These highly paid employers took up about seventy five percent of the American wealth while the rest lived in poverty. The rise of corporations in the nineteenth century played a key role in mass production of goods and changing the way of how to transport goods across the United States. Looking over how this took place from machines becoming instated so mass production of goods from raw material to