![]() He argued that although competition in business widened the gap between the rich and poor, it also insured the “survival of the fittest” and was essential to human progress. His article “Wealth,” which was first published in the North American Review in 1889 and was later included in his book Gospel of Wealth (1900), drew on the then‐popular ideas of social Darwinism. Out of that sale came the United States Steel Corporation, the largest company in the world at that time, controlling 200 subsidiaries and employing more than 168,000 people.Ĭarnegie was also a philosopher of the new industrial age. Pierpont Morgan in 1901 for just under $500 million. Carnegie sold his company to a group of investors led by J. This concept of controlling the manufacture of a product from the raw material stage to the sale of the finished product is known as vertical integration. While acquiring other steel companies that were unable to compete against his highly efficient operations, Carnegie also bought iron ore deposits as well as steamships and railroad cars, which were used to ship ore to his plants and goods to his customers. The bulk of the production at the turn of the century was in the hands of a single company, Carnegie Steel, founded by Scottish immigrant and railroad entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie. With the introduction of such new technology as the Bessemer converter and the open hearth process, the amount of steel produced in the United States went from 77,000 tons in 1870 to over 10 million tons in 1900. The steel and oil industries are good examples of this trend.Īndrew Carnegie and the steel industry. Big business also meant consolidation entire industries were controlled by a handful of companies as competition led to new forms of business organization. ![]() In almost every industry, the number of factory workers grew, and by 1900, manufacturing plants with over 1,000 employees - something unheard of 30 years earlier - were commonplace. During this period, the movement of the production of goods out of small shops and mills and into factories increased tremendously. ![]() The term “big business” is often used to characterize industrial expansion after the Civil War.
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