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Both Carnegie and Rockefeller was real asses, but with no income tax C. libraries had a lot to do with the need for functional literacy in his slave work force. R. wasn't much better; tipped a dime, I believe?? Having said that, they at least put their stolen money to work.
These gentlemen may have been asses, but they were truly innovative in their development of oil and steel industries. They didn't "steal" anything, they just used the tough business tactics that all businesspeople used back in their days.
People quit working for Carnegie and Rockefeller all of the time, they weren't "slaves". My own grandfather quit the steel biz to start farming.
Men on a steel mill labor gang didn't have to be literate in order to be successful. In any event, Carnegie put many of his libraries far away from any of his factories and did much of his philanthropy after his retirement from the steel industry in 1901.
Both Carnegie and Rockefeller was real asses, but with no income tax C. libraries had a lot to do with the need for functional literacy in his slave work force. R. wasn't much better; tipped a dime, I believe?? Having said that, they at least put their stolen money to work.
Homesteading was about to open up. Grandfather spent his early life in Boston and New York and the last of his life in the bush. I'm beginning to understand why. Watch "Gangs of New York"; it wasn't much beyond to truth of life in the big city.
Sympathy,help, jobs, and connection was largely class, church, and language based, not merit.
Hey, are we on the way back to that???
Carnegie spent the last years of his life giving his money away, because he came to the conclusion that it was obscene for anyone to be that rich. He made a fortune in the railroad industry, but then became one of the pioneers of philanthropy.
Both Carnegie and Rockefeller was real asses, but with no income tax C. libraries had a lot to do with the need for functional literacy in his slave work force. R. wasn't much better; tipped a dime, I believe?? Having said that, they at least put their stolen money to work.
Homesteading was about to open up. Grandfather spent his early life in Boston and New York and the last of his life in the bush. I'm beginning to understand why. Watch "Gangs of New York"; it wasn't much beyond to truth of life in the big city.
Sympathy,help, jobs, and connection was largely class, church, and language based, not merit.
Hey, are we on the way back to that???
Carnegie had several libraries out here, but as far as I know he had no businesses out here.
Stolen money? Please explain how they stole their money. Didn't they produce something other people wanted at a price they were willing to pay? How is that stealing? You wouldn't happen to be a bit bitter and prejudiced, would you?
Tipped a dime? Wasn't that was worth about $10-$15 in today's money?
Homesteading opened up in the 1860s. By the time we're discussing most of the good land had been taken and homesteading was--for practical purposes--closer to closing up. Homesteading remained open (might even still be open today) but by the mid-1880s the good land had all been pretty well taken.
Don't know what you studied in place of History son, but there was very little accuracy in it. I would suggest you read a few actual History books. I would suggest anything printed before 1970.
My grandmother came over from Germany in the late 1800's with her family and she and her sisters were kind of farmed out as domestic help to other families. I have the postcards they sent to each other and it is heartbreaking to read of the loneliness and sadness of not being with their families.
They were just young teens. There were some good times, though, later on, with the greetings sent from Coney Island and the beaches. My grandfather came over from Ireland and he died in the early 1950's from an allergy to penicillin. It was, as I have been told, a new drug and hailed as a miracle. Well, not for him. It killed him.
I have quite a collection of post cards from my grandmother and some of the humorous ones are so racist it is actually shocking but also hysterical to see the thinking back then.
It's worth watching the PBS series 1900 House if you can find it. It gives a great contrast into a lot of daily things we take for granted today - heat, cooking, laundry, transport, even shampoo!
I wish more people would make the effort to understand these things.
My grandmother, born 1904, would go down to the farmer, pick out a chicken, he'd kill it and hand it to her, and she'd come home, pluck it and prepare it. That took the better part of the morning. It took all morning just to do laundry on Tuesday and ironing on Wednesday.
And people wonder WHY women took care of the house? SOMEBODY HAD TO! I guess now they just expect it to all get done by magic and have the kids raise themselves.
My great-grandmother was born in the 1880s in a farming community in the Pacific Northwest. As a schoolgirl she played baseball with boys and girls (Dutchmen v. Irishmen). Boys went swimming in the creeks, but girls weren't allowed to swim because the boys swam naked. Schoolchildren memorized "pieces" and recited them for parents and community - this was a big social event. They also had spelling bees and ciphering contests.
The kids liked knocking over the school outhouses and playing tricks on the teacher.
Once she was done at the local school (grade 8?) she spent most of her time working on the family farm - milking cows, making cheese, tending chickens, etc. There were community dances, usually held in a barn.
It was dull and boring. There were no TVs, no computers, no Facebook, no smart phones, no cars, nada. People woke up at the crack of dawn, worked on the farms, then after eating dinner, sat in chairs and stared at each other, saying nothing.
In the 1890s, the railroads had already created major change, but now the trolleys and electric railroads were starting and beginning to create the first suburbs (which created more money for the trolley companies and allowed those who worked in cities to have some of the peace of the country). The trolleys also did away with horse dung in the street and flies and saved transportation. The numbers of horses in close quarters in cities had created an epidemic of horse deaths. Boston was particularly hard hit.
What many don't realize is that rail transportation was MUCH faster then than after WWII, with a few routes excepted. The Columbian Exposition in Chicago was a major event with electric lighting and many innovations.
The two giant culture changers had not yet made the scene - radio and tv were the first entertainments that took people indoors and isolated them into a passive role, completely changing social dynamics. Prior to that, people were outside and socializing MUCH more than today. Neighbors took a keen interest in other neighbors. Mail was more like email. Some places had five deliveries of mail per day and people wrote incessantly.
Vaudeville, stage plays, and concerts were more common and there were Chautauqua talks etc. Schools were not state or Federally influenced but funded locally and often small.
Work in factories was a mixed bag. It allowed young women with almost no prospects to get off the farms and into a protected (paternalistic) environment where they could help support their families. The work was long hours and time was very structured though. There were waves of migrations to the west fueled in part by the land granted to railroads in return for building the transcontinental line.
There was much more than this going on, the beginning of the Belle Epoch, changes from cast iron to steel, the development of the modern fiction novels, etc.
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What made America great
