Big business in the Gilded Age: steel, oil, railroads and inventors

Grade 11 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Wealth, steel and the law, 1889 to 1911 (cards A to H and two tables). Card C, how big was Standard Oil? Two estimates (Summary in our words, not a quotation): The Rockefeller Archive Center estimates Standard Oil's share of the nation's petroleum business in the 1890s at 75 percent. A Yale University history teaching unit puts the Trust's share of refined oil at around 90 percent. The two figures measure different things and come from different sources.

2. 1.

   Card C gives 75 percent and about 90 percent for Standard Oil. How can both come from careful sources, Pia asks?

   • They measure different things (the petroleum business and refined oil) from different sources
   • The Yale figure is right because the Trust was the larger source, so 75 percent is out of date
   • Both measure the Trust's share of refined oil, but in different years of the 1890s
   • One must be wrong, because careful sources give the same figure for a company's share of a market

3. Raw steel by process

   Columns Year | All raw steel (1,000 short tons) | Bessemer (1,000 short tons) | Open hearth (1,000 short tons). Row 1: 1900 | 11,227 | 7,481 | 3,638. Row 2: 1905 | 21,880 | 12,231 | 9,537. Row 3: 1910 | 28,330 | 10,478 | 17,672. Two small kinds of steel, crucible and electric, are not shown, so the columns add to a little less than the total. Data: US Census Bureau, Historical Statistics of the United States (1975 edition), series P 265-267, p. 693 (figures of the American Iron and Steel Institute).

4. 2.

   Ren's classmate says Bessemer steel had disappeared by 1910. What does the table let Ren reply?

   • The classmate is wrong, because Bessemer led in 1910 with about 62 percent of the steel
   • The classmate is wrong, because Bessemer's share rose in each period from 1900 to 1910
   • Bessemer still made 10,478 thousand tons in 1910, about 37 percent, down from its 1905 level but not gone
   • The classmate is right, because Bessemer output fell after 1900 and open hearth took over completely by 1910

5. Railroads, locomotives and steel

   Year	Miles of road operated	Locomotives (1,000)	Raw steel (1,000 short tons)
   1880	93,262	17.9	1,397
   1890	166,703	31.8	4,779

   Locomotives are rounded to the nearest hundred. Data: US Census Bureau, Historical Statistics of the United States (1975 edition), series Q 321 and Q 324, p. 731, and series P 265, pp. 693-694.

6. 3.

   Tala's classmate says locomotives grew faster than track from 1880 to 1890, so each mile of track got busier. What does the table let Tala reply?

   • The classmate is wrong, because the table shows each locomotive hauled the same load in both years
   • Locomotives and track both grew about 78 to 79 percent, so miles per engine stayed near 5.2
   • The classmate is right, because the 1890 row has more locomotives than the 1880 row
   • The classmate is right, because locomotives rose by 13.9 thousand and track by just 73,441 miles
7. 4.

   From 1880 to 1890 steel output rose faster than track miles and locomotives. Which claim do the data support, Zee asks?

   • Steel output rose because railroads grew, since both rose between 1880 and 1890
   • Track grew faster than steel, since 166,703 miles is a bigger number than 4,779 thousand tons
   • Railroads used most of the steel made in 1890, because track and engines both nearly doubled
   • Steel rose faster than track miles, but the table cannot show how much steel went into rails
8. 5.

   Compare the 1895 ruling with the 1904 and 1911 rulings in card E. What does Ari find?

   • The Court read the Act narrowly in 1895 but backed suits to break up combinations in 1904 and 1911
   • The Court's change came because President Roosevelt appointed new judges between the years 1895 and 1904
   • The government lost the three cases, because the Act did not reach combinations of companies
   • The Court backed breaking up combinations in 1895 but ruled for big business in 1904 and 1911

9. Use this

   Wealth, steel and the law, 1889 to 1911 (cards A to H and two tables). Card A, Andrew Carnegie, a steel maker, in a magazine essay, June 1889: "This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of Wealth: First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious [not showy] living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate [fair] wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community—the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren …" Card B, what Carnegie did after 1901 (Summary in our words, not a quotation, from the National Park Service): After he sold his share of Carnegie Steel in 1901, Andrew Carnegie gave more money to communities for library buildings. He also set up charitable trusts, each with a task of its own.

10. 6.

    Card A says the wealthy should treat surplus as trust funds for the community. Card B reports gifts after 1901. What do the cards show together, Bo asks?

    • The essay caused the gifts, since the gifts began after the essay was published in 1889
    • The gifts fit his stated duty, but the cards cannot show whether he met it or how he treated workers
    • Carnegie lived by his own rule, since the library gifts show that he gave away his whole surplus wealth to communities
    • The essay was public relations, so the gifts tell nothing about whether he meant what he wrote
11. 7.

    A note says 'The Sherman Act ended the trusts.' Which edit does card E support best, Jun asks?

    • The Act was used to break up some combinations, such as Northern Securities in 1904 and Standard Oil in 1911
    • The Act was used against the sugar company in 1895 and against no other company at any time
    • The Act was struck down in 1911, when the Court gave Standard Oil six months to continue as before
    • The Act ended large combinations by 1895, when the Court enforced it against the sugar company and its allies

12. Use this

    Wealth, steel and the law, 1889 to 1911 (cards A to H and two tables). Card C, how big was Standard Oil? Two estimates (Summary in our words, not a quotation): The Rockefeller Archive Center estimates Standard Oil's share of the nation's petroleum business in the 1890s at 75 percent. A Yale University history teaching unit puts the Trust's share of refined oil at around 90 percent. The two figures measure different things and come from different sources. Card D, two judgments of big business leaders (Summary in our words, not a quotation): In the late 1800s Americans argued about the great business leaders. Henry Demarest Lloyd saw them as monopolists and profiteers who blocked rivals. Edward Atkinson held that they made Americans better off through new ways of managing, financing and producing. Two labels are used: "robber barons," which many people took from medieval lords who made boats pay tolls, and "captains of industry," a term for the leaders of big business. Which label fits is a question historians have argued over, and this sheet does not choose.

13. 8.

    Lloyd (card D) says Standard Oil blocked rivals; Atkinson says such leaders made Americans better off. Which evidence would best test their disagreement about buyers, Luz asks?

    • The share of the market, 75 or 90 percent, since a larger share means higher prices for consumers
    • Lloyd's description of the Trust in the 1880s, since a critic knew its business in great detail and from close study
    • The Trust's $70 million in capital, since a large sum shows that prices must have been high
    • Prices consumers paid for refined oil before and after consolidation, set against the Trust's costs

14. Use this

    Wealth, steel and the law, 1889 to 1911 (cards A to H and two tables). Card A, Andrew Carnegie, a steel maker, in a magazine essay, June 1889: "This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of Wealth: First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious [not showy] living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate [fair] wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community—the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren …" Card B, what Carnegie did after 1901 (Summary in our words, not a quotation, from the National Park Service): After he sold his share of Carnegie Steel in 1901, Andrew Carnegie gave more money to communities for library buildings. He also set up charitable trusts, each with a task of its own.

15. 9.

    A note says 'Carnegie began giving money away in 1901 because his 1889 essay told rich men to.' Which edit do cards A and B support best, Milo asks?

    • He gave nothing before 1901, because card B names no earlier gift, and the essay led to the gifts
    • He sold his share of Carnegie Steel in 1901 to pay for the library buildings his essay urged
    • He gave less after 1901, because he set up trusts instead of making gifts to towns
    • He gave more after 1901 and the essay urged giving, but the cards do not show when he began
16. 10.

    The United States sued the Standard Oil combination in 1906, and the Supreme Court ruled in 1911 (card E). What does Noah learn about enforcing the Act?

    • The ruling came before the suit, since the Court gave the company six months to respond
    • A suit took about one year to reach a final ruling, so the Act worked quickly in practice for the courts
    • A suit took about five years to reach a final ruling, so the Act's effect depended on court action
    • The suit took five years because the Trust fought it with delays and appeals