Carnegie applied vertical integration taking control of all the steel-making process while still forcing employees to work long hours at low wages. A large amount of European immigrants were arriving in the United States very quickly. In 1850, there were 30,000 people in Chicago. By 1900, 1.7 million people were in Chicago. The demand for housing increased along with the population, so Dumbbell tenants were built to provide housing for 700 people in places like New York City. George M. Pullman built the town of Pullman just south of Chicago to provide housing for his workers, he controlled many aspects of their lives this way. Eventually, the Panic of 1893 occured and Pullman had to lay off his workers, but he didn 't decrease the cost to live in his city which resulted in the Pullman Strike. George M. Pullman decided to go to Washington D.C. to inform the government about the strike. Later on, the strike was ruled a federal crime because it was abstructing the delivery of mail. The average idustrial worker 's salary was $625, the average farmer 's salary was $260, and the poverty line was at $500. The Railroad industry had tons of money invested into it, the government awarded generous land subsidies, and bankers like J.P. Morgan provided the financial capital needed by the industry. J.P. Morgan saved the United States from bankruptcy twice. Our …show more content…
In my opinion, progressivisim had the most effect on the United States because progressivies ended corruption in government, businesses, and helped the economy gradually get better. Muckrakers like Lincoln Steffens exposed aspects of american by writing about poverty, and corruption in local governments. The city manager plan reduced the corruption in cities by dividing the city into districts which brought decision making to a whole city commission. Upton Sinclair, wrote "The Jungle" it talked about scandolous working conditions in Chicago 's meat packing industry. "The Jungle" was so popular that it led President Roosevelt to pass the Pure food and drug act as well as the Meat Inspection Act. Sinclair 's story helped bring inspectors into the meat packing factories to check for unsanitary work environments. President Wilson passed the Federal Reserve Act which took money out of private hands, puting the government in control of banking. This act helped the economy gradually get better by establishing 12 federal reserve districts, each controlled private banks in the region. The United States economy grew stronger, allowing foreign trade to bring more