Good And Bad Effects During Gild Age

The Gilded Age describe the post-Civil War period in US history. It refers to the political and economic situation of the United States from approximately 1890 to 1910. The expansion of commerce and heavy industry, petroleum, banking, mercantilist economic policies, and federal railway subsidies created successful businessmen. Society called them sometimes the robber barons. They create “The monopoly” which is a business that by a lack of economic competition it controls almost the majority or all of the market for a specific good or service. During the Gilded Age many areas of the US economy were dominated by monopolistic companies that drove competitions out of business.

In the Gilded Age monopoly controlled and centralized management bringing positive things for United States. It helped to transform United States from a simple country of farms, small towns, and small manufacturing business to a nation of large cities and factories. New brand technologies like skyscrapers, bridges, street lighting, water and sewage system made life simpler to society. Also, society became more educated by constructions of museums, theaters, libraries and schools which create a new ethical culture. In the economy increase the overall living standard of the middle class (clerks, salespeople), prices of products get lower. Factories could have more efficiency and output with fast and accurate machines. One of the most important types of transportation was the railroad make possible reach interior areas, including places where water supplies were impossible. The production of oil where John D. Rockefeller was the owner holding about 95 percent of the refining capacity of the country, was an important step because everything required oil during that era: factory machines, ships, and so on.

Throughout the Gilded Age there were several positive with the monopoly, as well as negative effects. The corruption was one of the most appreciable things during the Gilded Age. In the industrialization businessmen started to cut low the cost of wages to $400- 500 per year when owners’ enterprise earned over 40 million. They added severe work rules, as increasing the average work week to 60 hours long. Also owners fired many traditional skill workers by replacing them with machines because machines reduced labor costs. That creates slums areas. Another cruelest effect in the industrialization was seeing children working in factories. The creation of Monopolies passed that in many industries only one enterprise controlled more than 50% of the total product, so enterprise can cut prices to eliminate rivals and drive them out competition.

With the negative effects about monopoly workers started to create modern labor union like Knights of Labor, National Labor Union, American Federation of Labor (AFL) which help to maintain the dignity of American laborers. Making labor union caused that workers could have

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