During the great surge of industrial growth between 1865 and 1900, the work force expanded enormously, especially in the heavy industries. But the new workers suffered in times of economic depression. Strikes, sometimes accompanied by viole
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The factory system that developed around 1800 changed working conditions markedly. The employer no longer worked side-by-side with his employees. He became an executive, and, as machines took over manufacturing tasks, skilled workmen saw th
Continue reading >>It was America's good fortune to be spared the devastation suffered by other nations during the 20th century's two world wars. By the end of World War II in 1945, the United States had the greatest productive capacity of any country in the
Continue reading >>The census of 1890 was the first in which the output of America's factories exceeded the output of its farms. Afterwards U.S. industry went through a period of rapid expansion. By 1913, more than one-third of the world's industrial producti
Continue reading >>When U.S. automaker Henry Ford published his autobiography, My Life and Work, in 1922, he used his chapter headings to frame a series of questions: "How Cheaply Can Things Be Made?" "Money -- Master or Servant?" "Why Be Poor?"
Continue reading >>Overall, American agriculture has been a notable success story. American consumers pay less for their food than those in many other industrial countries, and one-third of the cropland in the United States produces crops destined for export.
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