In the mid to late 1800's, the movement towards industrialization swept.
through the United States, expanding at an exponential rate. Different industries were .
booming and became what was known as Big Businesses. Big business is a term given to.
a company which produces a vast amount of product, generates a great deal of profit, and .
controls a good portion of its industry. Big Businesses still exist today, with companies .
like Microsoft and such other major corporations, but not as it was in the time of its .
initialization. Unlike today, the big businesses of the nineteenth century had no legislation.
which restricted any of their actions or policies, and any which came along initially was .
weak at best. Big business presented a problem to all parts of society but itself. Even .
though it helped to industrialize and capitalize this country, it had a negative effect on .
the business world and consumer world. Big business hurt workers through destroying.
sense of identity in the workplace, and by paying poor wages and neglecting the .
conditions of plants and factories; consumers suffered because monopolization by .
big tycoons allowed prices to skyrocket; and again due to monopolies, the aspect of .
competition, which kept the markets balanced, was destroyed.
Big businesses were extremely oppressive to their workers, and neglected.
the well-being of the people who put in the back-breaking labor for them. For instance,.
railroad companies would hire Chinese and Irish immigrants, as well as Civil War veterans,.
who had difficulty finding work elsewhere. Since these people needed jobs, the railroad.
companies were able to pay almost as little as they wanted. At the same time, these .
workers were exposed to horrible conditions, with common problems ranging from .
extreme temperatures to inclement weather, indian attacks and diseases, and of course.
the obvious physical hazards of laying railroad track for ten hours a day every day.
