Henry Ford had begun making cars in the 1900s, and had already developed the Model T, a "car for the masses", by 1908. It was October 7, 1913, however, that shaped Henry Ford's future and the future of manufacturing as well.
Before the assembly line, car manufacturing was expensive and time consuming. Teams of workers would rotate among stations with a single car, which meant each worker had to be trained in the manufacture of the entire car. Upon the invention of the assembly line, one car traveled among workers instead, with each worker contributing one part to the whole. A 3,000 part machine was broken down into 84 steps performed by these groups of workers. The change was "immediate and significant". In 1912, Ford Motor Company produced 82,388 Model T's sold for $600 each. By 1916, production had reached 585, 388 Model T's at $360 per car. Production time for one vehicle dropped from 12 hours to just 90 minutes. Production cost for one vehicle dropped from $850 to less than $300. He also raised minimum wage for Ford factory workers from $2.34 for a nine hour day to $5 for an eight hour day. This change began what is known as "the Great Migration" of workers from around the world to the industrial mid-west, specifically to work for Ford. Ford's $5 work day also enabled his workers to actually buy the vehicles they built. This created both loyalty and the rise middle-class consumerism among workers.
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Ragtime begins by describing the patriotism in America at the turn of the century while Teddy Roosevelt was president. Roosevelt became the 26th president of the United States after the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. He served two terms, leaving office in March of 1909. He was succeeded in office by William Howard Taft.
Trust regulation A trust is a large business with significant market power, sometimes used to refer to monopolies in the United States during the Second Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. When Roosevelt took office, he began to sympathize with the public concern over monopolies on business created by the super wealthy. His domestic policy included more populist acts such as support of organized labor unions to curb the power of trusts. He became known as the "trust-buster" using the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act to bring 44 antitrust suits. He "busted" the Northern Securities Company which had a monopoly on American railroads and Standard Oil, the largest oil and refinery company. He also created the United States Department of Commerce and Labor. For big businessmen such as J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford, Roosevelt's policy must have seemed threatening. Coal strike of 1902 In eastern Pennsylvania, anthracite coal miners went on strike for higher wages, shorter workdays, and recognition of their union, the United Mine Workers of America. The strike threatened to shut down the winer fuel supply to major US cities. Roosevelt created a fact-finding commission that suspended the strike. It was never reopened; together with J.P. Morgan, Roosevelt crafted an accord in which the miners received a 10% wage increase and reduced work days from ten to nine hours, but the union was not recognized. This was the first labor dispute in which the US government involved itself as a neutral arbitrator. Executive orders Roosevelt became the first president to issue more than 1,000 executive orders, more than the first 25 presidents combined. He is infamous for extending the reach of his presidential office, even attempting to make changes to the official rules of football. His executive orders largely focused on environmental conservation, an issue which he believed was one of the most important of his time. Rosicrucianism is a combination of occultism and other beliefs including but not limited to Hermeticism, Jewish mysticism, and Christian Gnosticism. The central belief of rosicrucianism is that its followers possess a prisca theologia, or secret wisdom, passed down from ancient times. Their name derives from their symbol, a rose on a cross ("rosi" meaning rose and "cruc" meaning cross). Christian Rosenkreuz, the alleged founder of the group as detailed in three anonymously published texts from the 16th century, is now considered to be a fictional character rather than a real person. Despite its initial popularity due to the mix of alchemy and mysticism associated with its ranks, the reason and skepticism of the Enlightenment led to its steep decline in the 18th century. It regain influence at the turn of the 19th century with the establishment of the most successful modern Rosicrucian organizations, the Ancient Mystical Order Roase Crucis (AMORC) in New York City in 1914, and the Rosicrucian Fellowship in Seattle in 1909. H. Spencer Lewis, the founder of the AMORC, bears similarities with J.P. Morgan as Doctorow describes him. Both shared a reverence for ancient Egypt. Lewis believed Egypt to be the "cradle of Rosicrucian wisdom", subsidizing the establishment of the Egyptian Museum at the group's headquarters in California. The Rosicrucians were probably one of the inspirations for the Pyramid, a secret society of Doctorow's invention of which Morgan and Ford were the only members. There is little historical evidence that this society was a reality. |
Dramaturgy for the Ragtime musical and novel.© Eliza Pillsbury, 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eliza Pillsbury with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Categories
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