Monday, September 30, 2013

What's wrong with a little industry?

In the mid 19th century, the western world was rapidly industrializing.  In addition to building a diversified economy, most countries reaped the benefits of new forms of industry--including steam, railroads, assembly production, and lower priced goods.  

Why, then, if most of these countries welcomed industry with open arms, did the South seem to lag behind?  Consider all the articles when addressing this question--with all the benefits of industrialization, what are the cons, and how does it affect the labor force?  Why would the South want to continue to remain predominately agricultural? (Yes, this has to do with perpetuating the economic status quo, but what other reasons could there be?)....

9 comments:

  1. In the view of the other industrialized countries, the South seemed to lag behind, but for the South itself, it was still running the way it always had, that was the economy system of the South. Although the South was influenced by many industrialized countries, it only changed itself a little further to industrialization but almost stayed the same. Of course industrialization had a lot of benefits for modern world, but it actually reduced the labor forces and unemployed a lot of workers because machines were being used more and more. Although industrialization made the country richer and stronger, it brought negative effects to many individual workers and groups, those people weren't be able to feed themselves well and they were living in a terrible condition. I think the South wanted to continue to remain predominately agricultural because the economy society of the South was depending on producing and selling staples such as cotton, it actually occupied a big space in world's market, and that was why it was extremely hard for the South to be industrialized.

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  2. The south lagged behind because their whole economy was built on agriculture and the slaves that were used to produce the goods. The South’s climate was geared towards agricultural work from the very beginning. The South's whole economic structure was built for the cotton industry and the slaves that picked the cotton. After all, "cotton is king." That mixed with the lower population density compared to the North made the South unfit for industrialization at the time. The benefit of industrialization is that you only need a few people to work a machine. Something that occurs much later but was very effective was the assembly lines, started by Henry Ford, in order to make cars. This type of fast, cheap labor was the heart of industrialization.

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  3. After reading these four readings I think the south lagged behind because they still had their old economy which was based on agriculture and the slaves working the agriculture. Since the world is always getting more technologically advanced people have to keep up with the new ways of living. The south kept their old ways and did not think they could better themselves. The south was surrounded by industrialization but never picked it up. Industrialization produced goods faster and more accurately but also did took people's jobs away. There was also a lot of controversy on who gets what land so that also made it challenging for the south to change from agricultural to industrial. Even though slaves had a tough life it still kept the economy prospering.

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  4. The south wanted to remain predominately agricultural because they did not see a need for change if their economy was boosting due to the production of agriculture that was run by slaves. Slaves were a necessity to the agricultural influence of the south. The south seemed to lag behind because of its inability to adapt and change to the environment around them. Slave was a cheap labor force this appealed more to the south because rather than spending enormous amounts of money to create industrial machines the slaves could work for very little which boosted the South's economy. The cons of the industrialization was these new machines could produce necessities much faster and for a larger population. Although it affected the labor force in a negative way because it unemployed many workers who need those jobs desperately.

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  5. The South seemed to lag behind embracing industrialism as it would change their way of life. They did not want to switch from agriculture because they were so dependent on it, forming the majority of their economy. That was the agricultural and slave dependency being in danger of crumbling with the emergence all these new industrial and innovative ideas. The introduction of machines would decrease the labor force needed for production, rendering slaves useless and the job opportunities for whites slim. The pros, however, of this acceptance is an inclusion of increased global trade and technological equality.

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  7. After reading these selections, I gathered that the south didn’t want to industrialize because their economy was booming without it. Sort of had the old “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mentality. Their economy was based off of agricultural goods and the labor used to make those agricultural good from the slaves. Even though the South’s economy was influenced by industrialization, they still stayed virtually the same. Some positives of industrialization are that with machines, we are able to make things faster, which means we can make them cheaper. This made the country richer and more powerful. The cons came in with the machines and drove out the labor forces and raised unemployment. This made living conditions very horrible and jobs hard to find.

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  8. The South wanted to stay with its agricultural economy because it had to many slaves to turn to an industrialized economy. Also the Souths climate was ideal for farming while the Norths winter would put a huge delay on their farming. Also if the South industrialized, the slaves would be put out of work and set free into the real world and this could cause a high rate of poverty in the South.

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  9. After reading these articles, I believe the South wanted to continue to remain predominately agricultural because slavery and agriculture was their source of income. The south believed that the new form of industries would not benefit in anyway. The south did not want to pay people to work for them because it was more of a hassle, whereas having a slave would be easier because when they buy them, they are theirs forever as well as the slaves child and generation onwards, so it was like free workers and more money. This is why the south did not welcome industry with open arms.

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