Tom Scott
History Channel’s The Men Who Built America ; episode 2 – began at Tom Scott’s funeral. The focus is on that of revenge, class struggle and profits; specifically those of Andrew Carnegie’s through, what would become, his steel empire.
Tom Scott and his Pennsylvania Railroad line had been integral to expanding John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil trust, but the rebates offered to Rockefeller proved unsustainable to the rail industry, and when JR cut production and transported what remained through pipelines, the rail industry suffered.
The episode begins with a mournful Andrew Carnegie being the last remaining attendee at Scott’s burial. It’s raining, because it is always gray or raining on The Men Who Built America.
The narrator informs us that this will be an episode of revenge. Carnegie, we are told, blames Rockefeller for Tom Scott’s death; the aftermath of the Great Strike of 1877 left Scott a broken man who never recovered, we are told.
My own research has not been able to find anything to that effect, but perhaps I am not looking hard enough.
Andrew Carnegie’s industrial pursuits, we are told, are fueled not only by personal gain but to best John Rockefeller.
- Andrew Carnegie
Carnegie, in the series, began working for Tom Scott at age 12 as a telegraph messenger. In reality it was 18, and he would quickly rise through the company to become Superintendent Of the Pittsburgh Division. Perhaps a nod to this fact was Thomas Scott’s on screen direction to a young Carnegie to deliver a message to said superintendent.
Quickly, we join an inseparable Carnegie and Scott in the future and are told that Scott is his mentor. Scott reveals to Carnegie, as they walk through the woods that he made considerible money through insider trading.
Finally, we learn that they are heading to the Mississippi River. A bridge must be built to allow trains to cross the Mississippi – in doing so, transporting goods West would be cost effective; it would unite the country like never before.
Thomas Scott recommends James Eads for the job; which we are told would be one of the toughest construction projects ever- and why Eads? Because he’s Cheap and a genius, according to Scott. If that’s not a glowing endorsement I don’t know what is.
In reality, a look at Eads resume would reveal something far more impressive, however, than Scott’s summation.
Andrew Carnegie – The Men Who Built America
In the next scene, we see Carnegie and Eads working on the bridge inside Carnegie’s office of The Keystone Bridge company; facts glazed over in the series include that Carnegie had become quite successful at this point in his life through investments and a steel company, Carnegie Steel. However, the project to complete this bridge puts his career on the line.
Eads and Carnegie can’t figure out how to create this bridge. There are many issues at play from accommodating the steamships and iron not being able to withstand the currents of the Mississippi River.
Undaunted, Carnegie vows to find a solution. He says, “nothing is impossible,” staring out a window. Whoa. Powerful.
I guess Eads and Carnegie decide they’ve debated bridges enough for one day because next thing we know he’s [Carnegie] walking down the street- I mean, afterall, “nothings’ impossible”, so why not go home or to lunch or something. Well it’s a good thing he did because on the stroll he sees a gentrified blacksmith wailing on a piece of steel and suddenly it occurs to him, “if we make the bridge out of steel – it will work!”
There’s just one problem- steel is expensive and it takes a long time to create. But! Henry Bessemer is to the rescue with his brand new Bessemer Process which reduces the amount of time it takes to make steel from 2 weeks – to 15 minutes. It is significantly less expensive as well.
The footage that shows the process of making steel prior to the bessemer process really hammers home just how difficult making steel was. It required several men to build one beam, and it was daunting and dangerous.
Less so now, but still dangerous.
::Cue inspiring music:: we are building a bridge!
One problem- it’s expensive. Carnegie is starting to default on loans. He writes an impassioned letter to an unnamed source informing the recipient “I believe steel is the future,” just out of curiosity, because you own a steel company? “give us more money for the bridge (paraphrased).”
It works. They get the money they need and the bridge connecting missippi and Missouri is complete- woo!
But a new problem has arisen..no one will cross the bridge. Up until now 1 out of 4 bridges fail, The Men Who Built America producers show pictures of bridges falling apart to emphasize this, so we know that when a bridge fails it’s bad.
But Carnegie is a master publicist, the narrator says. And he’s got a “big” idea. American superstition at this time maintains that elephants won’t cross an unstable structure- you know how they say “if you build it, they will come.”. Well, “if you get an elephant on a bridge, they will cross.”
The elephant crosses and everyone is overjoyed and their fears are put at ease. Before you know it, trains and people are crossing the Eads Bridge and Carnegie moves on to his next ambition- becoming a steel magnate.
He is getting more requests for steel than he could handle, and borrows $21 million from Scott to build a steel plant.
I really love the points Jim Cramer made here about Andrew Carnegie. He essentially says that Carnegie “sees the future and was willing to invest where others weren’t.” Carnegie believed that the future of this country would be found in steel, but even for that to happen, the country would need to be on the right track. So when Cramer says that the level of confidence and optimism he had was off the charts and not seen today it really drives home a point and differentiates between time periods.
Carnegie begins putting out 225 tons of steel per day in Pittsburgh. It was not a great time for steel because the railraods were not making the money that they needed to reinvest in steel; which is when Carnegie turned to oil.
It is here that we learn there is some overlap in time between episode one and two. Carnegie was already heavily invested in steel when he and Rockefeller and Scott meet to create a cartel between oil and rail.
It ultimately fails, and Tom Scott dies a broken man.
“Carnegie brilliantly sees that the future is in structural development.” The first sky scraper is erected in Chicago and voer the next few years 100,000 buildings went up in Chicago using Carnegie’s steel.
“Much of what we see about America could not have happened without steel. America grew up vertically on steel.’ – Alen Greenspan
Carnegie is filthy rich, but we are told that it is not enough for him. Rockefeller’s wealth is 7x that of Carnegie’s. The narrator refers to Rockefeller’s calculated ruthlessness as the key to his financial success; Carnegie wants to beat him to avenge Scott’s death.
To do so he turns to Henry Frick- the largest mid west coal supplier. He was a self made millionaire by age 30.
Frick has a reputation for ruthlessness. When we first see him he is outside someone’s brick home. He appears to be an intimidating man with an aura of violence.
Henry Frick
“CARTER!” Frick yells. He’s carrying a chain with some type of metal instrument at the end of it lie he’s running a dungeon. He walks inside Carter’s house looking like an angry drunk. What did Carter do? We don’t know. Maybe just taking people’s homes was what people did back then?
Frick drags Carter out of his house and takes ownership of it for some reason.
Frick has a merciless edge personally and in business that Carnegie lacks. The two meet at a restaurant for lunch. They have some awkward looking/sounding small talk and Frick orders whiskey.
Cuban remarks that their relationship was successful because they were opposites. “Very analogous to the way good business partnerships work today.”
Carnegie gives Frick a lot of power. The narrator declares, “his job is to ct costs and eliminate waste leading to bigger profits.” Did I really just hear that? Rewind. Hit play. Yep. Thanks Captain obvious.
With Frick at the helm alongside Carnegie, his steel empire is very successful. In two years, the profits double. They use the proceeds to buy steel mills of competitors in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Carnegie’s net worth has reached 3.5 billion in today’s money. Using fear and and intimidation, rick is having contracts renegotiated Frick is named chairman of the company by Carnegie, but it is not enough for him. We learn that Frick is gunning for Carnegie’s position because he has daddy issues.
“Frick’s father was a failure and he wanted everyone to know that he was not his father.’
He looks like a creepy Willy Wonka as he overlooks the steel mill and it’s employees from an elevated ledge.
To celebrate and solidify a symbol of his success, Frick builds a members only club: “The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club.” Carnegie joins as well as the upper echelon of high society.
The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club
Frick’s club takes control of South Fork damn in order to bild said club. It holds 20 million tons of water; it is the largest in the world. Fourteen miles away is the small town of Johnstown. It is populated by working class people; many of which work in Carnegie’s mill. They live under the threat that the damn will wash away their town at any moment by an unexpected accident. They probably should add Frick just coming and taking their homes for no reason like he did to Carter to that list of fears.
In the next scene, Frick is on his way to the mill to investigate an accident. We don’t know what kind. This weasely looking man with a short hat and bowtie comes running up to ask him about it.
Frick confrims that there has been an accident but the real tragedy is that the road is too small for his carriage; or his carriage is too wide for the road, depending on who you ask.
It’s all semantics to Frick.
Short hat guy tells him that if they widened the road they’d have to lower the dam- Frick doesn’t care and he has men working on the road, lower the dam, and make it suitable for carriages. He’s a man who loves a good carriage.
Everyone is loving the club and life in Frick and Carnegie’s circle. “But all that is about to change,” says the narrator…
::Cue Thunder::
Aside: there really needs to be a The Men Who Built America drinking game where you do a shot every time a cliche is said or depicted.
It starts to rain. We know what’s going to happen with that damn…
A man with a bowtie is staring down ata lake that is rising an inch every ten minutes. Now they’re putting up sandbags- the guy with the bow tie tells some guy named John to get a telegram to Johnstown- “damn liable to break!” John stops everything he’s ding, almost kills himself slipping over sandbags amidst a miniature waterfall hitting him. He jumps on a horse and rides off to send word.
Question: WHy didn’t the bowtie guy send the telegram himself? Wouldn’t that have been faster than getting John? Jerk.
The people of Johnstown apparently get this telegram all the time; so they just ignore it. Their laid back, “devil may care” attitude, will be their undoing.
Surprise! The damn breaks. Visually it is impressive as the water barrels down towards the community and through the streets. This guy tells his daughter to get away from a window and moves her about 5 feet away and they continue to stare at the window.
All goes silent. A candle blows out. The water BURSTS through the window and I do a shot for the cliche.
Johnstown Flood
When it’s over the flood at Johnstown is the worst man made disaster in the United States before 9/11. The flood is the first major peace time relief effort of the Red Cross.
“As outrage grows, the public looks for someone to blame.” They blames the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. The members deny responsibility but Carnegie feels responsible. Unsuccessful lawsuits are filed and the perception is that they got away with murder. Carnegie’s conscience prmopts him to donate millions to the rebuilding effort.
Two years later- Carnegie hall opens. As he pulls up in a carriage it is raining and he is having flashbacks of the dam breaking and the havoc it wrought.
Carnegie Hall is for high society to rub elbows- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is set to perform a concert he has composed on opening night.
What I like about scenes like this at Carnegie Hall is that we have an exact date in history we are witnessing.
We are told that Carnegie is treated like royalty, but Rockefeller even more so. We are reminded that this bothers Carnegie.
More scenes depict a Carnegie frustrated that his wealth is only second to Rockefeller’s; a fine plot device but this seems uncharacteristic of a man who penned The Gospel of Wealth.
Carnegie and Rockefeller are rivals and they begin sending each other weird gifts to get under each others skin. Rockefeller sends Carnegie a cheap paper vest to remind him of his beginnings, and Carnegie sends Rockefeller an expensive bottle of wine because he would be unable to drink it because o his devout Christian values.
I’m having trouble finding anything that confirms this “Christmas gift exchange” ever took place…
As Rockefeller’s empire steadily grows, steel becomes the product of choice for consturction. It triggers upward expansion of America’s cities. But Carnegie’s ambition threatens his success.
Casino mogul Steve Wynn comes on screen and says something but I’m too distracted by how much he resembles Mr. Vegas, Wayne Newton.
Carnegie attempts to turn a struggling steel mill into his largest. He invests millions- the Homestead Steel Works is a marvel.
“One of the huge costs in a steel mill was labor. To stay profitable he’d have to keep costs low; which means cutting wages and increasing man hours.” I’m really not convinced that tis is a business-genius at work. Why am I not convinced? Because I could have developed this plan.
There is a labor dispute and he turns to Henry Frick, chairman, to resolve it. Carnegie heads to Scotland, perhaps for plausible deniability that he was party to the melee that Frick would lead. Carnegie’s image was as important to him as making money.
Frick created the 12 hour work day; the dangers of working like that are high in a dangerous steel mill. When the narrator says “the workers are spending half their lives in the steel mill,” he is not exaggerating.
Accidents were occurring left and right; one proved fatal. The death is enough to unite the workers against the increased hours and slashed wages, and they begin to unionize. This is a new concept to America and one that Frick is not willing to let happen under his watch. Frick and Carnegie exchange letters, and Carnegie, essentially gives Frick permission to do what ever he felt was necessary to keep the profits at the mill soaring.
Frick puts up a notice in the steel plant that he would not be taking part in an negotiations with a union. Every worker would only be spoken with individually.
Carnegie’s biographer comes on and reveals that the workers were enraged over Frick because they truly believed that the steel mill was theirs and not his. This is, essentially, the definition of socialism.
With conditions only worsening in the mill, the call for change is only growing. There is an impassioned speech by a union organizer outside of the steel mill- it fires up the troops who are ready to strike for what they believe is their right.
Quick side note, I’ve seen union leaders address large crowds and members in settings like this, and this guy’s fiery choices as an actor are spot on.
In the next scene Frick pulls a classic “pop-in” on a set of workers, clearly discussing something labor-issue related. He implores upon them to cancel the strike, lest they never want to work in the steel mill again. They say they’ll consider it. They don’t consider it. Two-thousand men barricade the steel mill to prevent him from filling the mill with other men- they hang Frick in effigy.
Steel production grinds to a halt.
Frick hires mercenaries, the Pinkertons, to handle the labor dispute. He mis-underestimated their response to the calvary; they are defiant when they arrive at the mill dressed in black, wielding guns, and ordering them to tear down their barricade.
Pinkertons
It results in a one-way gun battle, that leaves 9 steel workers dead. The union manages to hold on to control of what they have dubbed “Fort Frick” until the Pennsylvania governor sends in the state militia to restore order; which meant a return to the status quo. However, the public is outraged and demand justice. Homestead becomes a symbol for class struggles and labor against industrialists.
Anarchists, an anti-establishment political group, appear wherever they believe the rights of the individual are threatened. They have set their sights on Frick and pull an assasination attempt, that fails. It ends in a Fight Club style fist fight that leaves Frick’s would be assasin bloodied on an office floor.
An ironic death for an anarchist, I’d say.
The episode ends.
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