Pure Profit

            The industrial and capitalist age brought about one major idea and that was profit. People looked for any ways to make a quick buck ranging from moving factories to developing cheap land and selling it for a hefty sum. The development of land and investment in real estate was where the real profit was. Cyrus McCormick who invented the reaper made millions, but where he really made most of his money was real estate investment. With everybody and their mother developing land this obviously caused an explosion of housing and urban development both inside the city and outside of it. If you really think about it this idea it is genius. It is essentially taking nothing and making it into something suitable for living. In our book Gottdiener talks about how it is land speculators purchase the land, developers develop it and then companies and corporations turn it into their choice locations for factories, housing, etc. It is this way that urbanization appeared in the United States. There really wasn't any religious reason to create urban centers, it was all for social and economic reasons. The industrial age was in full swing and urban centers developed thanks to economic and real estate investments.  At the time putting money into land was considered to be a safe investment and in the end it was pure profit while it was one of the driving forces behind urbanization within America.

            Another thing that people and big businesses did to make money was cutting the cost of production as much as the company possibly could. Cheap materials weren't enough they needed cheap labor to squeeze as much profit out of their products as they could. Companies wanted a cheap, fast, controllable labor force which is understandable because with two younger brothers I loved having them do whatever I told them. Unions were also a problem for companies so why not move away from those too? Obviously companies moved factories where there were no unions which happened to be in the south and western states. Women were the most wanted work force as they were docile and had small hands and worked but caution but in a quick manner. Urban centers emerged closest to factories because people owned and rented homes closest to their jobs as they could. David Gordon talks in our book on how specific locations were crucial to factories because of marketing and production costs. Gordon also mentioned that in this patriarchal society women are an easily controlled work force. Competition amongst cities and industry also was a factor in companies looking for a cheaper way to manufacture their products. As you already know this search for cheaper and more controllable work forces led companies outside of the United States to Asian countries where in South Korea workers made $1.35 an hour and in India only $0.40 an hour which ultimately led companies to near pure profit.

            Something that I had never thought of is the competition of cities which sparked transportation as well as urbanization indirectly. With New York and its access through its canal it competed with New Orleans and its access to trade through the Gulf of Mexico. Other cities adapted with the invention of the steam locomotive and the steel railroad tracks put down across the United States. In the book the town of Kankakee is mentioned and how it was built by the railroad in 1855. Towns developed around the railroads because of investments in real estate and people had interest in having close access to the rail lines. Factories were always close to trade outlets including rail lines for the business to ship the product out and towns sprouted around railroads. Chicago is a major city in the middle of the country along railroads and that made it a major trade hub. So much of the economic trade passes through Chicago or towns near it. The way I see it this benefited major companies because they had more markets that were easily accessible to make more of a profit. This idea of profitability constantly pops up as to why people are doing things like moving factories, digging out canals or constructing rail roads. With this observation I can conclude that indirectly it is one of a few different reasons why urbanization occurred at such a fast rate in our country. The book says that urbanization within the United States because of the connection between investors, powerful political figures and the dream of wealth, or as I like to call it the pursuit of pure profit.