When Gail Borden invented condensed milk, milk in a can, nobody bought it. Gail Borden did everything he could to get people to buy it. He started advertising his product by telling people it was safer than real milk because it wouldn’t spoil.  Real milk would spoil because there were no refrigerators.  The more Borden advertised his product the more people bought it.  If you lived during this time would you buy condensed milk? Why or why not?

   

  When Gustavus Swift built a large slaughterhouse in Chicago, Illinois where he could butcher many cows at once.  He butchered the cows and then packaged them to be shipped by trains all over. Buying meat from Gustavus was cheaper than buying from local butchers since he could butcher more than one at a time like local butchers could. People were scared to buy from him at first because the meat had traveled so far. Swift’s meat was safe because it traveled in refrigerated train cars.  He began to advertise and people started to buy his meat.  If you lived during this time would you buy meat from Swift?  Why or why not? Do you think that it was fair/right for local butchers that he could charge lower prices than local stores could? Explain.  

   

In the early 1800’s most people got supplies from neighbors or other local places.  However, by 1900 markets became national.  A market is a place where people buy something.  This means that people could now buy from businesses anywhere in the U.S. In national markets it takes longer for you to get your products whereas in a local market you can get it right then and there.  Would you continue to buy your supplies locally or would you buy them nationally?  Explain.  Do you think the creation of national markets was a good thing or a bad thing? Explain.

     Advertising was a new way to to tell people about your product.   Advertising helped business make money and sell their product. Some business made a lot of money from advertising but others didn’t. If you lived back in 1900 how would you use advertising? Explain.