In nearly all these gigantic undertakings, the same great leaders in finance were more or less intimately associated.  To use the language of an eminent authority:  “They are all allied and intertwined by their various mutual interests.  For instance, the Pennsylvania Railroad interests are on the one hand allied with the Vanderbilts and on the other with the Rockefellers.  The Vanderbilts are closely allied with the Morgan group....  Viewed as a whole we find the dominating influences in the trusts to be made up of a network of large and small capitalists, many allied to one another by ties of more or less importance, but all being appendages to or parts of the greater groups which are themselves dependent on and allied with the two mammoth or Rockefeller and Morgan groups.  These two mammoth groups jointly ... constitute the heart of the business and commercial life of the nation.”  Such was the picture of triumphant business enterprise drawn by a financier within a few years after the memorable campaign of 1896.

America had become one of the first workshops of the world.  It was, by virtue of the closely knit organization of its business and finance, one of the most powerful and energetic leaders in the struggle of the giants for the business of the earth.  The capital of the Steel Corporation alone was more than ten times the total national debt which the apostles of calamity in the days of Washington and Hamilton declared the nation could never pay.  American industry, filling domestic markets to overflowing, was ready for new worlds to conquer.

=References=

F.W.  Taussig, Tariff History of the United States.

J.L.  Laughlin, Bimetallism in the United States.

A.B.  Hepburn, History of Coinage and Currency in the United States.

E.R.A.  Seligman, The Income Tax.

S.J.  Buck, The Granger Movement (Harvard Studies).

F.H.  Dixon, State Railroad Control.

H.R.  Meyer, Government Regulation of Railway Rates.

W.Z.  Ripley (editor), Trusts, Pools, and Corporations.

R.T.  Ely, Monopolies and Trusts.

J.B.  Clark, The Control of Trusts.

=Questions=

1.  What proof have we that the political parties were not clearly divided over issues between 1865 and 1896?

2.  Why is a fall in prices a loss to farmers and a gain to holders of fixed investments?

3.  Explain the theory that the quantity of money determines the prices of commodities.

4.  Why was it difficult, if not impossible, to keep gold and silver at a parity?

5.  What special conditions favored a fall in silver between 1870 and 1896?

6.  Describe some of the measures taken to raise the value of silver.

7.  Explain the relation between the tariff and the income tax in 1894.

8.  How did it happen that the farmers led in regulating railway rates?