American History: Harrison’s Presidency Marked by Anger Over Trusts
02 June 2010
A political cartoon criticizing the power of Standard Oil
FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.
The eighteen eighties were years of important change in American business and industry.
Twenty years after the Civil War, the Unitedbl States had become one of the leading industrial nations of the world. As the number of factories increased, so did competition between businesses.
Some industrialists cooperated with their competitors to reduce competition. But this did not always succeed. There was no legal way to enforce their agreements.
This week in our series, Leo Scully and Jack Weitzel tell how these issues were handled during the administration of President Benjamin Harrison.
LEO SCULLY: In eighteen seventy-nine, a new form of business organization was developed -- the trust. In a trust, stock owners of many competing companies give control of their stock to a committee, or group, of trustees.
The trustees operate all the companies as one and pay profits to the stockholders. The profits would be high, because there would be no competition to drive down prices.
One of the first trusts was formed by John D. Rockefeller in the oil industry. The stockholders of seventy-seven oil companies gave control of their stock to nine trustees of Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. The nine men controlled ninety per cent of the nation's oil production.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25