Monopolies And Trusts

In late 19th century, as Social Darwinism grew, riches were God’s favor and the poor became inferior people. According to the saying of “the fittest survives”, most entrepreneurs did everything they could control the competition that threatened the growth of their business empire. They monopolized the business and controlled the biggest market power, which are called trusts. Monopolies and trusts impacted American society politically, economically, and socially by eliminating the competition, controlling the government, and controlling the prices of supplies.

Monopolies and trusts impacted society politically by controlling the Congress and the Senate. “Trusts were extremely influential in Congress and the Senate. Some even accused the trusts

of buying votes” (socialstudieshelp.com, “How and why did American business seek to eliminate competition”). This evidence shows that trusts were powerful enough to make changes in the government. It was unfair to citizens who only have one vote to choose the government they wanted. In addition, trusts exposed corruption within the government. Another evidence is trusts controlled more market and political power than the government did. A cartoon called “The Bosses of the Senate”, by Joseph Keppler, portrayed the big businessmen of this era looming over the senators in the Senate. The main point of this cartoons to show the corruption and flaws political system because of these huge power over the government and the country. Another 1900 cartoon, captioned “What a funny little government”, is a commentary on the power of the Standard Oil empire. John D. Rockefeller holds the White House in his hand. This empire was so huge that it even became the largest oil industry in America. The White House couldn’t carry out any laws to stop the “Robber Barons”. These negative effects caused by monopolies and trusts threatened the American ideals of liberty and equality because government was kidnapped.
Besides political impacts, monopolies and trusts also affected society economically, shown by eliminating the competition.

Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company was one of the trusts at that time. “Within a decade, it controlled 90 percent of the refining business. Rockefeller reaped huge profits by paying his employees extremely low wages and driving his competitors out of business by selling his oil at a lower price that it cost to produce it. Then, when he controlled the market, he hiked prices far above original prices.” (textbook, pg449) This empire threatened the whole American economy by breaking the regulation of the market. It monopolized other people’s business and forced them to join his company. Thus, his empire became stronger and stronger. It was a detriment to consumers and the economy. “They were able to manipulate price and quality without regard for the laws of supply and demand. Basic economic principles no longer applied” (socialstudieshelp.com, “How and why did American business seek to eliminate competition”). This is another evidence supports that trusts generated excessive margins while doing little to improve their product or relevant processes. The economic system became disorder and messy. Therefore, it could cause a great depression in economic system. What’s more, monopolies in economy could stop the progressive economy. “A highly-profitable monopoly also may have little incentive for improvement as long as consumers still demonstrate a need for their current product or service. In comparison, businesses in a competitive market can compete by making changes to existing products and services and lowering prices.” (smallbusiness.chron.com, “How does a monopoly affect business and consumers?”) This evidence shows that monopolies didn’t help improve the society. Instead, they couldn’t consumers’ need as time went

on.
Monopolies and trusts did not only impact society politically or economically, but also impacted society socially by put controlling the prices of supplies and offering workers low wages. “Workers worked 12 or more hours a day, six days a week. Employees were not entitled to vacation, sick leave, unemployment compensation or reimbursement for injuries suffered on the job.” (textbook, pg450) From this evidence, it indicates that workers had bad working condition and low wages. Trusts made their workers cheap so that they could make more money. The second evidence is that trusts produced bad products. Because monopolies hampered the improvements of economy, the products that companies made could not improve their products to meet consumers’ needs. Another reason is because they wanted to lower the cost as much as they could in order to make more money. Trusts also looted consumers and workers’ money. Companies made unjustifiable prices to loot people’s money. This threatened American’s liberty and equality by making injustice prices.
In conclusion, monopolies and trusts threatened American ideals of liberty and equality. They controlled the political and economical system to eliminate the competition. They also looted consumers’ money by making unjustifiable prices. People in America were suffering from trusts and monopolies. America was “kidnapped” by monopolies and trusts.