The Robber Barons

Matthew Josephson directly links the onset of the Civil War to the Industrial Revolution. Before Lincoln had served even a single day in office, the south was circling the wagons. America's transformation from the slave system to mass-production was a painful one. Determining the geopolitical model for the new territories was the central issue. Indeed, with Lincoln the south's national influence, already rapidly weakening, becomes all the clearer. Further, Lincoln's expertise as a lawyer was primarily litigating the competing interests of steamboats and railroads. The first railroad that bridged the Mississippi was in 1856. Just weeks later a steamboat crashes into it and the owner files suit. Abraham Lincoln represented the railroad company. For years a transcontinental railroad was sought, but could only proceed with public funds upon congressional approval. Not favoring the chosen route, southern representatives repeatedly blocked the measure. After secession, the bill passed and mass exploitation to begin. The political rhetoric was stopping the expansion of slavery, a moral facade and states rights, a constitutional pretense. Both hollow and neither realized. Conversely, the underlying interests ultimately served were those of the robber barons. Coincidence perhaps? For your consideration, Matthew Josephson: "When the abyss of the Civil War suddenly yawned before men's eyes it but registered a "lag" which had existed already during the whole of the preceding generation. Where England had officially recognized its economic transition peacefully by the repeal of the Corn Laws, America, through blood and iron, consecrated its own industrial revolution by the end of what had been comparatively free trade." [pg 4] "The axis of trade had shifted away from the Mississippi by 1860, when 30,000 miles of railroad existed. ... He [the settler] found prosperity in free labor rather than in the routine effort of slaves. His spirit called for national unity, for freely circulating capital, and above all for a Pacific Railroad. The new political party clamored against the blockade of its future prosperity held by the south ... Its leader, a lawyer for western railroads, included a Pacific Railroad bill and a protective tariff for native industries in his platform. Such overwhelming economic needs, confronted with the alarmed passionate resistance of the agrarian, slave-owning, static south, must burst the dam at last in the inevitable social cataclysm of the Civil War." [pg 30-31] "The young men who were to form the new nobility of industry and banking ... would take their posts in the economic revolution which rose to a climax in the war; and at the end of the war would see them masters of money, capitalists equipped to increase their capital. In the hour of danger and confusion it was as if they alone were prepared. It was as if the second American Revolution were fought for them." [pg 32] "The rout of the first Union army spread gloom over

This 1934 book provides a history of the late 19th century that is missing from school history books. The author worked for a few years in Wall Street and learned about the "Men Who Rule America". Later he wrote a number of biographies for a magazine. These men were no match for the great capitalists who flourished in the late 19th century (the Gilded Age). He decided to write not just about their lives, manners and morals, but how they got their money. Their great wealth was unaffected by any income tax. These barons of industry were "agents of progress" in transforming an agrarian-mercantile society into a mass production economy. Josephson described their most ruthless actions, their plunders and conspiracies, and their lack of ethics. The system they created led to the Great Depression. Since then academic historians created a revisionist history that claimed those entrepreneurs were saviors of the country and not interested in looting and plundering the economy. This "history" is similar to the "truth factories" in George Orwell's "1984" [which is about Britain and the world of 1948]. Their family dynasties have survived, they established trusts that evaded the tax burdens of other wealthy families. [Other writers have pointed out that they sponsored universities to control teachers and thinking, and provide other benefits.] These dynasties seem permanent. The founders were hated by the American people in their lifetime. The farmers of Kansas first applied the name "Robber Barons" to the railroads that oppressed them. Jay Gould bought the "New York World" and the Associate Press to control the news to his advantage. Most newspapers then were independently owned, unlike today's corporate media. The Robber Barons used their control of transportation to levy tolls on all shipments. Today's versions are trying to privatize public highways and add new tolls to enrich themselves and impoverish the rest of us. Chapter 12 tells about the formations of pools and trusts. The use of legal shields, violence and sabotage set a precedent for latter-day organized crime. Bankers were enriched in 1873 when the Federal Government stopped silver currency. Debts contracted with cheap greenbacks had to be repaid with expensive gold (p.290). The "Railway Mania" of the Civil War era led to excessive railroad lines that lost money (p.292). Hundreds of millions of dollars were lost to bankruptcy and fraud. [Was this comparable to the High-Tech stock swindles of the late 1990s?] The Pennsylvania Railroad was the most powerful in business (p.295). Unregulated competition led to enormous waste and an impoverished society (p.297). The Morgan bank worked out a deal which evaded the law (p.299). [The decision of the US Supreme Court suggests they were touched like other politicians (p.306).] "Nature's Noblemen" were at their height of power and reputation in the 1880s. They were in control of government (police, army, navy, courts), the schools, the press, the church, a

Judging by the attack "reviews" below there must be some right-wing campaign in progress to discredit Josephson. It's probably being organized by one of those propaganda machines they call "conservative think tanks". That nonsense aside, the book itself is a fabulous read as a tome on both history and grand business strategy for building a trust. Indeed I found it difficult to put down at night in order to go to sleep. Josephson brings the Robber Barons alive. For anyone interested in how men can amass such great fortunes the book provides plenty of clues by revealing the strategies used by the Robber Barons. One final point, a few of the attack reviews here are critical of Josephson for siding with labor in their disputes with the Robber Barons. They conveniently overlook the fact that most workers were treated as slaves back then working 12 hour days 6 times per week. If they dared complain about dangerous work conditions, the Andrew Carnegie types would simply send in battalions of Pinkerton goons to bust heads open and maybe even murder a few workers for good measure. There is no other history of the Robber Barons that comes close to this book.

This book was first written in 1934 and remains the definite description of the Robber Barons. The author describes the Barons in the context of the political, social, and industrial trends of the time. It describes how they were shaped by the industries they were in, and by the competitive forces set in motion by each other. It is very well written, well researched, and the stories are simply fascinating.This book has a certain bias against the Barons and the laissez-faire system that created them, but it is not overwhelming. Keep in mind that it was written in the depths of the Great Depression, when many people questioned their faith in the free market system. While the author describes their many great accomplishments, he also spends plenty of time on their weaknesses and excesses, especially in the latter chapters. But remember, even the most admirable Barons also bribed politicians, abused their workers, and cheated ordinary investors by manipulating their own stock. Many of their actions would be illegal today.This book contains a lot of detail (though if you are like me, you will soon be wanting more). It is not a light book for a lazy Sunday afternoon. But if you are really interested, this is the place to start.

Very informative and well written. The Robber Barons is one of the better books I have read in a long time.