Module 10

Money is one of the most powerful items a person can possess. It can be used to persuade important people or groups, and control and regulate just about anything. Some of the powerful people in the late 1800’s used money for their benefit and ruined the lives of many others in the process. When people use money in inappropriate ways at the expense of others it can turn into a type of financial abuse.

Greed can drive people to do horrible things. During the Civil War, to make a profit, J. P. Morgan bought malfunctioning rifles for $3.50 from an army arsenal and sold them to a general for $22. These rifles would shoot off the thumbs of the person operating the weapon. A congressional committee mentioned the defect in a report but a federal judge upheld the deal as the fulfillment of a valid legal contract.

Money can also make people do things they wouldn’t normally do. Thomas Edison paid $1000 to politicians for legislation to be more satisfactory to him. Other wealthy people like John Rockefeller paid his way out of going into the military for the Civil War. “A man may be a patriot without risking his own life or sacrificing his health. There are plenty of lives less valuable.” – Mellon (Zinn, 189)

During the Construction of the transcontinental railroad, “the Central Pacific spent $200,000 in Washington on bribes to get 9 million acres of free land and $24 million in bonds, and paid $79 million, an overpayment of $36 million, to a construction company which really was its own.” (Zinn, 189) 22,000 railroad workers were recorded as killed or injured by the Interstate Commerce Commission. 

 According to Dictionary.com a monopoly is “exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices.” These Monopolies were huge in the late 1800’s and many disliked them. The government and laws that were passed only made the situation worse allowing monopolies to thrive. Laws were made kept out foreign competition allowing not many competitors, which meant that business could keep high prices and no one could do a thing about it. Without competition businesses were allowed to keep there wages low.

“Most of the fortune building was done illegally, with the collaboration of the government and the courts.” (Zinn, 188) Some examples of this total control consisted of, International Harvester prepared 85% of the farm machinery and Telephone and Telegraph controlled the telephone systems. John D. Rockefeller bought an oil refinery and set up Standard Oil Company. He then made an agreement with the railroads to ship his oil if they gave him a discount, which in turn destroyed what competitors there were.

The sad thing is that this control and manipulation happened in just about every company. The rich only got richer and the poor got poorer. This abuse ruined small businesses and destroyed people financially but no one could do much to change the situation especially when the government is passing laws that only helped progress the monopolies and the people controlling the businesses.

Work Cited

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. New York, NY: New, 2003. Print.

Picture Work Cited

"Nothing To See Here." UDL Book Builder. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://bookbuilder.cast.org/view.php?op=view>.