Standard Oil Monopoly In The 1800's

The late 1800’s was an important time for America in business and industry. Number of factories increased throughout the nation, it became one of the leading industrial nations in the world. With rapid numbers of factories means more competition. Businesses tried to come together, but it didn’t always work. Soon, trusts became a new form limiting competition. Trust was created to decrease competition and increase prices. The company will have control of the stocks of several companies and make decisions for them. When a company owns all or almost all of the companies, it becomes a monopoly. A monopoly had many negative effects on consumers and the workers. A monopoly was negative for the consumers because without competition, they don’t have choices. The business has all the control. They can set the price as high as they want since they have no competitors, give the workers low wedges, more work time, and have poor working conditions. I believe that the government should break up Standard Oil’s monopoly. A monopoly is bad for the economy. A business has control of many other companies. Mark Thoma from CBS News says: “When firms have such power, they charge prices that are higher than can be justified based upon the costs of

There was the Haymarket Riot, Homestead Strike, and the Pullman Strike. The Haymarket Riot was a gathering of union members wanting to reduce the hours to 8 hours. Fighting with the police, two works were killed. The Homestead Strike was a strike near the Carnegie Plant. Carnegie had sympathy towards the union members but since he was away, his reputation was ruined forever. The Plant was under the watch of Henry Frink, who was anti-union. The strike has 16 deaths. In conclusion, the Standard Oil Trust made a huge impact in America during the industrial era. Due to the option of a monopoly being formed by a business, government should cut in a prevent