The obvious reason is that the Unions demanding more from the Barons meant less money in the Barons’ pockets. Essentially nothing was going to get between the wealthy industrialists and the money and power they felt was their right. Some key examples include: Cornelius Vanderbilt was already a millionaire when he entered the railroad business. He was already elderly and had a contempt for the law. He was used to getting his way and the addition of more wealth only made his self important attitude worse. He was universally an unemphatic individual placing the acquisition of wealth far above any other individual. Andrew Carnegie, the steel baron, was a Scottish immigrant who worked his way to the top. He was the master of Vertical Integration, owning all aspects of his industry from mining to selling the product. He had no time or interest in dealing with middlemen and others. John D. Rockerfeller used Horizontal Integration and by forming trusts monopolized the oil industry. J. P. Morgan was in the same mold and during the depression of the 1890s capitalized by consolidating businesses and placing his agents on all of their boards of directors. All powerful men, whose names live on today as corporations that shape our …show more content…
1873 saw the emergence of one of the first unions, the Grange, formed by mid-west farmers facing bankruptcy and attempting to regulate the railroads. This failed in 1886 with a Supreme Court Ruling, citing individual states had no right to regulate interstate commerce. It did however, lead to the passing of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The courts and politicians were firmly in the pocket of the barons, the little guy never really had a chance. This lopsided application of justice is likely what started some of the anarchist movements or at least allowed people to be more friendly to far left-wing ideologies coming into the center stage around the