NEW YORK PRESENT DAY
"There's class warfare alright,
but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war,
and we're winning."
Warren Buffet, billionaire.
This is the story of a system
centred around the quest for individual profit
and free enterprise.
Within such a system, the concentration of ever more wealth
in the hands of just a few is inevitable.
To regulate this system,
the USA once decided to prohibit monopolies
and to tax the wealthy.
But over the past 40 years or so,
capitalism in the USA seems out of control.
Extraordinary concentrations of wealth
have accumulated in all sectors of the economy,
paralysing all competition,
without any tangible response from the authorities.
The country's 722 billionaires
and 22 million millionaires
now entirely legally
pay less tax than their secretaries.
A situation that is so grotesque that even some millionaires
have spoken out against it.
What we need to do,
for the sake of the country,
is to tax folks
like ourselves more.
But such a suggestion is met with a highly telling reaction
when these millionaires are speaking to presenters
who are millionaires themselves.
We are all feeling like
- we could pay more tax. - So why don't you pay more?
- Why don't you? - It doesn't work.
It works when the collective does it, that's the point.
No, it works when you force people like me to pay more.
I don't want to pay any more! I pay enough already!
Why don't you pay?
Over four decades
the rich have seized control of America.
Or, more accurately, they have regained control over it.
But our story begins 120 years earlier.
This evening, New York's 400 richest families
will attend a costume ball,
imitating Europe's aristocracy.
The Astoria, the city's grandest hotel,
has been booked out for the occasion.
According to The New York Times, the budget for this gala event
could feed 6,000 New York families for a whole year.
Police are concerned by this revelation,
given that many New Yorkers are forced to go hungry.
The city enlisted 800 police officers
to control the plebs who had come to the hotel
to see the upper classes
in their costumes and wigs.
"There are no guillotines allowed at the Astoria this evening",
quipped one guest,
"but there are at least 50 Marie-Antoinettes."
After nibbling at their 28-dish menu,
knocking back 4,000 bottles of Moët et Chandon
and partying until the wee small hours,
the revellers left a trail of destruction
for the cleaning staff to deal with.
In a little over 20 years,
a new class of millionaires had seized control of America,
and they had no intention of giving it up.
Among the millionaires featured in this caricature
are the three most powerful men in America at the time.
The first of these
was John D. Rockefeller,
the world's richest man.
He started out by buying Standard Oil,
a small oil refinery in Cleveland, Ohio,
for just a few thousand dollars.
Cleveland had around 30 or so refineries at that time,
but this was bad for profits,
and Rockefeller wanted rid of them.
He made, shall we say,
a discreet arrangement with the rail company
which took oil from Cleveland to the big cities of the north.
With Standard Oil's oil
now cheaper to transport than that of its competitors,
Rockefeller was able to slash his prices.
Within two years, Standard Oil had bought out or swept aside
every other refinery in Cleveland.
Before long, this behemoth
was in control of 90% of all oil in the USA.
With this monopoly in place,
Rockefeller was able to raise his prices again.
The New York Times 27 December 1883.
John D. Rockefeller's fortune
is estimated at 129 million dollars.
The head of the largest monopoly in America,
more powerful than the government itself,
no information has escaped on the methods he employs
in order to steal from the public.
For imposing this monopoly on them,
Rockefeller was America's most hated man.
Holed up in his mansion in Cleveland,
a Bible never far from his reach,
he didn't believe he had to answer to anyone
other than God.
The New York Times 2 January 1885.
Mr Carnegie has stated that socialism
is the most wonderful of theories.
"If you are a socialist", objected one journalist,
"then why did you close the Thomson steelworks
and force workers into poverty?"
"That was the workers' fault", answered Carnegie.
"They wouldn't agree to a wage cut."
Andrew Carnegie, the king of steel.
Born into poverty in Scotland,
he emigrated to the USA aged 13.
Director of a railway company by the age of 29,
he was the archetypal self-made man.
Carnegie embodied a narrative
that was found in countless popular novels of the time,
according to which, in America,
anyone could become a millionaire.
His real entry into business
came when he built a steelworks in the suburbs of Pittsburgh
that would produce the best steel in the world.
This was the first of many sites
on which his metallurgical empire would be built.
Driven by the railways,
steel was a highly lucrative market.
But Carnegie had his sights set further.
He was convinced that, using his steel,
American cities would soon become vertical,
reaching up into the sky.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh continued to expand.
Andrew Carnegie enjoyed remarkable success.
And it made him think.
What meaning was there to his vast wealth?
Why him and not someone else?
He outlined his thinking in a book
that would go on to become a smash hit in the USA:
The Gospel of Wealth.
"Inequality is natural
and even beneficial", he explained,
"because only the most capable grow wealthy.
But the millionaire has a duty to put his fortune to good use.
He must leave nothing to his heirs,
for heirs are not capable.
The millionaire must devote his entire fortune
to the building of public libraries,
the funding of universities and hospitals,
or any other philanthropic endeavour
which they see fitting.
The rich should be allowed to grow as wealthy as possible
so that they can redistribute that wealth."
Such was the Gospel according to Carnegie.
John D. Rockefeller has just given one million dollars
to the University of Chicago.
Mr Rockefeller, in his mortarboard and cap,
was given an honorary degree,
and his donation was hastily accepted.
The New York Times 19 September 1889.
The Gospel of Wealth was immediately adopted
by America's millionaires.
They believed it killed off any debate on inequality
as not everyone was made to become rich.
It also meant they could flatter their pride
by buying for themselves the image of a benefactor.
It also had the enormous merit of leaving them to decide
what was best for society.
Philanthropy became their national sport,
the goal being to see who could give the most.
Newspapers published annual rankings of donations.
And not appearing in these rankings
was out of the question.
"If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it."
John Pierpont Morgan.
J. P. Morgan, the banker.
The owner of a 160-foot yacht,
he was often caricatured as a naval officer.
This was also because nine out of ten migrants
who came to America travelled on a boat belonging to him.
He used his nose,
horribly deformed as a result of a genetic disease,
to intimidate people he dealt with.
J. P. Morgan hated journalists,
and hated photographers even more.
He controlled marine transport,
railways, electricity, coal and the telegraph.
The only things he couldn't get his hands on
were Carnegie's steel and Rockefeller's oil.
The reason for his power
was that he was the only American to have the trust
of the banking communities in London, Paris and Berlin.
Reeled in by the unbelievable profits
on offer in America,
they naturally turned to him seeking to invest.
Situated at 23 Wall Street,
Morgan & Co Bank was the cornerstone
of America's industrial revolution,
acting as a lender, a shareholder
and the central bank for the USA.
But it was from his home at 231 Madison Avenue
that J. P. Morgan dealt with important matters.
One day he invited over
the owners of the railway companies,
who were engaged in a price war
that was disastrous for businesses.
"Your companies belong to my clients",
he told them,
before ordering immediate mergers
in order to create regional monopolies,
thereby increasing prices and profits.
But despite millionaires being all-powerful,
the USA was a democracy,
centred around two main parties.
The Republican Party was the party of Lincoln,
who had abolished slavery.
It was seen as being the party of the industrialists
and the business world.
The Democrat Party was sort of everyone else.
Its core base was in the segregationist south,
but it also had a strong following in New York.
Another millionaire in the Senate.
Mr Price had never been a politician
until a place opened up for him.
And so he bought that place,
just as he would have a box at the opera, a yacht,
or any other luxury item which he can afford.
The New York Times 17 January 1890.
The United States Senate, elected by direct suffrage,
had become a club for millionaires
who, whether Democrat or Republican,
blocked any legislation that went against their interests.
This enabled them to build a paradise for the wealthy,
where there was no income tax,
no tax on company profits
or inheritance, no labour laws,
no right to strike, and no control over the banks.
This paradise benefited from a constant stream of immigrants,
welcomed with open arms by the industrialists.
Capable of being exploited at will,
they were pulled by the two main promises of the American dream:
freedom and prosperity.
The USA was then struck by a terrible economic crisis.
Industrialists sacked employees left, right and centre,
slashing wages.
Unions used strikes
in an attempt to bring about collective bargaining.
But the police were on the side of the bosses,
and were ruthless in their repression.
And when the police were overrun, the army brought out their bayonets.
Without a second's hesitation,
Carnegie ordered shots to be fired at the workers at his steelworks
in Pittsburgh to prevent a union being formed.
Fifteen workers were killed, but the philanthropist maintained
that he had simply been defending his property.
JACOB RIIS JOURNALIST
But some journalists and intellectuals
were starting to speak out against the violence of American capitalism.
HENRY GEORGE ECONOMIST
They represented a new school of thought:
progressivism.
JANE ADDAMS SOCIAL WORKER
The progressives contested the right of American millionaires
to accumulate wealth with impunity,
like aristocrats who owed nothing
to the rest of society.
THORSTEIN VEBLEN SOCIOLOGIST
ROBERT LA FOLLETTE GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN
They had support from politicians sick of the grip millionaires had
over American democracy.
The progressives shared the same disbelief
at the levels of social distress
that were seen in such a wealthy country.
They were particularly outraged by the mass exploitation
of children, sacrificed in the name of profit.
On the eve of the 1896 presidential election,
the progressive movement called on all candidates
to put an end to the tyranny of the millionaires.
For the first time, one of the two main parties
decided to draw on the social unrest within the country.
The democrat candidate, William Jennings Bryan,
incorporated the demands
of the unions and the progressives into his manifesto.
In return, they called on everyone to vote for him.
This included 8-hour days, nationalising the railways,
controls on banking, dismantling monopolies
and bringing in income taxes for the rich.
Bryan spent months crisscrossing the United States.
America had to choose between reforming or perpetuating
a system that had been corrupted by millionaires.
Bryan's campaign sowed seeds of panic
among the millionaires.
For the first time, democracy was threatening their privileges.
There were even some serious drawing room discussions
on the subject of universal suffrage.
What made the millionaires all the more anxious
was that the Republican candidate William McKinley
was conducting a listless campaign
from his home in Canton, Ohio.
But his campaign manager,
businessman Mark Hanna, had a strategy.
"There are two things that are important in politics.
The first is money and I can't remember what the second one is."
Mark Hanna did a tour of the wealthiest people in the country,
telling them that, "the Republican Party
is there to defend your interests, but that doesn't come for free."
Carnegie was more than happy to fund the Republican candidate
against those who wanted - as he saw it -
to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.
J. P. Morgan also put his hand in his pocket
and called on other bankers to follow suit.
Rockefeller, meanwhile,
was Rockefeller. As ever,
he saw it as a source of pride to be the one to give the most.
Thanks to Mark Hanna, there was no shortage of money
in support of the Republican candidate.
McKinley raised seven times as much as his Democrat opponent.
The Republicans were able to organise the biggest
political marketing campaign ever seen in the USA,
featuring simple and effective messages:
"Commerce", "Civilisation",
and the overarching promise of "Prosperity".
To inspire trust among voters,
Mark Hanna decided to film McKinley at his home,
showing him as a calm and collected figure.
In doing so he created the world's first ever campaign video.
The day after the election
most of America was coloured Democrat blue
in favour of reforms to capitalism.
The areas in grey were not yet states and so didn't vote.
California, Oregon and the industrial north-east,
the most populous part of America,
were all Republican red.
This was reflected by more electors,
leading to a crushing victory for the Republicans:
271 to 176.
The millionaires had won.
Most recent immigrants
lived in the major cities of the industrial north.
They voted en masse for the Republican slogan
of prosperity.
While the business community enthusiastically applauded
President McKinley's inaugural address,
the Democrat Party dropped its electorally suicidal position
of wanting to change the system.
That same year, Admiral cigarettes
came up with the first ever filmed advert.
Miss Abby Aldrich, the daughter of senator Nelson Aldrich,
and John Rockefeller Junior,
the only son of John Rockefeller,
were married today
at the home of Senator Aldrich.
Both Rockefeller Junior and his young bride
are passionate about philanthropy.
The New York Times 10 October 1901.
Nelson Aldrich, now Junior's father-in-law,
was the imposing leader of the Republican majority in the Senate.
No federal law could be passed without his consent.
He was so powerful that newspapers dubbed him
"the general manager of the nation."
Through their children's marriage, the world's richest man
and the most influential politician in Washington
were pursuing a traditional class strategy,
and laying the foundations for a dynasty that would rule America
for generations.
Out of Rockefeller's grandchildren,
three would go on to be governors,
one the head of America's largest investment bank
and one vice-president of the USA.
Naturally, all were big philanthropists.
While this was happening,
Morgan enquired about taking over Carnegie's steel empire.
The two titans held a meeting.
Carnegie passed Morgan a sheet of paper with his price on it.
480 million dollars.
This was more than Rockefeller's fortune.
"Congratulations, Andrew, you are now the richest man in the world",
was Morgan's reply, without even negotiating.
"You would have paid 100 million more, wouldn't you John?"
"That's correct, Andrew".
And so it came to pass.
Newly retired, the world's richest man
could focus all of his attentions on philanthropy,
and was hailed as a benefactor wherever he went.
As for J. P. Morgan, he got down to his favourite game,
merging Carnegie's former empire
with other steel companies,
giving this new entity the name US Steel.
US Steel was on a scale that had never been seen before in America.
The company was valued at 1.5 billion dollars on Wall Street.
With 213 factories,
41 mines and 170,000 employees,
US Steel produced 70% of America's steel,
and Morgan had his sights set on a total monopoly.
The man he put in charge of this behemoth
was Charles Schwab, a former employee of Carnegie
and the first American employee
to earn more than one million dollars a year.
Morgan then offered the newlywed philanthropist, Rockefeller Junior,
a seat on the board of administrators.
Thanks to steel, Manhattan began to grow vertically.
The first icon of this new New York
was built at 175 Fifth Avenue:
the Flatiron Building.
87 metres tall,
this architectural innovation heralded many more.
The Equitable Building,
twin towers each 164 metres tall.
Upon completion, its one million square feet of space to rent
suspended in the sky
astounded even its own developers.
"We've just created a new continent", said one of them.
At 187 metres, the Singer Building
became the world's tallest skyscraper,
but only for a few months,
before being dethroned by the Metropolitan Life Tower,
a vast building
belonging to an insurance company
which the owners decided to build a 213-metre tall tower on top of.
But the Metropolitan itself was to be overtaken
by the Woolworth Building,
whose design was inspired by Gothic cathedrals.
This 241-metre-tall cathedral
had 55 floors all used exclusively for business.
With this new skyline
New York was sending a message to the rest of the country:
this is where things will be happening from now on.
Workers got a surprise
when the Rubber Company, a New York toy manufacturer,
gave them an additional week's wages.
The New York Times 2 July 1902.
New York was the setting for the first large-scale experiment
to prove that progressivism and profit-making
were not incompatible.
Shoe manufacturer Endicott-Jonhson,
which employed 10,000 New Yorkers,
had such a problem with staff quitting
that productivity dropped to dangerously low levels.
In response, the boss Henry Endicott
decided to introduce an eight-hour working day
and to increase wages. Just to see.
Within a few weeks, people had stopped quitting
and the productivity of employees,
who were working less and earning more, went up.
Endicott's profits, meanwhile,
were higher than ever.
The best workers in New York fought
over jobs at Endicott's,
where social harmony reigned.
In a world where underpaying workers
and opening fire on strikers
were the only known methods for earning tons of money,
this was a revolution.
But it was the birth of the car that forced American capitalism
into a decisive transformation.
Produced by hand,
cars were something only the very well-off could afford.
The entrepreneur Henry Ford
revolutionised industry in America
by taking the mechanisation of production lines
to never-before-seen levels.
Known for his hatred of unions
and his contempt for progressivism,
Ford did learn some lessons from Endicott's company in New York.
Ford paid his employees double
the average working wage
in exchange for them not joining unions
and agreeing to the rate of work.
Mass production meant he was able to halve the price
of a standardised model, the Ford T.
Millions of this car were produced.
And cars need fuel,
specifically petrol.
Given Standard Oil's monopoly on refineries,
the birth of the car meant that Rockefeller was once again
the world's richest man,
becoming the first ever billionaire.
The third Vanderbilt Cup
took place at an average speed of 96 kilometres an hour.
The New York Times 7 October 1906.
America was changing.
Adopting progressive ideas,
the Republican President Theodore Roosevelt
believed that monopolies were now holding back change,
and had actually been illegal since the Anti-Trust Act
of 1890,
a law which was now to be enforced.
In 1906
Roosevelt decided to take on Rockefeller
and Standard Oil's monopoly.
This meant standing up to the army of lawyers
the billionaire enlisted to represent him.
But Roosevelt wasn't afraid of a fight,
and a lengthy legal battle ensued.
On 14 October 1907
a journalist got his hands on photographs
taken inside the New York Stock Exchange.
Stocks had fallen suddenly by 50%.
The panic which gripped Wall Street
soon spread across the entire country.
Americans rushed to empty their bank accounts
in order to protect their savings.
Running short on cash,
the banking system was at risk of collapse,
bringing with it the whole economy.
J. P. Morgan summoned all of the bankers
to his house on Madison Avenue,
and handed them all a sheet of paper
on which he had written the amount
that each of them would personally have to put into the system
in order to put an end to the panic.
"Nobody leaves this room until they've signed",
said Morgan. "I'll handle the press release."
By the next day, the panic was over.
New York Times letters page
26 October 1907.
For once we need a man in The White House
who's neither an egotist nor a politician,
but rather a businessman who knows what he's talking about.
J. P. Morgan for president!
J. P. Morgan had just issued a reminder
to all of the critics of monopolies
who really held the power in America.
ROCKEFELLER'S RESIDENCE
After years of legal battles,
the court case against Standard Oil
finally came to an end.
On 15 May 1911 the Supreme Court ruled
that the oil monopoly was to be broken up
and divided into 34 competing companies.
In reality, this did little to change Rockefeller's wealth
as there was no fine,
and shareholders in the monopoly
were automatically made shareholders
of the 34 new oil companies.
But emboldened by this success,
the government turned its attentions towards the steel empire
built by J.P. Morgan,
which the Rockefeller's were leading shareholders in.
The Department of Justice
begins legal proceedings against US Steel.
John Pierpont Morgan, John Rockefeller
and John Rockefeller Junior
have officially been accused of violating the Anti-Trust Act.
The New York Times 27 October 1911.
While his lawyers prepared their defence of US Steel's monopoly,
J. P. Morgan decided to destroy the headquarters of Morgan & Co,
having grown tired of the style.
Like with the Standard Oil case,
the court case dragged on and on,
eventually reaching the Supreme Court.
Only this time, not only was justice slow,
but it was also reluctant to break up America's steel champion.
Like J. P. Morgan, many felt
that these industrial giants were good for America,
and that the concentration of capital was inevitable.
Meanwhile, the new safe-shaped head-office was completed.
The case against US Steel would eventually be dismissed.
But the old banker would never find out.
J. P. Morgan is dead.
The world pays tribute.
Morgan Junior has been groomed as his heir for a long time.
The markets remain calm.
The New York Times 1 April 1913.
The death of J. P. Morgan
coincided with the election of the Democrat president
Woodrow Wilson.
Wilson was a progressivist
with the support of a new progressive majority in Congress,
and was determined to loosen the stranglehold of the millionaires.
First up, an American Central Bank was created,
a role which previously had been
filled by J. P. Morgan singlehandedly.
The Constitution was then amended
to make it so that senators had to be elected by direct suffrage,
preventing millionaires from buying a seat
as they were used to doing.
Thirdly, after a 30-year campaign
by the progressive movement,
child labour was outlawed.
Finally, in a revolutionary step,
America's wealthiest 4%
would now be required to pay income tax,
with a high rate
aimed squarely at the major fortunes,
led by Rockefeller.
But the billionaire immediately came up
with a ploy to avoid paying.
Senate passes law
approving Rockefeller's philanthropy.
The Rockefeller Foundation
is now able to receive and use funds
to promote the wellbeing of humanity across the world.
The New York Times 15 April 1913.
The Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations under attack.
Senators accuse them of commercialising charity
and making a business out of it.
The New York Times 6 May 1913.
John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie
used the enormous influence they had over Congress
to ensure that money which went on philanthropy
was exempt from income tax.
And they were successful.
Philanthropy was now a tax loophole
enabling America's millionaires
to keep as much money as they wanted inside foundations,
in addition to all their other wealth,
including artworks bought in Europe, which they particularly enjoyed.
No matter the makeup of Congress, when it came to the big issues,
the rich were still the ones calling all the shots.
In April 1914
miners in Ludlow, Colorado had been on strike for months.
They wanted recognition for their union,
which majority shareholder Rockefeller Junior was denying them.
These migrants from Central Europe barely spoke English
and were not US citizens.
Colorado's National Guard
felt they could act with total impunity.
The soldiers stormed the strikers' camp,
before opening fire,
killing 13 fleeing miners and executing others in cold blood.
The charred remains
of 11 children and two women would be found in the wreckage.
The following day an angry mob
went to Rockefeller's New York HQ demanding justice.
Junior had to explain himself in front of an inquiry.
As a Rockefeller, he was not in any danger,
but the patriarch, unable to fathom
why this type of massacre was no longer permitted in America,
was furious at the way his son had been singled out.
He stated publicly that he saw no harm in shooting trade unionists,
receiving unanimous condemnation in the press.
Genuinely surprised,
Rockefeller increased his philanthropic spending
in an attempt to divert attention.
But the Ludlow Massacre was soon overshadowed
by events so dramatic
that trading on Wall Street was suspended.
Despite their neutrality,
the First World War soon had a huge effect on the lives of Americans.
Brutal inflation reduced their spending power,
while shopkeepers and grocers
racked their brains for ways of selling their products.
When shopping,
Americans were used to giving a list to the grocer,
who would then get the items for them.
Not only was this slow, but it meant paying lots of employees.
The grocer Clarence Saunders
came up with a new concept which he called
Piggly Wiggly.
The name meant nothing, but he liked how it sounded.
At Piggly Wiggly in Memphis, Tennessee,
customers were free to roam the shop
filling up their own baskets before going to the checkout.
In return for their efforts, they paid less than elsewhere.
Not only were there 20 times more customers,
but Saunders realised
that they were all buying more than at a traditional grocery.
Now left to their own devices,
customers were tempted by impulse buy items.
Piggly Wiggly proved such a success
that 2,600 shops were opened in the space of just a few years.
The grocer Clarence Saunders
had just invented the supermarket.
On cinema screens, anxious Americans watched
the footage from this endless war
which they had no intention of getting caught up in.
By offering to loan money
to the British and French governments,
J. P. Morgan Junior had chosen his side.
His idea was to let the allies buy steel on credit
in order to get US Steel running at full capacity again.
Morgan took with him a consortium of American bankers.
By 1916
Morgan Junior and his consortium
had already loaned the Allies more than half a billion dollars.
He then realised
that an Allied defeat would leave them unable to pay him back,
and that it would take him and US industry
a very long time to recover.
President Wilson, who had been re-elected in 1916
on a promise to remain neutral,
knew that America was on course to join the war.
In April 1917
the United States reluctantly declared war on Germany.
The war was presented as a battle for freedom
against tyranny.
The country was gripped by patriotic fervour,
and the army had no difficulties
in recruiting two million volunteers.
Propaganda celebrated American capitalism
as the best system in the world,
ready to meet the exceptional needs of the army.
In reality, industrialists saw this war
as an intolerable intrusion by the state
in their private affairs.
The government started building
state-owned boatyards
where workers were paid well.
But this unfair trading
and assault on private enterprise
was seen as sacrilege by the industrialists.
Worse still, in support of the army,
President Wilson was quick to nationalise certain companies
which had used the war as an excuse to raise prices.
And in the event of a strike, roles were reversed:
from now on, employers would be held responsible
and could even be kicked out of their own factories
for the duration of the war.
To finance military spending
the government significantly raised income tax,
but as it was only paid by 4% of Americans,
it wasn't enough.
The only remaining solution was mired in uncertainty:
borrowing en-masse from the people of America.
Morgan Junior and his consortium of bankers
joined forces with the government
to get the marketing campaign just right.
These were dubbed 'liberty loans'.
Bonds were issued four times,
playing on people's patriotism
and the idea of the American dream.
And to make sure liberty loans were a success,
the biggest stars from Hollywood were asked to lend their support.
Mary Pickford.
Charlie Chaplin.
Douglas Fairbanks.
The scheme was an unqualified success.
Fifteen million patriotic savers
would finance more than half of America's war spending,
supporting their 'boys' in France.
But the soldiers of the expeditionary forces were surprised
by the brutality of the fighting.
In a few months
more than 300,000 of them were killed or seriously injured,
many during the final, victorious
Allied offensive in the autumn of 1918.
In the euphoria of victory
most Americans believed that their capitalism
and their democracy
were the best system in the world.
Andrew Carnegie has died in his 84th year.
The great philanthropist was born into poverty.
The New York Times 12 August 1919.
True to his own Gospel,
Carnegie's entire fortune went on philanthropic causes.
However, by putting his daughter, Margaret,
at the head of his foundation,
he left her enough money to get by.
After this brief period of interventionism during the war,
millionaires breathed a sigh of relief as they regained control.
The workers' strikes which shook post-war America
and both communist and anarchist protests
were crushed.
Anyone who wasn't a US citizen
was deported back to their home country.
With the Republican Warren G. Harding in The White House,
the government returned to its laissez-faire politics
and took a step back from the world of business.
Then, to top it off,
the law banning child labour
was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Some, however, were able to get some schooling
in the evenings after work.
50 million dollars are to be spent on wage increases
for teachers with immediate effect.
The rest will go to the Rockefeller Foundation
for the well-being of humanity.
The New-York Tribune 25 December 1919.
END OF PART ONE
SUBTITLES BY PAUL MULLANEY