The Dark Days
Many say the beginning of the end to actually enjoying being
wealthy was the great railroad strike of 1877 and the many other labor strikes that
occurred in its wake. These events served fair warning to the Captains of
Industry that the gilded train they had been riding was about to derail. Maybe
derail is too strong a word, but the ride was going to get a little bumpier as
their grip on the purse strings loosened. But they weren’t going to roll over
and die without a fight. They weren’t called Captains of Industry for nothing.
In 1957, the Mafia held an informal, casual dress board
meeting at the palatial estate of Joseph “The Barber” Barbara in Apalachin, N.Y
to devise a game plan for dividing the underworld empire of assassinated kingpin
Albert Anastasia. Big news at the time, it wasn’t the first time the rich and
powerful got close and personal. Back in 1889, the great railroad magnates
assembled at J. P. Morgan's home at No. 219 Madison Avenue to form, in the
phrase of the day, an iron-clad combination on how to deal with the labor
issues confronting them.Key to their plan was maintaining their control over the federal government, which was already very much beholding to these money magnates. How beholden?
In 1887, President Cleveland vetoed a bill appropriating $100,000 to draught-stricken Texas farmers because he didn’t want to weaken the sturdiness of our national character by encouraging the expectation of paternal care by the government. This tough-love approach was for the farmer’s own good. That same year, when it came to dealing with wealthy bondholders, his paternal instincts kicked in, and his concern for the sturdiness of our national character took the day off as he used a treasury surplus to pay off $100 bonds at a rate $28 dollars above value—a gift of $45 million.
Whether Republicans or Democrats held office made little difference because the real power rested with this small group of men with all the money. Socialist and Populist groups took up the cause of workers, but were never more than weak third parties capable of small gains but unable to make a real difference.
