Summary of Frederick Lewis Allen's The Lords of Creation

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The American economy experienced a boom beginning in 1897, which was only briefly interrupted by the outbreak of the Spanish War. But it returned to a very different country from the America of the eighties and nineties. The frontier had now been closed for many years.

#2 The idea of outward conquest had been given a powerful impetus by the opera-bouffe victory in the Spanish War, which had bestowed upon a surprised country a group of islands across the Pacific. The troops were hardly back from Cuba, the air was still filled with the echoes of There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight, and Admiral George Dewey was still the nation’s adored hero.

#3 In the 18-seventies and 18-eighties, the American economic ideal was free competition. Almost everyone believed in laissez-faire, and the ideal economic order was a sort of endless game in which anyone could enter.

#4 In the oil industry, the control of competition was provided by a severe young man named John D. Rockefeller, who had run his little refining business in Cleveland with such calculating efficiency, bought out his immediate competitors with such boldness, and wrung secret privileges from the railroads with such shrewdness that he was able to dictate to the industry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822522398

IRB Media

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Insights on Frederick Lewis Allen's The Lords of Creation

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The American economy experienced a boom beginning in 1897, which was only briefly interrupted by the outbreak of the Spanish War. But it returned to a very different country from the America of the eighties and nineties. The frontier had now been closed for many years.

#2

The idea of outward conquest had been given a powerful impetus by the opera-bouffe victory in the Spanish War, which had bestowed upon a surprised country a group of islands across the Pacific. The troops were hardly back from Cuba, the air was still filled with the echoes of There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight, and Admiral George Dewey was still the nation’s adored hero.

#3

In the 18-seventies and 18-eighties, the American economic ideal was free competition. Almost everyone believed in laissez-faire, and the ideal economic order was a sort of endless game in which anyone could enter.

#4

In the oil industry, the control of competition was provided by a severe young man named John D. Rockefeller, who had run his little refining business in Cleveland with such calculating efficiency, bought out his immediate competitors with such boldness, and wrung secret privileges from the railroads with such shrewdness that he was able to dictate to the industry.

#5

The American public was opposed to the idea of monopoly, and when the truth about the Standard Oil Trust leaked out, there was a great outcry. The small business man saw the possibility that some day he might be forced out of business by a trust.

#6

The rush to New Jersey to form holding companies began in 1888, and it was not long before other states began to emulate them. This led to the beginning of the new industrial era that was to mature on the night when Morgan and Schwab dined together.

#7

The practice of combining companies into holding companies so that they could be traded on the stock market was extremely profitable for the promoters and the owners of the various companies. The owners of successful businesses did not sell out unless they received a very handsome price, but they could be paid that price in stock of the new holding company.

#8

The process of watering stock, which is when a company prints extra stock and sells it, was not new. It had been done by young cattle drover Daniel Drew in the 1800s, and it was done by the promoters of the late nineties.

#9

The industrial revolution in America was led by Wall Street bankers and financiers. They were able to finance these immense holding company operations, and distribute stock by the millions of shares.

#10

The steel industry was the first to be hit by the epidemic of promotion and consolidation in 1898. Within two years, eight new groups had been formed. Yet there was one exception to the rule of combination: Andrew Carnegie, the sharp-eyed little Scotchman who had begun his business life as a bobbin-boy in a Pittsburgh cotton mill.

#11

In the summer of 1900, the battle between Carnegie and the new steel combinations was officially joined. The leaders of the new steel companies decided that they could no longer tolerate the sort of venomous competition that Carnegie had been giving them.

#12

When Carnegie wanted to retire, his competitors knew they had to buy him out or else crush him. They could not possibly defeat him in a battle, so they bought him out.

#13

The stock market leaped with joy after Election Day 1900. The New York Tribune paean of triumph on November 8, 1900, began its account of the excitement in Wall Street with a statement that business confidence was a vital element of commercial and industrial activity and enterprise.

#14

The dinner of December 12, 1900, was a chance for Schwab