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America.its ideal of a socialist brotherhood of man.In the course of it,through his characters,he indicts the system. In the face of the facts that modern man lives more wretchedly than the cave-man.and that his producing power is a thousand times greater than that of the cave-man,no other conclusion is possible than that the capitalist class has mismanaged...criminally and selfishly mismanaged. And with this attack.the vision: Let us not destroy those wonderful machines that produce efficiently and cheaply.Let us control them.Let us profit by their efficiency and cheapness.Let us run them for ourselves.That,gentlemen,is socialism.... It was a time when even a self-exiled literary figure living in Europe and not prone to political statements-the novelist Henry James-could tour the United States in 1904 and see the country as a"huge Rappacini garden,rank with each variety of the poison-plant of the money passion." "Muckrakers,"who raked up the mud and the muck,contributed to the atmosphere of dissent by simply telling what they saw.Some of the new mass-circulation magazines, ironically enough in the interest of profit,printed their articles:Ida Tarbell's exposure of the Standard Oil Company;Lincoln Steffens's stories of coruption in the major American cities. By 1900,neither the patriotism of the war nor the absprption of energy in elections could disguise the troubles of the system.The process of business concentration had gone forward;the control by bankers had become more ear.As technology developed and corporations became larger,they needed more capital,and it was the bankers who had this capital.By 1904,more than a thousand railroad lines had been consolidated into six great combinations,each allied with either Morgan or Rockefeller interests.As Cochran and Miller say: The imperial leader of the new oligy was the House of Morgan.In its operations it was ably assisted by the First Naronal Bank of New York(directed by George F.Baker) and the National City Bank of New York(presided over by James Stillman,agent of the Rockefeller interests).Ametg them,these three men and their financial associates occupied 341 directorships in 112 great corporations.The total resources of these corporations in 1912 was $22,245,000,000,more than the assessed value of all property in the twenty-two states and territories west of the Mississippi River.... Morgan had always wanted regularity,stability,predictability.An associate of his said in 1901: With a man like Mr.Morgan at the head of a great industry,as against the old plan of many diverse interests in it,production would become more regular,labor would be more steadily employed at better wages,and panics caused by over-production would become a thing of the past. But even Morgan and his associates were not in complete control of such a system. In 1907,there was a panic,financial collapse,and crisis.True,the very big businesses were not hurt,but profits after 1907 were not as high as capitalists wanted,industry was not expanding as fast as it might,and industrialists began to look for ways to cut costs. One way was Taylorism.Frederick W.Taylor had been a steel company foreman who closely analyzed every job in the mill,and worked out a system of finely detailed division of labor,increased mechanization,and piecework wage systems,to increaseAmerica, its ideal of a socialist brotherhood of man. In the course of it, through his characters, he indicts the system. In the face of the facts that modern man lives more wretchedly than the cave-man, and that his producing power is a thousand times greater than that of the cave-man, no other conclusion is possible than that the capitalist class has mismanaged .. . criminally and selfishly mismanaged. And with this attack, the vision: Let us not destroy those wonderful machines that produce efficiently and cheaply. Let us control them. Let us profit by their efficiency and cheapness. Let us run them for ourselves. That, gentlemen, is socialism... . It was a time when even a self-exiled literary figure living in Europe and not prone to political statements-the novelist Henry James-could tour the United States in 1904 and see the country as a "huge Rappacini garden, rank with each variety of the poison-plant of the money passion." "Muckrakers," who raked up the mud and the muck, contributed to the atmosphere of dissent by simply telling what they saw. Some of the new mass-circulation magazines, ironically enough in the interest of profit, printed their articles: Ida Tarbell's exposure of the Standard Oil Company; Lincoln Steffens's stories of corruption in the major American cities. By 1900, neither the patriotism of the war nor the absorption of energy in elections could disguise the troubles of the system. The process of business concentration had gone forward; the control by bankers had become more clear. As technology developed and corporations became larger, they needed more capital, and it was the bankers who had this capital. By 1904, more than a thousand railroad lines had been consolidated into six great combinations, each allied with either Morgan or Rockefeller interests. As Cochran and Miller say: The imperial leader of the new oligarchy was the House of Morgan. In its operations it was ably assisted by the First National Bank of New York (directed by George F. Baker) and the National City Bank of New York (presided over by James Stillman, agent of the Rockefeller interests). Among them, these three men and their financial associates occupied 341 directorships in 112 great corporations. The total resources of these corporations in 1912 was $22,245,000,000, more than the assessed value of all property in the twenty-two states and territories west of the Mississippi River.. .. Morgan had always wanted regularity, stability, predictability. An associate of his said in 1901: With a man like Mr. Morgan at the head of a great industry, as against the old plan of many diverse interests in it, production would become more regular, labor would be more steadily employed at better wages, and panics caused by over-production would become a thing of the past. But even Morgan and his associates were not in complete control of such a system. In 1907, there was a panic, financial collapse, and crisis. True, the very big businesses were not hurt, but profits after 1907 were not as high as capitalists wanted, industry was not expanding as fast as it might, and industrialists began to look for ways to cut costs. One way was Taylorism. Frederick W. Taylor had been a steel company foreman who closely analyzed every job in the mill, and worked out a system of finely detailed division of labor, increased mechanization, and piecework wage systems, to increase no profit use only
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