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Friends,
Let’s travel back to 1919, when 2 million soldiers returned to celebrate the victory of World War I. 1
As the war veterans march, a cheering crowd of optimistic Americans can be heard for miles in Madison Square Garden. They are nestled in the world’s largest financial market, considered the beating heart of American capitalism, filled with pride and optimism.
In other words…. Wall Street.
In retrospect, I wonder whether they would have approached the day differently if they had known that veterans, bankers, and, indeed, the whole country were in for an unpleasant surprise soon after.
The Gilded Age Starts
There’s a lot of chatter about the Gilded Age, like a bad sequel that keeps getting remade. Every generation thinks it’s bringing forth a shiny new Gilded Age that’s way better than the last—because who doesn’t love a little more glitter on top of a dumpster fire?
I spent ages digging into what life was like for Americans from the end of the Civil War to the end of World War I. Honestly, if the Gilded Age is the best analogy we can use to describe the so-called American Dream, I’d rather never have to pretend we are ushering in a repeat.
However, to those living during that brief period, I am sure it all seemed very Gatsby-like.
Or was it?
Social media, films, and books present a glamorous picture of luxurious clothing, extravagant parties, and overall freedom to spend without worrying about one’s bank account balance.
But what did Mark Twain say? It was all shiny on the outside but rotten on the inside—like a piñata filled with disappointment. No matter how many themed parties we throw, the guests aren’t leaving feeling satisfied or protected.
The Beginning Was Already The End
The last scraps of that golden fabric of government masquerade masks were ripped away when those service members marched through Madison Square Garden. Any hope of returning to the good ol’ late 1800s after such a brutal war was as realistic as expecting Alice to find her way back from Wonderland with her sanity intact.
Meanwhile, the newspapers plastered with images promised financial security and the freedom to work hard and party harder—because nothing says “we’re safe” quite like a good illusion, right?
And yet, just 25 years earlier, this country was facing its most significant depression. It was a time when thousands of Americans went to bed hungry, children lacked proper clothing or shoes, education was nonexistent, and big businesses used the concept of ‘The American Dream’ to justify their inhumane treatment.
Panic of 1893
In return for their numerous investments, the railroads hired thousands of workers to build additional lines, creating a financial bubble in America. Many American families relied on good-paying jobs with railroads to support themselves, and farmers benefited from the ability to ship their products nationwide.
In February 1893, the Philadelphia and Reading railroads decided to take a dive into receivership,2 and boy, did it send shockwaves through the elite! Matthew Josephson dubbed it a “rich man’s panic,” 3which is just a fancy way of saying the wealthy were clutching their pearls.
Receivership is a legal process where a court appoints a receiver to manage the financial affairs of a company that is unable to meet its obligations. This often occurs in cases of bankruptcy or severe financial trouble.
Josephson’s term “rich man’s panic” perfectly nails the sheer terror that gripped wealthy investors and business magnates at the thought of losing a few shiny coins. It’s not like they were losing sleep over the average citizen’s struggles—no, this was all about preserving their precious financial security. Because, really, who cares if the rest of us are in a pickle as long as their investments don’t take a nosedive?
Another Player Falls
However, a second player emerges from the left stage simultaneously- The National Cordage Company.
The National Cordage Company (NCC) played a significant role in the late 19th-century industrial landscape, particularly in the production of rope and twine.
Initially, these manufacturers formed a trade association to address common challenges, including competition, pricing, and market access. This collaboration allowed them to share resources, knowledge, and strategies to enhance their operations.
Within three years, it controlled more than 40% of the nation’s rope and twine production. By 1892, it controlled almost 90% of the nation’s cordage mills. The financial press hailed it as a rising giant in the American industrial field.
Fairy tales teach us that the giant never wins.
Big Business Busts
Over-reliance on management and on natural fibers, which are available only in certain seasons, led to the company’s failure. As the National Cordage Company acquired its competitors, the smaller companies agreed to permanently exit the field through a handshake, rather than a formal legal agreement—red flag #1.
This, coupled with the fact that the materials needed to produce baler twine, which accounted for four-fifths of its production, were only available during harvest seasons, required the company to borrow a large amount of capital to sustain itself—red flag #2.
In early 1893, the company announced that it would pay a 100% stock dividend, along with an annual dividend of 10%. This means investors would receive shares equal to the amount they already owned, plus a 10% annual return on their investment.—red flag #3.
Unsustainable.
The National Cordage Company had a real flair for the dramatic, announcing just weeks later that it would file for receivership. Talk about a plot twist! In a matter of months, their stock took a nosedive from $138.00 to a mere $20.00—proving that when it rains, it pours, and this company was caught in a full-blown storm!
A storm that would be more far-reaching than the country was prepared for.
Tumbling All The Way Down
May 1893 was like the universe’s idea of a cruel joke when the New York Stock Exchange decided to throw itself a dramatic collapse party. The aftermath was a nationwide catastrophe that felt like a bad hangover after a wild night out. Prices for crops plummeted, wages shrank faster than a balloon in a room full of sharp objects, and a staggering 25,000 businesses went belly-up.
Unemployment shot up to nearly 19%, leaving folks wondering if they should start a support group for the unemployed—or just a really sad book club. It was a time when the phrase “better luck next time” had never felt so painfully ironic!
For many, the Gilded Age was less about glitter and gold and more like a nightmare on repeat—think standing in endless unemployment and bread lines, clutching a prayer that the very businesses that crashed the economy would suddenly decide to play the role of heroes.
Spoiler alert: they never showed up!
Instead, it felt like waiting for a party that never starts, while the clock ticks and your stomach grumbles louder than your hopes. It was a time when the only thing richer than the tycoons was the irony of their absence in the face of despair!
Muckrakers
According to legend, the power lies in the pen and the brave. In the early 1900s, a few journalists thought articles on parties, openings, and the latest fashion were irrelevant during the Gilded Age.
Known as Muckrakers, they exposed injustices in America through their work.
“Tweed Days in St. Louis” (1902) was an article by Lincoln Steffens in McClure’s Magazine that depicted how large corporations collaborated with officials to maintain power in the city while simultaneously draining the public treasury.
The city’s money was loaned at interest, and the interest was converted into private bank accounts. City carriages were used by the wives and children of city officials. Supplies for public institutions found their way to private tables; one itemized account of food furnished the poorhouse included California jellies, imported cheeses, and French wines! A member of the Assembly caused the incorporation of a grocery company, with his sons and daughters the ostensible stockholders, and succeeded in having his bid for city supplies accepted although the figures were in excess of his competitors’. In return for the favor thus shown, he endorsed a measure to award the contract for city printing to another member, and these two voted aye on a bill granting to a third the exclusive right to furnish city dispensaries with drugs.- Lincoln Steffens Exposes “Tweed Days in St. Louis”
When Ida Tarbell’s father was driven out of business by the Rockefellers, she wrote the History of the Standard Oil Company for McClure. Years of research enabled Ida to uncover the illicit methods John D. Rockefeller employed during the early days of the oil industry.
In addition to damaging internal documents, former employees were willing to share sensitive information. With Mark Twain’s help, she met with Henry H. Rogers, a senior executive at the time who ‘sealed the deal.’
John Spargo wrote a gut-wrenching article, The Bitter Cry of the Children4 in 1906, which detailed the working conditions of children in America. Children in the workforce were not uncommon, as they were considered ideal in mines or factories, where they could fit into spaces that an adult could not.
I met one little fellow ten years old in Mt. Carbon, W. Va., last year, who was employed as a “trap boy.” Think of what it means to be a trap boy at ten years of age. It means tosit alone in a dark mine passage hour after hour, with no human soul near; to see no living creature except the mules as they pass with their loads, or a rat or two seeking to share one‟s meal; to stand in water or mud that covers the ankles, chilled to the marrow by the cold draughts that rush in when you open the trap door for the mules to pass through; to work for fourteen hours—waiting—opening and shutting a door—then waiting again for sixty cents; to reach the surface when all is wrapped in the mantle of night, and to fall to the earth exhausted and have to be carried away to the nearest “shack” to be revived before it is possible to walk to the farther shack called “home.” – John Spargo’s The Bitter Cry of the Children, 1906
Progressive Era Reforms:
Although we can debate the merits of the Industrial Age and the pursuit of ‘The American Dream,’ the Gilded Age was characterized by the concentration of wealth among an elite few. Historians estimate that manufacturing output rose by more than 800% during this period; however, the profits were primarily enjoyed by the 1% of the population.
Many historians (including me) believe that the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901 marked the end of the Gilded Age.5 His Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, was a strong, opinionated, and tireless figure who advocated a ‘square deal’ for everyone.
A prime example is the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, which ensured that wealthy businesses were not profiting at the expense of public health.
However, numerous social changes occurred during this period, including the emergence of labor unions, the passage of birth control acts, tax reforms, election reforms, and intensified conservation efforts.
By 1916, it appears that the country had largely policed itself. The cities were cleaner, the public was healthier, the jobs were safer, and wages covered expenses. At this point, the average American could pursue their own ‘American Dream.’
The wealthy remained wealthy and would continue to do so for generations, until they squandered their fortunes away. However, the corruption had been exposed to the nation, and they had to answer for their crimes.
Americans’ blinders were now off, as the world saw photographs and stories showing that the ‘greatest country’ could not even feed or house its citizens.
Final Thoughts
I think we have assumed the Gilded Age was one massive Gatsby party for everyone because the period has been polished and rewritten so many times. The reality is that it was not a pleasant time for 99% of the American population, so before we romanticize this era, consider whether you would want to be one of them. Because chances are- you would have been.
As always, my friends, I invite you to conduct further research on the topic to examine in greater depth the end of the Gilded Age, Progressive Era reforms, and their impact on contemporary society.
Until next time, Keep Reading and Stay Caffeinated.
For those hungry to explore more, click below to find additional readings:
When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age. Endowed with the largest private fortunes of their day, cousins John Jacob Astor IV and William Waldorf Astor lived incomparably privileged lives. For three decades around the turn of the nineteenth century, they vied for primacy in New York society, producing the grandest hotels ever seen in a marriage of ostentation and efficiency that transformed American social behavior.
Titans Of The Gilded Age: Power, Wealth, and the Making of Modern New York. Perfect for fans of The Men Who Built America, Empire of Wealth, and The House of Morgan, this book dives deep into the personalities, rivalries, and monumental decisions that changed the course of history
If you’re looking for your next favorite read, I invite you to check out my series, The Raven Society. This spellbinding historical fantasy series takes us on a heart-pounding journey through forgotten legends and distorted history. Uncover the chilling secrets of mythology and confront the horrifying truths that transformed myths into monstrous realities. How far will you go to learn the truth?
The Writer and The Librarian (Book 1):
Signed copies at:
https://rlgeerrobbins.com/product/the-writer-and-the-librarian-the-raven-society-book-1/
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Footnotes:
- World War I had staggering casualties, with total deaths estimated around 15 to 22 million (including 9-11 million military and 6-13 million civilians) and roughly 23 million wounded, leading to over 37 million total casualties ↩︎
- Panic of 1893 and Its Aftermath – HistoryLink.org ↩︎
- The book profiles major figures of the era, including John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, and Henry Clay Frick. ↩︎
- The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Bitter Cry of the Children, by John Spargo ↩︎
- hilt.pdf ↩︎