“As the dawn reveals the squalor of surroundings which in the darkness may have seemed tolerable” (Bellamy 183)
POLITICAL PROBLEMS:
ROBBER BARONS were businessmen who used exploited their workers in
order to increase profit and standing.
order to increase profit and standing.
- They influenced Congress
- They squashed competition by creating monopolies and trusts that were not regulated by the government
- Attempts to monitor big business, like the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, failed and hurt labor unions instead
- Political machines ruled city legislature
- Tweed ring, Tammany Hall, Black Friday scandal
PRIMARY SOURCE:
Henry George, Progress and Poverty [1879] (New York, 1884), pp. 489-96.
(Voices of Freedom: a Documentary History pg 40)
(Voices of Freedom: a Documentary History pg 40)
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This selection from Henry George's Progress and Poverty articulates that poverty is the result of injustice. Monopolies and trusts force out other competition and take opportunity away from workers, who are then subject to business practices out of their control. George alludes to the constitution in this paragraph when he says "the supreme law", since under the supremacy clause, the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land. George's main driving point is that true justice would equate to destroying trusts and monopolies.
BELLAMY'S SOLUTION:
Bellamy creates an interesting metaphor through dialogue of Dr. Leete. He compares monopolies and trusts to kings and monarchs, concluding that they are not sound in either the economic or political sphere.
He questions the corruption of the day and postulates how the American people could trust a politician who was blatantly corrupt and/or accepting bribes. In Bellamy's year 2000, there is no corruption or lying. No law or interpretation of law is necessary, and there are no taxes.
Bellamy was a staunch supporter of a strong government with a lot of interference in the public domain. He believed in socialism, which was the complete opposite of the laissez-faire economic theory that was preferred in the nineteenth century.
He questions the corruption of the day and postulates how the American people could trust a politician who was blatantly corrupt and/or accepting bribes. In Bellamy's year 2000, there is no corruption or lying. No law or interpretation of law is necessary, and there are no taxes.
Bellamy was a staunch supporter of a strong government with a lot of interference in the public domain. He believed in socialism, which was the complete opposite of the laissez-faire economic theory that was preferred in the nineteenth century.