Industrial Corporations.
Like the trunk lines and the transcontinental railroads, the great industrial corporations had their origin in the years following the period of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Among these corporations, the Standard Oil Company is, of course, the most famous; still, the teacher will do well to attempt to follow with his class the history of some other industrial corporation as well—if possible, some corporation whose operations have not stirred up so much opposition as the Standard Oil Company. In estimating the effect of these corporations upon the economic history of the country, one should attempt to bring out the benefits which they have bestowed upon the people as well as the evils which have resulted from their operations.
In attempting to regulate the activities of these corporations most states have passed special laws and established special commissions. In consequence, the newspapers are full of accounts of prosecutions under these laws and by these commissions and the student should be encouraged to read them. The national government, too, has passed at least one law, the famous Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, with a view to regulating these great corporations. More recently still, the Bureau of Corporations was established, while at the present time new legislation on this subject is pending in Congress. Yet with all the agitation and with all the legislation, it cannot be said that the problem is even on the verge of being settled. That will take, in all probability, at least another generation.