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History of the Great American Fortunes
In writing this work my aim has been to give the exact facts as far as the available material allows. Necessarily it is impossible, from the very nature of the case, to obtain all the facts. It is obvious that in both past and present times the chief beneficiaries of our social and industrial system have found it to their interest to represent their accumulations as the rewards of industry and ability, and have likewise had the strongest motives for concealing the circumstances of all those complex and devious methods which have been used in building up great fortunes. In this they have been assisted by a society so constituted that the means by which these great fortunes have been amassed have been generally lauded as legitimate and exemplary.
The possessors of towering fortunes have hitherto been described in two ways. On the one hand, they have been held up as marvels of success, as preëminent examples of thrift, enterprise and extraordinary ability. More recently, however, the tendency in certain quarters has been diametrically the opposite. This latter class of writers, intent upon pandering to a supposed popular appetite for sensation, pile exposure upon exposure, and hold up the objects of their diatribes as monsters of commercial and political crime. Neither of these classes has sought to establish definitely the relation of the great fortunes to the social and industrial system which has propagated them. Consequently, these superficial effusions and tirades—based upon a lack of understanding of the propelling forces of society—have little value other than as reflections of a certain aimless and disordered spirit of the times. With all their volumes of print, they leave us in possession of a scattered array of assertions, bearing some resemblance to facts, which, however, fail to be facts inasmuch as they are either distorted to take shape as fulsome eulogies or as wild, meaningless onslaughts.
They give no explanation of the fundamental laws and movements of the present system, which have resulted in these vast fortunes; nor is there the least glimmering of a scientific interpretation of a succession of states and tendencies from which these men of great wealth have emerged. With an entire absence of comprehension, they portray our multimillionaires as a phenomenal group whose sudden rise to their sinister and overshadowing position is a matter of wonder and surprise. They do not seem to realize for a moment—what is clear to every real student of economics—that the great fortunes are the natural, logical outcome of a system based upon factors the inevitable result of which is the utter despoilment of the many for the benefit of a few.
The possessors of towering fortunes have hitherto been described in two ways. On the one hand, they have been held up as marvels of success, as preëminent examples of thrift, enterprise and extraordinary ability. More recently, however, the tendency in certain quarters has been diametrically the opposite. This latter class of writers, intent upon pandering to a supposed popular appetite for sensation, pile exposure upon exposure, and hold up the objects of their diatribes as monsters of commercial and political crime. Neither of these classes has sought to establish definitely the relation of the great fortunes to the social and industrial system which has propagated them. Consequently, these superficial effusions and tirades—based upon a lack of understanding of the propelling forces of society—have little value other than as reflections of a certain aimless and disordered spirit of the times. With all their volumes of print, they leave us in possession of a scattered array of assertions, bearing some resemblance to facts, which, however, fail to be facts inasmuch as they are either distorted to take shape as fulsome eulogies or as wild, meaningless onslaughts.
They give no explanation of the fundamental laws and movements of the present system, which have resulted in these vast fortunes; nor is there the least glimmering of a scientific interpretation of a succession of states and tendencies from which these men of great wealth have emerged. With an entire absence of comprehension, they portray our multimillionaires as a phenomenal group whose sudden rise to their sinister and overshadowing position is a matter of wonder and surprise. They do not seem to realize for a moment—what is clear to every real student of economics—that the great fortunes are the natural, logical outcome of a system based upon factors the inevitable result of which is the utter despoilment of the many for the benefit of a few.
250 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1907
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About the author
Gustavus Myers
40 books10 followersGustavus Myers (1872–1942) was an American journalist and historian who published a series of influential studies on wealth accumulation. His name is associated with the muckraking era of U.S. literature—somewhat erroneously, since his work is not journalistic, does not aim at popular magazine publication and takes an altogether more scholarly investigative approach to its subjects.
In the decade of the 1910s, he emerged as a leading scholar of the American socialist movement when he authored a series of volumes for Charles H. Kerr & Co., the country's largest publisher of Marxist books and pamphlets.
Between 1909 and 1914, Myers published three volumes on the history of family wealth in the United States, one volume on the same topic for Canada, and a history of the Supreme Court of the United States. These publications were frequently cited and used in an academic setting for several decades, with Myers' History of the Great American Fortunes revived in a single volume format in 1936.
This classic work (History of the Great American Fortunes), by far Myers' most important and influential, details and documents at great length the corruption and criminality underlying the formation and accumulation of the great American fortunes of the 19th century that formed the foundations of the American corporate-financial economy, from Astor and Vanderbilt, Jay Gould and Marshall Field, Stanford and Harriman, to Elkins, Morgan and Hill, Whitney, Rockefeller, Dodge, Havemeyer and numerous others, and displays the permanently devastating effects on the structure of the American economy and the quality of life of the vast majority of Americans and on American society.
Myers' approach is by no means "Marxist;" his concern is with the legal and administrative enablement of financial crimes and pillage by legislation and the corruption of government bodies nominally delegated to enforce it.
In the decade of the 1910s, he emerged as a leading scholar of the American socialist movement when he authored a series of volumes for Charles H. Kerr & Co., the country's largest publisher of Marxist books and pamphlets.
Between 1909 and 1914, Myers published three volumes on the history of family wealth in the United States, one volume on the same topic for Canada, and a history of the Supreme Court of the United States. These publications were frequently cited and used in an academic setting for several decades, with Myers' History of the Great American Fortunes revived in a single volume format in 1936.
This classic work (History of the Great American Fortunes), by far Myers' most important and influential, details and documents at great length the corruption and criminality underlying the formation and accumulation of the great American fortunes of the 19th century that formed the foundations of the American corporate-financial economy, from Astor and Vanderbilt, Jay Gould and Marshall Field, Stanford and Harriman, to Elkins, Morgan and Hill, Whitney, Rockefeller, Dodge, Havemeyer and numerous others, and displays the permanently devastating effects on the structure of the American economy and the quality of life of the vast majority of Americans and on American society.
Myers' approach is by no means "Marxist;" his concern is with the legal and administrative enablement of financial crimes and pillage by legislation and the corruption of government bodies nominally delegated to enforce it.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 21, 2017
Behind Every Great Fortune There Is a Crime - this as true as ever in this book. Starting from killing and swindling of native indians in America to using the money to buy off huge tracks of land and politicians to further increase their wealth. Alas, nothing has changed. Our hero is still the wealthy one irrelevantly of how that fortune is gained.
May 11, 2019
Mr. Myers was a socialist who hated capitalism. And that shines through every page. So it's a perverse irony that he (in effect) lays out the techniques for amassing a vast fortune using capitalistic principles. It's a good starting point for building your fortune.
February 10, 2015
I think this book should be mandatory read in high school and colleges. What a great expose of a system that calcified all democratic process in US. What a slap in the face of traditional neoliberal economics that talks about free-markets and fair competition. Should be read for everyone who wants to understand how business is actually done, rather how we are told its done.
Great read overall.
Great read overall.
August 24, 2021
An amazing 712 page screed against American capitalist's predations against workers, citizens and their flouting of the rule of law through bribery, extortion and chicanery that moves more or less chronologically from Girard and Astor through Vanderbilt, Gould, Sage, Field, Harriman and Hill and a central focus on railroad "development" with side glances at other industries, all in the "muckraking" style. Revisited in several updated editions, the 1934 edition during the New Deal is the most interesting. A huge amount of excellent primary research is included that is not convenient from any other source. Recommend highly for any student of American history, law and especially of the excesses of the "Gilded Age." It is perhaps the ultimate "progressive" American economic history.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews