The Price of Plutocracy
As violence erupts at the Homestead Steel Works, an Aberdeen editorial probes the rot of industrial concentration and the rise of a new American caste system.
The story, cleaned up
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The discussion of the tragedy at the Homestead mills is bringing out serious thoughts regarding dangers from the contact of capital and labor, and the inevitable results that follow the congestion of wealth in the hands of a few. The opinion is gaining ground that these troubles are symptoms of a deep-seated disease threatening the life of our republic. We call this disease 'plutocracy.' It results in millionaires on one hand and tramps on the other, with the pressure on all between becoming greater. While in theory laws are made by the people, practically the masses only obey the laws made by the rich. Money becomes king. Classes and castes are established. The wealthy become arrogant, while the poor lose hope, courage, and patriotism, accepting their lot as subjects of the millionaires who employ them or hold mortgages over their heads.
“The evils of this system are that while in theory the laws are made by the people, practically the masses only obey the laws made by the rich. Money becomes king.”
Written during the height of the Gilded Age following the Homestead Strike, this piece captures the exact same anxieties about wealth inequality and the erosion of civic power that dominate today’s discourse. The 'plutocracy' identified in 1892—a system where public resources are captured by monopolies—remains the central fault line in debates over the modern economy.
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