In contrast to the slow; almost creeping pace of the factory owners in the race for wealth; the railroad owners sprang at once into the lists of mighty wealth-possessors; armed with the most comprehensive and puissant powers and privileges; and vested with a sweep of properties beside which those of the petty industrial bosses were puny. Railroad owners; we say; the distinction is necessary between the builders of the railroads and the owners. The one might construct; but it often happened that by means of cunning; fraud and corruption; the builders were superseded by another set of men who vaulted into possession.

I. pt. I. Conditions in settlement and colonial times. pt. II. The great land fortunes.--II-III. Great fortunes from railroads.

I. pt. I. Conditions in settlement and colonial times. pt. II. The great land fortunes.--II-III. Great fortunes from railroads.

Reproduction of the original.

Originally published in 1910, a primary source for the business and development of American power in the nineteenth century. As Myers describes in his preface, it was the fashion in the early twentieth century to write of the multi-millionaires in an unfavorable light, as if they were all robber barons and had no social conscience. In his history he was attempting to be more realistic in his perspective. Volume one tells of the colonization of America and the large land grants and the great land fortunes. Volumes two and three cover the great fortunes from railroads, with extensive material on J. P. Morgan in relation to that category. Gustavus Myers (1872-1942) was an American historian who worked on a number of newspapers and magazines in New York City, joined the Populist party and the Social Reform Club, and was a member (1907-12) of the Socialist party. Such books as The History of Tammany Hall (1901), History of the Great American Fortunes (1910), and History of the Supreme Court of the United States (1912) were detailed, realistic exposes through which Myers made his reputation in the muckraking era of American literature.