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The Social Gospel and the Trust-Busters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Robert R. Roberts
Robert R. Roberts
Affiliation:
Mankato State Teachers College
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Extract

By 1878 the United States stood on the verge of a period of immense consolidation and concentration of business wealth. Already the process was underway by means of pools and marketing agreements, and the powerful “trusts” were in the immediate future. By the turn of the century the characteristic feature of American business was the giant corporation, built on holding companies and interlocking directorates. The existence of such great wealth and power in the hands of a relatively few men posed a question for the interpreters of Christian ethics, and the answers ranged all the way from an idealistic communism to the benefits of stewardship.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , September 1956 , pp. 239 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1956

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