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The Farmers' Attitude Toward British Investment in American Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

Roger V. Clements
Roger V. Clements
Affiliation:
Manchester University
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Extract

The flurry of British investment in American manufacturing industry from 1887 to 1891 was viewed with alarm, particularly in the West. At this time the farmer was preoccupied with the economic power of monopolistic industries and trusts, and so die British investor became deeply involved in this phase of the agrarian battle. In the past, capital from die United Kingdom had entered industrial concerns, chiefly railroads, without wresting the management out of American hands. More recently British investors had been building up and controlling dieir own enterprises in the West. Now, well-established and profitable American businesses were bought and directed from Britain. The farmer regarded this unaccustomed interest in American industrials either as a step toward die formation of great monopolies, or, even worse, as part of an imperialistic design conceived by London bankers to enslave the American people.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , June 1955 , pp. 151 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1955

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References

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