The American Economy and the End of Laissez-Faire: 1870 to World War II 4. The Rise and Fall of Monopolies Lecture by Murray N. Rothbard Petroleum entered the industrial scene in 1859 with John D. Rockefeller's hard work. As the first manufacturing corporation, Standard Oil created a monopoly in kerosene refining by buying others out. A huge drop in the price of fuel followed, benefiting consumers, due to production efficiencies. Rothbard, then, discusses pietists, prohibitionists and the big political shift of 1896. Pietists, prohibitionists, anti-immigrationists, and women suffragettes had made a big Republican drive before 1890. But then a big, sudden shift in politics occurred, with Democrats capturing the big Midwest states, due to demographics of Germans, higher birth rates, anti-prohibitionists, and hard money standards. After this, the Republican party got more moderate and the  Democratic party got captured by extreme pietists in 1896. The South became a fully Democratic region. The Panic of 1893 resulted in the loss of Democratic seats due to the depression. By 1896 Bryanites were taking over the party. German Lutherans, and Catholics became majority-party Republicans, leaving the Irish to become minority-party Democratic civil servants. This situation lasts until 1932. The parties become non-ideological. Statists prevailed. Lecture 4 of 13 presented in Fall of 1986 at the New York Polytechnic University. This lecture on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fUmK_Kye56w Sourced from: https://mises.org/library/american-economy-and-end-laissez-faire-1870-world-war-ii We are not endorsed or affiliated with the above. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/legalcode Presented by: Read Rothbard is comprised of a small group of voluntaryists who are fans of Murray N. Rothbard. We curate content on the www.ReadRothbard.com site including books, lectures, articles, speeches, and we make a weekly podcast based on his free-market approach to economics. Our focus is on education and how advancement in technology improves the living standards of the average person. The Read Rothbard Podcast is all about Maximum Freedom. We look at movies and current events from a Rothbardian Anarchist perspective. If it's voluntary, we're cool with it. If it's not, then it violated the Non-Aggression Principle and Property Rights - the core tenants of Libertarian Theory - and hence - human freedom. Website: http://www.ReadRothbard.com iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-read-rothbard-podcast/id1166745868 Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/m/Ii45fhytlsiwkw6cbgzbxi6ahmi?t=The_Read_Rothbard_Podcast Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/readrothbardclub Twitter: https://twitter.com/read_rothbard Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/gp/145447582@N05/xB4583 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ReadRothbard Murray Rothbard, Murray N Rothbard, Read Rothbard, Anarchy, Anarchism, Free-Market, Anarcho-Capitalism, News and Events, Podcast, Laissez-Faire, Voluntaryist, Voluntaryism, Non-Aggression Principle, NAP, Libertarian, Libertarianism, Economics, Austrian Economics,