The End of the Gilded Age

Upon reading these articles, I found the end of the gilded age. Everyone talks about the great depression and the great recession but nobody talks about the 1893 economic collapse.

This collapse, which lasted 4 years, was one of the worst in American History. The highly overextended and bloating Philadelphia and Reading Railroad company collapsed plunging America into economic depression. It is estimated that unemployment hit nearly 50%. It put an end to the gilded age, and started the progressive era.

The progressive era, in a way, is the inverse of the gilded age. In this era, the massive companies of the past century where put into balance with many being torn apart in the name of fair competition.

These reforms did great things as it led to many new companies starting up and allowing for more technological development as with competition there is an urge to create better products at cheaper prices.

It also goes to show how much power and influence that these companies had as when the Pennsylvania Railroad company collapsed it sent America into depression and it indirectly led to the breaking up of many other mega-corporations.

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