Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Monopolies, Cartels, and Trusts
Caption: John Sherman, author of the Sherman Antitrust Act
After the Civil War, industries in this country began to grow quickly. Many of the men who owned these companies were honest. Others did anything that they could to make more money. Business owners tried to pay as little as they could for the supplies they needed. They would pay their workers less money so that the owners could earn more. Some business owners tried to control their whole industry.
There were company owners who tried to start a monopoly. A monopoly is when one company completely controls a product. This company is the only one that makes or sells it. When there is a monopoly, the company can set any price that it wants to for the product. People have to buy it at that price because no other company sells it. The company can charge a lot of money. This means the owner of the company is going to make even more money. Business owners had different ways of starting monopolies. The owner bought all the other companies that made the same item. Or he made other businesses close. Many owners did these things and more in order to have a monopoly.
