86 ChaPter 2
to increase their own production and profits. This is not to suggest that The
Jungle did not contribute to the new inspection laws, but that the big stock-
yards and corporations had more access to government officials and could
more effectively lobby for new regulations. Once more, corporate liberalism
was evident as reform came from the top down—whether bankers, insurance
companies, or meatpackers—to eliminate competition and expand their busi-
nesses, while also giving the people what they wanted—safer banks, better
insurance companies, and clean meat. This process—creating new laws and
regulations on behalf of corporations and the biggest companies—would be
the story of capitalist reform from then onward. The state, rather than stay
out of the economy as conservatives claimed it should, had to be deeply
involved in decisions regarding which corporations would prosper, or even
survive, and which ones, the smaller businesses, would fail. Liberalism was not
principally a movement for justice, but also, in large measure, an idea used to
make capitalism bigger and more efficient.America Attains Global Power
The Progressive Era marked another major step in the consolidation of capi-
talism as the dominant economic and ideological system in the United States,
but, as in 1898, there were still problems and challenges to the system that
had to be confronted, and the Americans once more sent troops abroad to
expand the open door and create new economic opportunities for their
manufacturers and bankers. But this time, the conflict would not be confined
to a few areas that could be easily subdued; this would be a global war for
the open door and for empire.
For decades, students were taught that “The Great War” [which became
known as World War I during World War II] “began” when Serbian national-
ists, who would today be called terrorists, killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of
Austria, on June 28th, 1914 as he was riding in his car down the streets of
Sarajevo, in Bosnia. The assassination, the story went, led the Empire of
Austria-Hungary [the “Hapsburgs”] to declare war against Serbia and forced
Austria’s ally Germany to eventually begin a full-scale European conflict.
Historical events, however, do not happen that neatly or simply. A single
assassination does not cause a world war. Indeed, the conditions that led to
The Great War were evident long before June of 1914. They were quite