An American citizen: The life of William Henry Baldwin, Jr

by John Graham Brooks

Excerpt from An American The Life of William Henry Baldwin, It is hardly eight years since I saw a great figure in the insurance world talking a little haughtily to a group of approving listeners. With much eloquence and tingling with moral indignation, he was making observations on the "muck-raker." His vocabulary of invective was too limited to express all that he felt on this subject.At that moment the storm was gathering against his own and other towering insurance companies. He was stung to the quick as by a monstrous injustice. It seemed to him very simple. It was the work of the "agitator" and of creatures properly called "muck-rakers." His main reason for resentment was that "they were destroying public confidence." He was very impressive about this. Business and general prosperity, he said, could not endure for a month without confidence. It was the one source of our welfare.

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1981

About the author

1846-1938