Until the 1890s corporations, which became virtually synonymous with monopoly, dominated only the railroads and the oil refining industry. There were large firms in other industries, but they tended to be partnerships of one kind or another, or other forms of privately held companies. In the 1890s, following the onset of the depression, American business began a great merger movement, creating the large corporations that would dominate the economy thereafter. It was the result of business weakness as much as strength; it indicated the growing potency of reform, not its feebleness.
