He rightly believed that it was the state’s duty to limit the plutocracy. ‘Like all Americans I like big things,’ he said, ‘big prairies…wheatfields, railways, factories, steamboats. But…no people were ever yet benefited by riches if their prosperity corrupted their morals.’ The president, assisted by his attorney-general Charlie Bonaparte,[*21] struck at Rockefeller, forcing the break-up of Standard Oil, along with banks, railways and tobacco trusts.
