In 1912 the House Committee on Banking and Currency launched an investigation into allegations that national financial and banking power had been concentrated in the hands of a few individuals, "a money trust." A subcommittee headed by Rep. Arsène Pujo of Louisiana conducted hearings at which J. P. Morgan, George F. Baker, and other financiers testified. After completing its investigation, the committee issued a majority report declaring that existing banking and credit practices resulted in a "vast and growing concentration of control of money and credit in the hands of a comparatively few men." This disclosure led eventually to the passage of the Federal Reserve Act (1913) and the Clayton Antitrust Act (1914).
Bibliography
Heilbroner, Robert. The Economic Transformation of America. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.
Porter, Glenn. The Rise of Big Business, 1860–1920. Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1992.
Strouse, Jean. Morgan: American Financier. New York: Random House, 1999.
