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Benjamin Harrison

When the government manipulated and misused the robber barons

Economists from Adam Smith on have written about the evils and dislocations that monopolies bring to an economy. What has been much less written about over the years, however, are the evils of monopsony.

His feat was more daring than Paul Revere’s, but Virginia’s hero had, alas, no Longfellow

If you mean to be a historical figure, it is a good idea to get in touch with a leading literary figure—a Longfellow, a Homer, a Virgil. Paul Revere, Odysseus, Aeneas—they all took this precaution. Poor Captain Jack Jouett didn’t.

Five successive Benjamin Harrisons created a private empire of tobacco and trade and a great Virginia plantation

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