Gabriel Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism: A Re-Interpretation of American History, 1900-1916, reissue ed. (New York: Free Press, 1985) (more information). According to Kolko, the prevailing tendency in the American economy of the late nineteenth century was toward "growing competition" and dispersal of economic power, and attempts by some businessmen to attain monopolies and cartels by free-market means were totally unsuccessful. The conservative "triumph" (to which Kolko's title alludes) was finally achieved only through interventionist coercion, as certain powerful men persuaded legislators and regulators to create new laws and policies to extinguish their competitors.