The octopus is squeezing everything from the White House to merchants. The octopus is J.D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company.http://www.apus-xl.com/Monopolies.html
Political cartoons were a popular way to depict the monopolies in America. Tycoons such as C.P. Huntington controlled the railroads and everyone who used them. Andrew Carnegie did the same thing with the steel business, and Rockefeller with the oil industry. This was an elite group who had more wealth and power than anyone in the nation, and were even able to control the government with it. All of this was at the expense of the workers. In this photograph it shows Standard Oil squeezing America, and more specifically American politics. Monopolies like Standard Oil were able to persuade government officials with their wealth in order to control prices, interest rates, and taxes.
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