slowed town the merger and did not stop it (Boardman 18). Large businesses like the American Sugar Refining Company, the United States Steel Corporation and the American Tobacco Company spent most of their time fighting the act (Boardman 20). The progressives were fighting for control and regulation of the companies that where irresponsible for monstrosities. People where busy creating the new industrial order in which they profited from. In 1902 during a coal strike a man by the name of George F. Baer, a railroad president, said that the laboring worker would be taken care of, “by the Christian men whom God, in his infinite wisdom, has given control of the property interests of the country” (Boardman 17). As products where mass-produced, the market was also expanding due to the growing population. The national income was rising. Advertising came to play a great role in the selling of products. This also convinced buyers that they needed these new innovations (Boardman 21).Most people showed off their riches. It could be that the family invested in, railroads, steel mills, and of course the stock market. Maybe someone owned a mill or worked on a large farm. However, the rich came to live in New York and other cities during the 1900s. The dream was to get into society (Balkin 24).World’s expositions, quintessential Victorian artifacts, displayed this material world in unprecedented scale and scope. Between 1876 and 1916 nearly 100 million people visited a dozen major international expositions held in the United States. I use several fairs to summarize changes and continuities in American everyday experience. For example, Americans attending expositions at Philadelphia and San Francisco witnessed changes along a diverse cultural spectrum. In 1876 they favored soda water, patent medicines, and took multicourse noon meals; by 1915 they preferred white flour, cold cereal breakfasts, and fast food lunches. In the centennial...
