Henry Demarest Lloyd (May 1, 1847 – September 28, 1903) was a 19th-century American
progressive
Progressive may refer to:
Politics
* Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform
** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context
* Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...
political activist and pioneer
muckraking
The muckrakers were reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers in the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s–1920s) who claimed to expose corruption and wrongdoing in established institutions, often through sensationalist publ ...
journalist. He is best remembered for his exposés of the
Standard Oil Company
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
, which were written before
Ida M. Tarbell
Ida Minerva Tarbell (November 5, 1857January 6, 1944) was an American writer, investigative journalist, biographer and lecturer. She was one of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and pione ...
's series for ''
McClure's Magazine
''McClure's'' or ''McClure's Magazine'' (1893–1929) was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with having started the tradition of muckraking journalism ( investigative, wat ...
''.
Biography
Early years
Henry Demarest Lloyd was born on May 1, 1847, in the home of his maternal grandfather on Sixth Avenue in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Henry was the first child of Aaron Lloyd, a graduate of
Rutgers College
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
and
New Brunswick Theological Seminary
New Brunswick Theological Seminary is a Reformed Christian seminary with its main campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was founded in 1784 and is one of the oldest seminaries in the United States. It is a seminary of the Reformed Church in Ame ...
and minister of the
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...
, and Maria Christie ( Demarest) Lloyd.
One of Lloyd's strongest formative influences was the preaching of
Henry Ward Beecher
Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the Abolitionism, abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery ...
, whose sermons he regularly attended.
Lloyd attended
Columbia College and
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
. Lloyd worked at a library and taught to pay his way through school. Upon graduation, Lloyd was admitted to the
New York state bar
The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of New York. The mission of the association is to cultivate the science of jurisprudence; promote reform in the law; facilitate the administration of justice; ...
in 1869.
[Peter J. Frederick, "Henry Demarest Lloyd," in John D. Buenker and Edward R. Kantowicz (eds.), ''Historical Dictionary of the Progressive Era.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988; pp. 256-257.]
Journalistic career
In 1872, Lloyd joined the staff of the ''
Chicago Tribune,'' gaining promotion to the position of chief editorial writer in 1875.
He remained at the paper until 1885.
Lloyd was one of the precursors to the later muckraker journalists, writing a searing exposé of the monopolistic abuses of
John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
, "The Story of a Great Monopoly," published in the March 1881 issue of ''
The Atlantic.'' He later fleshed out his case against the unbridled corporate power of Standard Oil and similar
corporations in his best-known book, ''
Wealth Against Commonwealth
''Wealth Against Commonwealth'' is a book published by muckraking journalist Henry Demarest Lloyd. It was published after he had written several essays to ''The Atlantic Monthly'' concerning issues with dominating monopolies. It was written in an ...
,'' published in 1894. Lloyd's work thus preceded
Ida Tarbell's more famous 1904 work, "
The History of Standard Oil
''The History of the Standard Oil Company'' is a 1904 book by journalist Ida Tarbell. It is an exposé about the Standard Oil Company, run at the time by oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, the richest figure in American history. Originally serializ ...
," by a number of years.
Political career
As a political activist, Lloyd defended the
Haymarket anarchists in 1886, a position that caused his father-in-law,
William Bross, publisher of the ''Tribune'', to disinherit him and his wife Jessie Bross. However, William Bross and his only daughter must have made amends, because he died in her home.
Lloyd, after leaving the newspaper, continued to file stories as a free-lancing dispatcher, using the Associated Press wires, and his publications of outrage over the treatment of miners in the Spring Valley dispute are credited with ending that episode. Lloyd also wrote and spoke on behalf of
Milwaukee streetcar operators in 1893, and
anthracite coal
Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the high ...
miners in 1902.
Lloyd was a leading citizen of
Winnetka, Illinois. Elected more than once as a Village trustee and member of the Board of Education, he served as vice-president of the Village council from 1884 to 1886, and as Village treasurer in 1887 and 1888. He was president of the Town Meeting in 1898 and is credited with a leading role in pioneering what became known nationally as the "Winnetka system" of self-government, a reform cause broadly taken up by Samuel Gompers and the labor movement.
In 1894, Lloyd ran for
United States Congress as a candidate of the
People's Party, the so-called "Populists."
In subsequent years he was supportive of the aims of the
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
,
although he was never an active member of the organization.
Death and legacy
Henry Demarest Lloyd, remembered by a contemporary as the "pioneer and leader" of the trust-busting progressive movement, died on September 28, 1903. He was survived by a son,
William Bross Lloyd
William Bross Lloyd (February 24, 1875 – June 30, 1946) was an American attorney and political activist. The oldest son of the muckraking journalist Henry Demarest Lloyd and Jessie Bross, daughter of '' Chicago Tribune'' founder William ...
, who would emerge as a founding member and early leader of the
Communist Labor Party of America in 1919.
After his death, Lloyd's library, which included thousands of books and
pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...
s relating to
trade unionism,
cooperation
Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English) is the process of groups of organisms working or acting together for common, mutual, or some underlying benefit, as opposed to working in competition for selfish benefit. Many animal a ...
,
socialism, and
monopolies, was donated to the
University of Wisconsin.
Lloyd was an inspiration to a generation of young investigative journalists and radical political activists, such as
Charles Edward Russell, who later recalled:
"As the Standard Oil article in the ''Atlantic'' became the armory of every person willing to fight for industrial freedom, so ''Wealth Against Commonwealth
''Wealth Against Commonwealth'' is a book published by muckraking journalist Henry Demarest Lloyd. It was published after he had written several essays to ''The Atlantic Monthly'' concerning issues with dominating monopolies. It was written in an ...
'' in later years became the great storehouse of information to which numbers of able campaigners habitually resorted for their facts. Probably millions of men read or heard Mr. Lloyd's ideas without being aware of the real authorship. But I judge that with this condition he was well content. No man ever entered such a fight with a smaller share of personal vanity to gratify. He desired that his countrymen should be informed of existing conditions, but not that he himself should gain fame or rewards."
In recognition of Lloyd's work, the
Center for Investigative Reporting launched the "Henry Demarest Lloyd Investigative Fund" in 2009 to provide grants to investigative journalists.
''The Center for Investigative Reporting Announces Launch of Henry Demarest Lloyd Investigative Fund''
, Center For Investigative Reporting announcement, February 19, 2009.
The Henry Demarest Lloyd House in Winnetka is now a National Historic Landmark.
See also
* Florence Kelley, a social reformer inspired by Lloyd[Leigh Bienen]
''The Life and Times of Florence Kelly in Chicago, 1891-1899''
Northwestern University School of Law. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
* Carolyn Lloyd Strobell, Lloyd's sister and biographer
Footnotes
Works
For a complete list of works see Lloyd (1912)
pp. 351-364
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Chester M. Destler, ''Henry Demarest Lloyd and the Empire of Reform.'' Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1963.
* Richard Digby-Junger, ''The Journalist as Reformer: Henry Demarest Lloyd and Wealth Against Commonwealth.'' Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996.
* Peter J. Frederick, ''Knights of the Golden Rule: The Intellectual As Christian Social Reformer in the 1890s.'' Lexington, KY: University Press Of Kentucky, 1976.
* Jay E. Jernigan, ''Henry Demarest Lloyd.'' Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1976.
* Caro Lloyd, ''Henry Demarest Lloyd, 1847-1903: A Biography.'' In two volumes
Vol. 1
an
Vol. 2
Introduction by Charles Edward Russell. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1912.
* George H. Shibley
Death of Noted Majority Rulist - Facts Concerning His Life and the Movement
''The National New Era,'' vol. 20, no. 43 (October 1903), pg. 12.
* John L. Thomas, ''Alternative America: Henry George, Edward Bellamy, Henry Demarest Lloyd, and the Adversary Tradition.'' Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.
External links
Columbia College website.
Spartacus Educational.
Modern History sourcebook.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, Henry Demarest
1847 births
1903 deaths
Journalists from New York City
Politicians from New York City
American male journalists
American investigative journalists
Standard Oil
History of the petroleum industry in the United States
St. Mark's School (Massachusetts) alumni
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Columbia Law School alumni
Illinois Populists
Illinois city council members
School board members in Illinois
Activists from New York City