Lloyd, Henry Demarest (1847–1903)

HENRY DEMAREST Lloyd was a journalist best known for Wealth against Commonwealth, his exposé of John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company. Lloyd worked for years as an editor of the Chicago Tribune and supported various political causes including the rights of workers. Lloyd is widely considered to be one of the first crusading journalists who helping pave the way for later muckraking reporters such as Ida Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens.

Born in New York City, Lloyd's parents were Aaron and Marie; his father was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church. As a child, Lloyd moved frequently as his father served as a minister in a variety of churches in New York, New Jersey, and Illinois.

In 1863, Lloyd began attending Columbia University. While excelling as a student, Lloyd developed the [Page 284]habit of overworking, producing health problems that would affect him for the rest of his life. In 1867, Lloyd graduated with a bachelor's degree, and moved on to Columbia Law School. In 1869, Lloyd passed the bar exam in New York. He then began working as an assistant secretary to the American Free-Trade League, which promoted the idea of free trade. At this time, Lloyd actively campaigned against the corruption of Tammany Hall and the corruption of William “Boss” Tweed. By 1872, Lloyd resigned from the American Free-Trade League.

That same year, Lloyd began working for the Chicago Tribune and a year later in 1873, he married Jessie Bross, the daughter of William Bross, one of the owners of the Tribune. In 1874, Lloyd became the financial editor and in 1880 was promoted to chief editorial writer for the Chicago Tribune. As editor, Lloyd attacked the business dealings of railroad magnates such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould. In 1881, Lloyd began writing about John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil, and published in the Atlantic Monthly an exposé on Standard Oil titled “The Story of a Great Monopoly.” The article was one of the first to draw attention to Rockefeller and Standard Oil. It described the behind-the-scenes dealings, including payoffs to politicians as well as ruthless business tactics. Lloyd asserted: “The Standard [Oil] has done everything with the Pennsylvania Legislature except refine it.”

By 1885, Lloyd resigned from the Chicago Tribune as a result of differences with the primary owner of the newspaper, Joseph Medill. This was a crisis point in Lloyd's life; he traveled to Europe, where he suffered a nervous breakdown from which he never fully recovered. In the late 1880s, Lloyd became more actively involved in political causes. For example, he tirelessly defended those accused of implementing the Haymarket bombing in Chicago. In 1888, Lloyd wrote an article for the North American Review in which he advocated social and moral reform. During this period, he also became more interested in the issue of workers' rights. In 1889, Lloyd spoke at a number of labor rallies. In 1890, Lloyd published A Strike of Millionaires against Miners, a scathing critique of the coal industry. Throughout the 1890s, Lloyd worked with labor unions in the Midwest to create a political movement for reform.

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