THIS volume, one of a long series of studies in American history,
deals almost exclusively with the years 1890 to 1900. It is essen-
tially concerned with the politics of the decade, with the economic his-
tory of the period, with efforts to reform and improve many areas of the
existing society, and finally with the new burst of territorial expansion
resulting in part from the Spanish-American War. Other volumes in
this series will emphasize the constitutional and the cultural develop-
ment of the decade in greater detail than the present author has
attempted.

To those brought up in the tradition of "the gay nineties," it may
be surprising to discover that the phrase is misleading. Except for the
few exciting months of the Chicago World's Fair, there was little
gaiety in the decade. On the contrary, five years of deep depression
pushed agriculture to its lowest depths, demoralized industry and
transportation, and brought with them various economic problems
which became irretrievably interwoven with politics. The long and
dreary battles over trusts, the control of interstate commerce, "free
silver," and tariffs dominated the political life, but hardly raised the
morale of the citizens. Nor did the efforts to solve these problems bring
any immediate solutions to a harassed people.

To explode the myth of the nineties is not difficult. But I found it
complicated, as is often the case, to point up the dominant charac-
teristics of a single decade when the activities of the period started
before the decade and continued in subsequent years. The nineties
were restless, full of questioning and pioneering, when people were
intent on reforming many aspects of social, economic, and political life.

Thinking people of the nineties knew the weaknesses of existing society

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