Lloyd, Henry Demarest

Lloyd, Henry Demarest, 1847–1903, American reformer, b. New York City. He was on the editorial staff of the Chicago Tribune from 1872 to 1885 but resigned to study social problems. His Wealth against Commonwealth (1894) is an attack on monopolies, based especially on an analysis of the Standard Oil Company. He traveled widely, writing about conditions in various countries and always supporting the causes of the underprivileged.

Bibliography

See biography by C. A. Lloyd (1912); study by C. M. Destler (1963).

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Lloyd, Henry Demarest (1847–1903) journalist, author; born in New York City. Disappointed with reform politics in New York City, he joined the Chicago Tribune (1872), where, as financial editor and editorial writer he concentrated on the emerging trusts and growing labor movement. He exposed misuses of power by the Standard Oil Company monopoly (1881), becoming the first of the new "muckrakers." Deciding to devote his life to reform, he left the Tribune (1885) and traveled to Europe, where he met with political and industrial leaders. On his return he successfully sought commutation of the death sentences of two of the convicted Haymarket rioters (1886). His extensively documented work, Wealth Against Commonwealth (1894), forcefully condemned business monopolies. He was nominated by the People's Party for a congressional seat from Chicago, but was heavily defeated. He backed the miners in a 1902 coal strike and officially joined the Socialist Party shortly before his death.