Monstrous Monopolies

[huinare]

One of the textbooks my tutees use in their course contains the following image, a political cartoon about the railroad monopoly in the late 1800's. When I took the course myself, I was repeatedly drawn to ogle the bizarre and rather Lovecraftian picture (icon doesn't do it justice):

'The Curse of California.'

I recently showed the picture to the group and asked them if they've read any Lovecraft, and proceeded to extol Innsmouth and Cthulhu very briefly. One of them asked something about whether Lovecraft had written a particular economic treatise. Bless them, they stay on topic even when my inner geek makes a bold attempt to usurp the situation.

Evidently the sea monster<-->railroad monopoly device was popular.