The dominant issues during the Gilded Age were cultural; especially, regarding prohibition, education and ethnic or racial groups, economic concerning tariffs and the U.S. money supply and political corruption in government at all levels. With rapid Industrialization and the growth of large industrial cities in the U.S., political bosses and political machines increasingly took control of urban (city) politics. In business, massive, powerful and wealthy trusts formed which decreased competition in the U.S. market place. Unions crusaded for the 8-hour working day and the abolition of child labor. Middle class reformers crusaded for civil service reform, prohibition, and women's suffrage (the right to vote). On the local level, governments in
