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Captains Of Industry In The Tycoons By Charles R. Morris

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In the novel, “The Tycoons” by Charles R. Morris, he explains how Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J.P. Morgan invented the American super economy. In Morris’s novel, he goes in depth of the lives of these men and the experiences that truly made them the group who transformed America’s economy. They transformed the greatest industries of our time: oil, rail, steel, and finance. Not only did they transform America for the better but are also the first captains of industry. I will start with J.P. Morgan who was an art collector, banker, and financier. Morgan was born into a family of wealth and his father’s name was well known in the banking industry. Even though he had a famous family name, he had a mind of his own and …show more content…

From my understanding, his contribution to forming the American economy was his leadership in creating and expanding the American steel industry. When he was eighteen years old, he took a job at the Pennsylvania Railroad working as the assistant and telegrapher to Thomas Scott, one of the railroads top officials. Through his experience here, he learned about the railroad industry and business overall; three years later, he was promoted to superintendent. While working here, he made many investments and soon realized that investments towards oil brought in a lot of money. After years of doing that, he left the railroad to focus on his own business interests. Once he left, he dedicated most of his time to the steel industry, later resulting in his business called the Carnegie Steel Company which revolutionized steel production in the U.S. From this he started to build plants around the country, using technology and methods that made it faster and more efficient to manufacture steel. This made him a very wealthy man and he continued this for a few more years. Carnegie used a system of vertical integration to maintain his market dominance. Vertical integration is essentially the merging together of two businesses that are at different stages of production. This is when a company expands its business operations into different steps yet on the same production path; an example would be when a manufacturer owns its supplier and/or distributer. The benefits of using this strategy is reducing costs and improving efficiencies by decreasing transportation expenses and reducing turnaround time. This is the system Carnegie used throughout his journey of a business man to keep costs low and profits high. In 1901 he decided to take his fortune and he create many things that focused more on philanthropy and education. I believe that his dedication to the education of the citizens also helped shape America and its economy. He

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Working as a personal telegrapher he came up with two ideas to help make the railroads more efficient and these two ideas were the most successful ideas. In 1859, he was promoted to Pennsylvania railroad superintendent. In 1861, Carnegie started the freedom iron company. Since the railroads were getting destroyed in war and deteriorating over time the iron business allowed him to bring in a lot of money since he was the biggest iron maker. In 1865, Andrew changed paths and sold the freedom iron company to make the keystone bridge company, this was revolutionary because this is when bridges started being built with iron instead of wood.

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As stated, Carnegie’s personal, primary goal was to take over the entire Steel producing industry, so that he can maximize profits and minimize competition. Vertical integration was when Carnegie’s company bought everything from their suppliers, so that the company itself controls the distribution and selling of materials. Along with this, horizontal integration is when companies that made similar products to those of Carnegie’s, would come together and form one giant corporation. This was a very important concept, as this process not only allowed Carnegie’s company to become the largest maker of steel, but this would teach others great strategies on how to become a successful business leader, leading to a very important economic theory, Social

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All this industry produced a lot of wealth for several businessmen like Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan. These men were well-known as the “Captains of Industry”. Cornelius Vanderbilt also known as “The Commodore” built on of the largest shipping empires in the world. In his early years he was a steamboat manager and entrepreneur. He decided to sell all his ships and invest his money into railroads.

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As our country reached the late 1800’s, Americans found themselves face to face with era known as the ‘Gilded Age’. Companies were created and grew rapidly during this time period. Some of the most famous entrepreneurs were John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, who seemed to be the perfect models for the ‘rags to riches’ story. Many people debate which entrepreneur was a better role-model. Due to his low prices, the high demand for his products, and the way he sought to eliminate any possible competition, John D. Rockefeller is clearly the better role-model for today’s entrepreneurs.

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As industry began to grow in America, a select group of pioneers such as Andrew Carnegie became controversial. The controversy was that they were simply rich and took from the poor. People who participated in such acts were referred to as “Robber Barons”. It is often said that Andrew Carnegie was a “Robber Baron” but he was not because in his case, he was one of the first people to bring industry to such a large scale. Without people before him, he had no guidance and therefore it was much harder to conduct business because he was essentially creating his own path.

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Although many citizens viewed capitalists as “Captains of Industry,” they can also, just as easily, be seen as “Robber Barons.” Even though railroads were beneficial to society, they were not without corruption, as shown by the Credit Mobilier scandal. This was a railroad company that paid itself huge sums of money for small railroad construction. In fact, it received twenty-three million dollars in profit. Moreover, the railroad industry could be seen as completely insincere and dishonest because of its monopoles.

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The industrial revolution brought many great inventions and innovations into the world, especially to America, the new world. The United States had many resources available and more importantly for Americans could utilize them for the nations gain. Many businessmen took advantage of this opportunity by building up their businesses and wealth to a standard that many people still look to as a standard of greatness. Many historians have their take on how the men of the industrial revolution changed not only America, but the rest of the world as well. Authors, Charles Morris, Matthew Josephson, and James Nuechterlein point out to historians that the world is full of many different angles and ideas that one can view regarding the Robber Barons or the successful men of the industrial revolution.

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Industrialists such as John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, had made major impacts during the Gilded Age. They changed the way we do things like transport things, and the rules of business. They made mass production of items, and paved the way for improving working conditions. John D. Rockefeller would become one of the most powerful, and the richest men in the history of the United States due to him owning 90% of all the oil refineries. With the railroad business taking advantage of all his oil profits he made the idea to transport some of his oil through the system of using pipelines.

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Big business leaders were “captains of industry”, “shrewd businessmen,” and “robber barons.” The big business leaders used technological evolution to create massive industries that made them some of the wealthiest United States citizens of the time. The three men who were the Giants of Industry and innovation were the steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, and business financier J. P. Morgan. All three men were businessmen who developed their respective businesses to an extraordinary scale and scope that is unfathomable (OpenStax, 2019). Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan’s companies greatly influenced the growth of the economy and changed the way of life for all

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