Compare And Contrast Robber Barons And Captains Of Industry

Robber Barons vs Captains of Industries

The Industrial age was a period of economic and manufacturing growth full of mass production and expansion of large industries. During this time there were people who were called Captains of Industry who were leaders and innovators of business who employ thousands of workers and establish philanthropic foundations (charities). For example, John D. Rockefeller donated to many different charities to help other people. Also people called Robber Barons which were people who amassed great wealth through unfair and questionable business practices who used their money to gain power. For example, Cornelius Vanderbilt never spent his money on anything besides donating one million dollars to the construction

Andrew Carneige is a businessman during the Industrial age who treated workers very poorly by never ever giving them breaks on working besides for one holliday, July fourth. He also paid his workers as little as possible so he could keep most of the money for himself as did many other businessmen during this time. The workers and businessmen had very different points of views on what they were doing because the workers thought that they needed to work less since they barely see their families and also always going to be tired when they work the next day. The businessmen thought they were doing the right thing because they thought that every time people get something they always ask for more and the businessmen thought the workers were asking for too much money. The cartoonist Gilliam showed that the workers were lifting up the businessmen while they were holding their money and the workers were also blocking the rising tide of “hard times” by focusing on the stomachs of the businessmen being money bags and the workers being all hunched over looking tired holding up a long piece of wood and the tide saying hard times on it (Doc D). While the businessmen paid workers very little, the men used some of their money to influence government

J.P. Morgan was an example of this because he used his money to influence the government to stabilize American financial markets during several economic crises, but when he has done this, he has faced criticism of people saying he had too much power and was accused of manipulating the nation’s financial system for his own. The way the businessmen used their wealth to influence the government was very unfair because of how there were not as many people that were wealthy than very poor, so the wealthy people had a really high advantage on what they would do. In the article “Business of America” the author stated “They amassed fortunes that funded palatial mansions and elaborate lifestyles. In addition, they influenced the government toward policies that favored business” (Doc C). This quote meant what i said before, that when the businessmen used their money to bribe the government, they would do anything for men and make any decision they want just for themselves. The workers during this time could basically not make any decisions because of the wealthy