More handpicked essays just for you.
Robber barons vs. captain of industry
Robber barons vs. captain of industry
Andrew carnegie and rockefeller relationship
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Name of Industrialist: Henry Ford How did he acquire his wealth? He acquire his wealth by being a self-made man, that revolutionize the car industry in the 90’s. How he (or his related industries) treated workers? Ford manage to lowered the cost of manufacturing, while providing a wage correspondent to more than double of the previous average.
Was John D. Rockefeller a robber baron? I’d say so. Through ruthless business tactics and exploitation of workers, he made a fortune in his lifetime. In this paper, I’m going to be talking about said business tactics and exploitation. If you believe Rockefeller was just a good business man who donated to the poor, I hope your view will be changed by the end.
The late 19th century was full of growth, production, and business. People were craving power and seemed to achieve this through any means necessary. Consequently, a new business elite formed consisting of the richest men alive. The way in which these individuals acquired all their profits is something very contradictory even over one-hundred years later. Some historians characterize these businessmen as “robber barons” who used extreme methods to control and concentrate wealth and power, and being supported by multiple sources, this statement is justified but only to some extent.
His work, The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy, allows readers to see a more picture perfect outlook on what the lives of these men entitled. Morris’s book was published in 2005, which allows readers to get a perspective from a long period of time and closer to reality rather than other historians writing on this era. The last author that allows readers to view the Robber Barons in a different manor is James Nuechterlein in his journal article Gifts of the “Robber Barons.” Nuechterlein wrote this article in 2007 allowing readers to view the men through historical resources that he uncovered. His stance shows a more balanced approach to the Robber Barons rather than saying one or the other was a better man than the other.
Entrepreneurs controlled the Gilded Age creating a growing economy with booming businesses and yet this has not changed over the years. John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie can be compared to those with the names Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Multibillionaires, who know what the consumers desire, is what these men are best at. They knew and now know business well enough to be able to control our country’s’ economy. However, these successful business men do not do it together.
Robber barons, specifically Andrew Carnegie, an industrialist and John D. Rockefeller, a philanthropist, were the chosen, elite members of society according to the doctrine of Social Darwinism. Darwinism is when evolution occurs and the strongest organisms of an ecosystem survive and reproduce to outnumber the weaker, less fit organisms of an ecosystem. Similarly Social Darwinism follows the same concept, but in a capitalist sense of thought. Those who were able to exploit the Gilded Age’s laissez faire economy to their own benefit, like the robber barons Andrew Carnegie of Carnegie Steel and J. D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil, were the fittest members of society because they were able to survive in the grueling and ruthless free economy. By usurping all of the fresh yet unfit immigrants that were flowing into the States due to the rise of urbanization, these two men integrated these easily-manipulated people into their factories to augment their profits.
Part of a captain of industries duty were to make sure that whatever he does whether it is “trust funds in which he administered”, it would have to benefit the community (DOC 2). Andrew Carnegie believed in Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is the belief of the “survival of the fittest.” You are rich because God is rewarding and you are poor because you aren’t working hard
The four businessmen are Captains of Industry, they are Captains of Industry because they donated millions of dollars and some donated their personal collections to places. Eastman supported dental clinics for children who could not afford treatment and donated $2.5 million for the dental clinics in Rochester (website). Moreover he cared for children who were poor and didn’t have a lot of money. By supporting dental clinics for children, the children will grow up as the next generation and help others. Even Rockefeller was also a Captain of Industry because he donated $50,000,000 the board to raise academic salaries, he founded the General Education Board in 1903 to establish high schools throughout the South (reading).
Likewise, many wealthy people, including big business leaders, came to realize that it was their role in society was to give back. Due to all the negative responses, people such as Andrew Carnegie were huge philanthropists . They stated that because they were wealthy and were better inclined than most, they should be willing to help those at the bottom. Andrew Carnegie’s, Gospel of Wealth, explicitly stated how the wealthy have a moral obligation to give back (Outside Evidence). Other major responses to changes and the impact of big business were responses from the government.
This comes into play with Horizontal Integration (to buy out your competition and gain control of an industry to brand it as your own). Thus, put into analytical terms, a Captain of Industry is a businessman who FRONTS himself as a man of
Eastman and Morgan and Carnegie are all Captain of Industry. They are Captain of Industry by being a good leader. Morgan was a good leader by “Created the world’s 1st billion dollar corporation : U.S. Steel Corporation”. Carnegie was a good leader by “ In 1899, Carnegie joined several of his business interests by forming the Cargerie Steel industry.”. Eastman was a good leader by he set up a"Wage Dividend" – an innovation for its time – in which each employee benefited above his or her wages in proportion to the yearly dividend on the company stock.”
It is unlikely that Vladek1, the stingy and occasionally insufferable Auschwitz survivor and father of Artie Spiegelman, would be described as a philanthropist- a man seeking to encourage humankind with compassion and perhaps donations of money to a good cause. On the contrary, within Art Spiegelman 's Mauz, Vladek was accused of being "more attached to things than people" by his own wife, Mala. It 's an accusation that alludes towards the belief that objects, tradable goods and commerce holds a greater value to Vladek than people. Anyone, or rather a large quantity of people, would disagree with Vladek, claiming that people have an inherent, intrinsic value far above worldly goods, or systems of commerce. It seems almost contradictory that
Bill Gates was a wealthy man who might have been greedy and only in for the money. He was also a generous man who employed a lot of people and donated $40 million. Most revered critics believe that Cornelius Vanderbilt was a Robber Baron. For example, he was never known to engage in philanthropic activities
Rockefeller: The Captain of Industry that has helped our country thrive “The best philanthropy” he wrote, is constantly in search of finalities- a search for a cause an attempt to cure evils at their source” - John D. Rockefeller John D. Rockefeller was the richest man of his time but, used his wealth to improve our country. Rockefeller entered the fledgling Oil industry in 1863, by investing in a factory in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1870 Rockefeller established the Standard Oil Company. With the establishment of the oil company Rockefeller controlled 90% of the oil business in America by 1880.
Andrew Carnegie could have let his employees keep their wages and worry about donations later. Taking money away to invest it somewhere else is not helping, because the people
