The Benefits Of Carnegie And Debs During The Era Of Industrialization

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During the era of industrialization, there were many commercial benefits, but those benefits came at a cost which would be paid by the masses rather than the industrialists. As there was little government regulation the industrialist controlled every aspect and profits made from their products, so their influence was immensely strong during the industrialization period which made it difficult to contest their power. Carnegie was on the side of capitalism he saw it as necessary for everybody not to be equal while it sounds cruel as he was the richest man of his time he did have his reason. As a kid, he came from a poor family but his family despite being low class still knew the importance of education. When his family emigrated to the united …show more content…

Carnegie believed it was the obligation of the rich to redistribute their excess wealth back into society though not directly as simply giving it away could lead to dependency and slothfulness rather though improvements and the building of public resources such as libraries. Although he is known for this great service it came at a cost Carnegie was known for his philanthropy, but he brought down unions with the help of Henry Fick when they protested wage cuts and long work weeks with little pay. Debs, on the other hand, saw that the way to fighting the high amount of poverty was for the government to step in and own all industries and distribute the wealth accordingly to the amount of work. Debs caught national attention during the Pullman strike in which workers stood against put cuts they questioned why should a few obtain great wealth off the back-breaking labors of hundreds if not thousands forced to work long hours in poor conditions if the government followed their plan they believed that much more would benefit than those who would not. Thought the strike failed when the federal government sided with their enemies it got the message out that they wanted about the horrible conditions and long hours that workers suffered, and they had enough when the pay cuts and long works hours only seemed to increase Debs would eventually be placed in jail for his views and anti-war behavior during world war