Your health is more important to us than the business.(John D. Rockefeller and the oil industry) That shows that he cares more about the workers health than his own business. He approached the idea of the standard oil family and he tried to get every person in his family to work.(John D. Rockefeller and the Oil industry) That proves that he believes in working hard. From his actions he is overall not a robber baron because he pays his
John D. Rockefeller was called a robber baron because many people believed he used unethical business practices to amass his extraordinary wealth. One of the most known was his practice of demanding rebates from railroads. Because Standard Oil shipped such large amounts of oil by rail, Rockefeller insisted that the railroads offer him rebates, or a discounted rate. This policy gave Standard
Not long after his first company took off, in 1870, he created Standard Oil Co., which was a combination of a few of the other businesses he had started. Rockefeller used refineries to extract oil, rather than some of his competitors who preferred to use oil rigs. What truly helped Rockefeller rise above his competitors was actually undercutting their prices, and even offering money to railroad companies to only ship materials to him, which caused his competitors’ businesses to go bankrupt. He used a business tactic called the trust, where he took shares in other companies, offering the owners a place on the board of directors and dividends in the company. This tactic gave Rockefeller more control over his competitors’ businesses, which affected everyone else negatively.
Rockefeller states that, “We must ever remember we are refining oil for the poor man and he must have it cheap and good” (Folsom, 2010, p. 83). In the market for oil, prices were not consistent, and Rockefeller was determined to remove any unnecessary aspects and use oil efficiently to mass produce and provide at the lowest cost. The work it took Rockefeller to offer the availability of oil allowed his market entrepreneurial persona to succeed within the process of creating a remarkable product that created the wealth of the oil
Rockefeller was so ruthless and wealthy he was called The Leviathan. Rockefeller got wealthy through monopolies ( trust) a monopoly was when a corporation buys out its competition so they can have full price control so they could charge however much they wanted for that product which means they eliminated the free market
Among the most aggressive of these tactics were predatory pricing, vertical integration, and most rigorously, horizontal integration. Rockefeller added every one of his competitors to his mega-industry, some through secret deals. This resulted in his creation of one of the single greatest monopolies in history, the Standard Oil Trust. Eventually, the Supreme Court found Standard Oil guilty of illegal monopoly and had the company broken into 34 separate companies. Aside from business practices, Rockefeller engaged in questionable treatment of workers, the most striking of which was his reaction to the Ludlow Massacre.
They began to partner up with a lot of different companies and began to build their company more and more. After a while of the government noticing, what exactly he and others were doing, the government began to punish those who used monopoly to create bigger businesses. Rockefeller then went to distributing his company among others making is fair. The government didn’t see this as a good thing although as they created the antitrust laws and everything he had worked for fell to the end. Rockefeller retired and became the Rockefeller foundation.
Rockefeller took advantage of the well oiled railroad system and created what is known as a monopoly. As seen in Document 7, George Rice tells a short tale of how Rockefeller drove him to a breaking point as Rockefeller owned most of the oil companies and also had the lowest prices that George himself and many other competitors couldn’t compete with. As Rockefeller became one of the wealthiest men in America, he used others downfalls to raise himself to the top. Many other people including members of congress even full under the shadow of gaining personal earnings based on controlling the railroads. As seen in Document 3, there were heavier hands at play in the congress and as shown there were many who participated.
John D. Rockefeller in my opinion is a robber baron; The term robber baron was used in the 19th century to describe a group of industrialist who were creating enormous personal fortunes. Many people believed he used unethical business practices to amass his extraordinary wealth. John had a drive to become one one of the richest people in America. During Rockefeller's time the average person was making around 8 to 10 dollars per week, but Rockefeller was worth millions. Rockefeller did use some tactics that were questionable.
Rockefeller was a robber baron because he used ruthless and unethical means to acquire his wealth, he would abuse his power with his workers. On history.com, John D. History.com states "Critics accused Rockefeller of engaging in unethical practices, such as predatory pricing and colluding with railroads to eliminate his competitors to gain a monopoly in the industry. In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court found Standard Oil violated anti-trust laws and ordered it to dissolve." Rockefeller's shady business states, "Rockefeller controlled pipelines and arranged for secret, discriminatory railroad rates, which allowed him to cut prices and force competitors out of business. Rockefeller's conglomerate of companies was called a “trust” or “combination."
Rockefeller. Rockefeller was known as one of the most ruthless and heartless businessmen that this time due to the way that he gave little regard towards the businesses that he destroyed. One example of this was George Rice, a man whose life was utterly destroyed over a single ultimatum. During the nineteenth century, George Rice was a businessman in the oil business until John D. Rockefeller did not like the competition and offered him an ultimatum of either having his business destroyed or selling it to Rockefeller for a significant amount less than what it was worth. When Rice declined, Rockefeller began making it impossible for him to run his business through acts such as lowering wages on Rice’s oil so the people lost money and owning train cars and making the price of the railroad use more expensive
The oil industry was likely to have one company controlling too much. Rockefeller knew how rare oil was and what kind of income it had. He used this knowledge to start a monopoly. The way he did business and the strategies that he used to create Standard Oil would make anyone blush, but the finished product was not as bad for to the economy or the environment as it was before he took it over. When oil companies were trying to make the most of the stuff they had, they would pump their waste on the ground or into rivers instead finding correct ways of disposal.
Rockefeller's role on big business was one of the largest of its kind, being one of the richest men in American history he set the precedence for most. Not only did he show what to do he also showed the issues with these large businesses, and due to his methods many antitrust laws were passed to prevent similar treatment of employees and commuters again. Another one of these men was Andrew Carnegie, owner of Carnegie Steel, he created the most efficient way of producing steel in America at the time(Andrew_2). Carnegie like Rockefeller owned the the largest business of its type during his time in charge of the company.
Coming with a successful business is people trying to find faults in your greatness. Rockefeller was a Captain of Industry, he helped improve the inventions we already had by making oil more readily available. By doing this he made a fortune which made people believe that he was unable to be trusted, but all of these suspicions were incorrect, Rockefeller made his money honestly and helped our country thrive and become who we are today. Rockefeller had competition in the oil industry but,
Rockefeller was also one of the most successful wealthy Gilded Age entrepreneurs. Although Rockefeller did make a name for himself in the oil industry,supplying the U.S with oil, and creating the Standard Oil Company;his road to power was paved with the pain and suffering of others due to his malicious behavior. He should be remembered as a Robber Baron because of his attempts at monopoly, malicious behavior to those who stood in his way, and especially the treatment of his workers in order to get the wealth he desired. J.D. Rockefeller used tactics such as vertical integration, using rebates to transport his oil for cheaper prices, and using ruthless methods to eliminate the competition. Rockefellers ruthlessness lead him to be very successful up until his fatal encountered with Ida Tarbell.
