Rockefeller : The Best Source Of Oil

An ongoing debate remains as to whether John D. Rockefeller was a "robber baron" or a "captain of industry". Rockefeller was highly criticized for his success and the means by which he attained it. Although, in actuality, he

Rockefeller made the most of his resources during this time period. Rockefeller worked as much as he could and overcame hardships such as drops in the market. It was through his work and some luck that he became the owner of the Standard Oil Company, the largest oil company in the United States (Rockefeller). And no one can simply claim that Rockefeller simply sat on his wealth and never used it to better America. No, Rockefeller gave money to help support Spelman College in Georgia, a college focused on educating African American women, as well as found the University of Chicago. He is also known for establishing the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research and the Rockefeller Foundation that helped to eliminate yellow fever, money to hospitals, and gave relief after World War I (“John D.

From the years 1870-1937 John D. Rockefeller was a Captain of Industry and truly was an example of the idyllic American dream. He by his success as a Captain of Industry also set a precedent from then on about the way that other Captains of Industries made their wealth and ran their companies as well. Furthermore, John D. Rockefeller was a Captain of Industry because he built the Standard Oil Company and was a very generous philanthropist. John D. Rockefeller did generate lots of revenue and create many jobs in the United States but it also can be said that he took advantage of the less fortunate by paying them less and buying out competing businesses.

John D. Rockefeller, born on July 8, 1839, has had a huge impact on the course of American history, his reputation spans from being a ruthless businessperson to a thoughtful philanthropist (Tarbell 41). He came from a family with not much and lived the American dream, rising to success through his own wit and cunning, riding on the backs of none. His legacy is huge, amassing the greatest private wealth of any American in history. Rockefeller’s influence on our country has been both a positive and a negative one, he donated huge sums of money to various public institutions and revolutionized the petroleum industry. Along with all the positives to the country, Rockefeller also had many negative affects as well, including, by gaining his

John D. Rockefeller should be considered a Robber Baron. Rockefeller may be associated with a Robber baron because he used illegal tactics to create a strong oil company. The most uncertain things of all his success was how he got it. John was getting discounts from other railroad companies which made them suspicious of him. Which as you could see would be a disadvantage to other oil companies that were in competition with them. Rockefeller's competition found this practice and others he did to be funny which is why he was considered a robber baron by many people. Rockefeller owned basically the entire oil industry at the same time when he bought out the other oil businesses. Rockefeller workers barely made income, he always shortened their pay which made them stop working for him. The workers felt that if they were working hard they should get paid what they deserved. So even with him being one of the richest man alive who donated money to different business such as schools, churches and etc he used different unfair advantages to accomplish his success.

George Eastman and John D. Rockefeller were both captains of industry due to being philanthropists and innovators. George Eastman was an innovator by reinventing how people can take pictures. Before Eastman recreated the camera it was expensive, timely, and very bulky. Only rich people could afford camera equimpment and it was hard to bring anywhere because of how heavy it was. After Eastman’s new camera came out almost everyone could afford one, it was lighter, and much faster. More companies started to get into the camera business and more people became interested in photography. John Rockefeller was an innovator because he made oil a more usable resource. For example oil could now be used for cars and other machines instead of coal, because of this whales stopped getting hunted for whale oil.

Rockefeller was an American business tycoon. His early life made an impact on him with his father’s odd habits and parenting. His father was a traveling salesman who regularly cheated on his wife; even cheating on her when he was home. His father regularly “ cheated” his children by lying to them. He made the excuse that it would make them strong. John did not let this affect him. He got a job at an early age and used this experience and knowledge to become a business partner. By the end of the year the company had made half a million dollars. He used this money to open an oil refinery. He and a few others created the Standard Oil Company, in 1870. Within two years they had owned a majority of the oil refineries in Cleveland. They, in nearly a decade, had a monopoly on the US oil refinery

In conclusion John. D rockefeller was not a overthrowing, ruthless business owner. He was sympathetic, intellectual, charitable and very clever. Without him universities, cities and especially New York would not be the same today. He helped form the oil production in america and made jobs and opportunities for american citizens and he was the most known philanthropist in HISTORY. John. D Rockefeller came from a middle-class, much like us, and built a kingdom on his back. Rockefeller is no Robber Baron. He is a Captain, a Captain of Industry. And his title should be changed as

Rockefeller was obsessed with controlling the oil market and used many of undesirable tactics to flush his competitors out of the market. Rockefeller was also a master of the rebate game. He was one of the most dominant controllers of the railroads. He was so good at the rebate that at some times he skillfully commanded the railroad to pay rebates to his standard oil company on the traffic of other competitors. He was able to do this because his oil traffic was so high that he could make or break a section of a railroad a railroad company by simply not running his oil on their lines. Another one of Rockefellers earlier mentioned but not explained tactics was his horizontally integrated monopoly. Rockefeller used this horizontal monopoly to set prices and force his competitors to merge with him. (All with Doc. J) Document J shows that Rockefeller had his tentacles, or his influence and power around every piece of the oil industry. That, also, includes the politicians and their support.

Rockefeller, he was the leading producer of oil. Growing up, Rockefeller was poor, so he quit school and got a job. When Rockefeller was older he became wealthy. He was the Captain of Industry for oil, and because he had rivals in the railroad business that wouldn't let him use railroads to ship to Pennsylvania, he created what we now call the pipeline. Rockefeller was determined, and the way he made this pipeline was he got lots of pipe and connected the pipes together and put it underground that way Scott and Vanderbilt couldn't touch it. Rockefeller purified the oil and made kerosene which revolutionized the way we worked, because people could use kerosene in lamps and now they could work early mornings and late

One reason, according to the political cartoons by Udo J. Keppler and Horace Taylor, Rockefeller used his wealth to control the government in a bad way (Doc D). This is important because it shows how Rockefeller took over the government to get what he wants. Another significant reason, according to the University of Delaware's article,"...people like Rockefeller used methods that were ethically questionable... monopolistic control..." (Doc H). This is

Rockefeller was in fact a villain, he is also thought of as a hero to the Gilded Age because of the few good acts he did. During the Gilded Age, oil was very expensive and difficult to acquire.Overall, only the wealthy and well privileged had much access to it, but “Standard Oil developed the world’s largest oil refineries and drove down the cost of refining oil,” (World Book, Rockefeller). With Rockefeller as the head of the company, he was able to expand access of oil to those who didn't have as much money and produce large amounts of oil for little cost. With his new ideas and methods, he was able to cut down oil cost and produce more of it more efficiently and quicker than that of the past. Due to becoming one of the wealthiest individuals in the United States, Rockefeller had a substantial amount of money and “He gave away about $540 million during his lifetime. He gave most of his money to the public through foundations he established himself and through other organizations,” (World Book, Rockefeller). These other foundations, which were mainly universities, highly profited and grew off of these generous donations from Rockefeller. They are still functioning today and Rockefellers impact on them has never been forgotten. As a result, John D. Rockefeller was thought of to be a hero rather than a villain. Besides all this good he may have done, his selfish acts can’t go unseen and unnoticed from his action.

Standard Oil’s sales continued to increase, and the company began to acquire smaller companies to continue their rapid growth. When Rockefeller would acquire smaller companies, he would completely shut down the ones he believed were inefficient and keep the ones that he thought he could bring up to his caliber of quality. Unfortunately for the workers from the companies that were shut down, they were put out of work. Rockefeller also began to warehouse oil products in order to have more control over the oil market by having the ability to possess large amounts of oil. Rockefeller had the ability to send in oil, or hold the oil in the warehouses which could cause a riff in the oil market. In order to acquire more business from customers Rockefeller struck a deal with Lake Shore Railroad, to give Standard Oil a 71% discount in return for a promise to ship at least 60 carloads of oil daily and to handle the loading and unloading. This move cut the throats of smaller refineries because they could not produce enough oil fast enough to be able to be offered discounts by railroad companies like Rockefeller did. These deals that Rockefeller had in place allowed

In a move that would transform the American economy, Rockefeller set out to replace a world of independent oilmen with a giant company controlled by him. In l870, begging bankers for more loans, he formed Standard Oil of Ohio. The next year, he quietly put what he called "our plan" -- his campaign to dominate the volatile oil industry - into devastating effect. Rockefeller knew that the refiner with the lowest transportation cost could bring rivals to their knees. He entered into a secret alliance with the railroads called the South Improvement Company. In exchange for large, regular shipments, Rockefeller and his allies secured transport rates far lower than those of their bewildered competitors. John D. Rockefeller said, "The day of combination is here to stay. Individualism is gone forever, never to return" (Hawke 128).

One of the most influential men in shaping America, one of the most brilliant men to walk this Earth, one of the most resilient and cut-throat entrepreneurs of time is John D. Rockefeller. There are a few things that make this man have a few of these qualities. The biggest and most important reasons is he is one of the very few men who literally made America and its reality what it is today. There are lots of men who made big moves to push America in this direction, but Rockefeller’s actions were so big that it made him the richest man in America. Well what did Rockefeller do that was so iconic? He discovered oil. Not only did he discover the biggest oil source in the world, the Standard Oil Company, but he also used his wealth to fund other philanthropic causes.