Rockefeller Vs Andrew Carnegie

How did Andrew Carnegie’s views of the obligations of wealthy people compare with those of Henry George?

Perhaps the most controversial of Andrew Carnegie’s qualities is his belief in Social Darwinism. The English philosopher Herbert Spencer convinced Carnegie that it wasn’t bad to be successful. It was “survival of the fittest” in the business world and there was no reason for Andrew Carnegie to feel guilty for obtaining more wealth. Throughout Carnegie’s life, he displayed his firm belief in the certainty of competition. In fact, he was afraid of competition and did all he could to obstruct or completely remove it when it came to his

Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were two of the early industrialists. Both of them were greedy criminals who exploited the country and its workers. Anyone who owned a large business in those days found it was possible to make more money by abusing the workers and competitors. Industrialists abused workers by forcing them to work longer hours for lower pay; they abused competitors by using predatory practices to either drive them out of business or acquire them. A business can do those things easily if it is a monopoly. Since a monopoly is the only supplier in a market, it prevents free market forces from setting prices. Price-fixing is an example: monopolies can keep the price high, because they know the buyer has no choice. In addition, monopolies can supply inferior products (which costs them less), again because the buyer has no alternative. As a result, monopolies have no incentive to improve their products or services, and the high prices cause inflation. This is bad for all consumers, because there will be no innovation. The early industrialists engaged in these monopolistic practices, sometimes in criminal ways, and that was bad for society.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was a major American industrialist in the late 19th century and after obtaining substantial wealth from his steel industry, became an advocate for giving back to the less fortunate. Carnegie’s desire to donate to those less fortunate came from past experiences, growing up as an immigrant and working in a cotton factory young. He knew and understood the hardships that people faced when not able to acquire the type of wealth he rose to earn. Through his long life this atypical businessman advocated for many and dedicated the later years of his life to promoting the general welfare of the world.

As young as 33, Carnegie was pulling in an annual income of $50,000 a year, a huge amount at that time, and this was enough for him. Carnegie was a firm believer that anyone could make it to the top, and that it was the wealthys’ duty to help the poor work towards a more comfortable life. Carnegie said that “the man who dies rich, dies disgraced.” This is a greedy, unselfish philosophy that a robber baron could not conceive.

Andrew Carnegie, "The Gospel of Wealth," discusses the way human life has transformed over the years. These changes can be good or bad ones, depending on how people use them. People are becoming more civilized. Every change has a price to pay, nothing comes without demands. Later on the text evolves into discussing surplus wealth and how people handle it. The three methods of adjusting excess wealth. One in which the leftover wealth goes to the family. As right as this may seem, it has some drawbacks, for one, the son may not want to work hard to earn wealth since it was passed down to him already. No incentive for him to get an education or career. The second method is used for public purposes. As noble as this sounds, the individual waited

Dear editor, Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth can have some valid points about things. One quote Carnegie stated is “In bestowing charity, the main consideration should be to help those who will become themselves” (61-62). He is explaining how if people were to help themselves, then that’s the biggest charity there is because you won’t end up becoming or remaining poor. This in my opinion is true since you have to work hard in life to succeed and it doesn’t come easy. A second point Carnegie made was “we accept and welcome… as conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves” (5-6). He is saying how we as people accept conditions to which we have to work hard for and maintain it and work with other people with that same mindset. I agree because

Throughout the Gilded age, men like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and John Pierpont Morgan shaped America during the early parts of the 20th century to the present. All three of these men became the top owner of each of their companies during there lifetimes. Rockefeller became the first billionaire in American history through his company Standard Oil and owned ninety percent of the world’s oil. Carnegie became a wealthy businessman through steel and J.P. Morgan succeeded through banking. Of these three men, Rockefeller had the most impact on the American people not only through Standard Oil, but his philanthropically work. Rockefeller turned a small oil mill in Cleveland, Ohio into the most successful business known to man. Many

In the “Gospel of wealth”, Andrew Carnegie argues that it is the duty of the wealthy entrepreneur who has amassed a great fortune during their lifetime, to give back to those less fortunate. Greed and selfishness may force some readers to see these arguments as preposterous; however, greed is a key ingredient in successful competition. It forces competitors to perform at a higher level than their peers in hopes of obtaining more money and individual wealth. A capitalist society that allows this wealth to accumulate in the hands of the few might be beneficial to the human race because it could promote competition between companies; it might ensure health care for everyone no matter their social standing, and parks and recreation could

Carnegie is looking out for the best interests of the rest and his admirable goals are clearly seen from this quote. He puts power in the hands of those who can make a difference with the excess amounts of money given by wealthy men. If inheritances were instead used during life to help the community instead of

Captains of industry were defined as the business leaders whose means of amassing a personal fortune contributed positively to the country or society in some way. Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were considered to be captains of industry because with their profits from either their steel company or standard oil company, they give back to the society instead of themselves. They believed in the idea that people give in to you, in which you must give out as well. They established many charitable foundations that allowed them to become well known philanthropist and made them distinguishable from the rubber barons.

In his article “Wealth”, Andrew Carnegie argues for the wealth to give back their wealth to the community by providing “public institutions of various kinds … [to] improve the general condition of the people” (Foner 30). Carnegie uses this article to promote his Gospel of Wealth idea and provide his interpretation of the changing America. Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth stated that “those who accumulated money had an obligation to use it to promote the advancement of society” (Foner 28). Carnegie’s articles focuses on the themes of Capitalism and Inequality, which continue to shape society.

     True, Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller may have been the most influential businessmen of the 19th century, but was the way they conducted business proper? To fully answer this question, we must look at the following: First understand how Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller changed the market of their industries. Second, look at the similarities and differences in how both men achieved domination. Third and lastly, Look at how both men treated their workers and customers in order achieve the most possible profit for their company.

Andre Carnegie was a poor immigrant who came to the United States in a quest for the realization of the American Dream. A self-started entrepreneur who through hard work and by taking advantage of the right opportunities was able to develop an enormous wealth, signifying with it, the definite possibility of social mobility. In his essay “Wealth” of 1989 Carnegie refers to the importance of the distribution of wealth and how such fortune was there to be used by the rich for the benefit and well-being of all individuals of society. Throughout this essay I will be explaining the arguments for the redistribution of wealth made by Carnegie, while analyzing as well the factors that may have motivated him to write his famous essay “Wealth.”

In 1863, John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) entered the oil business in Cleveland, Ohio and became one of the world’s wealthiest men by being the founder of the Standard Oil Company. Standard Oil was a major source of income in the late 1800’s, taking up a large percentage of the United States refineries. It eventually became the largest oil refinery in the world. But in 1911, U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the company was not legal due to violations of laws. The Standard Oil Company was classified as a monopoly because it was the only supplier of oil, and there were not any substitutes for this good. Just as Rockefeller created and founded the Standard Oil Co., Thomas Edison created thousands inventions that have greatly helped the United States and other countries all around the world. Edison (1847-1931) was a well known inventor and businessman. One of the most well known inventions by Edison was the incandescent light bulb, which produces light by heating a wire with electricity. He also created the movie camera, phonograph and vote recorder which are just to name a few of the thousands of patents Edison had on his inventions.