The Robber Barons: The Captains Of Industry

Robber barons, famously known for their ruthless means of acquiring wealth back in the late nineteenth century. They were awful. They were complete menaces to society and only ever created wealth for themselves. Or, at least that 's what is commonly taught in high school American history classes, but author Burton Folsom Jr. offers an unique alternative perspective in his book, The Myth of the Robber Barons. He provides a closer look at the results achieved by these infamous robber barons to give insight into what actually happened in the wake of these entrepreneurs’ conducted business. Folsom uses seven chapters on separate industries ran by robber barons to show, at least from an overall economic view, The United States experienced a gross net benefit by the existence of robber barons.

Greed is an intense and selfish desire for something such as power, wealth or food.’ We have all heard the stories of the stockbroker that stole millions of dollars of their client’s money for personal use, or men that were able to take down large public traded corporations by falsifying the books and pocketing large sums of money. Greed has always existed among people; there are stories that date back to the Ancient Roman Empire. There are movies and books written about greed, Wolf of Wall Street is a famous one based on a true story. The main character Jordan is a stockbroker that figured out how to beat Wall Streets rules and regulations. He would become one of the riches men to ever work on Wall Street. Why are people so greedy? Is greed

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, during the climax of the American Industrial Revolution, there was a small group of men who owned the major businesses and were leaders of their industries. They owned factories, railroads, banks, and even created company towns for the sole purpose of housing their workers. Due to the efforts of these few men, the U.S. economy became the envy of the world, and America became a leading world power. They provided the public with products that were in high demand for reasonable prices, and opened their markets to countries overseas. Although many people believe the early industrialists were Robber Barons who exploited the poor, these great men were truly Captains of Industry who created new ways of doing

In the early nineteenth century the USA was very corrupt. It was a time were monopolistic businesses thrived, and small ones failed. In this time was when J.P. Morgan became the man controlling the most money in the world and ended up owning at his peak, forty companies. In the early nineteenth century J.P Morgan was both a Captain of industry and a Robber Baron.

Capitalists are more characterized as robber barons because of the corruption involving their industries and field. Andrew Carnegie, a steel tycoon, made a fortune through a method called “vertical integration”, which is the arrangement in which all the phases of manufacturing is owned by the company. That way they could improve the efficiency by making supplies higher quality and eliminating

Captain of Industry are those who made a positive contribution to the nation by expanding markets and increasing trade providing more jobs and increasing productivity. Some put their wealth to improve the lives of others with generous donations to their community. For example in Wealth and its Users by Andrew Carnegie, millionaires can be titled “Captain of Industry” because “They are the bees that make the most honey, and contribute most to the hive even after they have gorged themselves full.” Meaning they bring more money to their community to expand markets, and provide jobs. So businessmen titled “Captain of Industry” are the reason why communities have many businesses and many people with jobs.

During the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, both robber barons and captains of industry were terms used to place businessmen into a good or bad category. The term robber baron is a representation of industrialist who used manipulative methods in order to reach enormous quantities of wealth. Some characteristics of robber barons were: they depleted America of its valuable resources, forced authority to pass laws that would work in there favor, make opponents in the industry go out of business, and force laborers to work in hazardous circumstances with little pay. The term captains of industry meant the exact opposite, these businessmen did positive things in order to reach enormous quantities of wealth. Some characteristics of captains of industry were: they constructed factories to make the accessibility of goods rise, increased production, developed markets, gave to charity, and created more jobs with generous pay. While many historians believe that the industrialist of the 19th century were captains of industry there are others that would object and say that they were indeed robber barons. Would you consider the great industrialist of the 19th century to be robber barons or would you consider them as captains of the industry?

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.

     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.

In the late 19th Century, when industrialism became part of the American economy system, many wealthy entrepreneurs that controlled oil, gas, and coal industries formed monopolies and trust to ensure that there were no small business to form competition. Some of the wealthy industrialists, such as Andrew Carnegie, were considered philanthropists due to donating and acting largesse towards the lower-class citizens within the American society. It’s controversial to determine whether or not the wealthy businessmen that controlled oil, gas, and coal industries were “Robber barons” or “Captains of Industry”. The following documents will confirm with evidence that these wealthy businessmen were “Robber Barons” within the 19th Century Industrialist

Reed Karaim in “Gold Grab” analyzes the relationship between robber barons Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. They were partners in crime. In 1869, they were working on a plan to rob the U.S. gold market. This article focuses on how Gould and Fisk use their connections with inside people including President Grant, to change gold prices. This led to the economy collapsing on September 24th, 1869, this day is famously known as Black Friday.

A "robber baron" was someone who employed any means necessary to enrich themselves at the expense of their competitors. Did John D. Rockefeller fall into that category or was he one of the "captains of industry", whose shrewd and innovative leadership brought order out of industrial chaos and generated great fortunes that enriched the public welfare through the workings of various philanthropic agencies that these leaders established? In the early 1860s Rockefeller was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, who came to epitomize both the success and excess of corporate capitalism. His company was based in northwestern Pennsylvania.

When the names Carnagie, Rockefeller, and Pullman come to mind, most of us automatically think of what we saw or read in our history books: "These men were kind and generous and through hard work and perseverance, any one of you could become a success story like them," right? Wrong. I am sick of these people being remembered for the two or three "good deeds" they have done. Publicity and media have exaggerated the generosity of these men, the government has spoiled these names with false lies, and people have been blind to see that these men were ruthless, sly businessmen who were motivated by your money and their struggle for power.

To what extent is it justified to characterize the industrial leaders of the 1865–1900 era as either “robber barons” or “industrial statesmen”?

Throughout American industrialization, large industries were run by some of the richest men in history. These men got the nickname “robber barons” due to their creation of large monopolies by making questionable business and government activities, and by taking advantage of their workers to succeed. But in The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Folsom, he argues against these claims, and he takes a deeper look into some of America’s richest and most successful men. By specifically looking at Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, James J. Hill, the Scranton family and many more, Folsom believed that these so-called robber barons were actually entrepreneurs with a drive to succeed, leading to an improvement in American lives.