Andrew Carnegie was a “robber baron” as shown in the way he acted towards the people who helped him reach the top and the terrible working environment that he subjected his workers to. He did various things in an attempt to positively alter his public image by overshadowing the awful things he had done. At the start of Carnegie’s career in business, he worked under Thomas Scott where he learned how to be successful in business. Minimizing costs were the best way to make a business profitable and lowering those required cutting wages, demanding 13 hour days and utilizing spies as a way to thwart possible strikes. He would use many of these ideas and practices in his own business causing him to eventually become the undisputed king of steel. …show more content…
By spying on his workers, a practice he learned from Scott, he was able to remain well-informed on his workers and more specifically on any troublesome workers who could become organizers of resistance to his control. After Carnegie was too old and tired to try to compete with J.P. Morgan’s steel companies, he sold Carnegie Steel for 480 million to Morgan. Giving away 350 million dollars of this money, Carnegie was trying to rebuild his former reputation of being the benevolent businessman. Some people would say this is an example of Carnegie being a “captain of industry”, but it really shows just how unnecessary it was for him to refuse to increase wages and keep working conditions so poor in his factories. He used his money to help the same people who he had subjected to terrible working conditions and had paid next to nothing. Carnegie was a “robber baron” who constantly tried to create an image of himself as a “captain of industry”, but he would have been more successful if he helped the employees in his factories rather than trying to help them outside of
To start, Andrew Carnegie revolutionized steel production in the U.S as he used methods that were faster and easier to make steel, but Andrew Carnegie would have been nothing if it was not for his workers. Carnegie tried to lower his employees’ wages and he is just swindling his workers that, no offense, are poor because they are working for a steel company that have to lower their wages. One incident happened in 1892 when employees in Homestead went on strike after Carnegie tried to lower their wages. In document 3, the author states,” When the company tried to lower wages at a Carnegie steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania, the employees objected”(Doc, 3). Carnegie tried to deprive his employees’ of their wages for himself.
Carnegie's business became knowns as, the Carnegie Steel Company. The business changed the production of steel throughout the country. Carnegie built mills around the country, using new technologies and methods of manufacturing, that made steel easier faster, and more productive. But, what made Andrew Carnegie truly successful was his use of vertical combination in the Carnegie Steel company. He owned every
Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish American leader was best known for his steel and production and philanthropy also know as to some as a robber baron and to other as a “captain industry,” Carnegie founded the Carnegie Steel in the Progressive Era. His company led to him learning about the lives of the workers and to see how life really worked for them. He began his essay “Wealth” by describing the problems of generosity by the rich men of the upper class. Carnegie wanted the wealthy men to comprehend how to be philanthropy and reconstruct their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner.
As industry began to grow in America, a select group of pioneers such as Andrew Carnegie became controversial. The controversy was that they were simply rich and took from the poor. People who participated in such acts were referred to as “Robber Barons”. It is often said that Andrew Carnegie was a “Robber Baron” but he was not because in his case, he was one of the first people to bring industry to such a large scale. Without people before him, he had no guidance and therefore it was much harder to conduct business because he was essentially creating his own path.
The distribution of wealth has always been a conflict of interest between those in an industrial society. Many times, we find the all the poor being grouped as oppressed, and all the rich being grouped as oppressive. But this is not the most accurate way of thinking. We see Andrew Carnegie as part of the rich being grouped as oppressive, or a villain. Given the fact that he saw his success in the height of the American Era of Industrialization, Carnegie got a lot of backlash for the issues surrounding the poor that worked for him.
This show us that Carnegie had withheld money from his employers who were the ones doing all the hard work. Jobs at Carnegie company exhausted workers because of their 10 hour shifts that consisted of hot machinery and the smell of gas. This also lead to some deaths.(Doc 6) Even though workers worked long, hard, and tiring shifts, Carnegie only cared for the income and not the working conditions. Since Andrew Carnegie gave low wages and did not care for bad
In the article “Wealth” Carnegie states “The duty of the man of wealth (is to) set an example of modest living; and to consider all surplus revenues… as trust funds to produce the most beneficial results for the community.” This shows the reader that he thought everyone should help people out. He also said that you shouldn’t show affection with money. Overall the message he sent was that it is what you do with your money that matters not just the fact that you have lots of it. Andrew Carnegie carried the trait of concern for others and that made him heroic.
Carnegie is not a hero because he took money, only gave to other wealthy recipients, and contributed largely to his own. Andrew Carnegie took money away from deserving people. Carnegie cut the wages of his workers to donate money elsewhere. In document D, there are two images of Carnegie, one is giving a wage cut notice to the workers and the other is giving a check to Scotland and donating a library to Pittsburg. Carnegie’s employees were working hard and trying to survive in a tough economy, their wages did not deserve a cut.
Proposal Yu Hu 胡宇 General Remarks For over thirty-five years after the Civil War, the United States of America entered into a period of fast reconstruction. During this time, there is a man called Andrew Carnegie who made a huge impact on America’s post-war recovery. He led an enormous expansion of American steel industry in the late 19th century.
The captains of industry believed that the poor people were inferior to the rich people. The rich were superior because they had “wisdom, experience, and the ability to administer”. The duty of a rich person was to help out a poor person which was what was said in the Gospel of Wealth. The Gospel of Wealth is about how the rich person's responsibility is philanthropy. Carnegie believes in charity work so he would donate to libraries, and universities and schools and etc.
Carnegie was considered a Robber Baron for many reasons. For example, he gained huge profits because of his workers low wages. In the excerpt, “Who was Andrew Carnegie,” the author said, “his steel workers were often pushed to long hours and low wages.” Workers worked in harsh conditions and received no benefits causing them to live in poverty with scarce food, clothing, and shelter. Workers were tired of the low wages and decided to go on strike.
That made Carnegie feel intimidated so Carnegie basically sabotaged his company by sending out notices to railroads telling them that Allegheny’s business would lead to defective rails which would in the end cause fatal acciendents. In the end Csrnegie was sucessful with this because Allegheny’s business sufferend and Carnegie took control of the works. This shows that Carnegie didn’t like competition because it made him lose money and because Carnegie loved his money he would do anything within his power to take down any competetion completely and only gain money for himself. This proves that Carnegie is also not a Hero because he doesn’t play fair instead of Carnegie trying to negotiate a deal with Allegheny he took him out and stole his business
Topic: Should Andrew Carnegie be described as a “captain of industry” or a “robber baron”? Abstract: Nowadays, there still exists lots of controversial comments towards Andrew Carnegie. Some of them hold the view that Andrew Carnegie should be described as a captain of industry while others contend that he was only a robber baron. As far as I am concerned, Andrew Carnegie, known as the King of Steel, built the steel industry in the United States, and in the process, became one of the wealthiest men in America.
“Who is the richest American ever?”When asked this question, the name that most often come to mind is Bill Gates but the actual American to become the richest, most famous, influential and the most two-sided businessman at the time: Andrew Carnegie, hero or villain?. In order to answer that question we have to know what the words "hero” and "villain” actually mean. According to Webster Dictionary, a hero is a “person, especially a man admired for courage, nobility, or exploits, especially in war,” and "the central figure in any important event or period, honored for outstanding qualities.” or basically a role model who does good for a cause and has good morals while a villain is described as "someone or something regarded as the cause of
There are many ways Andrew Carnegie was a robber baron, yes. Yet, he always did things to help the community grow and helped people. In document 5 Carnegie shows a chart shows his foundation and the amount of money it donates to different things and people. In 2005 his foundation was giving out about $100,000,000 a year to education.