Olivia Strzalka 10/19/15
The wave of industrialism, in the 1800s and 1900s, was driven by men that ruled over American industry.These two men, most commonly known as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, used strategies and tactics that made some people think of them as robber barons while others had a more positive outlook and believed they were captains of industry. Robber barons referred to people who used unfair business practices. On the contrary, captains of industry were entrepreneurs who took risks developing the new inventions and technology during the era of the Industrial Revolution. These men were ingenious and industrious
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In this composition, he addressed that the three ways for wealth to be distributed are give it to the family, use it for public service, or to administer it throughout the life of the possessor. (Wealth and Its Uses 31) He later goes on to explain that, “The only mode of producing lasting good by giving large sums of money is from the millionaire to give as close attention to its distribution during his life as he did to its acquisition” (Wealth and Its Uses 31). From all the uses that he listed, it is clear that he believed most strongly in giving large sums of money for the people. Carnegie used dedication and strategical thinking to build a fortune and use it to help others. His life growing up, gave him the experience of what the lower class people had to endure, he started out with nothing, but he took advantage of the opportunities he was presented with. Rockefeller, although he is portrayed as a robber baron, gave away more than half of his profit from the oil company, as well as donated one tenth of his income to charity. (The Trust and Monopoly) Despite being labeled falsely as a robber baron, he proved that he was a resourceful businessman that saw an opportunity and went for it, he used his resources and connections in the railroad company to earn him the millionaire status. With great power comes great responsibility, and these captains took it upon themselves, and realized that their responsibility, and duty to the nation, was to inform and educate the people on how to be successful as well. Charity work was crucial to the captains, Carnegie especially felt that it was only right that he established means of educated the masses. In his speech in 1895 he mentioned, “ [Schools] It establishes something that will last for generations. It will educate the brain, the spiritual part of man” ( Wealth and Its Uses 31). It is seen
There are so many views when considering the industrialists of late 19th century to be captains of industry while others consider them as Robber barons because they like practicing a system called the monopoly. Monopoly . they built huge companies and practice unfair businesses; which make them drive their counterparts out of business; and when they do such things, they are stealing businesses from competitors. Most people refer to them as the king of the American industries during the 19th century. Some viewed them as greedy, unprincipled and corrupt.
He spent the last part of his life giving away millions of dollars. He donated funds to build more than 3,000 public libraries and he funded the Tuskegee and Carnegie Institutes. In his book, The Gospel of Wealth, he described the importance of charitable giving for the public good. These actions instantly changed Andrew Carnegie from a robber baron to a captain of industry.
Another reason that they were robber barons was they took down smaller companies so that they could have all of the money in the industry. Rockefeller also manipulated the country's financial system so that he could make more money. Carnegie was also ruthless to his workers. His employees were broke in freezing temperatures and had no food
Carnegie thinks it is better to build public institutions than give charity to the poor because the poor need to have the “desire to improve” and find help in these public institutions. (Carnegie 30). He believes that rather wealthy “Men who continue hoarding great sums all their lives” can find the proper use for their money, which is to help the community. (Carnegie 29). By just giving money to the poor the wealthy are doing all their work and instead the poor should find the assistance they need to improve their lives.
The productions that these men were in charge of are still big corporations today. They are still very important and sufficient in the economy. If these men had failed with their ideas, imagine how different our society would be today. Imagine what we would be lacking, if not for this business. We would certainly be lacking money.
Carnegie was without a doubt a beneficent man. Not having any desire to kick the bucket with a crazy measure of cash, Carnegie chose to help general society. He was exceptionally contributing individual from society and gave away as much cash conceivable. " There stays, then, just a single method of utilizing incredible fortunes; … The obligation of the man of riches (is to) set a case of unobtrusive … living … ; and … to consider every surplus income … as trust assets … to create the most useful consequences of the group - the man of riches in this way turning into the … operator for his poorer brethren, conveying to their administration his prevalent astuteness, experience, and capacity to direct; showing improvement over they would or could accomplish for themselves… " (Document 8) says Carnegie.
To consider surplus as trust funds to produce the most beneficial results from the community. ’’ He wanted to donate all his money for the greater good of the community. Andrew Carnegie also opened many Carnegie libraries where people can use books without a fee because he believed that if a man wanted work and gained knowledge he should be able to. In (document 9) it shows how much he donated not in total but in that list alone he donated 271,013,000 dollars and in total he gave 350,695,653.
He believed that if the wealthy don't give back some of their profits to the community, they are living a dishonorable life, and although I didn't necessarily agree with this radical viewpoint at first, I now am a firm believer in Carnegie's argument about wealth.
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.
For instance, Carnegie presented his library named Carnegie Library, he considers this “the best kind of philanthropy” (Ernsberger). By this he indicates the correct way a wealthy individual should live,is by giving back to the community. On the contrary, Richard argues this as negative affect to the company due to the loss of income. Richard believes that Carnegie shouldn’t have spent his money on helping the community instead, he should have continued to invest it on the steel industry. Overall, Richard views Carnegie as “little capitalist who urged presidents to do right things in Philippines, Panama and international diplomacy [but] had never done the right or moral thing as a businessman,” (Ernsberger).
Thesis : After the Civil War, America was in a post-war boom. During the 1870-1890, big business moguls, such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, create huge corporations which not only affected the economy, but also affected the political realm of America. While many may assume that during the rise of these big business helped to change the economy and politics, the real focus was on the responses formed by society, such as labor unions, increase public outcry, and political opposition groups that helped to change society. A: Economically, big business flourished during the late 1800s.
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.
John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie were abundantly similar when it came to traits that made them sucessful in business endeavors. They both rose from extreme povery and disadvantage as children. Limitations did not exist when it came to their inner core of ruthlessness exhibited at times against their competitors and even their employees. They took complete control of every detail of their business and ran it with a prerogative to control a large part of the American economy.
“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
Underpinnings and Effectiveness of Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth” In Andrew Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth”, Carnegie proposed a system of which he thought was best to dispose of “surplus wealth” through progress of the nation. Carnegie wanted to create opportunities for people “lift themselves up” rather than directly give money to these people. This was because he considered that giving money to these people would be “improper spending”.