In class this week, we took an individual route as a class as opposed to having a teacher teach the main content. Instead, we taught ourselves the first of three final units. In this self taught unit, we watched several videos and read several documents about the industrial legends Carnegie and Rockefeller. We learned about important people, events, and key terms to help us understand whether or not the tactics and ploys of these men made them Robber Barons, or Captains of Industry.
As our class soon begun to find out, whether or not Carnegie and Rockefeller were Robber Barons remains an open ended question and is based purely off of what one thinks the representation of a Captain of Industry should look like. A Captain of Industry is a positive term used to label an industrial leader who was well liked among the population and has good intentions in what he or she does. Conversely, a Robber Baron is the opposite of that, meaning that the industrial leader is seemingly corrupt and is not well liked among the general population. After reading thoroughly through the biographies of Carnegie and Rockefeller, I agree fully with the general belief that Rockefeller was the epitome of a Robber Baron. Being a very competitive man, Rockefeller was all about monopolies, vertical integration, and taking over or pushing out many oil companies until he was the prominent oil company in the area. Because of this, the public did not like him very much and viewed him as an infamous Robber Baron.
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| Primary Source of a classic cartoon illustrating the interpretation of a Robber Baron |
Carnegie, on the other hand, was the paragon of a typical Captain of Industry. He was very well liked from the mere beginnings of his business occupation, and earned great respect from his peers as he continued to advance in his career. His main belief in life was this: the first half of a man's career involves making as much money as he can, and the second half involves giving back to the community. Both he and his wife were great benefactors towards man companies throughout their industrial careers. In the end, I belief Carnegie and Rockefeller became polar opposites of a each other, being a Captain of Industry and a Robber Baron respectively.
In conclusion, I believe these common beliefs of Carnegie and Rockefeller hold true to themselves, as both of their practices are the perfect example of what a good businessman should and shouldn't do. I believe all sources were reliable and offered fantastic insight on the lifestyle and practices of both industrial leaders. Between the two, I believe Carnegie had the better lifestyle practices as opposed to Rockefeller, and deserves more recognition as a great man with great ethics.
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