Robber Barons Vs. Captains of Industry Essays

Robber Barons Vs. Captains of Industry Essays Robber Barons Vs. Captains of Industry Essay Robber Barons Vs. Captains of Industry Essay Robber Barons Vs. Captains of Industry In comparison between robber barons and captains of industry, most of these people are considered captains of industry. This is because most of the given people all affected the country and the business world positively for reasons that are stated as well as others. Although a couple people are obviously Robber Barons, for example Cornelius Vanderbilt, most of the rest are obviously captains of industry, donating money, making money and becoming a key reason for how the business industry became as fair as it is now. All of these people have in some way either contributed to the increase of productivity, providing more jobs, or expanding the market in a very crucial way. A very important reason why these eight guys would be considered captains of there industries is because the captain of our industries today are also doing things that are going to help this country that kinda relate what they were doing back then. Back then they were doing many thing to help out there country for example Henry Frick began buying coal mines, and he eventually controlled 80 percent of the coal output of Pennsylvania. Also, another example of this would be James hill and how he started his own business called the St. Paul, Minnesota Manitoba Railway Company, and expanded until his production of agricultural and other products carried to the rest of the country. He helped out the country a lot, and really stepped it up a notch and showed the country what technology is about. Not only was he making billions of dollars but he was also giving away about 58% of all of his money to charity every year to people who need the money a lot more that he does. To me I think that the captain of industries today and the ones from back then really relate to each other a lot, in doing good things for the country. Another reason that these men were considered captains of industry instead of robber barons has to do with the amount of money they gave away. John D. Rockefeller alone gave away more then 80 million dollars before he died and Henry Fick gave away 15 million and the rights to his mansion so a museum could be built. Andrew Carnegie believed that men who died rich, died isgraced, which showed that he was a charitable contributor to the things he cared most about. Granted some of them held their money a little tighter then others many of them gave away more then enough to schools and libraries and other establishments that bettered America. The final reason that these people are very important captains of industries are because they did what was needed to be done to get make their company successful, sure they stepped on a few people on the way up but it was only to better their own company. For example, Carnegie was a very poor man who started working as a bobbin boy for less then $1. 20 a day and he ended up being one of the richest men. He knew what it was like to work and earn so little that when he became rich and had money to blow he gave up a large potion of his fortunes to cultural, educational, as well as scientific institutions for the improvement of humanity. In conclusion, these eight men should be classified as captains of industry because of the given information. These men are all important parts of our history and most of these eight men were a very positive influence on industry itself and what we decide to do nowadays. These are very important figures of the industry because they gave us the ideas that we use today to consider what is acceptable for industry and how we pay or treat individuals working today. Without these men, then the United States would have a completely different outlook on how industry is ran and why we do things the way that we do.