Early into the nineteenth century, the railroad business started flourishing. With that came steel, wood, coal, and other industries. A few who were successful in these businesses were called entrepreneurs and robber Barons. ‘Robber Baron’ is a specific term that was given to business tycoons in the nineteenth century. All of them were entrepreneurs, but some were called robber barons due to their selfish and pitiful practices. Entrepreneurs were and still are those who had an innovative idea and organized or created a business with that idea while taking some financial risks. Robber barons, on the other hand, were those who had innovative ideas and organized businesses, but used all kinds of methods, both good and bad, to be successful and to be at the top. They treated workers harshly, made them work long hours with low pay, did not care for how the women and children were treated, did not care if there were injuries, increased the prices of goods extremely, crushed any kind of competition, used vertical integration (control all the aspects from beginning to end) to gain full authority of the business, etc. Jay Gould was one of the first railroad business tycoons who was considered a Robber baron. He bought cheap railroads, did not improve them, and sold them for higher prices. He demanded farmers and businesses pay the high price that he asked for in order to use his trains. Later, he controlled thousands and thousands of tracks across the United States. Andrew Carnegie was a steel magnate who came from nothing to everything. Joining the Pennsylvania Railroad, Carnegie eventually brought himself up to the position of the President of the company. Later, he started his own company of J. Edgar Thompson Steel Works, and eventually bought out the new Homestead Steel Works. Carnegie was a believer in the idea of ‘help those who help themselves’ as per his essay ‘The Gospel of Wealth’.
John D. Rockefeller grew up in modest means. When he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, he heard about oil drilling and how people were searching for oil through risky means. But Rockefeller decided that he was going to focus his attention on something less risky and more certain: refining crude oil into kerosene. Soon enough, kerosene replaced whale oil in many businesses and homes. As time passed, Rockefeller became more and more ruthless in his way of business. As other businessmen came to the area seeking to gain quick wealth, he started crushing his opponents. He gained fake agreements from several railroad companies to ship his products at a discount rate. Since he could deliver kerosene at a lower rate, he bought other competitors out of business. Those who did not sell theirs to him, he pursued them relentlessly without any mercy, till they were gone as well. Even though Robber baron was a term used in the nineteenth century, there are still businesses and business tycoons whose methods are similar to those of Robber barons.
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John D Rockefeller Captain of Industry or Robber Baron.
(2023, August 17). Edubirdie. Retrieved November 2, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/john-d-rockefeller-captain-of-industry-or-robber-baron-biography-essay/
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