Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
By Mr. Richard Geib Foothill Technology High School
March 3, 2015
“THE RISE OF INDUSTRY
AND ROBBER BARONS”
United States History and Literature The American Experience
THE ETHOS OF CAPITALISM
“Greed is good!”
THE INDUSTRIAL TITANS
“Capital is that part of wealth which is devoted to obtaining further wealth.” -- Alfred Marshall
“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of
everyone.” -- B.J. Gupta
THE INDUSTRIAL TITANS
“Capital is that part of wealth which is devoted to obtaining further wealth.” -- John Marshall
“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of
everyone.” -- B.J. Gupta
CONSOLIDATION Shrewd businessmen and
managers! – Hire the best men
– Carry little debt and much cash
• Strict accounting practices
– What pays, what doesn’t
• Buy out your rivals in bad times!
– Technological edge • Cheaper and higher quality
• Spare nothing for technological upgrades
• Constant innovation
– Then a new idea still with us!
Andrew Carnegie “rags to riches”
“Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital.... The wise man puts all his
eggs in one basket and watches the basket.”
"He cared not a lick for profits -- only costs!"
MASS ECONOMY
Ruthless and inexorable! – “Vertical organizations”
• No middle men!
• Efficiency and economies of scale
– CONSOLIDATION • Competition bad!
• Buy out competitors
• Money in politics
• Standardization and less diversity: 1800 vs. 1900 economic life
– Money in politics • Strangle competition
• Corruption of complaisant politicians!
• Against the interests of “the people” – Monopolies, trusts, corporations
– New economic, new political implications…
John Rockefeller
“Standard Oil”
“Competition is a sin.”
“BOOM AND CRASH!”
The Great Depressions of 1873 and 1893
The wild, wild west of capitalism! Dramatic expansion and contraction of economic activity
JP MORGAN
Reigning in unbridled competition in the name of stability and order
“Money equals business which equals power, all of which come from character and trust.” John Pierpont Morgan
CONSOLIDATION
ROBBER BARON
Leland Stanford
(railroad)
Collis Huntington(railroad)
"Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt(railroad)
J.P. Morgan(finance/banking)
Jay Gould(finance/banking)
John D. Rockefeller
(oil)
Andrew Carnegie(steel)
"Robber" because of their looting of American natural resources
and corruption of legislators and other unethical practices.
"Baron" came from their power, like
old European aristocratic
barons.
Old self-sufficiency and local control
New centralized
mass production by
trusts
Trusts and combination
THE BAD…
THE GOOD…
• Revolutionized the way we live and work – Cheaper and better to more than ever!
– 1890 surpasses Britain and Germany combined in steel production!
• Philanthropy: with riches comes a social duty – Cultural Foundations: Getty, Rockefeller Trust, Huntington,
Morgan Library, Frisk Library, etc.
– Universities: Chicago, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, Duke, John Hopkins, etc.
• Libraries, scholarships, etc
THE UGLY: THE “COMMODORE”
“The public be damned!”
“I have been insane on the subject of moneymaking all my life.”
“What do I care about law? Ain't I got the power?”
JAY GOULD AND JIM FISK 1869 gold cornering scam
“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.” Jay Gould
“Conspicuous Consumption”
A yawning gap between the filthy rich and the desperately poor!
DEMOCRACY?
ANDREW CARNEGIE AND HIS EMPIRE OF STEEL
In many ways the man is a symbol of his age, for better and for worse!
Jef f ersonian
VisionHamiltonian
VisionAMERICAN
DEMOCRACY
THE RIVALRY:Jefferson vs. Hamilton
REPUBLICANS vs. FEDERALISTS
Cities and
industry,
rather than
countryside
and farms!
Small farmers and
agriculture, rather
than cities and
factor ies!
Aristoc ratic, shy
and pac ifistic ,
humble, res erved,
aloof, and
intel lectual .
Inexhaus tible
energy and
restless ambi tion, a
dashing and
arrogant s oldier.
Equality vs. Liberty
Periphery vs. Center
• Centralization vs. Democratic local control
• Economic dynamism vs. social justice
