The Monsters of the 19th Century

“The industrialists of the last quarter of the 19th century were visionaries rather than 'robber barons'." This statement could not be any further from the truth; in fact it is the polar opposite. The industrialists were money hungry, condescending, manipulative monsters. They were terrible people with no morals.
A perfect example of the terrible robber barons is John D. Rockefeller. He was in the oil refining business, and believed that it was disorganized because of competition among the thousands of small producers and refiners. Rockefeller decided to gain control of more then 90 percent of the nation’s refining business; he practically had a monopoly on oil. He used the rebate to his advantage, his company promised to allow certain railroads to do all their shipping if the railroads agreed to charge him 25 to 50 percent less then they charged everyone else. He also asked railroads to give him information about his competitors (when and where their shipments were going.) This gave him a huge but completely unfair advantage over the few small companies that remained, he was able to ship his oil before the others. Standard oil (Rockefeller’s firm) used horizontal and vertical integration by allying with the strongest companies in the industry. He combined 40 companies under a single management and he took control of the oil fields providing Standard Oil their own supply of natural gas, he eliminated the competition leaving only profit for himself, because everyone had to buy from Standard Oil. He forced so many people into unemployment; Rockefeller had too much money and power, a bad combination. Because of his shrewd business tactics Rockefeller became “one of the most hated men in America” (American History The Modern Era Since 1865 page 279.)
Andrew Carnige was equally as evil. He pushed many small iron and steel manufacturers out of business by using the Bessemer and open-hearth process (two ways of making steel.) These new methods of creating the alloy required large amounts of coke and ore to keep them going. In just 20 short years Carnegie was the greatest steel maker in the world. He surrounded himself with smart men who discovered by-products could be used, got low grade ores and could determine how much it would cost to produce a ton of steel. He said he “was smart enough to surround himself with men far cleverer then himself.” The knowledge these men provided him with allowed Carnegie to sell his product at lower prices then his competitors and still make a profit. He also used vertical integration to his advantage he combined everything that had to do with making steel (Iron ore deposits, steel mills, blast furnaces and fleets of ships to transport the ore) into one. These are only two of the many economic terrorists from the 19th century. They were engaged in many practices that would be considered illegal by today’s standards. They had unsafe work environments, shut down labor unions, allowed child labor, evaded taxes, devastated the environment and owned monopolies. These crooks were not visionaries but terrible men with no self-control; they only cared about the money and power not those they hurt. While these wealthy families lived in their elegant homes hard working families were out on the streets, begging and wondering how they were going to support themselves. Although some say Rockefeller and Carnegie lived the American dream, in a way they killed it. By gaining so much power over industry they destroyed the chances of smaller business “making it big.” Without competition there was no room for improvement. Their business’s crashed when their tactics were exposed. They became hated men and remain a symbol of what greed, money and power can do to a person, how it can strip a man of his morals, his compassion for others and his reasoning, how it can make people so blind that they only see their profit and not the suffering of others.