Captains of Industry or Robber Barons

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Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were two of the wealthiest men of all time. Many have asked the question of whether each of them was a captain of industry or a robber baron. In essence, the question means were they honest men who gained their wealth through hard work, or did they reach success on the backs of the poor working class. In my opinion, both Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were captains of industry due to their hard work, smart business, and dedication to efficiency. Andrew Carnegie began as a very hard working boy, entering the workforce at the young age of thirteen. He was eighteen when he was hired as the telegrapher and assistant to Thomas Scott. He quickly worked his way up the ladder, eventually becoming the superintendent of the Pittsburgh branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He made investments in several different things, namely the Woodruff Sleeping Car Company and oil. With the money he made from those investments, Carnegie left the railroad in order to start the Keystone Bridge Company and the Keystone Telegraph Company. He also started the Edgar Thompson Works, his first steel plant, which was named after the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. His connections with the Pennsylvania Railroad allowed his business to soar. These companies were a precursor of Carnegie Steel, which is what Carnegie is known for. When people describe Carnegie as a robber baron, they often bring up the Homestead Strike. They see that ten people died as a result of it. But they don't look closer to see the true cause. Andrew Carnegie was actually a very strong supporter of worker's unions. In fact, he wrote an article defending worker's rights to organize into a union. The reason that the Homestead Strike was handled so poorly was because Carnegie was on vacation in Europe at the time and instructed his anti-union partner Henry Clay Frick to

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