Captains Of Industry

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Captains Of Industry
Captains Of Industry

• Chapter 8-3

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Key Questions for Today

• Do you agree with the philosophy of social
  Darwinism? Why or why not?
• Why do you think oil is still such a valuable
  product?
• How were the tactics of Carnegie and Rockefeller
  similar? How were they different?

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Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Trust

• A. One of the most notable entrepreneurs of the
  late 1800s was John D. Rockefeller, who gained
  almost complete control of the nation's oil
  industry.
• B. By 1870, Rockefeller's firm, the
• Standard Oil Company of Ohio,
• owned one of the largest refineries
• in the Cleveland area.
• 1. Over the next nine years,
• Rockefeller gained control of
• more than 90 percent of the
• nation's refining business.

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Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Trust

• C. One method he used to gain control of
• the industry was to make deals for
• lower rates with railroads that
• shipped his oil in order to gain
• a competitive edge.
• D. In 1882, Rockefeller consolidated his control
  of the oil industry by combining 40 companies
  under a single management.
• 1. He then expanded vertically, taking over oil
  fields and even building a fleet of tankers and
  wagons to deliver the oil.

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Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Trust

• Cartoon of John Rockefeller from 1901.
• What can be determined based on the cartoon about
  Rockefellers corporation, Standard Oil?

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Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Trust

• E. In 1903, journalist Ida Tarbell exposed
  Rockefellers ruthless business tactics in a
  series of articles.
• F. Rockefeller denied any wrongdoing. He claimed
  that much of Standard Oil success stemmed from
  his passion for efficiency and hatred of waste.
• 1. Standard Oil continuously
• worked to improve its product.
• 2. In addition, the company
• had few labor troubles because
• it paid its workers well.

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Andrew Carnegie, Master of Steel

• A. The other giant of American industry during
  this period was Andrew Carnegie, who gained
  control over the nation's steel industry.
• B. In 1873, Carnegie formed a group
• of investors to build the world's
• largest and most modern steel mill
• near Pittsburgh.
• 1. He employed a new and cheaper
• way to make steel and thus gained
• a quick advantage over his
• competitors.

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Andrew Carnegie, Master of Steel

• C. In his constant effort to be more efficient,
  Carnegie combined all the processes required for
  making steel into one great vertical combination.
• 1. He seized control of mines that dug out iron
  ore, a raw material used in steelmaking.
• 2. In addition, he gained control of the ships
  and railroads that carried the ore, as well of
  coal mines, whose products fired the blast
  furnaces in his factory.

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Andrew Carnegie, Master of Steel

• D. Life in Carnegie's mills was hard for workers.
• 1. Carnegie drove wages down and hours up.
• 2. He crushed the steel workers' union so that
  the 12-hour day remained standard for years.

Homestead Strike 1892
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Social Darwinism and the Industrialists

• A. Carnegie and most other industrialists found
  justification for their ruthless business actions
  in a philosophy known as Social Darwinism, which
  applied the biological theories of naturalist
  Charles Darwin to human society.

Charles Darwin
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Social Darwinism and the Industrialists

• B. Darwin believed that in NATURE a competition
  exists in which only the strongest plants and
  animals survive.
• 1.The weak die out and each species thereby
  remains strong and healthy.
• C. Industrialists believed that a similar
  competition operated within human society and
  that the fittest-the strongest, most clever, most
  efficient-competitors will succeed.

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Social Darwinism and the Industrialists

• D. Some industrialists, including Carnegie, gave
  back much of the money they made in the form of
  philanthropy.
• 1. By the time he died in 1919, Carnegie had
  donated about 350 million-mostly to building
  libraries and improving
• education.
• 2. Rockefeller's
• donations totaled
• more than 500 million.

A Carnegie Library close to home
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Social Darwinism and the Industrialists

• E. By the late 1800s, a growing number of
  Americans were calling on the federal government
  to impose greater regulation (more rules) on big
  businesses.
• 1. In 1890, Congress passed the Sherman
  Antitrust Act, which outlawed monopolies.
• F. The Sherman Act, however, had little effect on
  preventing business consolidation.
• 1. It was not strictly enforced and was so
  loosely worded that many were unsure of its true
  meaning.

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Key Questions for Today

• Do you agree with the philosophy of social
  Darwinism? Why or why not?
• Why do you think oil is still such a valuable
  product?
• How were the tactics of Carnegie and Rockefeller
  similar? How were they different?

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Social Darwinism and the Industrialists Journal

• Pretend that you are a very wealthy industrialist
  or entrepreneur. People are criticizing you for
  having so much money while others are very poor.
  Defend yourself and justify why you have so much
  and they have so little. A paragraph would be
  dandy