Find the industrialist you were assigned in class and read the writing underneath his name. Take notes on the industrialist. You will share this information with the class members who read about the other industrialists next time we meet. Make sure your notes are thorough. Click the link below to see the information that MUST be included in your notes, as well as some suggestions. These notes will be turned in for grading.
NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.
No. COOXOL
JUNE, 1889.
WEALTH.
BY ANDREW CARNEGIE.
THE problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth,
so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and
poor in harmonious relationship. The conditions of human life
have not only been changed, but revolutionized, within the past few
hundred years. In former days there was little difference between
the dwelling, dress, food, and environment of the chief and those
of his retainers. The Indians are to-day where civilized man then
was. When visiting the Sioux, I was led to the wigwam of the
chief. It was just like the others in external appearance, and
even within the difference was trifling between it and those of
the poorest of his braves. The contrast between the palace of the
millionaire and the cottage of the laborer with us to-day meas-
ures the change which has come with civilization.
This change, however, is not to be deplored, but welcomed as
highly beneficial. It is well, nay, essential for the progress of
the race, that the houses of some should be homes for all that is
highest and best in literature and the arts, and for all the refine-
ments of civilization, rather than that none should be so. Much
better this great irregularity than universal squalor. The good old times were
not good old times. Neither master nor servant was as well situ-
ated then as to-day. A relapse to old conditions would be disas-
trous to both, not the least so to him who serves and would
sweep away civilization with it. But whether the change be for good or ill, It Is upon us, beyond our power to alter, and there-
fore to be accepted and made the best of. It is a waste of time
to criticise the inevitable.
Andrew Carnegie 1835- 1919
One of the captains of industry of 19th century America, Andrew Carnegie helped build the formidable American steel industry, a process that turned a poor young man into one of the richest entrepreneurs of his age. Later in his life, Carnegie sold his steel business and systematically gave his collected fortune away to cultural, educational and scientific institutions for "the improvement of mankind."
Fond of saying that "the man who dies rich dies disgraced," Carnegie then turned his attention to giving away his fortune. He abhorred charity, and instead put his money to use helping others help themselves. That was the reason he spent much of his collected fortune on establishing over 2,500 public libraries as well as supporting institutions of higher learning. By the time Carnegie's life was over, he gave away 350 million dollars.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/peopleevents/pande01.html
Story of a Great Monopoly. [The Atlantic monthly. / Volume 47, Issue 281, March 1881]
No-
body knows how many millions Rocke-
feller is worth. Current gossip among
his business acquaintance in Cleveland
puts his income last year at a figure
second only, if second at all, to that of
Vanderbilt. His partner, Samuel Andrews,
the poor English day laborer,
retired years ago with millions. Just
who the Standard Oil Company are, ex-
actly what their capital is, and what are
their relations to the railroads, nobody
knows except in part. Their officers re-
fused to testify before the supreme court
of Pennsylvania, the late New York
Railroad Investigating Committee, and
a committee of Congress. The New
York committee found there was noth-
ing to be learned from them, and was
compelled to confess its inability to as-
certain as much as it desired to know
of this mysterious organization, whose
business and transactions are of such a
character that its members declined
giving a history or description, lest their
testimony be used to convict them of
crime.~~
Their great business capacity would
have insured the managers of the Stand-
ard success, but the means by which
they achieved monopoly was by conspir-
acy with the railroads. Mr. Simon
Sterne, counsel for the merchants of
New York in the New York investiga-
tion, declared that the relations of the
railroads to the Standard exhibited the
most shameless perversion of the duties
of a common carrier to private ends
that has taken place in the history of
the world. The Standard killed its
rivals, in brief, by getting the great
trunk lines to refuse to give them trans-
portation.
John D. Rockefeller 1839-1937
In 1870 he organized The Standard Oil Company with his brother William, Samuel Andrews, Henry M. Flagler, Stephen V. Harkness and O. B. Jennings. Rockefeller felt the state of the oil business was in disarray. Entry costs were low and the market was glutted with oil and a resulting high level of waste. He felt the inefficiency of the smaller firms, in their attempts to survive, drove the prices down below the production costs and hurt the larger more efficient firms like his own. His solution was one large company, vertically integrated, controlling the refining and storage of oil, and the manufacturing of ancillary products such as paint and glue. By 1872, Standard Oil had purchased and controlled nearly all the refining firms in Cleveland. Standard Oil prospered and all its properties were merged in 1882 into the Standard Oil Trust, which was effectively one giant company.
In 1896, Rockefeller decided to give up leadership of the day-to-day business of Standard Oil and focused his efforts on philanthropy. Ever since he was a boy following his mother’s teachings, he had contributed to his church and other charities, and from the mid 1890’s until his death in 1937, Rockefeller’s activities were all philanthropic. Rockefeller hired the Reverend Frederick T. Gates who had worked with the American Baptist Education Society and the University of Chicago to help him manage his philanthropy. In 1897, his son, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. assisted Gates and with their advice, Rockefeller established a series of institutions that are important in the history of American philanthropy, science, medicine and public health that continues today.
http://www.johndrockefeller.org/
The Ermine in the Ring. [The North American review. / Volume 108, Issue 222, January 1869
It is well known that Mr. Vanderbilt and Mr. Drew have long been
large operators in the stock of the Erie Railroad. Last spring, Mr.
Vanderbilt was trying to get control of that railroad by securing more
than half of its stock. Mr. Drew, however, by virtue of certain arrange-
ments made in consequence of previous loans of money to the railroad,
and also of his influence in the direction, had it in his power to throw
an enormous mass of stock upon the market, and thus entirely thwarted
Mr. Vanderbilts plans. The latter, therefore, had recourse to Judge
Barnard, and the struggle opened with an injunction locking up all
Drews reserves of stock, and enabling Vanderbilt to prosecute his
plans safely. Drew replied with an injunction from another judge, and
Vanderbilt with yet another from a third judge, and so the fusillade
was kept up until six injunctions had issued on the one side and the
other, resulting apparently in a position of affairs favorable to Mr. Van-
derbilt. He went on, therefore, bravely buying Erie stock right and
left. Not less boldly, however, did Mr. Drew go on selling short,
in spite of the apparent certainty that the injunction first issued by
Judge Barnard would make it impossible for him to fulfil his contracts
without great loss.
Cornelius Vanderbilt 1843-1899
Upon his death in 1877, at age 82, Cornelius Vanderbilt, also known as Commodore Vanderbilt, was the wealthiest man in the United States and probably the greatest of the nineteenth century railroad barons. Earlier in his business career he probably was the greatest shipping tycoon in the United States. His estate was worth 100 million dollars, a sum unheard of in those days. He left the bulk of his estate to his son William Henry Vanderbilt, because he was the only child who had been actively involved in the business that produced the Vanderbilt fortune. William Henry also had been instrumental in building and expanding the railroad business since he joined his father in the management of the organization upon becoming an adult.
http://www.nnp.org/nni/Publications/Dutch-American/vanderbiltc.html
Together as a class:
Economic historians speak of the late nineteenth century as the age of the Great Deflation, an era when, worldwide, prices fell steadily. Falling prices normally signal economic stagnation; there is not enough demand for available goods and services. In England, a mature industrial power, the Great Deflation did indeed signal economic decline. But not in the United Sates. Indeed, industrial expansion went into high gear during the Great Deflation. Increasing manufacturing efficiencies enabled American firms to cut prices and yet earn profits and afford still better equipment. Real income from Americans went up dramatically, increasing by nearly 50 percent (from $388 to $573) between 1877 to 1900. The industrializing economy was a wealth-creating machine beyond anything the world had ever seen.
Henretta, James A., et. al. America: A Concise History Vol. 2, 3rd Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2006, 506.
Instead of subscribing to blogs through Google Reader, I subscribed to news sources that had to do with technology and education. A lot of them were actually really interesting. 
