Andrew Carnegie: a Robber Baron Or a Captain of Industry

Did you know Andrew Carnegie is the third most wealthiest industrialist during the Guilded Age? He wasn’t always wealthy, how he earned that title was very unfair. A robber baron is someone who gets rich by ruthlessness and unfair business practices. A captain of industry is a business leader whose personal fortune is contributed positively to the country. Andrew Carnegie is a robber baron and a captain of industry because he used the money to build over 2,000 libraries, but he used his workers money that they earned.

Andrew Carnegie is a robber baron because he used his workers money and treated his workers very poorly. He did give back to the country, but using his workers income. He had lowered their wages to try to give back to his country. In Workingmans Prayer for the Mass, the text says, “Oh, master, we thank thee for all the free gifts you have given the public at the expense of your slaves.” This demonstrates how his workers had also noticed that he is spending their money to try to cover the fact that he doesn’t pay his workers what they worked for. Not only did he take from his workers income, he was also being a hypocrite, preaching for laborers to unionize and protect their jobs, but he’s taking money out of their paychecks and extending their hours. In American Experience: Biography, it states, “Carnegie was unusual among the industrial captains of his day because he preached for the rights of laborers to unionize and to protect their jobs. However, Carnegie's actions did not always match rhetoric. Carnegie's steel workers were often pushed to long hours and low wages.” This explains how he was a hypocrite. He preaches for workers to protect their jobs and to stand up, but he’s not practicing what he preaches. Andrew Carnegie is a robber baron because he took away from his workers income to make himself look better in the eye of the public.

Andrew Carnegie is a captain of industry because he built libraries and other learning institutions. He thought instead of giving money to some sort of charities, he built libraries and a place known as “a palace of peace”. In American Experience: Biography it states, “He spent much of his collected fortune on establishing over 2,500 libraries as well as supporting institutions of higher learning.” This shows how he wanted to help others out by helping themselves, building libraries and institutions of learning they are given opportunities to get their education. Andrew Carnegie had also funded libraries in the English-speaking world. He devoted his life to philanthropic activities by giving to the public. In the short article, Today in History - Primary Source Quote & Secondary Source, it says, “Believing that any accumulated wealth should be distributed in the form of public endowments, Carnegie founded 2,509 libraries in the English-speaking world, including ones in Michigan, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and Washington D.C. He also established several trusts and helped found Carnegie Mellon University.” This explains how he thought once he retired all of his wealth he had saved up should go towards education for others. It shows how he had built many libraries using his fortune and using it to help found a university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Andrew Carnegie is a captain of industry because he used his retirement money and his accumulated wealth to give back to the public in many good ways by giving them these institutions to get their education. He was a captain of industry by helping others help themselves.

Andrew Carnegie is both a robber baron and a captain of Industry because although the public could go out and get their education easily now, he had accumulated his wealth to fund them by lowering his workers wages and taking out from their paychecks. It states he had built several trusts to help found the Carnegie Mellon University but his workers did not trust him. Andrew Carnegie is a hypocrite of his word and he doesn’t practice what he preaches. He had extended his workers hours just to not pay them for the work that they do. He had extended their hours to take more out of their income. He wanted the public think that Andrew Carnegie was a good man, when how he accumulated his wealth was ruthless. Andrew Carnegie had done some good things with his accumulated wealth by giving the public education when everyone couldn’t get that, but he had done it through unfairness to his workers and by lowering their wages to expand his own. He wanted to mask the things he did to his workers by giving back bigger in return so no one would acknowledge that he was ruthless in his work.