During the 1900s and 1900s, there was enormous growth in big business. There were immigrants coming to America, big cities were booming, and new industries were coming together. This time was called the Gilded Age, which is the time period shown in the Harper’s Weekly cartoon. During this time, government was able to pursue plans for a nation, like laws to aid business and encourage western expansion. However, this time period wasn’t perfect at all. There was child labor, monopolies, and wealthy industrialists taking advantage of the poor, who were defined as Robber Barons. Despite the great amount of Robber Barons, there were greater amounts of Captains of Industry who also controlled the nation. Although many leaders of industry are defined as Robber Barons, the cartoon depicts that the leaders of industry were both Captains of Industry and Robber Barons because they gave back to the community, they are more powerful than everyone else, and they only cared about themselves.
To begin with, Andrew Carnegie embodies the attributes of a Captain of Industry because he helped the education system by donating large sums of money to schools no libraries. In the cartoon, Andrew Carnegie is drawn stacking libraries on top of each other or “building a very solid temple of fame.” Carnegie believed that the wealthy had a duty to help others, which he called this the Gospel of Wealth. From this, Carnegie administered his wealth to the community. Furthermore, in the cartoon there are bags of money on the buildings and on some of the workers shoulders. This explains how the wealthy industrialists, which is Carnegie here, is giving bags of money to the libraries stacked up. Overall, Andrew Carnegie can be defined as a Captain of Industry because he used his power for donating to the community.
Carnegie is draw bigger in the political cartoon to show his power, which is usually perceived as a negative. As said earlier, in the cartoon, there are bags of money on the buildings and on some of the workers shoulders. It may look like that, but it’s actually hard working and poor immigrants who are creating these libraries. Also, the workers are drawn tiny to show that they are powerless and carrying heavy bags of money to the buildings. While this is happening, Carnegie is still continuing to build the libraries and only care about the money being brought up by the workers. This shows that the workers were under poverty and the companies weren’t paying them enough. Even though Carnegie can be defined as a Captain of Industry from donating to the community, he can also be defined as Robber Barons because he had more power than the government.
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Most industrialists only cared about their businesses and not about the people around them. For example, these leaders of industry caused their companies to become so powerful that they only cared for it. They used horizontal and vertical integration to gain more success for a less time and amount of money being used. Also, these different companies started to spend a lot of money to compete with each other, but there were still people working for them who were suffering. The urban poor had to live in tenements, which lacked air, light, and food. Also, the poor also worked in sweatshops, which were factories the poor had to work in. They were very crowded and dangerous, but usually used for child labor. Even though the industrialists were very powerful, they usually were selfish and didn’t care to help the poor.
Consequently, the cartoon depicts both Captains of Industry and Robber Barons from the way the cartoon is drawn. Andrew Carnegie helped the community by donating to schools and libraries, which defined him as a Captain of Industry. But, most industrialists were selfish and very powerful, which defined them as Robber Barons. Although many leaders of industry are defined as Robber Barons, the cartoon depicts that the leaders of industry were both Captains of Industry and Robber Barons because they gave back to the community,they are more powerful than everyone else, and they only cared about themselves.
