What Extent Was Andrew Carnegie A Robber Baron Or A Captain Of Industry

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Robber baron or Captain of Industry? Andrew carnegie was an obvious Captain of Industry. He was born into a family that was very poor, his father was a weaver that nothing big was expected to come from little Andrew. However, soon came the Industrial revolution, and with that, came more machinery. So much machinery in fact, that Carnegie’s dad got replaced and fired from his weaving job, because of these machines. Soon, his father found himself begging for jobs to be able to help his family. The family became so poor in fact that Carnegie's mother had to start working to help support the family.Carnegie once said "I began to learn what poverty meant." His mother desperately borrowed some money to go from Scotland to Pittsburgh,(the steel capital of the world) in America by boat. There, Carnegie started work in a cotton factory, but this was not the highlight of his career. As a matter of …show more content…

Sometimes a chain would break on one of the machines, dynamite would accidentally explode, shouting and yelling would occur,and there have even been reports of people dying in the factories. Although this is a big problem, it was mostly just caused by the working laws at the time. Back then, it was perfectly legal to work 12 hours straight, so around ending time, the workers would be so exhausted that there would be accidents. In the passage it states “"They wipe a man out here every little while," a worker said in 1893. "Sometimes a chain breaks, and a ladle tips over, and the iron explodes.... Sometimes the slag falls on the workmen.... Of course, if everything is working all smooth and a man watches out, why, all right! But you take it after they've been on duty twelve hours without sleep, and running like hell, everybody tired and loggy, and it's a different

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