Which Robber Baron/Captain of Industry are you?

expand the mode of production from the ground level up in order to cut costs

identify your nearest competitors and encourage your workers to kill theirs

ruthlessly cut costs by reducing waste

establish another branch of your company in another state with the same business model

cheat and swindle with reckless abandon of costs

vertically integrate-by controlling all modes of production

ruthless competition; openly contesting your competitors by sabotage and driving down costs

quiet combination; controlling the majority shares of powerful companies to ensure market stability and max profit for your investors

horizontally combine-take out your competition to control the market

You were born middle class; familiar with laws and politics, you were familiar with how to manipulate the law to ruthlessly make profit

you were born wealthy; expanding your father's business

you were born middle class; using the $300 exemption to avoid draft and combat in the Civil War

you were born poor; a rag to riches success story!

use spies to investigate that business, offer less than what the business is worth to buy out the company and then hold its stock in trust

privately go to him to try to work a deal out; cooperation is the key to business

privately go to him to try to work a deal out; cooperation is the key to business

create a holding company to divert funds to double your income with the help of government legislation and bribing politicians.

Pacific Railway Corporation

Morgan and Son Finance

Standard Oil

Carnegie Steel

1880s

1860s

1870s

1890s

bribe the police to trump up charges of radicalism and throw the ringleaders in jail

cut their pay and invalidate their union

strike a deal in cooperation with the strikers

hire scabs and professional strikebreakers

ask for a federal court injunction to end the strike

nothing

donate rare artwork and endow museums

create hundreds of libraries and endowments for scholarships

create a center for medical research

create a university

become a world renowned art collector

what's retirement?

donate to libraries, universities, and scholarships

build some of the most ostentatious and lavish homes in America

give my life's work to my children

“(on his tombstone) here lies one who knew how to get around him men who were cleaverer than himself”

"I like a little competition, but I like combination more."

"I can always pay one half of the workforce to kill the other!"

"God gave me my wealth!"

"What do I care about the law, ain't I got the power!"