“I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money's sake.” This quote by John D. Rockefeller Junior captures the virtues by which he tried to live his life. In this statement, he is proclaiming his disgust with people whose only objective in life is the greedy acquisition for wealth’s sake alone. So, it was only natural that he devoted his life to philanthropy, which is in direct contrast to the greedy individuals to which he referred in his quote. Through his philanthropy, he showed his devotion to his principles. John D. Rockefeller Junior was the fifth child and only son of John D. Rockefeller Senior and his wife, Laura Celestia Spelmen Rockefeller. He was born on January 29, 1874, in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was the first billionaire; therefore, he came from a very affluent family and grew up in his father’s mansion. His father was a caring, but strict parent, and gave them small allowances for doing odd jobs. He attended the Browning School (now Brown School) he had tutors, and made good g...
It's said that before John D. Rockefeller died, "he gave away about $550,000,000 to charity, more than any other American before him had ever possessed" (98). His money went to schools, churches and also "paid teams of scientists who found cures for yellow fever, meningitis, and hookworm"(97).
...600 -$700 annually. In the same fashion as Carnegie, Rockefeller gave most of his money to profit other. It has been said that he gave a third of his fortune to charities, organizations, and universities; another third was for him, and the final third he left to his descendants.
Have you ever decided that you wanted to fulfill your passion and you knew before you left this earth, you would? Helping the poor, saving lives, shielding families and inspiring individuals: this paper will compare and contrast Jane Addams and William Sumner. Although Addams and Sumner bear some superficial similarities, the differences between the both of them are clear. Although Addams and Sumner share a similar background, they each have their own worldview. Addams’ main focus was to contribute in any way that she could to help the poor and impact lives for a more efficient society. Sumner believed that the supply of wealth was based on people’s skills and those that have better skills and characteristics would more likely be wealthy while
A penny saved may be a penny earned, just as a penny spent may begin to better the world. Andrew Carnegie, a man known for his wealth, certainly knew the value of a dollar. His successful business ventures in the railroad industry, steel business, and in communications earned him his multimillion-dollar fortune. Much the opposite of greedy, Carnegie made sure he had what he needed to live a comfortable life, and put what remained of his fortune toward assistance for the general public and the betterment of their communities. He stressed the idea that generosity is superior to arrogance. Carnegie believes that for the wealthy to be generous to their community, rather than live an ostentatious lifestyle proves that they are truly rich in wealth and in heart. He also emphasized that money is most powerful in the hands of the earner, and not anyone else. In his retirement, Carnegie not only spent a great deal of time enriching his life by giving back; but also often wrote about business, money, and his stance on the importance of world peace. His essay “Wealth” presents what he believes are three common ways in which the wealthy typically distribute their money throughout their life and after death. Throughout his essay “Wealth”, Andrew Carnegie appeals to logos as he defines “rich” as having a great deal of wealth not only in materialistic terms, but also in leading an active philanthropic lifestyle. He solidifies this definition in his appeals to ethos and pathos with an emphasis on the rewards of philanthropy to the mind and body.
Carnegie was a self-made man with a rags to riches story and an outlook larger than life. He sought out to encourage the wealthy to return the money back to the community. In his “Gospel of Wealth,” he exemplifies the futility of leaving the mon...
To describe John D. Rockefeller in one word would be an extremely difficult, if not impossible thing to do. Rockefeller was known by so many things in his time and still today; a captain of industry who revolutionised the American economy with new business practices and keen management of what he controlled, a robber baron who lied and cheated his way to the top with back room dealings and taking advantage of the most disadvantaged of people. In his early life, Rockefeller grew up in Richmond, New York with his two brothers and two sisters about 20 years before the start of the Civil War as the child of Eliza Davison and William Avery Rockefeller. His father was con artist who spent most of John’s life traveling selling his various elixirs and his mother was a devout Baptist who John said shaped his life and most of his religious views for the rest of his life. Towards the end of his life, Rockefeller had built up a beyond substantial fortune but, seeing as how he was now retired from the oil industry and had no desire to invest into a new business, he decided to follow Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth by donating the bulk of his wealth to charity. John D. Rockefeller was truly a man who was almost undefinable despite the simple black and white labels that most people and historians have pinned upon him, as we examine his life it can be determined that Rockefeller was neither an evil man nor a good one but someone who lived his life in the grey.
This statement is true, but the money that sustained the philanthropic ways of the Industrialists was obtained in a way exemplify the qualities of a Robber Baron. A list of Rockefeller's major donations added up to about $500,000,000. While this money went charities and hospitals, the money was made from unethical business practices and the undermining of employees. The Saturday Globe’s political cartoon of Carnegie shows him cutting wages and giving away libraries and money. Industrialists took money that went from their workers away to practice philanthropy. The money might have gone to great causes, but the way it was obtained is characteristic of Robber Barons. Andrew Carnegie's essay, “The Gospel of Wealth” he describes the role of the wealthy in the community. Carnegie class the millionaire a “trust for the poor” and states that the wealthy know how to best invest n the community. This role taken on by Carnegie and other wealthy Americans of the late 19th century is reminiscent of that of an oligarchy, where a small group has control of the community. The oligarchical position of the wealthy in Carnegie's essay is against the American values of freedom and individuality, and very discriminatory towards the
Through the eyes of the prosperous, a lack of wealth indicates a fault in character, while their own success is the product of self-control. Paul Buchheit, who analyzed seven different psychological studies in his article titled “Ways the Poor Are More Ethical Than the Rich,” found that “ample evidence exists to show a correlation between wealth and unethical behavior, ...wealth and a lack of empathy for others, and…wealth and unproductiveness” (Buchheit). The relationship between wealth and poor character implies that when people become rich, they start caring more about maintaining their money supply and less about the well-being of others. As wealth increases, generosity, integrity, modesty, and other positive characteristics diminish. Paul Buchheit also noted that “low-income Americans spend a much higher percentage of their income on genuine charitable giving, [with] about two-thirds of ‘charitable’ donations from the rich go[ing] to their foundations and alma maters” (Buchheit). This proves that the wealthy are generally self-absorbed because a large proportion of them, despite having an abundance of money, refrain from devoting it to those in need. When donations are made, it’s only for their own personal benefit. Because the wealthy are programmed to be self-centered, they fail to serve others with their money and instead serve
Throughout history, there have been many successful businessmen. One who stands out from the rest is John D. Rockefeller.
"The New Tycoons: John D. Rockefeller." US History. Independence Hall Association, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2014. .
John D. Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839 in Rickford, New York. He grew up in a very poor family. His father was William Avery Rockefeller. He claimed to be a doctor, who for $25 would cure various diseases. His mother was Eliza Davison Rockefeller. She was the role model who taught Rockefeller his values and morals (Poole). John Rockefeller was the second child. Altogether he had five brothers and sisters (Outman 139). As a child he was very business smart. At the young age of 12 he loaned $50 to a famer. He charged a 7% interest. When he was older he said this about the business deal, “The impression was gaining ground with me that it was a good thing to let money be my servant and not make myself a slave to money” (Poole).
John D. Rockefeller as a Robber Baron A "robber baron" was someone who employed any means necessary to enrich themselves at the expense of their competitors. Did John D. Rockefeller fall into that category or was he one of the "captains of industry", whose shrewd and innovative leadership brought order out of industrial chaos and generated great fortunes that enriched the public welfare through the workings of various philanthropic agencies that these leaders established? In the early 1860s Rockefeller was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, who came to epitomize both the success and excess of corporate capitalism. His company was based in northwestern Pennsylvania. A major question historians have disagreed on has been whether or not John D. Rockefeller was a so-called "robber baron".
Singer’s approach to philanthropy addresses the disparity between the wealth and poor as created by industrialization, a growth in civilization. However, his approach slows future growth in civilization. Carnegie’s massive fortunes and his workers’ relative poverty are a testament of the effects of industrialization and his philosophy aimed to bring those from poverty into wealth. However, he failed to address some fundamental needs that the poor have in his approach to philanthropy. Growth in civilization initially led to industrialization and the creation of the extreme disparities of wealth addressed in Carnegie and Singer’s philosophies on philanthropy. As civilization continues to progress and technology automates more fields of labor, the disparities of wealth will continue to grow. A better and more universally accepted approach to philanthropy is critical to the future welfare of the human
In Andrew Carnegie’s “The Gospel of Wealth” he outlines what the rich man’s responsibilities to the public is regarding his wealth. Andrew Carnegie was one of his times wealthiest men and wrote this in 1889. He states that, “Our duty is with what is practicable now-with the next step possible in our day and generation. It is criminal to waste our energies in endeavoring to uproot, when all we can profitably accomplish is to bend the universal tree of humanity a little in the direction most favorable to the production of the good fruit under existing circumstances (Carnegie 23-24).” In his writing he talks about the best way to dispose of the wealth one has acquired. The remainder of this paper will address the
and greedy for profit”.(Machiavelli, 54). He characterizes men as being self centered and not willing to act in the best interest of