Was J. P. Morgan a Robber Baron or a Captain of The Industry? 

During the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, there were two kinds of businessmen into a good or bad category, the Captains of the Industry, who created and grew new industries and made the nation wealthy and powerful; and the Robber Barons, who exploited their workers and illegally destroyed their competition. It was a time were monopolistic firms flourished and the small businesses failed as the businessmen were corrupt. It was also the same time when J. P. Morgan became the man controlling the financial industry in the world. He succeeded in owning his peak, forty companies. Even though he helped the country twice in financial crisis, J. P. Morgan was a Robber Baron who was an aggressive, successful and powerful man who attained wealth by unethical or questionable means.

J. P. Morgan is a Robber Baron as he was the richest man in the world in the 19th century. One can not be the richest person without being involved in something “shady” as he got to positions that one would kill to be. He also owned the largest monopolistic business that was ever been owned. He treated his workers poorly. “Workers’ wages were often as low as a dollar a day or less” (“America’s”). He made them 60 hours long in a week and were just pain 10 cents per hour. He considered them as lower class people. Even though by saving the federal government he saved the financial sector from crashing, he gained profit from what he did. All the work that he did for government he profited from that. In 1895, he organized to help US Treasury which was on the verge of bankruptcy. Morgan formed the Federal Steel Company in 1898 and in 1901 he merged the company with others and formed the United States Steel Corporation(Britannica). There was a federal committee investigated J. P. Morgan in 1912, believing he was involved in monopolies.

J. P. Morgan could also be considered as a Captain of Industry. He pursued monopoly-like control over the economy but he finally established a different set of holdings (Shmoop). He helped the country twice when help was needed regarding financial crisis. He saved the country twice. “The panic of 1893, Morgan formed a syndicate that resupplied the U.S. government’s depleted gold reserve with $62 million in gold in order to relieve a Treasury crisis” (Britannica). He was in favor of the government whenever they needed him the most. He did a lot for the country by using his money to provide stability and aid when it was most needed. He again saved the country during the Panic of 1907 because of an unsuccessful corner in the copper market which triggered the bank. J. P. Morgan helped in this situation to prevent it from getting worse.

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