Question 8: Were rich industrialists captains of industry or robber barons?
Position: Rich industrialists were captains of industry
1. The rich industrialists of the 19th century pioneered the business practices of the time, and set the foundations for the success of US corporations for decades to come. One such business practice was cost accounting. In the 1880s, industrialist Andrew Carnegie was “the first in the railroad industry to apply cost accounting, or breaking out the product cost for each step.” (Skrabec, 73). Keeping track of costs for each step in the production process was a major improvement from the disorganized methods used by Carnegie’s competitors and by most industrialists at the time. Carnegie further used cost accounting
Position: Rich industrialists were captains of industry
1. The rich industrialists of the 19th century pioneered the business practices of the time, and set the foundations for the success of US corporations for decades to come. One such business practice was cost accounting. In the 1880s, industrialist Andrew Carnegie was “the first in the railroad industry to apply cost accounting, or breaking out the product cost for each step.” (Skrabec, 73). Keeping track of costs for each step in the production process was a major improvement from the disorganized methods used by Carnegie’s competitors and by most industrialists at the time. Carnegie further used cost accounting