The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America
by Burton W. Folsom
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Book Summary Information
Author: Burton W. FolsomForeword: Forrest McDonald
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1991
ISBN: 0963020315
Number of pages: 170
Publisher: Young America's Foundation
Book Reviews of The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America
Book Review: It's amazing...
Summary: 5 Stars
...that there is still so much hatred of capitalism in the world today, as evidenced by the fact that several reviewers gave this book one star. Nothing in history has even come close to elevating the material standard of living like the capitalistic system, and yet it is still villified, maligned, mocked, and hated intensely, mainly by those who despise freedom. Burton Folsom's "The Myth of the Robber Barons" is an excellent, though much too brief, discussion of several industrialists of the 19th century. In the book, Folsom argues, and undeniably proves, that free market entrepreneurs of the 19th century were far more successful, less wasteful, and much less economically corrupt than those who begged for government subsidies. This will not surprise anyone who understands free market economics versus government meddling.
Just one quick example: James Hill built the Great Northern Railroad without a dime of government money. The other four transcontinental railroads, all built with government subsidies, went bankrupt--there were massive amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse, which is, of course, exactly what you would expect when people aren't spending their own money. Those who built the transcontinental railroads on government subsidies had no reason to be careful or efficient because they were spending taxpayers' money, not their own. Hill built the best, most efficient, and most profitable line. Then he expanded into the Asian market, opening doors to further enhance American trade. Only to be stymied by government action--the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. So government built a far worse railroad on taxpayers money, and then stifled the freedom of a great entrepreneur with a useless law. Folsom proves this conclusively, and there is no way to deny it, except through vitriol and hatred.
There is a reason why capitalism can succeed in economic matters where government cannot. Government, by definition, is the nationalization of force. It can do nothing without the threat or use of force. It's major--often only--source of income is through coercive taxation, which is nothing more than forced requisitions from its citizens. Government's purpose, as so wisely noted by America's Founding Fathers and ignored by American politicians today, is the protection of property, the free use thereof that does not infringe upon the natural rights of others. Government can only use force to protect property--that's why government is so good at war and so wasteful when it comes to social issues. It's not government's purpose to be involved in charity, simply because of the nature of government--the use of force to accomplish its goals. One doesn't use a sledge hammer to break an egg--that's not the purpose of a sledge hammer. A sledge hammer WILL certainly break an egg, but it probably won't accomplish the intended purpose, unless that purpose is the total destruction of the egg. And when governmental force is used in areas where force is not required (charity, free market economics, etc.) then the result will nearly always be negative and very often catastrophic. That's the point Folsom makes in this book and he makes it well.
Lovers of freedom will enjoy this book. Those who want to control others, think they know better how to run other peoples' lives, and are government-control freaks will hate this book.
One last note: I am an instructor of history at a community college in California. And starting this fall, I'm going to require my students read Folsom's book. It's time our people started getting the other side of the story, the correct one, the one where freedom wins, rather than loses.
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Summary of The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America
The Myth of the Robber Barons describes the role of key entrepreneurs in the economic growth of the United States from 1850 to 1910. The entrepreneurs studied are Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, James J. Hill, Andrew Mellon, Charles Schwab, and the Scranton family. Most historians argue that these men, and others like them, were Robber Barons. The story, however, is more complicated. The author, Burton Folsom, divides the entrepreneurs into two groups market entrepreneurs and political entrepreneurs. The market entrepreneurs, such as Hill, Vanderbilt, and Rockefeller, succeeded by producing a quality product at a competitive price. The political entrepreneurs such as Edward Collins in steamships and in railroads the leaders of the Union Pacific Railroad were men who used the power of government to succeed. They tried to gain subsidies, or in some way use government to stop competitors. The market entrepreneurs helped lead to the rise of the U. S. as a major economic power. By 1910, the U. S. dominated the world in oil, steel, and railroads led by Rockefeller, Schwab (and Carnegie), and Hill. The political entrepreneurs, by contrast, were a drain on the taxpayers and a thorn in the side of the market entrepreneurs. Interestingly, the political entrepreneurs often failed without help from government they could not produce competitive products. The author describes this clash of the market entrepreneurs and the political entrepreneurs. In the Mellon chapter, the author describes how Andrew Mellon an entrepreneur in oil and aluminum became Secretary of Treasury under Coolidge. In office, Mellon was the first American to practice supply-side economics. He supported cuts on income tax rates for all groups. The rate cut on the wealthiest Americans, from 73 percent to 25 percent, freed up investment capital and led to American economic growth during the 1920s. Also, the amount of revenue into the federal treasury increased sharply after tax rates were cut. The Myth of the Robber Barons has separate chapters on Vanderbilt, Hill, Schwab, Mellon, and the Scrantons. The author also has a conclusion, in which he looks at the textbook bias on the subject of Robber Barons and the rise of the U. S. in the late 1800s. This chapter explores three leading college texts in U. S. history and shows how they misread American history and disparage market entrepreneurs instead of the political entrepreneurs. This book is in its fifth edition, and is widely adopted in college and high school classrooms across the U. S.Economics Books
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