What is a robber baron?

In the past week, there has been a long list of articles published on various news websites and blogs vilifying businessmen and rich free market proponents (again) as supposedly nothing more than a bunch of “robber barons.” This is an interesting term because it has been around for more than a century, but it’s meaning is rather perplexing.

If you ever took any American History classes in high school then this term is thrown around quite a lot by government educators.

First, the term “robber baron” was first used in 1870 to describe wealthy and powerful businessman who decried against harmful government regulations. It has been used against a wide variety of affluent entrepreneurs, including Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt. Now, were these men either robbers or barons? Well, let’s look at the definitions of both words.

Robber: a person who robs and steals.

Baron: a member of the lowest grade of nobility; or a member of the House of Lords.

We can distinctly concur that none of the aforementioned men, or any other similar prominent businessmen in the United States, can be labeled as either robbers or barons. Why is this expression constantly used then? It’s hard to pinpoint exactly, but it could be due to economic ignorance, downright fallaciousness and erroneous attacks against one’s character.

As history has shown, individuals like Rockefeller became rich by satisfying a demand, cutting their costs and pleasing their customers; they were also able to control the market through smart business acumen and certain products that only they manufactured. Others (Vanderbilt and Rockefeller) challenged the establishment and questioned the monopolies imposed by the relationship between governments and crony capitalists. It should be pointed out that these regulators and cronyists were the real robber barons because they really do steal from taxpayers and they have some sort of connection to a centralized entity.

It was highlighted in Burt Folsom’s book “The Myth of the Robber Barons” that this term was actually planted in newspapers by the enemies of those who fought against the state, the powerful labor unions and the major corporations that tried to suppress smaller companies. They were simply attacks.

An example of the connection between government, unions and corporations can be found in the mining industry. James Pennington sued the United Mine Workers labor union after it was discovered the union collaborated with some of the biggest mining companies in the U.S. and aided the White House in passing a law that drove out smaller miners akin to Pennington.

Of course, the supposed “robber barons” did more for the impecunious, environment and society then they have been given credit for. For instance, Rockefeller donated hundreds of millions of dollars to fund scientists to research cures for numerous ailments and diseases and his company, Standard Oil, saved the whales.

The next time you hear the term “robber barons” just roll your eyes and provide a couple of facts to disprove the common notion that wealthy industrialists of the late-19th and early-20th centuries were neither robbers nor barons.