Why were many leading industrialists of the late 19th century known as ‘robber barons’?

During the late 19th century, many leading industrialists were perceived in different ways: some interpreted them as captains of industry as they reinvested back into society, whilst most knew them as ‘robber barons’ because of their greed and exploitation of workers. Industrialists basically only cared about profit, and though most did invest back into society through philanthropy, the damage they did in society outweighed the good things they did; which is why they were deservent of the term robber baron. A reason as to why they were known as robber barons is through the way in which money was their only incentive and they would do anything to earn the most money which can be seen by Henry Frick who formed the HC Frick Coal Company. Henry Frick lowered dams in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in order to cut costs and save profits, however, this led to a mass flood which killed over 2,200 people, therefore showing how they placed money above the lives of innocent people. Continuingly, to also increase income and revenue, industrialists like Andrew Carnegie also had terrible working conditions and harsh wage levels at which workers would be exploited in order to receive maximum profit. This also demonstrates how they were robber barons because in some cases, working conditions would be so harsh that workers ended up protesting, as seen by the Homestead Strike in 1892. Carnegie, a leading industrialist also using racist payment schemes; as he was from irish and scottish descent, he would pay Native Americans the most (as they were the ones with the most skills), then pay the irish and scottish more than eastern europeans based solely on the fact that they were of the same nationality/ descent as him. Finally, the last reason as to why they were known as robber barons is because of their ability to eliminate competition and thus increase their income by the benefits of being a monopoly. Many industrialists including Rockefeller and Carnegie did this using harsh predatory pricing schemes which consisted of price wars, by lowering their prices expecting another business to do the same and eventually they would buy the other business out at laughable prices or, the other business would become bankrupt and would have to close down. Rockefeller in fact eliminated all competition in Cleveland in his first 2 months of having formed the Standard Oil Company. Andrew Carnegie, the leader of US Steel Trust also managed to achieve this through the formation of cartels to form businesses that would keep their prices so high that customers would have no other choice but to consume at his company. These examples demonstrate the harsh scheming of industrialists and why they earnt the term robber barons. Thus, to conclude, although industrialists like Rockefeller and Carnegie did invest over $300 million back into philanthropic causes, the things they did to gain profits like wage and working conditions, predatory pricing to eliminate competition demonstrate they were indeed robber barons rather than captains of industry. The most likely reason and most well known reason however, as to why they were known as robber barons is their ability to eliminate competition.