The Philosophy of the Industrialists

1). Laissez-faire capitalistim: French for "leave it be", the idea that government shouldn't be regulating industries, stemming from Adam Smith's book "The Wealth of Nations".

Social Darwinism: "Survival of the fittest applied to society"- the poor are poor of their own accord and weaknesses. 

Gospel of Wealth: Permeated the belief that the wealthy had earned wealth through their own attributes and are responsible for making philanthropic improvements to mankind. 

2). Social Darwinism reinforces laissez-faire by spreading the belief that success is dependent on the individual, and that government intervention would prevent the gifted from becoming rightly successful. 

3). The Gospel of Wealth supported the philosophy of Social Darwinism by supplementing the idea that the best suited to be rich were the ones that became rich, and that by their wealth they can in turn increase the wealth of others. 

4). Rockefeller supports the philosophy if Social Darwinism, stating that the practice of rooting out other businesses is "merely the working-out of a law of nature"; he also supports the Gospel of Weath", calling success  "a law of god". 

5.) The cartoonist displays Rockefeller as cutting off the early buds himself, rather than allowing the law of nature to do so; this shows that the artist thinks it is the wealthy and empowered, rather than "nature", that control the economy. 

6.) The cartoonist implies that the source of wealth and power is the labor of the lower class. The protected businesses are those who pay tribute to the King. The booty represents American wealth and quality of livelihood, which are sacrificed by the lower classes at the expense of an extravagantly wealthy upper class.  The facial expressions suggest that the people are angry and extremely unhappy about having to submit to King Monopoly. The main idea is that the wealthy are exploitive of the lower and middle classes, and inherently unfair in their business tactics. King Monopoly represents the big business philosophy of horizontal integration and capitalism. This is demonstrated through his control over all other business sectors, such as manufacturers and farmers, and his title of "Monopoly". 

7.) Problems stemming from Social Darwinism include inspiring contempt in the poor, creating a roadblock to social reform; coorperations were maneuvered  in court to be treated as people, allowing them to take great advantage of interstate commerce. Laissez-faire ideology created problems such as low wages for workers, dangerous work conditions, an abundance of child labor, and immense poverty. 

8). The main idea of Carnegie's cartoon is that the wealthy are extravagant spenders of money that belongs rightly to the public. 

9). Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth does not solve problems created by Social Darwinism because not all capitalists are philanthropists, and giving money to the poor does not justify attempts to silence them and keep them from competing for wealth and rightful opportunity. 

10). The Gospel of Wealth can be seen in celebrities' charitable efforts, such as Angelina Jolie's work to empower people, especially women, in developing countries as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Social Darwinism is harder to justify in modern times, however, since many companies and copeperations distance themselves from religious roots so as to appeal to a wider customer base.