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Monday, May 21, 2012

Lessons from America's Golden Years

My twenty years of research and literary pantheon of books on American industry begs the question – can we return to the glory days of the industrial barons? Are there any young barons out there? The following characterization is based on the historical facts. It will not please Democrats or Republicans nor liberals or conservatives. The answer is yes there are young Firestones and Carnegies, but that’s not the real question. The question is America capable of bringing out these young barons, and the answer is no. So what changes would be needed to return and why aren’t we trying. The solution is not as many suggest political, in fact, neither party has the whole answer and that is what limits us. Each party has part of the components of the age of barons but is so polarized that no one can bring the necessary segments together. First we would need to create the early educational environment of the barons. Surprisingly, the educational system of the barons lacked hard science and advanced math, but was rich in the basics and American and heroic history. Education was a local community responsibility and tended to be one-room, poorly lighted, and cold, lacking many physical amenities of today. The only wall decorations were pictures of Washington and Lincoln. Homework seemed endless. Men like Firestone while not great students found inspiration their in McGuffey Readers. It was a highly competitive classroom and playground. Much of the discipline and playground behavior would be banded today! The other characteristic of the educational system was endless stories of the greatness of America. Self-reliance and the need to help the less fortunate, which seemed to build a foundation for paternal capitalists was the basic lesson plan. What of the government and society? Society was self-reliant and competitive reflecting the training of the educational system. The political system was low taxation and highly protective. While they detested government involvement in unionization, they relied on tariffs and government efforts in a national road or transportation systems. The government favored a nationalistic, paternal, and regulated approach to capitalism. Tariffs were as high as 40 percent but that came with heavy, daily regulation by a standing committee of congress. The industries of the barons were protected as long as profits were put back in the expansion of factories, job creation, and to some degree community improvements. The barons themselves were highly patriotic and while expanding internationally, no effort was made to be transnational; in fact, they were more typical of the “ugly” American bringing American methodology to other countries. They believed fully in American exceptionalism. It would be difficult to close an American factory and move off shore for two reasons: (1) they were nationalists above all and (2) Congress would strip them of protective tariff status. Politically, they were Whigs, believing all political platforms should be based solely on the growth of America economically. There was also a belief that America was too unique to be considered as a mere member of an international community, and we didn’t play well with other countries. The barons while expanding internationally for more profits tended to be isolationists. They tended to be pacifists such as Harvey Firestone, Henry Ford, and Andrew Carnegie. Another somewhat surprising characteristic was their hatred of bankers and in particular, the international bankers of New York. They preferred to finance through stock and bond issues. Of course, at least the first part of their careers was in a world of no personal or corporate taxes. They were religious and charitable. Many espoused Christian principles in their management styles. In the workplace, they believed in loyalty and results over higher education. They even forced their sons to at least work through the various levels and departments. While they reflected society’s biases of the time, they generally put results of the person above all else. Youths were given as much responsibility that they demonstrated they could handle. They preferred paternalism to unionism, although, they came to at least tolerate unions while reluctantly giving up authority. Finally, they were flawed humans, requiring government regulations and over site (often demanding it). See the pantheon of books on amazon search SKRABEC http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=skrabec