Still sails the Robber Baron’s yacht in sunny Southern seas. Daily she jams her nose ashore, and daily takes on and puts off a fresh cargo of telegraph dispatches; and he who is idling for his liver's sake knows every night the tale of Wall-street's ticker and baiteth still without cessation his everlasting mouse trap.

An early operator in the field, Ivy Lee, is reported to have changed the image of John D. Rockefeller from robber baron to philanthropic old gentleman who loved to play golf and hand out shiny coins to children.

When the robber barons emerged in the late nineteenth century as the first ultrarich Americans, they had no clear guide on how to build palatial homes, so they just copied the architecture of wealthy European families.

Robber baron

Meaning

Noun