James B Duke: Master Builder

The story of tobacco, development of southern and Canadian waterpower and the creation of a university.

“America has many merchant princes and captains of industry, but only three industrial kings: John D. Rockefeller in Oil, Andrew Carnegie in Steel, and James B. Duke in Tobacco," a financial writer recorded in Leslie's Weekly many years ago. That was the judgment of others, in and out of Wall Street. Opinions may differ as to relative rank, but certainly no men ever occupied more commanding position in their respective branches of the nation 's business. And it is significant that, in time, these three became America's foremost philanthropists.