Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist who led the expansion of the American steel industry. He is remembered for the vast fortune that he gave away for the education and the culture.
Early Life and Education
Carnegie was born in Dunfermline in Scotland in 1835. His father was a handloom weaver whose trade was destroyed by the mechanisation of the textile industry.
The family emigrated to the United States in 1848 and settled in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Carnegie took his first job at the age of thirteen in a cotton mill.
He became a telegraph messenger and then a telegraph operator. He attracted the attention of the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad and became his assistant.
The Steel Industry
Carnegie invested in the railroad and in the oil industries and made his first fortune. He used the profits to build his first steel mill in the 1870s.
He adopted the Bessemer process for the mass production of steel. He built the largest and the most efficient steel mills in the world and reduced the cost of the production.
He acquired the mines, the coke ovens, the railroads, and the ships that supplied and transported the steel. The vertical integration gave him control over the whole process.
He sold the Carnegie Steel Company to the financier J. P. Morgan in 1901 for nearly five hundred million dollars. The company became the United States Steel Corporation.
The Gospel of Wealth
Carnegie published the essay The Gospel of Wealth in 1889. He argued that the rich have a duty to distribute their wealth for the benefit of the community.
He held that the wealthy should not leave their fortunes to their heirs but should use them for the public good during their lifetime. The essay became a classic statement of the philanthropic ideal.
He put the principle into practice with the gift of more than two thousand five hundred public libraries. The libraries were built in the United States and in the countries of the British Empire.
He founded the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, which became the Carnegie Mellon University. He also founded the Carnegie Institution for Science.
The Peace and the Later Years
Carnegie was a lifelong advocate of the peace and of the international arbitration. He funded the construction of the Peace Palace at The Hague.
He founded the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1910. He also funded the Church Peace Union and the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.
He wrote the essay The Gospel of Wealth and the autobiography. He died in 1919 in Lenox, Massachusetts.
He gave away more than three hundred and fifty million dollars in his lifetime. His libraries and his foundations remain a lasting monument to his philanthropy.
The Early Career
Carnegie worked as a telegraph messenger and then as an operator. He attracted the attention of the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
He became the superintendent of the western division of the railroad. He invested in the oil and the railroad industries and made his first fortune.
He used the profits to build his first steel mill in the 1870s. He adopted the Bessemer process and built the largest steel mills in the world.
The Business Practices
Carnegie was a harsh employer and resisted the unionisation of his workers. The Homestead strike of 1892 was a violent confrontation with the workers.
He later justified the conflict as a defence of the principle of the management. The episode remains a stain on his reputation.
He sold the company to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for nearly five hundred million dollars. He devoted the rest of his life to the philanthropy.
The Education and the Family
Carnegie received little formal education and was largely self-taught. He used the libraries of the wealthy to educate himself.
He married Louise Whitfield in 1887 and the couple had one daughter. The family lived in New York and in Scotland.
He wrote the autobiography and the essays on the wealth and the peace. He died in 1919 in Lenox, Massachusetts.
The Products and the Innovation
Carnegie adopted the Bessemer process for the mass production of steel. He built the largest and the most efficient steel mills in the world.
He acquired the mines, the coke ovens, the railroads, and the ships. The vertical integration gave him control over the whole process.
He reduced the cost of the steel and made it available for the construction. The steel transformed the cities and the infrastructure of the country.
The Leadership and the Strategy
Carnegie published the essay The Gospel of Wealth in 1889. He argued that the rich have a duty to distribute their wealth for the public benefit.
He funded more than two thousand five hundred public libraries. He founded the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Institution for Science.
He gave away more than three hundred and fifty million dollars in his lifetime. He died in 1919 in Lenox, Massachusetts.
See also
- Steel industry
- Philanthropy
- Gospel of Wealth
- Carnegie libraries
References
- ↑ Nasaw, David. Andrew Carnegie. New York: Penguin Press, 2006.
- ↑ Carnegie, Andrew. The Gospel of Wealth. New York: Century, 1900.
- ↑ Carnegie, Andrew. The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1920.
- ↑ Wall, Joseph Frazier. Andrew Carnegie. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.