Life of Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie, the son of a handloom weaver was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, on 25th November, 1835. The economic depression of 1848 convinced the Carnegie family to emigrate to the United States where they joined a Scottish colony at Allegheny near Pittsburgh. Andrew began work at 12 in a local cotton factory but continued his education by attending night school. At 14 Carnegie became a messenger boy in the local Pittsburgh Telegraph Office. During the Civil War Carnegie went to Washington where his work included organizing the military telegraph system.

After the war Carnegie became superintendent of the western division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Carnegie shrewdly invested in several promising ventures including the Woodruff Sleeping Car Company and several small iron mills and factories. He made regular visits to Britain where he observed the rapid developments in the iron industry. Carnegie realised that steel would now replace iron for the manufacture of heavy goods. In 1870 Carnegie erected his first blast furnace where he used ideas being developed by Bessemer in England. Others followed and by 1874 he opened his steel furnace at Braddock.

Carnegie took a keen interest in social and political issues and wrote a series of books where he compared the egalitarianism of America with the class-based inequalities of Britain and other European countries.

In June, 1889, the North American Review published an article by Carnegie on what he called the "Gospel of Wealth". In the article Carnegie argued that it was the duty of rich men and women to use their wealth to benefit the welfare of the community. He wrote that a "man who dies rich dies disgraced".

The success of the company was not without controversy however, and In 1892 the Iron and Steel Workers Union called a strike in protest at low wages. Henry Frick, the Chairman of the company brought in 300 strikebreakers and a fierce battle ensued amongst the men in which 10 men were killed and 60 injured.

In 1892 all productive units were integrated to form the Carnegie Steel Company. Valued at $25 million it was now the largest steel company in the world. The Carnegie Steel Company continued to expand and by 1901, Carnegie himself now had a personal fortune of $225,000,000.

Carnegie set up a trust fund "for the improvement of mankind." This included the building of 3,000 public libraries (380 in Britain), the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Institution of Washington for research into the natural and physical sciences. Carnegie also established the Endowment for International Peace in an effort to prevent future wars.

By the time Andrew Carnegie died in August, 1919, he had given away $350,000,000. A further $125 million was placed with the Carnegie Corporation to carry on his good works.