Andrew Carnegie
Thomas O'Connor
Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland on November 25, 1835.
He attended Rolland School and developed a love for learning from his teacher
and this carried with him for the rest of his life.(1) Due to the decline
of weavers and the rise of textile factories, the Carnegie family moved to
America on May 19, 1848, to find work. The family moved to Allegheny Pa, where,
after failing to make it as a weaver, Andrew's father took a job at the Blackstock
Cotton Mill.(2) Young Andrew started at this same mill as a bobbin boy. He
took a promotion from changing bobbins at the machines to dipping bobbins
into oil. A year later he received a job as a telegraph messenger boy where
he earned some renown in Philadelphia for his speed and ability to decipher
a message by hearing it(3). This publicity helped him get his next job, working
for Mr. Thomas Scott at the railroad in Philadelphia.
When Andrew, received the offer to work for Mr. Scott at the railroad he
left his messenger delivery job instantly. The rail system in Philadelphia
was a single track going in or out and did not have a separate telegraph line.
Therefore, when problems would develop Mr. Scott would come and try to fix
them.(4) He usually spoke to Carnegie and the two discovered similar ideas
and became friends. Shortly after 1853, Mr. Scott began a series of upgrades
of the rail system and he promoted Carnegie to be the head of its telegraph
office. This promotion and Andrew's good business sense eventually got him
a the head position of the Philadelphia railroad. Andrew also developed a
good sense for stocks and bought his first at the age of twenty.(5) He invested
in railroads, oil, iron, and the railroad sleeping car which he invested
and pushed for the rail lines. During the Civil War he helped with telegraph
and rail works for the Union.(6) All of this made him very rich. He traveled
to England after the war and while there he found out about the Bessemer
process.
Carnegie learned of the Bessemer process of making steel and investigated
it throughly. He was elected to the British Iron and Steel Institute, the
first American to be elected, and worked to bring it to America.(7) Carnegie
opened mills in Philadelphia and established contracts to sell steel ties
to Railroad companies for upgrades. He was very successful at this and bought
mines to support his mills. Carnegie bought the Homestead mill which was the
location of one of the most violent strikes in steel union history. About
ten people died and about sixity were wounded the first day and several bloody
days followed. Strikers were law on the plant till 8000 National Gaurdsmen
came and took control. Carnegie was in Scotland at the time and denied all
knowledge of the plans of the mangers in the states.(8) His company, Carnegie
Steel, was the biggest steel company at the time.
Carnegie eventually gave much of his money to charity. He sold Carnegie
Steel to J. P. Morgan for 350 million dollars and donated to a variety of
things that interested him. First and foremost, Andrew Carnegie hated war
and felt the only just war was the Civil War of the U.S. He donated $1.5
million of his money to the Peace Palace at the Hague in the Netherlands.(9)
He also built libraries due to his love of reading. He had 68 libraries built
in New York, 20 in Brooklyn, and some in Allegheny City and Pittsburgh. He
also had museums and other cultural centers built in Pittsburgh.(10) He established
the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh and Washington. Before Andrew's death
on August 11, 1919 he gave away $350,695,653.40 of his money to charities
and interests he liked.(11) In conclusion it could be said that Carnegie,
one the biggest robber barons, helped build the United States physically as
well as educationally with steel and books.
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References
(1)Burton J. Hendrick, The Life of Andrew Carnegie, 2 vols. (Garden City,
New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1932) 1: 19.
(2)Hendrick 57-58
(3)Andrew Carnegie, Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie (Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Co., 1920) 57.
(4)Hendrick 86
(5) Carnegie 79
(6)Carnegie 99
(7)Carnegie 177-178
(8)John K Winkler Incredible Carnegie, (New York: The Vanguard Press, 1931)200,
206- 207.
(9)John S. Bowman, Andrew Carnegie: Steel Tycon (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Silver Burdrtt Press, 1989 ) 114.
(10)Carnegie 259
(11)Carnegie 278, 304
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