Andrew Carnegie is a well-known American entrepreneur who is called the "steel king." A popular philanthropist and multimillionaire who lived at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. In the United States, he moved from Scotland, worked in small positions until he founded his own company. World fame brought his projects in the field of culture and charity.
Childhood and youth
Andrew Carnegie was born in the Scottish city of Dunfermline in 1835. His parents were weavers. They lived modestly - one room served simultaneously as a dining room, living room and bedroom.
The very next year after the birth of the hero of our article, the family moved to a separate house, and in 1848 moved to the US state of Pennsylvania in the hope of a better life. Initially settled in the small town of Alleneyni. To move, Andrew Carnegie's parents had to go into big debt.
Therefore, the boy was sent to work as a teenager. At 13, he was a bobbin keeper at a weaving mill, working 12 hours a day for two dollars a week for one day off. At this time, his father worked at a cotton factory, and when there was not enough money, he sold bedding. Andrew Carnegie's mother, whose name was Margaret Morrison, was repairing shoes.
At the age of 15, the hero of our article gets a telegraph messenger in Pittsburgh. Work gives him serious advantages, for example, free theater tickets for the premieres, and the salary is already two and a half dollars. The key to success of Andrew Carnegie was the desire to be diligent, wherever he worked. So on the telegraph, he soon attracted the attention of the leadership, who appointed him the operator.
Having become a telecom operator, the hero of our article is already earning four dollars a week by the age of 18. In the future, his career advancement can be called swift. Soon he was already the head of the telegraph department of Pittsburgh.
Carnegie was sincerely interested in the railway business, which played a decisive role in his future advancement. Indeed, at that time, railways in America were becoming one of the most successful and booming industries. He learns all the ins and outs of the railway business from Thomas Scott, who helps him arrange his first investment in his own business. As it turns out later, Scott received almost all of this money as a result of corruption schemes, which he circulated with the president of the Pennsylvania company Thomson.
In 1855, Andrew Carnegie, whose biography is given in this article, invests $ 500 in Adams Express. A few years later he received shares in the Woodruff railway company. Gradually, the hero of our article manages to build up his capital, which will become the basis of his future successes.
During the civil war
Even before the Civil War, which began in 1860, Carnegie organized the merger of Woodruff. George Pullman's invention of a sleeping car played into his hands, contributing to even greater success. At first, the hero of our article remains to work in Pennsylvania.
In the spring of 1861, Scott appointed him head of the military railways and telegraph lines throughout East America. Scott himself at that time occupies a high-ranking position, being an assistant minister of war, he is directly responsible for all transportation to the front and back. With the participation of an American entrepreneur, Andrew Carnegie manages to open rail lines in Washington. He begins to exercise personal leadership in the transport of troops, weapons and uniforms by rail. It is believed that this well-established work played a serious role in the final victory of the North in the entire civil war.
When the fighting ends, Carnegie leaves the post of head of the railways to fully immerse himself in the metallurgical industry. His instinct for an entrepreneur suggests that this is a promising new industry, which should be given the closest attention. As history has shown, he was not mistaken in this.
Carnegie begins to develop several fundamentally new types of iron. This allows him to open several of his businesses in Pittsburgh. It is worth noting that although he left the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, he remained closely connected with its leadership, primarily with Thomson and Scott.
Soon he was building his first metallurgical plant, which marked the beginning of his successful industrial empire.
Scientist and activist
Carnegie is developing his industrial empire, while simultaneously trying to realize some of his intentions in his work, in particular in literature. He manages to make close friends with the British poet Matthew Arnold, as well as the philosopher Herbert Spencer. He is in active correspondence with several presidents of the USA, as well as with famous writers and statesmen of his time.
In 1879, having already become a fairly wealthy man, he began to carry out the first projects in the field of charity. In his hometown of Dunfermline he erects a spacious public pool, allocates significant funds to create a free library, donates money to a medical college in New York.
In 1881, together with his whole family, went to Europe on a trip to the UK. In 1886, a tragedy occurs: at the age of 43, his brother Thomas dies.
True, Andrew does not allow personal loss to affect his business. In addition, he begins to try himself in literature, trying to realize old dreams. Andrew Carnegie, this is how his name is spelled in English, publishes articles in popular magazines, they almost immediately become the subject of lively debate and discussion. In his journalistic materials, he reflects on the fact that the life of a wealthy industrialist should consist of only two parts. This is the collection and accumulation of wealth, and after their subsequent distribution for the benefit of society. Carnegie is convinced that charity is the key to a decent life, trying to convince everyone around it.
Philippines independence
In 1898, Carnegie took part in several completely adventurous events. For example, participating in the struggle for independence of the Philippines.
By that time, the United States bought the Philippines from Spain for $ 20 million. Carnegie offers his 20 million to the Philippine government so that it can resist the manifestation of imperialism by the United States. That is how this act was perceived by the international community. In fact, Carnegie offers them to buy their independence from the American authorities.
True, nothing comes of this. The ensuing conflict turns into a Filipino-American war. It lasts from 1899 to 1902, until the island government officially recognized the power of the United States. At the same time, separate groups of guerrillas organizing sabotage continued to operate until 1913. This war was the actual continuation of the anti-colonial revolution that began in 1896, when the Filipinos began to seek complete liberation from Spanish rule.
Careers of famous people
At the same time, Carnegie remains one of the most successful and popular people of his time. When in 1908 the authoritative magazine "Bob Taylors Magazine" orders a series of reports about how the career of famous people developed, how they came to success, the first material devoted to Carnegie is published.
Quotes from Andrew Carnegie today are widely accepted as role models. Especially popular are his six rules of motivation, which he tried to convey to everyone who tried to start his own business and asked him for advice. Carnegie aphorisms inspire many today:
Excess wealth is a sacred burden that imposes on its owner a duty to dispose of it throughout his life so that these wealth will benefit society.
At our age, a problem arises: how to properly dispose of property. Therefore, the bonds of brotherhood must bind the rich and the poor.
No abilities and opportunities do not matter if a person is provided.
The one who does not do what they say to him and the one who does no more than what he is told will never break through.
The young reporter Napoleon Hill, who interviews Carnegie, makes such a positive impression on him that he blesses him for the further implementation of the project, willingly sponsors him. As a result, Hill has been working on it for about two decades.
The goal that Carnegie and Hill set for themselves is to interview the five hundred most successful and influential Americans, and then try to derive a universal formula for success that can help achieve a lot even for people with very modest abilities and abilities.
In 1928, exactly twenty years after the first meeting with the hero of our article, Hill published his first book on how to succeed. In 1937, another work was published on the same topic, known as Think and Grow Rich. This work remains popular so far among novice businessmen and entrepreneurs. For a while it was the best-selling book.
Hill dedicated the book to Andrew Carnegie, noting his great contribution to the cause. Later, the businessman himself will write an autobiography. Carnegie will call her the "gospel of wealth."
"Steel King"
Meanwhile, Carnegie is concentrating his main fortune in the steel industry. Over time, he begins to control the most extensive American metallurgical enterprises.
One of his key success innovations was the principle of efficient and cheap mass production of steel rails for railway needs, with which he was still closely associated.
He also organizes vertical integration of all suppliers of raw materials with which he works. Towards the end of the 1880s, his Carnegie Steel Company was turning into the largest producer of steel rails and cast iron in the country with a production volume of two thousand tons of metal per day. In 1888, Carnegie actually became a monopolist in his industry, having bought the main competitor - the Gomstedsky metallurgical plant.
Thanks to this, next year, steel production in the United States exceeds the volume of production of this raw material in the UK.
The collapse of the empire
Carnegie’s monopoly empire could not survive for a long time. The key role was played by Carnegie’s assistant Charles Schwab, who in fact, behind his back, agreed with Morgan on the redemption of the corporation from his boss. After the transaction, the Steel King retired immediately.
In March 1901, final negotiations took place, in which Carnegie, Charles Schwab, Morgan and other interested parties participated. The hero of our article demanded $ 480 million for his business. The deal was concluded. The size of these compensation is approximately $ 400 billion today.
After that, Carnegie became the richest man on the planet.
Retirement
Carnegie spent the last years of his life doing charity work. Moreover, he lived in New York, then in a Scottish castle. He did everything to prove his thesis that capital should serve for the benefit of society.
He was a proponent of spelling reform to help spread English throughout the world. He opened public libraries in the States and Great Britain. In total, he funded about three thousand libraries. Some of them were opened in Ireland, the West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.
In 1901, the Carnegie Institute of Technology, which still operates in Pittsburgh, was opened at $ 2 million. Another university named after him is in Washington.
The hero of our article died in the late summer of 1919 in Massachusetts. The cause of death of Andrew Carnegie is bronchial pneumonia. He was 83 years old.
Johnstown flood
In order to better understand the essence of his personality, let us dwell on several controversial and controversial episodes of his biography. Carnegie was among the 50 members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, which caused the Johnstown Flood. As a result, 2,209 people died.
The club bought a dam with a storage pond, which went bankrupt, unable to withstand competition with the railways. But then a private lake appeared, which was used exclusively by club members. Guest houses and the main building were built there. The height of the dam was reduced to expand the road that passed along it.
In 1889, after powerful and prolonged downpours, the 22-meter-high dam eroded, the towns of Woodvale, South Fork and Johnstown were flooded. After the tragedy, the club members rendered significant assistance in the aftermath of the disaster. For example, Carnegie built a library in Johnstown where you can now visit the flood museum.
Residents who lost their homes and loved ones tried to accuse club members of criminally modifying the dam, but they failed to win the lawsuit.
Homestead strike
The protest at the Gomsted steel mill was the second largest labor conflict in the United States, during which weapons were used. In 1892, it was decided to liquidate the union at the plant after the expiration of the next three-year agreement with the administration. Carnegie himself at that time was in Scotland, on his behalf was managed by a younger partner, Henry Frick. At the same time, the owner of the "steel empire" himself always spoke out positively with regard to trade unions.
During the negotiations, the workers demanded an increase in wages due to an increase in the company's profit by almost 60%. Frick responded with a proposal to lower salaries for half of the employees by 22%. According to the administration’s plan, this was to split the union.
The final condition that the administration put forward during further negotiations was a salary increase of only 30%, otherwise, it threatened to dissolve the union. Workers did not agree to such an option; on the day the agreement expired, a lockout was announced. The plant was closed, guards and several thousand strikebreakers were brought to it. The strikers blocked the work of the enterprise for their part, preventing them from starting production.
On July 6, armed agents from New York were met by workers who resisted them. As a result, three agents and nine workers were killed. Victory remained on the side of the union. The governor intervened in the situation and sent State police to the rescue. At the plant, martial law was established. Only in this way was it possible to restore production. In the fall, the strike was repeated again, but this time it ended in the complete defeat of the union.