Andrew Carnegie is a well-known American businessman who is called the "King of Steel". A popular philanthropist and multimillionaire who lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the US, he moved from Scotland, worked in small positions until he founded his own company. His projects in the field of culture and charity brought world fame.
Childhood and youth
Andrew Carnegie was born in the Scottish town of Dunfermline in 1835. His parents were weavers. They lived modestly - one room served as a dining room, living room and bedroom at the same time.
The very next year after the birth of the hero of our article, the family moved to a separate house, and in 1848 they moved to the US state of Pennsylvania in the hope of a better life. At first they settled in the small town of Allenany. To move, Andrew Carnegie's parents had to go into heavy debt.
So the boy was sent to workstill in adolescence. At 13, he was a bobbin caretaker in a weaving mill, working 12-hour days for two dollars a week with one day off. At this time, his father worked in a cotton factory, and when there was not enough money, he sold bed linen. Andrew Carnegie's mother, Margaret Morrison, was a shoe repairer.
At the age of 15, the hero of our article gets a job as a telegraph messenger in Pittsburgh. The job gives him serious benefits, such as free theater tickets for premieres, and the salary is already two and a half dollars. The key to Andrew Carnegie's success was his commitment to being diligent wherever he worked. So on the telegraph, he soon attracted the attention of the management, which appointed him as an operator.
Becoming 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 rapid. Soon he is the head of the telegraph department of Pittsburgh.
Carnegie was genuinely interested in the railroad business, which played a decisive role in his future advancement. Indeed, at that time, the railroads in America became one of the most successful and rapidly developing 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, Scott received almost all of this money as a result of corruption schemes that he ran with the president of the Pennsylvania Company, Thomson.
In 1855, Andrew Carnegie, whose biography is givenin this article, invests $500 in Adams Express. A few years later, he receives shares in the Woodruff railway company. Gradually, the hero of our article manages to increase his capital, which will become the basis of his future success.
During the Civil War
Even before the Civil War began in 1860, Carnegie orchestrated the merger of Woodruff's company. The invention of the sleeping car by George Pullman played into his hands, contributing to even greater success. The first time the hero of our article remains to work in Pennsylvania.
In the spring of 1861, Scott appoints him in charge of military railroads and telegraph lines throughout the American East. Scott himself by that time occupies a high-ranking position, being assistant to the Secretary of War, he is directly responsible for all transportation to and from the front. With the participation of American entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie, it is possible to open railway lines in Washington. He begins to exercise personal leadership in the transportation 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 railroads to fully immerse himself in the steel industry. His entrepreneurial flair suggests that this is a promising new industry that 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 associated with its leadership, primarily with Thomson and Scott.
He soon builds his first ironworks, which is 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 creativity, in particular in literature. He manages to become close friends with the British poet Matthew Arnold, as well as the philosopher Herbert Spencer. He is in active correspondence with several US presidents, as well as with famous writers and statesmen of his time.
In 1879, having already become quite a we althy man, he begins to implement the first projects in the field of charity. In his hometown of Dunfermline, he is building a spacious public swimming pool, allocates significant funds to create a free library, donates money to the medical college in New York.
In 1881, together with his whole family, he went to Europe on a trip to Great Britain. In 1886, a tragedy occurs: at the age of 43, his brother Thomas dies.
True, Andrew doesn't let his personal loss affect his business. In addition, he begins to try himself in literature, trying to realize old dreams. AndrewCarnegie, that's how his name is spelled in English, publishes articles in popular magazines, they almost immediately become the subject of lively disputes and discussions. In his journalistic materials, he reflects that the life of a we althy industrialist should consist of only two parts. This is the collection and accumulation of we alth, and after their subsequent distribution for the benefit of society. Carnegie is convinced that it is charity that is the key to a decent life, trying to convince everyone around him of this.
Philippines Independence
In 1898, Carnegie takes part in several adventurous events. For example, participates in the struggle for the independence of the Philippines.
By then, the US buys 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 from the US. 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 it. The ensuing conflict turns into a Philippine-American war. It continues from 1899 to 1902, until the island government officially recognized the authority of the United States. At the same time, separate groups of partisans arranging 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 peoplepeople
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" commissioned a series of reports about how the career of famous people developed, how they came to success, the article devoted to Carnegie appeared first.
Andrew Carnegie's quotes are still perceived by many as a role model. Especially popular are his six rules of motivation, which he tried to convey to everyone who tried to start their own business and asked him for advice. Carnegie's aphorisms still inspire many today:
Excessive we alth is a sacred burden that imposes on its owner the duty to dispose of it during his life so that this we alth will benefit society.
At our age, a problem arises: how to properly dispose of property. Therefore, the rich and the poor should be bound by bonds of brotherhood.
No abilities and opportunities matter if a person is well off.
The one who does not do what he is told, and the one who does no more than what he is told will never make it to the top.
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 it. As a result, Hill has been working on it for about two decades.
The goal set by Carnegie and Hill is to interview five hundred of the most successful andinfluential Americans, and then try to develop a universal formula for success that can help even people with very modest abilities and abilities achieve a lot.
In 1928, exactly twenty years after the first meeting with the hero of our article, Hill published the first book on how to succeed. In 1937, another work on the same topic was published, known as Think and Grow Rich. This work remains popular to this day among aspiring businessmen and entrepreneurs. For a time, it was the best-selling book.
Hill dedicated the book to Andrew Carnegie, noting his great contribution to the common cause. Later, the businessman himself will write an autobiography. Carnegie will call it "The Gospel of We alth".
Steel King
Meanwhile, Carnegie concentrates his main fortune in the steel industry. Over time, he begins to control the most extensive American smelters.
One of his key innovations to success was the efficient and cheap mass production of steel rails for rail transport, with which he remained closely associated.
He also organizes the vertical integration of all the raw material suppliers he works with. By the end of the 1880s, his Carnegie Steel Company had grown into the largest producer of steel rails and iron in the country, with a production capacity of two thousand tons of metal per day. In 1888Carnegie effectively becomes a monopolist in his industry, having bought the main competitor - the Homestead Iron and Steel Works.
Thanks to this, steel production in the US will exceed that of the UK next year.
The collapse of the empire
Carnegie's monopoly empire could not last long. A key role in this was played by Carnegie's assistant Charles Schwab, who, behind his back, actually agreed with Morgan to buy the corporation from his boss. After the implementation of this transaction, the "steel king" immediately retired.
In March 1901, the final negotiations took place, in which Carnegie, Charles Schwab, Morgan and other interested persons participated. The hero of our article demanded $480 million for his business. The deal was done. 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. At the same time, he lived either in New York or in a Scottish castle. He did everything to prove his thesis that capital should serve the benefit of society.
He was a proponent of spelling reform to promote the spread of the English language around the world. Opened public libraries in the States and Great Britain. In total, he funded about three thousand libraries. Some of them were opened in Ireland, WestIndia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji.
In 1901, the Carnegie Institute of Technology was opened with $2 million, which still operates in Pittsburgh today. There is another university named after him in Washington.
The hero of our article died at the end of the summer of 1919 in Massachusetts. Andrew Carnegie's cause of death was bronchial pneumonia. He was 83 years old.
Jonestown flood
To better understand the essence of his personality, let's dwell on several controversial and ambiguous episodes of his biography. Carnegie was among the 50 members of the South Fork Fish and Hunt Club who 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 a private lake appeared, which was used exclusively by members of the club. They built guest houses and the main building. The height of the dam was reduced to widen the road that ran over it.
In 1889, after powerful and prolonged downpours, the 22-meter dam was washed away, the towns of Woodvale, South Fork and Johnstown were flooded. After the tragedy, club members provided significant assistance in eliminating the consequences of the disaster. For example, Carnegie built a library in Jonestown, which now houses 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
Protest action at the metallurgic althe Homestead plant was the second largest labor conflict in the United States in which weapons were used. In 1892, it was decided to liquidate the trade union at the plant after the expiration of another three-year agreement with the administration. Carnegie himself was in Scotland at the time, with junior partner Henry Frick managing on his behalf. At the same time, the owner of the "steel empire" himself has always spoken positively about trade unions.
During the negotiations, the workers demanded an increase in wages due to the growth of the company's profits by almost 60%. Frick, in response, put forward a proposal to reduce the salary of half of the employees by 22%. According to the administration's plan, this was to split the union.
The final condition put forward by the administration in the course of further negotiations was a salary increase of only 30%, otherwise, the union was threatened with dissolution. The workers did not agree to this option, and on the day the agreement ended, a lockout was announced. The plant was closed, guards and several thousand scabs were brought to it. The strikers blocked the work of the enterprise for their part, preventing the start of 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. The victory remained on the side of the trade union. The governor intervened and sent the state police to rescue Frick. Martial law was established at the plant. Only in this way it was possible to restore production. In the autumn the strike was repeated again,but this time it ended in total defeat for the union.
