Carnegie example essay topic

Andrew Carnegie was often noted as saying, The man who dies rich dies disgraced. (The American Experience: Andrew Carnegie). Unlike many of the other captains of industry at the time, Carnegie was well known for his numerous contributions to charity. Carnegie believed that the rich had a moral obligation to society. In 1889 he wrote The Gospel of Wealth, in which he said, This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: To set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and, after doing so, to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community-the man of wealth thus becoming the mere trustee and agent for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves. Carnegie distributed his fortune through numerous personal gifts and through the establishment of various trusts.

His first large gifts were made to his native town. Later he created seven philanthropic and educational organizations in the United States, including Carnegie Corporation of New York, and several more in Europe. One of his big interests was the establishment of free public libraries to make available to everyone a means of self-education. He and the Corporation spent over $56 million to build 2,509 libraries throughout the English-speaking world. During his lifetime, Carnegie gave away over $350 million.

It is actions such as these that have prompted many historians to consider Carnegie as, An industrial leader atypical of the period. Carnegie also personified the American Dream to the highest degree. He was the ultimate success story. Originally born in Scotland, he immigrated to the United States in 1848. At the age of thirteen he went to work as a bobbin boy at a cotton mill.

He later went on to work for Western Union and the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1865, he resigned to start his own business, which later became known as the Carnegie Steel Company. By 1890 the Carnegie Steel Company dominated the industry as its profits continued to soar. Carnegie's amazing rags to riches story and unheard-of devotion to charity made him the perfect poster boy for the Industrial Revolution. According to Owen Edwards, a historian at the University of Edinburgh, Carnegie was more than most people.

Not only more wealthy, not only more optimistic, Carnegie is still, right throughout his life, the little boy in the fairy story, for whom everything has to be all right. Many historians view Carnegie as the Prime representative of the Industrial Age. However, behind the scenes there was a much different person. When one gets right down to it, Carnegie was just like the other Captains of Industry of the time.

He was no perfect poster boy by a long shot. Carnegie's daughter, Margaret Carnegie, publicly remembered her father as, A kindly, friendly man. He always wanted to be remembered as one who loved his fellow man. Behind the scenes she felt much different.

She urged Carnegie's biographer to Tell his life like it is. I am sick of the Santa Claus stuff. Carnegie was a ruthless businessman, who according to John A. Garrity, Was not above reneging a contract if he thought it profitable to do so. He was also known to eliminate competition by lowering his prices. He was even more known for his ruthless treatment of his workers. His conflicts with labor are best remembered in the showdown between Carnegie Steel and the unions at Homestead.

The Homestead scuffle personified the struggle between capital and labor. Workers were distraught because they were underpaid and not being included in the fruits of the more efficient operations of the time. At the same time, Carnegie was pulling in millions of dollars for himself. Carnegie just happened to be out of the country at the time of the struggle, so he placed his partner Henry Clay Flick in charge of settling the dispute.

Carnegie gave his full approval via wire of anything Flick did in settling the outbreak. However, when he returned, he placed full blame on Flick for the deaths at Homestead. He did not even express any remorse for those who died at his expense (The American Experience: Andrew Carnegie). The statements presented are valid to some extent, but behind the scenes is where the validity of those statements is truly tested. In the end, one finds that Carnegie was not unlike the other Captains of Industry. He was a ruthless businessman, who was willing to destroy anyone who got in the way of profit.

The only thing that set him apart from other entrepreneurs of the time was his shinny exterior. Many revere Carnegie as a great philanthropist who cared about the less fortunate. However, his biographer Joseph Wall, summed up his egalitarian actions best when he said, Maybe with the giving away of his money, he would justify what he had done to get that money.