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Outline.

I. Introduction.

II. Biography.

III. Career.

IV. Philanthropy.
 The establisher of public libraries.
 Setting up several universities and
institute.
 The establisher of varieties of funds.

V. Philosophy.
 Andrew Carnegies dictum.
 On wealth.
 Religion and world view.
 Quotation.

VI. Impact.
 In economic.
 In society.

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Content.
I. Introduction.

USA has been known as a promising land of people from all over the
world. If you are interested in American studies, you could find out many
representatives of “rag to rich”. Andrew Carnegies is a typical example
for this. He is a well-known industrialist as the second richest man in
history only after John D. Rockefeller. Also, he was known as one of the
most important philanthropist of his era.

II. Biography.

- 1835: Born on November 25,1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland.


Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, on November
25, 1835. He was the first son of William Carnegie, a linen weaver and
local leader of the Chartists (who sought to improve the conditions of
working-class life in Great Britain), and of Margaret Carnegie,
daughter of Thomas Morrison, a shoemaker and political and social
reformer.

- 1848: Emigrates with family to United States, settles near Pittsburgh.


As a result of economic depression of 1848, Carnegie family
emigrated to the U.S where they joined a Scottish colony at Allegheny
near Pittsburgh. Andrew began work at 13 as a bobbin boy in a local
cotton factory but continued his education by attending night school.

- 1856: Invests in railroad sleeping cars.

- 1864: Invests in oil.


Carnegie invested $40,000 in Story Farm on Oil Creek in Venango
County, Pennsylvania. In one year, the farm yielded over $1,000,000 in
cash dividends, and petroleum from oil wells on the property sold
profitably.

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- 1865: Retires from railroad, founds Keystone Bridge Company.

Keystone Bridge Company is a company which used iron rather


than wood in the construction of bridges. Carnegies owned a one-fifth
share here.

- 1867: Carnegie founded the Keystone Telegraph Company.

- 1874: Opens his first steel plant, Edgar Thomson Works, in Braddock,
PA.

- 1901: Sells out to Morgan, becoming richest man in the world.

- 1919: Dies at estate in Lenox, MA.


Carnegie died on August 11, 1919, in Lenox, Massachusetts of
bronchial pneumonia. He was buried at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in
North Tarrytown, New York. The grave site is located on the Arcadia
Hebron plot of land at the corner of Summit Avenue and Dingle Road.
Carnegie is buried only a few yards away from union organizer Samuel
Gompers, another important figure of industry in the Gilded Age.

III. Career.

 Lead in: Much of Carnegie’s success came from his extraordinary


ability to recognize and exploit the opportunities being created by
industrialization.

- With the Pennsylvania Railroad, he developed the managerial skills and


personal relationships that would help him in his later business ventures.
What he had learned there were:
 How the railroad industry worked.
 Keeping the telegraph office open 24 hours a day.
 Burning railroad cars after accidents to clear the tracks quickly.

- During the Civil War, he organized the military telegraph system for the
North and gained additional insights into the industry.

- Seeing the commercial potential of sleeping cars on trains:

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 Carnegie invested $217.50 in the Woodruff Sleeping Car
Company.
 Within two years, he was receiving an annual return of about
$5000, more than three times what he was earning at the
railroad.
 Carnegie also became a silent partner in several small iron mills
and factories. By 1863 his annual income was $42,000.

- Between 1865 and 1870, Carnegie traveled between the United States
and England selling U.S. railroad and bridge company bonds. He may
have sold as much as $30 million in bonds and made as much as $1
million in commissions.

- In 1875 Carnegie opened his first steel plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania.

 Carnegie also introduced open-hearth steel production to his


plants, which lowered the costs and increased sales and profits.
Carnegie consistently invested his profits back into the
company to make improvements, cut operating costs, and drive
out competition.
 By 1878 the company was capitalized at $1.3 million and it
continued to grow, making Carnegie the dominant steel
manufacturer in the country.

- By 1890, Carnegie’s take-home pay was $25 million per year. A decade
later, Carnegie Steel’s annual profits were $40 million.

- Carnegie had always fought cartels, but by the 1890s he was beginning
to encounter increasing competition from newly-formed corporations
headed by J. P. Morgan and the Moore Brothers. by 1901 he wished to
retire from business and devote himself to family life and philanthropy.
J. P. Morgan bought Carnegie’s controlling interest in Carnegie Steel for
$500 million and restructured the business to create U.S. Steel
Corporation. Carnegie’s personal share in the buyout was $225 million,
making him the wealthiest man in the world.

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IV. Philanthropy.
* Among his many philanthropic efforts, the establishment of public libraries
throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and other English-
speaking countries was especially prominent.

In total Carnegie funded some 3,000 libraries, located in 47 US states, and


also in Canada, the United Kingdom, what is now the Republic of Ireland,
Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, and Fiji.

* Andrew Carnegies also contributed greatly in setting up several


universities and institutes:

- He donated £50,000 to help set up the University of Birmingham in


1899.
- He gave $2 million in 1901 to start the Carnegie Institute of Technology
(CIT) at Pittsburgh.
- He donated $2 million in 1902 to found the Carnegie Institution at
Washington, D.C.

* He was the establisher of variety of funds:

- In Scotland, he gave $10 million in 1901 to establish the Carnegie Trust


for the Universities of Scotland. Its aim was to improve and extend the
opportunities for scientific research in the Scottish universities and to
enable the deserving and qualified youth of Scotland to attend a
university.
- He gave a further $10 million in 1913 to endow the Carnegie United
Kingdom Trust, a grant-making foundation.
- Carnegie contributed $1,500,000 in 1903 for the erection of the Peace
Palace at The Hague; and he donated $150,000 for a Pan-American
Palace in Washington as a home for the International Bureau of
American Republics.

 Conclusion: To some, Carnegie represents the idea of the American


dream. He was an immigrant from Scotland who came to America and

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became successful. He is not only known for his successes but his
enormous amounts of philanthropist works, not only to charities but also
to promote democracy and independence to colonized countries.

V. Philosophy.
- The "Andrew Carnegie Dictum" illustrates Carnegie's generous nature:
 To spend the first third of one's life getting all the education one can.
 To spend the next third making all the money one can.
 To spend the last third giving it all away for worthwhile causes.

- On wealth:
 He wrote: "...The amassing of wealth is one of the worse species of
idolatry. No idol more debasing than the worship of money”
 Carnegie argued that the life of a wealthy industrialist should
comprise two parts. The first part was the gathering and the
accumulation of wealth. The second part was for the subsequent
distribution of this wealth to benevolent causes. The philanthropy was
key to making the life worthwhile. ( the Gospel wealth).

- Religion and world view:


 In the early life, Carnegie instead preferred to see things through
naturalistic and scientific terms stating, "Not only had I got rid of the
theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth of evolution.”.
 Later, Carnegie's firm opposition to religion softened. For many years
he was a member of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church. Napoleon
Hill wrote that Carnegie asserted the importance of belief in "Infinite
Intelligence", a name Hill used to identify "God" or the "Supreme
Being".
- Quotation:
 My heart is in the work.
 As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch
what they do.

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 Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket.
 A man who dies rich dies disgraced.

VI. Social and Economic Impact.


* In economic:

- Carnegie played a significant role in building and modernizing American


industry. He utilized not only the vast natural resources of the continent
that provided the raw materials of manufacturing, but also a huge labor
pool - new immigrants - eager for employment. Carnegie was quick to
appreciate new technology, and although he did not invent his own
innovations, he brought to his plants technological improvements that
dramatically increased productivity and profits.

- Carnegie’s success at business revolutionized the steel industry and


helped the United States become an industrial leader.

* In society:

- Carnegie’s business practices also affected the position of struggling


workers.
- His impact on American society through philanthropy would outlast the
industrial age.
- Carnegie also supported higher education and efforts for world peace.

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