Andrew Carnegie's early life in Scotland shaped his respect for industry and success in that he was not raised in what society would call a successful family. Although Carnegie had a formal education, his family believed in the simplicity and power of books, these books got his mind working on an intellectual level from a young age. As the son of a handloom weaver, he learned to appreciate and think rationally and in ways that would benefit him and others. Because of the simplicity of his childhood, Carnegie’s business decisions were shrewd and wise. He was able to find financial support for his enterprise, he was accurate with his calculations on consolidation and expansion. Capitalizing on smart business decisions was one of Carnegie’s biggest strength. His humble mind, cultivated in his childhood, remained and allowed him to be thrifty with his profits- saving them in prosperous times and investing them at low times. In one case, Carnegie’s hired manager made a decision that the workers did not agree with and a rebellion broke out, even though Carnegie was away during the decision making, he was held responsible for it. Despite the sometimes harsh course of his career, Carnegie encouraged his workers to constantly be thinking of new innovative ways to do things and to reduce costs. Because poverty …show more content…
was not an unknown concept to him, he believed in using his success to benefit society as a whole and to serve as benefactors to the less fortunate aspects of the public. He was compelled to set an example for the wealthy and successful and how to humbly wear and share the rewards of their work. After a dramatic change in his life Carnegie sold his business and used the money to demonstrate his belief in philanthropy and Social Darwinism.
Darwin’s theory held that society developed much like plant or animal life through a process of evolution in which the most fit and capable enjoyed the greatest material and social success. At the age of 65, Carnegie decided to spend the rest of his days helping and giving to others. Carnegie found that in giving away all he had and helping and investing in others, he was able to be satisfied with himself more than he ever was in business. His sense of self-worth was lifted up when he gave all that he had worked for
away. My Auntie was a 21st century Andrew Carnegie. She was a nurse and was never married or had kids. All of the money that she made could have gone to buying new clothes, a new car, a huge home, but instead she gave every last bit of it away because that was her way of giving God back what He had given her. Her financial support to strangers opened up many doors for her to be able to witness and share the gospel with each person, leading to many salvations. With a willing heart and God-given resources, every able person should be modern day Carnegies.
Andrew Carnegie, was a strong-minded man who believed in equal distribution and different forms to manage wealth. One of the methods he suggested was to tax revenues to help out the public. He believed in successors enriching society by paying taxes and death taxes. Carnegie’s view did not surprise me because it was the only form people could not unequally distribute their wealth amongst the public, and the mediocre American economy. Therefore, taxations would lead to many more advances in the American economy and for public purposes.
In the documents titled, William Graham Sumner on Social Darwinism and Andrew Carnegie Explains the Gospel of Wealth, Sumner and Carnegie both analyze their perspective on the idea on “social darwinism.” To begin with, both documents argue differently about wealth, poverty and their consequences. Sumner is a supporter of social darwinism. In the aspects of wealth and poverty he believes that the wealthy are those with more capital and rewards from nature, while the poor are “those who have inherited disease and depraved appetites, or have been brought up in vice and ignorance, or have themselves yielded to vice, extravagance, idleness, and imprudence” (Sumner, 36). The consequences of Sumner’s views on wealth and poverty is that they both contribute to the idea of inequality and how it is not likely for the poor to be of equal status with the wealthy. Furthermore, Carnegie views wealth and poverty as a reciprocative relation. He does not necessarily state that the wealthy and poor are equal, but he believes that the wealthy are the ones who “should use their wisdom, experiences, and wealth as stewards for the poor” (textbook, 489). Ultimately, the consequences of
Both Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller dominated giant corporations, but they dictated much of the employees and greatly tried to divide out the employees from desperately trying to organize the reforms that would essentially stop the robber barons from taking advantage of them. The robber barons insisted that if you cannot work the day you are supposed to other than the Fourth of July, some other person will be a willing participant to come and take your job. The economy was dramatically failing because the wealth had been handed out unfairly and much the industry workers in the mining factories decimated during the accidents that occurred in those horrible working conditions. Due to the corruption of the government in the Gilded age, which lasted from the 1870 to the 1900s, most of the working class poor were barely struggling to stay alive and more family members had no choice but go into the labor force to provide for the family. The robber barons were held with much hostility in the society of American Capitalism. The society tried to look at the world in a scientific perspective that according to Social Darwinist’s theory in America, the human society was viewed in regards to the working class poor and the issues of poverty as a result of their own failure, the lack
Often, children were forced to work due to money-related issues, and the conditions they worked in were terrible. Children worked in coal mining, such as at Woodward Coal Mining in Kingston, Pennsylvania (Doc. 7). Children were used to make the process of producing products cheaper, and they were paid low wages; the capitalists hired children just to keep the process of making products going and to make profit. One cause of child labor in harsh conditions was the unfateful fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City in 1911. Teenaged immigrant girls that were employed there worked under sweatshop-like conditions. The building they worked in was inadequately equipped in case of a fire, for the doors were locked, leaving no exit for the girls, and the single fire escape collapsed with the rescue effort; as a result, when the fire started, they were unable to escape. 145 workers were killed, but the company owners were not penalized harshly for this tragedy. This further demonstrates that capitalists were able to get away with the harsh conditions that they put their laborers, especially child laborers, through for their own benefit, which is making more money and using any means to get it, even if those means are low wages and harsh working
Andrew Carnegie was a man who was born poor, but wanted to change many lives for those who were like him. Since he was able to walk, he started to work he was a bobbin boy in Pittsburg. Carnegie would work 12 hours a day to
In Harold C. Livesay’s Andrew Carnegie and the rise of Big Business, Andrew Carnegie’s struggles and desires throughout his life are formed into different challenges of being the influential leader of the United States of America. The book also covers the belief of the American Dream in that people can climb up the ladder of society by hard work and the dream of becoming an influential citizen, just as Carnegie did.
Carnegie’s essay contains explanations of three common methods by which wealth is distributed and his own opinions on the effects of each. After reading the entire essay, readers can see his overall appeals to logos; having wealth does not make anyone rich, but using that wealth for the greater good does. He does not force his opinions onto the reader, but is effectively convincing of why his beliefs make sense. Andrew Carnegie’s simple explanations intertwined with small, but powerful appeals to ethos and pathos become incorporated into his overall appeal to logos in his definition of what it means for one to truly be rich.
To understand Carnegie before he became a wealthy man, he grew up poor working for $1.20 a week (Document LV). At the age of 50 years, he took a risk by investing in a package delivery company. His gamble paid off and he gained money to start his company, Carnegie’s Steel Company. Eventually, his company grew and caused
Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1835. His father, Will, was a weaver and a follower of Chartism, a popular movement of the British working class that called for the masses to vote and to run for Parliament in order to help improve conditions for workers. The exposure to such political beliefs and his family's poverty made a lasting impression on young Andrew and played a significant role in his life after his family immigrated to the United States in 1848. Andrew Carnegie amassed wealth in the steel industry after immigrating from Scotland as a boy. He came from a poor family and had little formal education.
Andrew Carnegie did not seem to care for others because while his workers were losing money, Carnegie was donating money to other countries, and even different organizations. Most of Andrew Carnegie's actions showed greed and pride. Carnegie might have been a hero by giving away most of his money. He still died rich, as he said before “He who dies, rich dies disgraced” Don't be fooled by what others tell you, t ould always be sugarcoated. Not everything we see or hear is true. Carnegie treated most people wrongfully. While he was playing all fun and games, donating to others. Carnegie might have been a hero in the eyes of others, but not everyone sees him the same wa. Don't be
Carnegie did not believe in spending his money on frivolous things, instead he gave most of his fortune back to special projects that helped the public, such as libraries, schools and recreation. Carnegie believes that industries have helped both the rich and the poor. He supports Social Darwinism. The talented and smart businessmen rose to the top. He acknowledges the large gap between the rich and the poor and offers a solution. In Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie, he states, “the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee 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” (25). He believes the rich should not spend money foolishly or pass it down to their sons, but they should put it back into society. They should provide supervised opportunities for the poor to improve themselves. The rich man should know “the best means of benefiting the community is to place within its reach the ladders upon which the aspiring can rise- free libraries, parks, and means of recreation, by which men are helped in body and mind” (Carnegie p. 28). Also, Carnegie does not agree they should turn to Communism to redistribute wealth. Individuals should have the right to their earnings. Corporations should be allowed to act as it please with little to no government
Andrew Carnegie believes in a system based on principles and responsibility. The system is Individualism and when everyone strives towards the same goals the system is fair and prosperous. Carnegie’s essay is his attempt to show people a way to reach an accommodation between individualism and fairness. This system can only work if everyone knows and participates in his or her responsibilities. I will discuss Carnegie’s thesis, his arguments and the possible results of his goals.
First of all, I believe there are some good rationales behind his thoughts. I agree that administration should be in charge of decisions for the business. I believe these decisions should be made by a founder that has the best interests of the business at heart. One that has education and knowledge of business practices and makes good decisions, but also, one that holds the employees interests to a high standard as well. This is where I disagree with Mr. Carnegie’s actions. His arguments,
Carnegie saw how bad the wooden railroads were, so he proceeded to slowly replace them with iron ones. Carnegie's charm, perception, and hard work led to becoming one of the world's most famous men of the time, and led to the first corporation in the world with a market capitalization in excess of one billion when he sold his companies to John Morgan who called them United States Steel Corporation.
Speaking of where that money, in document #10 we see a small cartoon post from The Saturday Globe, Utica, New York, July 9, 1892. At the bottom it conveys, “Forty Millionaire Carnegie in his Great Double Role” With this message, it displays Carnegie both giving away a Library to Pittsburgh and money to Scotland, and cutting wages from workers. This drawing signifies what he does with the money rather than paying his workers with that money. Looking at wages in document #7 helps to see how much a worker are paid in a chart, even though iron and steel workers look like they have decent wages(daily hrs. 10.67, daily wages 1.81), it was to many unfair wages. Compare this to Carnegie’s daily “wage” was ninety two grand! Confirming wages are unfair.