Thesis on "Andrew Carnegie"

Thesis 10 pages (3550 words) Sources: 12 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Andrew Carnegie

Perhaps the story of Andrew Carnegie begins best in his own words: "During my childhood the atmosphere around me was in a state of violent disturbance in matters theological as well as political. Along with the most advanced ideas which were being agitated in the political world -- the death of privilege, the equality of the citizen, Republicanism -- I heard many disputations upon theological subjects which the impressionable child drank in to an extent quite unthought of by his elders (Carnegie, Andrew, 1920, p. 22)." If this sounds much like the world around us today, then it is perhaps the life of Carnegie, having described that world around him to which we now can relate to; remains a historical figure of significance by whom we might be guided in looking to the past for direction for our future.

Carnegie was a man who seized the opportunities during a time when the world was not just in a constant state of upheaval, but was also in the midst of an industrial revolution.

Carnegie said:

Mastering technological change, in particular, had become a vital condition of doing business.

Little, I think, does one know, who is not in the whirlwind of business affairs, of the rarity of the combined qualities requisite for conducting the business enterprise of today. The time has passed when business once established can be considered almost permanently secure. Business methods have changed; good will counts for less and less. Success in business is held... nowadays... At the cost of perpetual challenge to all comers (Smith, George David, and Dalzell, Frederick, 2000, p. 6)."

This quote from Carnegie shows that he was aware of the opportunities, and aware, too, that those opportunities extended beyond his self, to others. The others he saw as having access to the same opportunities as him were people whose circumstances were even less fortunate than his own (Carnegie, p. 137). Born in Scotland to a poor family, Carnegie had the benefit of a close family (p. 1). His family helped him to grasp the importance of education, which he probably had no trouble understanding as he looked around and saw that it was the educated people around him whom were the ones able to take advantage of the many opportunities, especially in America. His own first job in the states was in a cotton mill at $1.20-week (Wren, Daniel, and Greenwood, Ronald, 1998, p. 106). Later, he secured work as a telegraph operator for $35 a week for a Pennsylvania Railroad superintendent (p. 106). Carnegie had impressed the superintendant with his self-taught skills as a Morse code telegrapher (p. 106). Carnegie, it is reported, was fascinated by the telegraph, and quickly learned the Morse code (p. 106).

Whether or not Carnegie ever considered his self as a self-made man is not mentioned in his book. He does speak at length about the many opportunities he seized for his self; but he also recognized the technological advances of the era he lived in created many opportunities for his self and others. Still, he stood impressed by the self-made man as well, and during his lifetime Carnegie would meet many such men.

Carnegie was not intimidated by, nor resentful of the success of those around him (Carnegie, p. 137). He applauded their resourcefulness, and perhaps even stood in awe of the way they embraced the opportunity for success. Here is how in autobiography Carnegie described some of what he saw as it regarded the opportunity and success of working class people.

What surprised me was the good humor which prevailed everywhere. It was a vast picnic, full of amusing incidents. Everybody was in high glee; fortunes were supposedly within reach; everything was booming. On the tops of the derricks floated flags on which strange mottoes were displayed. I remember looking down toward the river and seeing two men working their treadles boring for oil upon the banks of the stream, and inscribed upon their flag was "Hell or China." They were going down, no matter how far (Carnegie, p. 137)."

Carnegie went to talk about how as industrialization took hold of the country and different industries grew up from the need to support and expand industrialization that out of chaos followed order (Carnegie, p. 137). Carnegie was a man born into poverty, but for whom the goals of personal accomplishment and success were high as set by his family who held education in high regard, but whom also had high expectations of his humanity. So as he observed others around him, around the industry he built, achieve their own goals of success alongside his own steel business, then Carnegie seems to take great pride and pleasure in witnessing those men and events. His admiration of the rise of the hard working man helps to explain how, when later, after he had amassed a fortune for his self; he gave it all away, perhaps so that others could aspire, and be inspired (p. vii).

Carnegie the Businessman

Carnegie came into entrepreneurial maturity during what has been described as "The Incorporation of America (Phillips, William, 1999, p. 17)." The men behind the entrepreneurial force in the country, like Carnegie, became known as "robber barons (Smith, George David, and Dalzell, Frederick, 2000)." Carnegie seemed to be a person with a touch for making the right decisions in his life, recognizing timing, and possessing a good business acumen that did not lead him astray of profit. It was, however, as is the case with people who amass great fortunes, his investment acumen which served to helped him build not just his industry empire, but his personal wealth (Wren and Greenwood, p. 106).

One can only imagine how disappointed Carnegie must have been as the times changed and as labor grew resentful of the wealth being amassed by the barons of industry. When organized labor began happening, it was subsequent to Carnegie's own earlier published papers on the worker's right to organize (Wren and Greenwood, p. 106). The paper was published six years before the steel industry actually began to organize itself with labor representation, which turned into a violent period (p. 106). Later, in the aftermath of what became a violent showdown between labor and management, during which Pinkerton men were brought in to confront the labor opposition, people would die (p. 106). It was a time that is said to have brought Carnegie great sadness (p. 106). There is no mention of the word "Pinkerton," or the words organized labor in Carnegie's autobiography.

In Peter Krass (2002), in his book, Carnegie, talks about the Pinkertons, and the violence between labor and management that occurred when labor attempted to organize at Carnegie's Egar Thomson works (p. 273). Krass reports that Carnegie cabled his representative, and the man responsible for negotiating with the coal mining worker's labor demands, Henry Clay Frick (p. 273). Frick assured Carnegie, via telegraph, that all was well, and that the violence that had been reported to Carnegie was exaggerated (p. 273). In his autobiography, Carnegie describes Frick this way: "He had proved his ability by starting as a poor railway clerk and succeeding. In 1882 we purchased one half of the stock of this company, and by subsequent purchases from other holders we became owners of the great bulk of the shares (Carnegie, p. 222)."

Krass describes the incident, which Carnegie chooses to ignore, this way:

Carnegie was also involved with the New York Botanical Garden and was appointed to the finance committee, joining Morgan, among others. 28 a healthy competition had developed between these titans to fund such cultural institutions. For Carnegie, day-to-day business in Pittsburgh was hardly a priority, especially in the winter of 1890-1891, when he was so distracted by Louise's health and New York's cultural vibrancy. While he spent New Year's Eve at his wife's side, he neglected the situation at Edgar Thomson, where the furnace men were preparing to strike (Krass, pp. 273-274)."

To suggest that Carnegie was unaware of the problems at the Edgar Thomson site is contrary to what is known about Carnegie: that he was an astute businessman, and as such it would make no sense to suggest that he was unaware of what was going on in a business site where he was a majority owner. It is also the case that where we find people of wealth who are involved in philanthropy of the arts, there is often neglect in the area of philanthropy of the humanity.

Although philanthropy on behalf people in need would come later in Carnegie's life.

Krass makes it sound in some respects as though the riots that broke out on New Years Eve, 1891, they were not anticipated. However, someone, apparently Frick, according to Krass' account, had thought to hire Pinkerton agents (Krass, p. 273). The Pinkerton agents mingled with the workers, posing as Irish immigrant workers (p. 273). They were able to get inside information on the worker's plans to strike (p. 273). The violence that ensued… READ MORE

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