Tuesday 21 May, 2013
AS THE WORLD plunges head first into a New Gilded Age, we’re taking a look back at the first Gilded Age.
One of the most impressive figures of this era was an immigrant textile worker who became the richest man in the world.
We’re talking of course about the mighty Andrew Carnegie.
Article by Meredith Galante and Gus Lubin and reproduced with the permission of Business Insider
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I was given Carnegie as an entrepreneur to research for an economics project back in 5th year. I enjoyed every minute of it. Such an inspiration.
“In his final days, Carnegie suffered from bronchial pneumonia. Before his death on August 11, 1919, Carnegie had donated $350,695,654 for various causes. 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.”
You have to admire the men of this era. That honest Presbyterian work ethic and humility never left him.
I suppose in Chuck Feeney and Bill Gates the spirit still lives on today. The faceless bankers and bondholders who have ruined the world economy should hang their heads in shame.
There was a great show here in the US about the same fella,’the men who built America’ great history of how the US started and of course the above man was a massive part of it!! Excellent programmer! And yes he was part of that awful killings during the strike! There is always bad with the good eh??
Suspect this article like his autobiography has been written through rose tinted glasses – as steel production was ramped up longer hours were demanded and pay was reduced to his employees. The investment mentioned likely involved his boss Tom Scott’s insider dealing. He was nearly bankrupt through the building of the St Louis Bridge (over built and over budget). His defence of the deadly Homestead Strike “I got telegraphed too late” is weak with no evidence to back him up. Rockefeller was a far more accomplished business man and had a deep sense of moral duty with measurable impact on humanity all done without the self aggrandising statements of Andrew.
Hi folks – apologies that the figures weren’t visible on the slideshow. The dollar sign was affecting the way they appeared so I’ve removed it and replaced with the word dollars. If there are any further problems, drop us a line at tips@thejournal.ie
Thanks to all who emailed
Aoife
A shame Aoife, that your (plural) sterling efforts are let down by the site infrastructure.
The one outstanding facet it has, whether the reader agrees with them or not, are the comment threads, which are a mishmash at best in the way they are rendered.
Nonetheless, thank you, as always for these historical titbits.
A building here in my hometown bears the “Carnegie Free Library” legend on it’s frontage to this day.
What amazes me is that Carnegie’s gilded age alumnus John D. Rockefeller was not only the richest person in the world at the time but is considered to be the richest person in history with an adjusted wealth of 664 billion dollars. Absolute insane levels of personal wealth.
is this the same guy who hired a chairman to specifically bully his workers and ended up killing some by hiring the pinkerton agency during a labour dispute?
i don’t believe he hired Frick specifically for that purpose, Frick became chairmen after their companies merged, though Frick certainly seemed to be ruthless and brutal and perhaps dealt with some of the less savoury elements of their activities.
One didn’t build massive companies and become the richest many in the world (esp in a time of limited labour laws / worker protection) by being nice, caring and considerate, even if one has a road to damascus experience later in life and seeks to make atonement
watch the recent history doc series “the men who built america” its very good and covers carnegie in detail (includling Frick)
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