OF THE SEVENTIES, WITH PROPERTIES CHEAP AND THE BESSEMER PROCESS COMING INTO ITS OWN, CARNEGIE CONCENTRATED ALL HIS RESOURCES AND ENERGIES IN THE MAKING OF STEEL. HE HIRED THE BEST PEOPLE IN STEEL TECHNOLOGY AND PLANT MANAGEMENT, SHREWDLY HELD ON TO ABSOLUTE CONTROL OF HIS ENTERPRISE THE BETTER TO PLOW BACK PROFITS INTO CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS, AND OUTGENERALED ALL HIS RIVALS IN THE FIELD. BY APPLYING THE COORDINATING AND COST ACCOUNTING TECHNIQUES HE HAD
LEARNED FROM THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD, HOLDING DOWN WAGES AND SALARIES, KEEPING UP WITH THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY, AND “HARD-DRIVING” BOTH HIS MEN AND HIS FURNACES, HE HELD COSTS TO A MINIMUM AND PRICES BELOW HIS COMPETITORS’, THEREBY CAPTURING AN EVER-GROWING SHARE OF THE MARKET AND MAXIMIZING RETURN ON PLANT INVESTMENT. BY HIS SIXTIES, HAVING VERTICALLY INTEGRATED HIS HOLDINGS FROM ORE TO FINISHED PRODUCTS, HE DOMINATED THE AMERICAN STEEL INDUSTRY, WHICH HE HAD DONE MUCH TO MAKE FIRST IN THE WORLD. WHEN HE SOLD OUT TO THE MORGAN-CREATED UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION IN 1901 FOR $250 MILLION IN U.S. STEEL BONDS, HE FOUND HIMSELF ONE OF THE WORLD’S RICHEST MEN.
BUT DESPITE HIS WEALTH-GETTING, HIS WAGE-CUTTING, AND HIS RESPONSIBILITY FOR A BLOODY LABOR DISPUTE AT HIS HOMESTEAD PLANT IN 1892, CARNEGIE HAD NOT FORGOTTEN HIS HERITAGE OF CONCERN FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE. IN HIS 1889 ARTICLE “WEALTH,” HE GLORIED IN THE CHEAP STEEL HIS LEADERSHIP HAD GIVEN THE AMERICAN CONSUMER BUT ALSO PROCLAIMED THE MORAL DUTY OF ALL POSSESSORS OF GREAT WEALTH
TO PLOW BACK THEIR MONEY INTO PHILANTHROPY WITH THE SAME JUDGMENT, ZEAL, AND LEADERSHIP THEY HAD DEVOTED TO GETTING RICH. AND HE LIVED UP TO THAT PRECEPT, PAYING FOR THOUSANDS OF LIBRARY BUILDINGS, SETTING UP TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS, ENDOWING UNIVERSITIES, BUILDING CARNEGIE HALL IN NEW YORK AND THE PEACE PALACE AT THE HAGUE, AND MUCH MORE. HE ONCE WROTE THAT THE MAN WHO DIES RICH DIES DISGRACED. HE HAD SOME SINS TO ANSWER FOR, AND IT TOOK HIM A WHILE, BUT IN 1919 AT EIGHTY-THREE ANDREW CARNEGIE DIED IN A STATE OF GRACE BY HIS OWN AGNOSTIC DEFINITION.
Bibliography
labor and law 1914