In early 1848, news of the discovery of gold mines in the Nevada Mountains of California, USA, reached Scotland, which was suffering from an economic crisis. Suddenly, the whole of Scotland was boiling. People flocked to it and moved their families westward, setting off an unprecedented "tide of immigration." In this year alone, nearly 190,000 people from Scotland immigrated to the United States. They took dozens of ships, traveled across the ocean, and headed straight to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
On May 27, 1848, the ship "Viscasset" left Port Glasgow, England, passed through the Firth of Forth, and sailed on the rough Atlantic Ocean. There was a 13-year-old boy, his parents and 5-year-old brother on the boat. Together with other poor immigrants from Scotland, they were crowded into dark, low cabins, served with poor food, dirty air, and suffered from the torment of the journey. After 50 days of turbulence, the ship finally arrived at its destination - the Port of New York on the east coast of the United States.
In the early morning of July 15, 1848, the young man and the new immigrants crowded onto the deck, facing the rising sun, looking out at this coveted land of hope, and his heart was full of longing. It was this 13-year-old boy who, within half a century after coming to the United States, went from a penniless immigrant to an American steel magnate and the world's richest man, creating a miracle known as the "American Dream." He is Andrew Carnegie, one of the top ten plutocrats in the United States.
On November 25, 1835, Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, the ancient capital of Scotland. His father, Will Carnegie, made a living by hand-weaving linen plaid, and his mother, Maggie, sewed shoes as a side job. Although my parents were poor, they were upright and always full of positive and enterprising spirit. This is a family that has inherited a glorious tradition of pride, self-reliance, and self-respect.
Little Carnegie’s grandfather was a cheerful, witty and humorous man with an indomitable spirit. As the eldest grandson, Carnegie Jr. was named after his grandfather, Andrew Carnegie. He has been proud to have such a grandfather since he was a child, and he is also proud to have his name throughout his life. His maternal grandfather was a natural orator, an intelligent politician, and an active local political leader. Perhaps due to the genes inherited from his ancestors, Carnegie was optimistic and enterprising and eloquent since he was a child, which had a great impact on his life.
In the second year after Carnegie was born, his father used the money he saved to buy three textile machines and hired several workers. The family situation improved, and the family moved into a bungalow with a small attic. Carnegie has been helping his family since he was a child. Since there was no running water, he got up early every morning, picked up a large bucket, and queued up at a nearby well to fetch water. After carrying several loads of water, we had breakfast and went to school. When I come back in the evening, I always have to help my mother, who is busy sewing shoes, with needlework. At the same time, I have to silently recite the poems and articles I learned in school.
In 1843, when Carnegie was 8 years old, the huge wave of the British Industrial Revolution swept across Dunfermline. The first steam-driven linen loom appeared in this ancient town. Soon, improved steam engines revolutionized the town. Dunfermline's hand-woven textile industry could not withstand the impact of steam engines, and was in decline and went bankrupt one after another. The Carnegie family's life also went from bad to worse, their helpers were fired and their looms were sold. My mother only opened a small shop to make ends meet. However, fatal blows followed one after another, namely the European Great Famine in 1846 and the British Economic Crisis in 1847. The Carnegie family couldn't survive anymore, so they had to write to their two aunts who had immigrated to Pittsburgh a few years ago, saying that they would also go to the United States with their family. The two aunts wrote back and said that now is a good opportunity to go to the United States. There are many job opportunities and they hope they can go quickly.
Carnegie's parents sold all the looms and furniture in the family, and they were still 20 pounds short of the travel expenses to the United States. Thanks to the help of a friend of my mother's, who lent them 20 pounds, the family had enough travel expenses to set off for the United States.
After disembarking in New York, the Carnegie family moved to Pittsburgh and settled down with relatives. In order to support the family, my father had no choice, so he resumed his old business, weaving tablecloths and napkins, and had to go to the streets to sell these products door to door. Even so, the money earned was far from enough to cover the family’s expenses.
Mother had no choice but to sew shoes as a side job, often sewing until midnight, while Carnegie and his brother Tom stayed aside to help. In this way, the family only earns 5 US dollars a week and lives a very poor life.
In order to relieve his parents' worries, Carnegie worked as a child laborer in a textile factory, with a weekly salary of only $1 and 20 cents. Later, he took up slightly more profitable jobs: burning boilers and dipping yarn tubes in oil pools. The smell in the oil pool was nauseating, and the hot boiler made him sweat profusely, but Carnegie gritted his teeth and persisted. Of course, he was not willing to live in such a miserable life, but worked hard and made progress proactively.
After a tiring day during the day, Carnegie attended night school at night. The course was double-entry accounting three times a week. The double-entry accounting knowledge he learned during this period became the magic weapon for him to later build a huge steel kingdom and make it invincible.
In the winter of 1849, Carnegie came home from class one night and learned that his uncle had sent word that the David Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh needed a courier to deliver telegrams. He immediately realized that the opportunity had come.
Early the next morning, Carnegie put on brand new clothes and leather shoes, and went to the door of the telegraph company with his father. He suddenly stopped and said to his father: "I want to go in for the interview alone. Dad, just wait for me outside." It turned out that he was worried that he would look short when interviewing side by side with his father. At the same time, he was also afraid that My father spoke inappropriately and bumped into Mr. David, thereby losing this rare opportunity.
So, he went up to the second floor alone for an interview. Mr. David looked at the short Scottish boy with a high nose and asked, "Are you familiar with the streets in downtown Pittsburgh?"
Carnegie replied firmly: "Not familiar. , but I promise to become familiar with all the streets of Pittsburgh within a week." He paused and added: "I may be small, but I can run faster than others, so please rest assured."
Mr. David smiled with satisfaction: "The weekly salary is 2.5 US dollars, let's start working from now on!"
In this way, Carnegie got this job and took the first step in his life. . At this time, he was only 14 years old.
In just one week, Carnegie, wearing a green uniform, fulfilled the promise he made during the interview and became familiar with the streets of Pittsburgh. After two weeks, he knew the suburban routes inside and out. He is small in stature but very hard-working, and he quickly gained unanimous praise throughout the company. A year later, he had been promoted to the person in charge of managing messengers.
Carnegie arrived at the company one hour early every day. After cleaning the room, he quietly went to the telegraph room to learn how to write telegraphs. He cherished this secret learning opportunity very much, persisted day after day, and soon mastered the technology of sending and receiving telegrams. Later he was promoted and became the most outstanding telegraph operator in the telegraph company.
At that time, Pittsburgh was not only a transportation hub in the United States, but also a material distribution center and industrial center. As an advanced communication tool, the telegraph played an extremely important role in this city where industrialists gathered. Walking through the streets delivering telegrams and clicking telegrams every day, Carnegie felt like he had entered a "business school." He is familiar with the name and characteristics of each company, and understands the economic relationships and business dealings between companies. Over time, he became familiar with this invisible "business encyclopedia", which benefited him a lot in his future career. Therefore, when Carnegie looked back on this period, he called it "the first step on the ladder of life."
Because Carnegie works hard, he is highly appreciated by General Manager David. One afternoon at the end of a month, Carnegie was left alone. When he stepped into the general manager's office, he felt anxious and uneasy, fearing that he had made some mistake in his work due to negligence. But General Manager David patted him on the shoulder and said, "Young man, you work harder and more diligently than others, so I will give you a separate salary increase starting from this month." Carnegie was so happy that he almost fainted. He received $13.50, $2.25 more than last month. For a poor boy as young as 15, this is a huge sum of money.
When he got home, Carnegie just handed over the $11.25 salary to his mother as usual, and temporarily kept the increased $2.25 because the money was too precious to him. Before going to bed at night, he told his younger brother the secret of the salary increase, and 7-year-old Tom was also surprised. As a result, the two brothers excitedly talked about their future careers, looking forward to opening a "Carnegie Brothers Company" in the future, making a lot of money, giving their mother a shiny carriage, and never letting her go again. The old man was sewing shoes until midnight like this. They talked for a long time before falling asleep.
At the dinner table the next day, Carnegie took out $2.25 and handed it to his mother, and asked: "How much is the difference between the money we borrowed from others in Dunfermline?" His mother seemed very worried. Surprised: "The debt of 20 pounds is almost enough to repay. Where did you get the money?" When the mother learned the origin of the money, tears of joy welled up in her eyes, and she sat The father beside him showed a proud look. They realized that their son was promising and would definitely do something big in the future. In order to repay the 20 pounds that her friend volunteered to donate, my mother tried her best to save living expenses every day for the past two years, saving 50 and 50 cents, and now she has almost collected 200 US dollars to pay off the debt; now her son is using the increased income to help pay off the debt, how wonderful it must be. What a joy. On this day, everyone in the family is filled with joy.
While running errands and delivering telegrams, Carnegie wanted to read more books to enrich himself. However, due to his poor family, he had no extra money to buy books.
Fortunately, one day when he was flipping through the newspaper, he found a piece of news: retired Colonel James Anderson was willing to lend 400 books in his home to eager teenagers. You can borrow a book from his house every Saturday, return it a week later, and exchange it for another book.
So, the ecstatic Carnegie found the colonel's home and borrowed his beloved book. From then on, every Saturday, he was able to come into contact with a new world of knowledge.
Later, seeing the increasing number of teenagers borrowing books, the colonel decided to open a private library. He went to New York to buy various books, expanded his study room, and borrowed a room from the city government. , established a real library.
Carnegie borrowed many good books from the Anderson Library and developed a habit of reading. As long as he did not read for a day, he would feel restless. Anderson gave him the opportunity to read during the prime years of his life. Later, when Carnegie's career became successful, in order to repay Mr. Anderson's help, he built a conference hall and library on the original site of his private library, and erected a monument to commemorate his benefactor.
In 1853, Scott, director of the Western District of the Pennsylvania Railroad, took a fancy to Carnegie, who had superb telegraph skills, and hired him as a personal telegraph operator and secretary, with a monthly salary of $35. Carnegie was already an 18-year-old young man at that time, and he entered this broader world with a strong ambition.
In more than 10 years at the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Carnegie rose through the ranks. At the age of 24, he was promoted to director of the company's Western District, with an annual salary of US$1,500, and gradually mastered the management skills of a modern large enterprise. This skill was indispensable when he later organized a huge steel enterprise.
At the same time, Carnegie also seized the opportunity, tried his best, participated in investments, and frequently succeeded, slowly accumulating a small amount of wealth, which laid a certain economic foundation for him to start a steel enterprise in the future.
In 1856, Scott persuaded Carnegie to buy 10 shares of Adams Express Company stock, totaling $600. At that time, Carnegie's total savings was only $60, but he was determined to make up the money. He discussed with his mother, who proposed to use the house as collateral for a loan. In this way, Carnegie made his first investment with a loan. Soon, a check for a $10 bonus from Adams Company was delivered to Carnegie.
Soon, Carnegie acted as a "Bo Le" and introduced Woodruff, the inventor of the sleeper car, to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and established a train sleeper car manufacturing company. Carnegie bought 1/38 of the company's shares through borrowed investment.
With an investment of just over US$200, the stock dividends received in one year were as high as US$5,000. Carnegie caught another chicken that laid golden eggs. By 1863, Carnegie had become an expert in stock investing.
In 1865, Carnegie decisively resigned from the railroad company and began to focus on his own career. He founded the Pittsburgh Railroad Company, the locomotive factory and the iron bridge factory, and opened an iron smelting plant and began to get involved in the steel business.
In the 1860s, the steel production and operation in the United States was extremely decentralized. From mining and ironmaking to final products such as rails and iron plates, many manufacturers were required in the process. In addition, middlemen add layers of pressure in every production and marketing link, resulting in a very high cost of the final product. Carnegie was well aware of these shortcomings of traditional steel companies, and he was determined to establish a brand-new modern steel company that integrated supply, production, and sales throughout the production process.
In 1872, Carnegie believed that the time was ripe for a big move in steelmaking. First of all, technically speaking, the low-cost acid converter steelmaking method has been invented. He specially went to the UK to inspect the actual application of this method in production by the inventor Bessemer. Secondly, the steel market in the United States is very vast and supply exceeds demand. Iron ore is extremely abundant in the United States, and the large iron ore mine in Michigan has entered the stage of large-scale mining. Thirdly, in terms of financial resources, Carnegie already owned hundreds of thousands of dollars in stocks and other properties. He decided to change the old way of investing everywhere and concentrate his funds on the steel industry. Finally, what gave Carnegie the most confidence was the ability to manage large enterprises that he had mastered during his more than 10 years at the steel company. So, by the end of 1873, he finally co-founded the Carnegie-McCandless Steel Company. The company has capital of US$750,000. Carnegie invested US$250,000 and was the largest shareholder. Over the next 20 years, Carnegie increased his wealth dozens of times.
In 1881, Carnegie realized his childhood dream and established the Carnegie Brothers Company with his brother Tom. Its steel production accounted for 1/37 of the United States. In 1892, Carnegie transferred Carnegie to Key Brothers merged with two other companies to form the steel empire named after themselves - Carnegie Steel Company. He finally reached the pinnacle of his career and became a veritable steel tycoon. Along with Rockefeller and Morgan, he was one of the three giants in the American economic circle at that time.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Carnegie Steel Company had become the largest steel company in the world. It has more than 20,000 employees and the most advanced equipment in the world. Its annual output exceeds the steel output of the United Kingdom, and its annual revenue reaches 40 million US dollars. Carnegie is the company's largest shareholder, but he does not hold positions such as chairman or general manager. His success depends to a large extent on the appointment of a group of talents who understand technology and management. To this day, people often quote his famous saying: "If all my factory equipment and materials are burned down, but as long as I keep my entire team, I will still be a steel king in a few years."
However, the reason why Carnegie is respected by the world is not only because he is a successful entrepreneur, but more importantly because he did not hesitate to use the huge wealth he earned after his career was successful. Almost all of it is donated to social welfare causes. The rest of his life was mainly devoted to charity and world peace.
As early as the year when he was 33 years old, Carnegie wrote the following passage in his diary: "People who are obsessed with money are people of despicable character. If I always pursue making money, If I can achieve a certain level of wealth in the future, I will use it for social welfare."
In 1900, Kanai was in his sixties. Ji had become successful and famous. He was so satisfied that he decided to retire with peace of mind and use his huge wealth to do the things he had wanted to do for a long time. This year, he announced in the book "The Gospel of Wealth": "I will no longer work hard to earn more wealth." So, he resolutely retired from his booming steel business and sold it for US$500 million. Carnegie Steel Company was sold to financial magnate J.P. Morgan.
Then, he began to implement his great plan to dedicate his wealth to society.
In 1901, the first year after his retirement, he first spent US$5 million to establish a relief and pension fund for steelmaking workers to express his gratitude to the employees who helped him achieve success in his career. Then, in order to help aspiring young people from poor families, he donated money to build 68 libraries in New York City that year. This library construction project lasted for 16 years. He donated a total of 12 million US dollars to build 3,500 libraries.
The next year, he donated 25 million US dollars to establish the "Carnegie Institution" in Washington, with U.S. Secretary of State John as president, mainly used to develop science, literature and fine arts. The association built an oceanographic survey ship, the USS Carnegie, and revised the world's nautical charts. In addition, the Wilson Observatory was built atop a California mountain to observe space. For this association, Carnegie repeatedly added funds to this association in the following years, with a cumulative donation of US$73 million.
At the same time, Carnegie founded "Carnegie University" in his second hometown of Pittsburgh. Later, he donated funds to establish various schools and educational institutions in the United States and Britain. Such donations for the construction of educational facilities amounted to US$90 million.
In the following years, Carnegie established several funds. He donated 5 million US dollars to establish the "Those who sacrificed themselves to save others" fund to reward or provide relief to heroes and their families who sacrificed or were injured to save others in emergencies. He donated US$39 million to establish the "University Professors Retirement Fund" to protect educators in their later years. He also established the "President's Retirement Fund" and the "Writers' Fund" to provide funding to U.S. presidents or writers in their later years. In addition, he provided "Carnegie Celebrity Funds" to 11 countries and established the "Carnegie Foundation for International Peace" with US$10 million to specifically fund people who contribute to world peace.
In 1911, the elderly Carnegies were deeply exhausted physically and mentally because they had been directly involved in donation work for 10 years. Therefore, Carnegie decided to use the remaining $150 million to establish the The "Carnegie Corporation" lets company personnel act as agents for their donation work.
Until the end of his life, Carnegie was dedicating his wealth to society, with a total donation of more than 330 million US dollars. Of course, behind him, the "Carnegie Corporation" and various Carnegie funds are still implementing his donation plan, and this huge sum of money will continue to increase interest or earn dividends. In fact, he is the most important person in the world. The amount donated is much larger than this number.
On August 11, 1919, the 84-year-old Carnegie died of pneumonia in his villa in Lenox, USA. This great man who was born in Scotland grew from a penniless immigrant to the "Steel King" who is the richest man in the world. After becoming famous, he donated almost all his wealth to society. The amount of money he donated during his lifetime was so huge that it was comparable to the Swedish scientist and industrialist Nobel who established the Nobel Prize after his death. From a poor boy to a philanthropic millionaire, Carnegie's legendary life is like a story in "The Arabian Nights".