Andrew Carnegie and the the Second Industrial
Revolution...
Andrew Carnegie and the the Second Industrial Revolution Andrew Carnegie, the
King of Steel , the benevolent employer, the giant of industry, was among the
greatest influences of the second industrial revolution. It is sometimes questioned
whether Carnegie was the ruthless, sneaky steel tyrant some made him out to be, or
the generous, benevolent education benefactor he appeared to be. I believe him to
be a combination of both, but more so the great giant of industry. Carnegie was the
classic rags to riches story, the penniless immigrant who made it big in the land of
opportunity. Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and migrated to America
in 1848 at the age of 13. His first job was in a cotton mill, earning a measly $1.20...
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As young as 33, Carnegie was pulling in an annual income of $50,000 a year, a
huge amount at that time, and this was enough for him. Carnegie was a firm
believer that anyone could make it to the top, and that it was the wealthys duty to
help the poor work towards a more comfortable life. Carnegie said that the man
who dies rich, dies disgraced. This is a greedy, unselfish philosophy that a robber
baron could not conceive. Without Carnegie, the steel industry, and the second
industrial revolution in general, would never have progressed as much as it did.
Carnegie did what was necessary to make the steel industry more productive and
more efficient, for less money. He was a shrewd, ruthless, businessman who s
aggressiveness made the steel, railroad, and oil industries so economically
successful. These characteristics, though not always looked upon as nice or
sympathetic, were sometimes necessary. He had paid his time as a poor factory
boy, and now it was his turn to live comfortably and aid others less fortunate to
work towards the same success. I feel that Carnegie was a very generous and
benevolent philanthropist in his giving of hundreds of millions of dollars to schools,
libraries, arts and music centers, and other educational and recreational facilities.
However, I believe it would have been more ethical to be more