Andrew Carnegie

[Music] industrialist philanthropist world benefactor was not only one of the Pioneers in the rise of American industry but established living for men he was born in dunfermline Scotland in 1835 his father William was a weaver who specialized in the foreign dentist for which the town was world famous while his mother Margaret was a niece of the Town radical William we must move to America now Margaret are we going to Argyle again I'm a skilled man this machine craze is just temporary there'll be needing me and I'll be able to weep for a prophet once more there's no place he was given Scotland my sister in America right there worked for you there but mother don't mean we should leave John Farnham do you well Bruce is buried here in Wallace and Melia Scotland were both given kitten free Glennon High Street and the bills in the Abbey we have to make a living Andrew will they all right as soon as these machines are proved useless I've already borrowed the money through the passage what what we're going to America on colada we're going on a big ship but all had jobs and be rich someday Andy Andy you get too enthusiastic too fast but we are going mother sister and there'll be no Lord to love us to keep us out of the park and if you don't come along with a lot her I'll make a lot of money and send for you I am Andrew there's a acquisitive nature of yours talking again money will come to you of that Admiral do but do not forget what I've taught you if you forget Robert Burns and Shakespeare the money yet pile up will mean nothing to you Wellsprings a great responsibility line didn't ever forget that I won't and the money I make I'll buy a whole set of Shakespeare so we're going to America Tom we're going to America it was not long before the Carnegie family found itself settled in Allegheny Pennsylvania there andy took a job in a Cotton Factory as a bobbin boy although he was soon promoted to a furnace tender and spindle finisher at a dollar 65 cents a week he was not satisfied and he got a position as a messenger for the telegraph company are you following around with my key again I told you to leave it alone I was only chatting with friends along the line yeah well you keep your nose and your own Affairs just because Mr Brooks gave you a raise doesn't mean you're of the Walk but I was only trying to learn aren't you gonna take the message no sir not till you promised to leave my key alone all right boy as far as I know there are only two people in the whole world who can take a message straight from the keys thank you Mr Scott with the railroads private line coming in we can use a fast operator but I don't suppose a bright boy like you Andy could be induced to give up his job well now Mr Scott that rail out of yours looks Mighty interesting from here what kind of a job would you have in mind young Carnegie impressed Thomas a Scott with his ability and when Scott became vice president of the railroad one of his first acts was to appoint Carnegie as superintendent of its Western Division Mr Carnegie yes sir the porter informed me that you are an official of this railroad if you have a minute I'd like to show you something I'm always interested in something new in fact you could have seen me in my office what is it well it's a drawing of the first practical sleeping car ever offered to railroads tell me how it works Mr uh Woodruff Theodore T Woodruff well you divide the car into sections like I just got back from Ohio Mr Scott and I found the answer to one of our biggest problems a practical sleeping car now we can carry passengers overnight in decency and cleanliness women too it's wonderful I've seen every type of sleeping car invention and not one of them is any good but this one is almost perfect Woodworth the inventor has fought out every detail enthusiastic Andy but you may ask the inventor to come here and let me see it the success of the sleeping car was immediate and when Woodruff formed the company to manufacture more of them he gave Carnegie a 1 8 interest and thus laid the solid foundation of Carnegie's Fortune then came the war between the states the only war in history that Andrew Carnegie thought was justified he was asked to organize the telegraph service for the union and did so with his usual efficiency oh it's a great site isn't it Andy all those trains leaving for different destinations I've been thinking of the same thing Mr Scott another destination for myself you mean you're thinking of leaving the railroad business exactly the war should be over in a couple of months I've been making inquiries into the iron Market the railroads have got to grow that's going to take iron rails iron Bridges but there's big money in railroads here you are 27 years old and making fifty thousand dollars a year it's unheard of Stay With Me Andy while the Vanderbilts the ghouls they all see their future in railroads it just isn't the money Mr Scott who knows someday I may give it away I like new fields I made money with sleeping cars then oil then Railroad and if I know you Andy now it'll be iron well good luck thus Andrew Carnegie resigned from the railroad and went into the iron industry he and several Partners formed the Keystone Bridge company which did a large business replacing the old railroad Bridges with new irons bands although the company made him a fortune it was only a few years until Carnegie's foresight brought him to another decision gentlemen we must convert to Steel with the new Bessemer process we are brothers so I'll feel free to say here what the others might not want to say you can't come to your partners and say you must do that fact is that I for one don't see any sense in switching over to Steel now what Tom and gentlemen I have no intention of dictating to you but iron is on the way out steel is on the way in we have to convert to steel or eventually go out of business Andy the pessima process requires a certain kind of ore we'll get it from an engineering point of view and the steel is much better but every single steel experiment in America has failed they can make good Steel in England we can make it here in the United States but we'll have to compete with all the big iron companies why Gamble I once mortgaged my mother's house in order to invest in an Express company gentlemen I can see we have come to a parting of the ways I don't want to force anything on you they don't want to persuade you against your better judgment to do anything but I will say this you're making a big mistake perhaps the railroad companies want one to use steel why take the risk Andy is the medal of the future it lasts longer it's flexible I'll find out how to produce it cheaper sorry Andy but I want no part of it case form a new company I already have in mind several excellent men who will come in with me couldn't you do both Andy stay with us and start your Steel company too I don't think so you've heard me say this before put all your eggs in one basket and then watch the basket and you've consulted mother on this project has always talk gentlemen and when I drive you out of business I expect you'll be able to retire on the income from the small Partnerships I know you'll want to accept in my new company so Carnegie went into Steel eventually his brother Thomas and others of his original Partners joined him and in 1881 Andrew and Thomas Carnegie formed Carnegie brothers and Company Limited now that we are Carnegie Brothers at last Tom we must begin to expand expand but Heaven Sandy were already the biggest teal producers in the country not an important structure in the country goes up that doesn't have Carnegie Steel in it it's not enough we must be self-sufficient everything we need must be under our control especially fuel I have taken the liberty of inviting Mr Frick to come in for a chat a Henry Clay freak does 80 of the coke business in America you can't possibly expect it is precisely for that reason that I have asked him to come and meet us I think you'll join our partnership thus Carnegie made the first big step in the consolidation of the steel business then in 1886 tragedies struck the Carnegie family Margaret Carnegie who had remained Andrew's faithful advisor passed away without knowing that her son Tom had died of pneumonia a few hours before her it was a bitter blow to Andrew who was himself a victim of typhoid fever at the time five months after the death of his mother and brother Carnegie married Louise Whitfield of New York and took her to Scotland to meet all his old friends know that our honeymoon is coming to an end Lou I wanted to tell you you've lifted me to Seventh Heaven I could not have faced life without you after Tom and my beloved mother died and I've been happy too Andrew tell me I've always wondered why you picked me of all the unattached Young lady Rescues Me Again Lou fool many a lady have I eyed with best regard and many a Time the harmony of their tongues hath into bondage brought my two diligent ear for several virtues have I liked several women never any of so full soul but some defectant heard it quarrel with the noblest Grace she owed and put it to the foil but you owe you so perfect and so peerless are created of every creature's best oh Andrew you and your Shakespeare I myself thought the land is slippery tongue oh Gloria above all people I've wanted you to meet Louise Louise this is Uncle Lauder Dodd's father he taught me history from his own point of view of course it's a great pleasure to meet someone Andy admire so much I'm surprised she ever married unique I am too she put me through this seven years label like a Biblical heroine but I suffered it and I won The Greatest Prize a man ever won but you didn't come all the way from dumb Farland just to pass judgment on Louise had I seen her before or heard her voice before I would have come when you were away ah but you're right I've come for another reason too get it off your chest and then we'll have tea I'll be blunt you wrote me once you thought it would be a disgrace to die a rich well you're over 50 now you're a very patient man about most things but this shouldn't wait any longer I'm a Scotsman Uncle order I'll last in just a few more years I'll be able to give up the cares of business and it's spend the rest of my time golfing fishing swimming and interfering in the Affairs of politician our ring for tea you gentlemen go ahead and reminisce it's the only luxury of age I permit Andy back in America in 1889 Andrew Carnegie first gave his broad views on philanthropy to the world he said a man who becomes rich incurs a debt to society that he must pay back Carnegie was not yet ready to devote all his energies to philanthropy America was growing as never before becoming a continent of industrial power demand was for steel and more steel and Carnegie moved to meet the challenge gentlemen this is our position today with the Thompson works and our Homestead plant here we are rapidly approaching the place where we should be able to produce steel cheaper than any competitor I am in favor of withdrawing from the pool and fighting it out independently what if our competitors organize against us we'd be ruined I recommend Mr Schwab has worked very hard on this deal he has a word to say well our plans on getting Connor set we will now have our own port and our own railroad will bring in the ore what if Rockefeller goes into steel he already owns the masabi range controlling most of the oil we need I'm pretty sure we can come to an agreement on these terms we lease the oil lands from him offer him say 25 cents royalties on the tongue we'll use his railroads and his boats at the market price would he agree to that price seems low Mr Phipps these walls might have ears he will agree provided we agree to stay away from the masabi fields for at least 10 years not to buy up any ore land on our own gentlemen do you know what this will do it will eliminate Mr Rockefeller as a competitor in Steel after the creation of the country's largest steel business Carnegie decided to sell out however it was not until 1901 that a man came along who was capable of concentrating Financial Resources sufficient to buy out Carnegie I think I have that deal all lined up with JP Morgan good with his company's producing Finnish products and your company producing raw steel Morgan ought to have the greatest steel combine ever seen in the history of the world if he can buy you out what's his offer well he won't accept either your evaluation of 25 million dollars or the speculator's evaluation of 400 million he said I'll offer 250 million dollars to Carnegie that's just for my Holdings don't forget the other associates must be bought out also but will require another 150 million almost well he understands that all right good work Schwab it looks as though Mr Morgan and I are going to be doing business and so Andrew Carnegie poverty stricken son of a poverty-stricken family sold out his business interest to J.P Morgan Carnegie took his wife and baby daughter to Scotland and established a home at Skibo castle where he devoted his time to golfing fishing politics and giving away his fortune hello Lou you seem tired and I am giving money away is harder than making it in the first place at least if you want to do something worthwhile with it why do you burden yourself with all this work surely you can pay other men to do it for you yes I've been thinking of setting up a foundation there's so much to do so many worthy things that need attention and money but you can't do everything Andrew I know I know it's fortunate that I have a lot of patience think it would be easy to give money away well never mind I have several things to take care of all your friends are waiting Andrew Molly's here the blanes they're waiting for you to have lunch I'll be along directly dear and I think I'll have a little present for Morley the Acton Library he'll be so pleased a few minutes more and the papers will be in order and that Mount Wilson Observatory then I'll have luncheon and then we'll take the afternoon off shall we ride out in the coach this afternoon that would be fine dear and then this evening you can dictate a little more on your autobiography Andrew Carnegie gave money to 500 universities colleges and institutions thousands of Library buildings an endowment for International Peace and many other projects all benefited from Carnegie's Gospel of wealth in all he gave away over 200 million dollars in August 1919 his last year's blighted by the recent war in Europe Andrew Carnegie died his best Epitaph is that of his friend Ellie Hugh root who said he belonged to that great race of nation Builders who have made the development of America the wonder of the world wealth had brought in no hardening of the heart nor made him forget the dreams of his youth thank you