The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie & the Gospel of Wealth

Character

A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune. Young people should know that it can be cultivated; that the mind like the body can be moved from the shade into sunshine.

It seems that there’s largely two classes of entrepreneurs — those that, like Bill Rosenberg, have an extremely positive internal dialogue and attitude, and the others, like Jensen Huang, who have embraced negative internal dialogue.

It counts many times more to do a kindness to a poor working-man than to a millionaire, who may be able some day to repay the favor. How true Wordsworth’s lines: “That best portion of a good man’s life—His little, nameless, unremembered actsOf kindness and of love.”

This typo is accurate (in his autobiography). Carnegie is a man full of contradictions, and this quotation is the start of a series of examples. Nowhere in his biography do you see the horrific accounting for the Homestead strike. He visciously drove costs (mostly wages) down, but at the same time he genuinely believed in giving away his fortune. It’s important to note this was decided even before the Homestead strike.

Family

The change from hand-loom to steam-loom weaving was disastrous to our family. My father did not recognize the impending revolution, and was struggling under the old system. His looms sank greatly in value, and it became necessary for that power which never failed in any emergency—my mother—to step forward and endeavor to repair the family fortune. She opened a small shop in Moodie Street and contributed to the revenues which, though slender, nevertheless at that time sufficed to keep us in comfort and “respectable.” I remember that shortly after this I began to learn what poverty meant.

His mother was his absolutely hero, and you can see it in how he practically deifies her in every passage. To him, his mother has no flaws and was the perfect person. In fact, he completely removes from his autobiography that he even had a sister, let alone that she passed — all in order to spare his mother the pain of remembering that.

One cause of misery there was, however, in my school experience. The boys nicknamed me “Martin’s pet,” and sometimes called out that dreadful epithet to me as I passed along the street. I did not know all that it meant, but it seemed to me a term of the utmost opprobrium, and I know that it kept me from responding as freely as I should otherwise have done to that excellent teacher, my only schoolmaster, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude which I regret I never had opportunity to do more than acknowledge before he died.

It’s understated, but he has an extreme ability to memorize things quickly and recite them perfectly after the fact.

As usual, my mother came to the rescue. There was no keeping her down. In her youth she had learned to bind shoes in her father’s business for pin-money, and the skill then acquired was now turned to account for the benefit of the family. Mr. Phipps, father of my friend and partner Mr. Henry Phipps, was, like my grandfather, a master shoemaker. He was our neighbor in Allegheny City. Work was obtained from him, and in addition to attending to her household duties—for, of course, we had no servant—this wonderful woman, my mother, earned four dollars a week by binding shoes. Midnight would often find her at work. In the intervals during the day and evening, when household cares would permit, and my young brother sat at her knee threading needles and waxing the thread for her, she recited to him, as she had to me, the gems of Scottish minstrelsy which she seemed to have by heart, or told him tales which failed not to contain a moral. This is where the children of honest poverty have the most precious of all advantages over those of wealth. The mother, nurse, cook, governess, teacher, saint, all in one; the father, exemplar, guide, counselor, and friend! Thus were my brother and I brought up. What has the child of millionaire or nobleman that counts compared to such a heritage?

He loves his mom, truly.

In the winter father and I had to rise and breakfast in the darkness, reach the factory before it was daylight, and, with a short interval for lunch, work till after dark. The hours hung heavily upon me and in the work itself I took no pleasure; but the cloud had a silver lining, as it gave me the feeling that I was doing something for my world—our family. I have made millions since, but none of those millions gave me such happiness as my first week’s earnings. I was now a helper of the family, a breadwinner, and no longer a total charge upon my parents.

David Nasaw’s biography covers this much better, but his father was basically a deadbeat. His mother really picks up the slack and saves the whole family.

I was also taxed with being penurious in my habits—mean, as the boys had it. I did not spend my extra dimes, but they knew not the reason. Every penny that I could save I knew was needed at home.

He was extremely frugal from the start. Most of this came from the fact that he was acutely aware of how precarious his household was, and from an early age he was helping contribute economically.

I handed over to mother, who was the treasurer of the family, the eleven dollars and a quarter and said nothing about the remaining two dollars and a quarter in my pocket—worth more to me then than all the millions I have made since.

This is almost exactly the same scene that happens too Bill Rosenberg.

My father was usually shy, reserved, and keenly sensitive, very saving of praise (a Scotch trait) lest his sons might be too greatly uplifted; but when touched he lost his self-control. He was so upon this occasion, and grasped my hand with a look which I often see and can never forget. He murmured slowly: “Andra, I am proud of you.”

It means something for every boy, no matter how successful of a man he grows into.

My power to memorize must have been greatly strengthened by the mode of teaching adopted by my uncle. I cannot name a more important means of benefiting young people than encouraging them to commit favorite pieces to memory and recite them often. Anything which pleased me I could learn with a rapidity which surprised partial friends.

This ability to shine in school by memorizing quickly will continue to serve him well in professional life.

The treasures of the world which books contain were opened to me at the right moment. The fundamental advantage of a library is that it gives nothing for nothing. Youths must acquire knowledge themselves. There is no escape from this.

Like most great entrepreneurs, he falls in love with books early. This quotation is extremely true even today. The point of reading a book is not to simply memorize a set of facts (if that were the case, Blinkist would suffice). Spending enough time with a book is rewiring your brain to be able to think like the author. It provides a halo effect such that, for some time after, your brain is channeling the subject’s personality. And this rewiring has no shortcuts.

Ambition

My first business venture was securing my companions’ services for a season as an employer, the compensation being that the young rabbits, when such came, should be named after them. The Saturday holiday was generally spent by my flock in gathering food for the rabbits. My conscience reproves me to-day, looking back, when I think of the hard bargain I drove with my young playmates, many of whom were content to gather dandelions and clover for a whole season with me, conditioned upon this unique reward—the poorest return ever made to labor. Alas! what else had I to offer them! Not a penny. I treasure the remembrance of this plan as the earliest evidence of organizing power upon the development of which my material success in life has hung—a success not to be attributed to what I have known or done myself, but to the faculty of knowing and choosing others who did know better than myself. Precious knowledge this for any man to possess. I did not understand steam machinery, but I tried to understand that much more complicated piece of mechanism—man.

All entrepreneurs start young - and it always starts with a small taste of winning. Nothing develops an appetite for winning quite like winning.

It is not the rich man’s son that the young struggler for advancement has to fear in the race of life, nor his nephew, nor his cousin. Let him look out for the “darkhorse” in the boy who begins by sweeping out the office.

From such humble beginnings did Carnegie begin. Unlike his bosses’ sons who were simply handed a prestigious post, Carnegie scrapped and clawed his way into it. Unsurprisingly, he is far hungrier than they.

I was surprised when in Mr. Scott’s office he came to the telegraph instrument and greeted me as “Scott’s Andy.” But I learned afterwards that he had heard of my train-running exploit. The battle of life is already half won by the young man who is brought personally in contact with high officials; and the great aim of every boy should be to do something beyond the sphere of his duties—something which attracts the attention of those over him.

From the start he has an extremely correct attitude. He recognizes that he has no skills and no experience - all he has is hard work and enthusiasm. A determination to make himself useful. That reputation would be worth more than any salary.

“Now about yourself. Do you think you could manage the Pittsburgh Division?” I was at an age when I thought I could manage anything. I knew nothing that I would not attempt, but it had never occurred to me that anybody else, much less Mr. Scott, would entertain the idea that I was as yet fit to do anything of the kind proposed. I was only twenty-four years old, but my model then was Lord John Russell, of whom it was said he would take the command of the Channel Fleet to-morrow. So would Wallace or Bruce. I told Mr. Scott I thought I could. “Well,” he said, “Mr. Potts” (who was then superintendent of the Pittsburgh Division) “is to be promoted to the transportation department in Philadelphia and I recommended you to the president as his successor. He agreed to give you a trial. What salary do you think you should have?” “Salary,” I said, quite offended; “what do I care for salary? I do not want the salary; I want the position. It is glory enough to go back to the Pittsburgh Division in your former place. You can make my salary just what you please and you need not give me any more than what I am getting now.” That was sixty-five dollars a month. “You know,” he said, “I received fifteen hundred dollars a year when I was there; and Mr. Potts is receiving eighteen hundred. I think it would be right to start you at fifteen hundred dollars, and after a while if you succeed you will get the eighteen hundred. Would that be satisfactory?” “Oh, please,” I said, “don’t speak to me of money!”

Yes of course this is the right attitude, but one thing he doesn’t mention in his autobiography is that he’s making far more than even his bosses through his investments at this time. He still needs to work the railroads because the network and connections he gets from the rails are what let him make the other investments, but it’s a bit disingenuous to pretend he just said no to a lucrative salary with no other plans.

Thenceforth I never worked for a salary. A man must necessarily occupy a narrow field who is at the beck and call of others. Even if he becomes president of a great corporation he is hardly his own master, unless he holds control of the stock. The ablest presidents are hampered by boards of directors and shareholders, who can know but little of the business.

He ultimately says no to an even greater promotion because he realizes that his ambitions outstrip being chained to (an admittedly gilded) posting.

The grandeur of Mr. Stokes’s home impressed me, but the one feature of it that eclipsed all else was a marble mantel in his library. In the center of the arch, carved in the marble, was an open book with this inscription: “He that cannot reason is a fool,He that will not a bigot,He that dare not a slave.” These noble words thrilled me. I said to myself, “Some day, some day, I’ll have a library” (that was a look ahead) “and these words shall grace the mantel as here.” And so they do in New York and Skibo to-day.

It’s remarkable how he had this dream for thirty years, and after making it financially, he truly does go back and fulfill it.

Railroads

We were blessed at this time with a rather indolent operator, who was only too glad to have me do his work. It was then the practice for us to receive the messages on a running slip of paper, from which the operator read to a copyist, but rumors had reached us that a man in the West had learned to read by sound and could really take a message by ear. This led me to practice the new method.

Absolutely love the attitude here. Most of us would groan and complain about a coworker who didn’t hold up his end of the workload; Carnegie instead sees it as a blessing - as as opportunity for him to do more work and more jobs and learn even faster. He wanted to know everything about the trade he was in.

No one but the superintendent himself was permitted to give a train order on any part of the Pennsylvania system, or indeed of any other system, I believe, at that time.

What do you think happens? Yup, one day, the superintendent does not show up to work.

The freight trains in both directions were all standing still upon the sidings. Mr. Scott was not to be found. Finally I could not resist the temptation to plunge in, take the responsibility, give “train orders,” and set matters going. “Death or Westminster Abbey,” flashed across my mind. I knew it was dismissal, disgrace, perhaps criminal punishment for me if I erred. On the other hand, I could bring in the wearied freight-train men who had lain out all night. I could set everything in motion. I knew I could. I had often done it in wiring Mr. Scott’s orders.

Carnegie, who’s been not only his own job but his lazy coworker’s and watching his boss, leaps into action. He memorizes all the incoming messages, translates from Morse to English, and relays them out perfectly.

All was right. He looked in my face for a second. I scarcely dared look in his. I did not know what was going to happen. He did not say one word, but again looked carefully over all that had taken place. Still he said nothing. After a little he moved away from my desk to his own, and that was the end of it. He was afraid to approve what I had done, yet he had not censured me. If it came out all right, it was all right; if it came out all wrong, the responsibility was mine. So it stood, but I noticed that he came in very regularly and in good time for some mornings after that.

His boss finds out, but of course he can’t even get mad because Carnegie did the job perfectly! Most amazingly, there were no notes or writings. Carnegie did it entirely in his head.

“Do you know what that little white-haired Scotch devil of mine did?” “No.” “I’m blamed if he didn’t run every train on the division in my name without the slightest authority.” “And did he do it all right?” asked Franciscus. “Oh, yes, all right.” This satisfied me. Of course I had my cue for the next occasion, and went boldly in. From that date it was very seldom that Mr. Scott gave a train order.

And after that incident, Carnegie takes over even more responsibility.

I finally became an operator by sound, discarding printing entirely. The accomplishment was then so rare that people visited the office to be satisfied of the extraordinary feat. This brought me into such notice that when a great flood destroyed all telegraph communication between Steubenville and Wheeling, a distance of twenty-five miles, I was sent to the former town to receive the entire business then passing between the East and the West, and to send every hour or two the dispatches in small boats down the river to Wheeling.

This memorization ability really changes the game. From then on he just never wrote down the orders.

I have been told that “Davy” and myself are entitled to the credit of being the first to employ young women as telegraph operators in the United States upon railroads, or perhaps in any branch. At all events, we placed girls in various offices as pupils, taught and then put them in charge of offices as occasion required. Among the first of these was my cousin, Miss Maria Hogan. She was the operator at the freight station in Pittsburgh, and with her were placed successive pupils, her office becoming a school. Our experience was that young women operators were more to be relied upon than young men. Among all the new occupations invaded by women I do not know of any better suited for them than that of telegraph operator.

Now that he’s got far more responsibility, he starts doing what any entrepreneur would do: experimenting. He starts hiring women for telegraph operators, and wouldn’t you know it, they do great!

I never did get their unequivocal authority to do so, but upon my own responsibility I appointed perhaps the first night train dispatcher that ever acted in America—at least he was the first upon the Pennsylvania system.

He continues to innovate by creating a new role - a night train dispatcher. The crucial thing here is that he does not ask for permission, only forgiveness.

The superintendent of a division in those days was expected to run trains by telegraph at night, to go out and remove all wrecks, and indeed to do everything. At one time for eight days I was constantly upon the line, day and night, at one wreck or obstruction after another. I was probably the most inconsiderate superintendent that ever was entrusted with the management of a great property, for, never knowing fatigue myself, being kept up by a sense of responsibility probably, I overworked the men and was not careful enough in considering the limits of human endurance. I have always been able to sleep at any time. Snatches of half an hour at intervals during the night in a dirty freight car were sufficient.

It’s worth noting his work ethic here. The man has manic energy and just keeps going.

Leadership

It is probable he was afraid I had been too severe and very likely he was correct. Some years after this, when I, myself, was superintendent of the division I always had a soft spot in my heart for the men then suspended for a time. I had felt qualms of conscience about my action in this, my first court. A new judge is very apt to stand so straight as really to lean a little backward. Only experience teaches the supreme force of gentleness.

Extremely true - good first time managers are often too harsh. It’s a failing I’m willing to overlook because it’s far better than being a pushover.

A man may be possessed of great ability, and be a charming, interesting character, as Captain Eads undoubtedly was, and yet not be able to construct the first bridge of five hundred feet span over the Mississippi River, without availing himself of the scientific knowledge and practical experience of others.

All the leadership in the world cannot overcome a lack of technical knowledge.

My two rules for speaking then (and now) were: Make yourself perfectly at home before your audience, and simply talk to them, not at them. Do not try to be somebody else; be your own self and talk, never “orate” until you can’t help it.

Extremely wise advice that will make everyoen better at public speaking.

He was an orator himself and he spoke words of wisdom to me then. “Just say that, Andra; nothing like saying just what you really feel.” It was a lesson in public speaking which I took to heart. There is one rule I might suggest for youthful orators. When you stand up before an audience reflect that there are before you only men and women. You should speak to them as you speak to other men and women in daily intercourse. If you are not trying to be something different from yourself, there is no more occasion for embarrassment than if you were talking in your office to a party of your own people—none whatever. It is trying to be other than one’s self that unmans one. Be your own natural self and go ahead. I once asked Colonel Ingersoll, the most effective public speaker I ever heard, to what he attributed his power. “Avoid elocutionists like snakes,” he said, “and be yourself.”

Hear hear.

Business

Mr. Scott asked me if I had five hundred dollars. If so, he said he wished to make an investment for me. Five hundred cents was much nearer my capital. I certainly had not fifty dollars saved for investment, but I was not going to miss the chance of becoming financially connected with my leader and great man. So I said boldly I thought I could manage that sum. He then told me that there were ten shares of Adams Express stock that he could buy, which had belonged to a station agent, Mr. Reynolds, of Wilkinsburg. Of course this was reported to the head of the family that evening, and she was not long in suggesting what might be done. When did she ever fail? We had then paid five hundred dollars upon the house, and in some way she thought this might be pledged as security for a loan.

The start of a very lucrative investment career. Remember he makes far more from investments than his railroad salary, though is railroad connections are what enable him to get these investment opportunities.

This was my first investment. In those good old days monthly dividends were more plentiful than now and Adams Express paid a monthly dividend. One morning a white envelope was lying upon my desk, addressed in a big John Hancock hand, to “Andrew Carnegie, Esquire.” “Esquire” tickled the boys and me inordinately. At one corner was seen the round stamp of Adams Express Company. I opened the envelope. All it contained was a check for ten dollars upon the Gold Exchange Bank of New York. I shall remember that check as long as I live, and that John Hancock signature of “J.C. Babcock, Cashier.” It gave me the first penny of revenue from capital—something that I had not worked for with the sweat of my brow. “Eureka!” I cried. “Here’s the goose that lays the golden eggs.”

From then on, he would become one of the most prolific investors.

The moral of that story lies on the surface. If you want a contract, be on the spot when it is let. A smashed lamp-post or something equally unthought of may secure the prize if the bidder be on hand. And if possible stay on hand until you can take the written contract home in your pocket.

Still true today. Most businesses lose opportunity simply by not being there.

Jay Gould, then in the height of his career, approached me and said he had heard of me and he would purchase control of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and give me one half of all profits if I would agree to devote myself to its management. I thanked him and said that, although Mr. Scott and I had parted company in business matters, I would never raise my hand against him.

Major crossover episode. I cannot wait to read about Jay Gould.

I have never bought or sold a share of stock speculatively in my life, except one small lot of Pennsylvania Railroad shares that I bought early in life for investment and for which I did not pay at the time because bankers offered to carry it for me at a low rate. I have adhered to the rule never to purchase what I did not pay for, and never to sell what I did not own.

He really hates speculation; he would overcome his hatred of it when it came time to sell his company though.

Mr. Pierpont Morgan. He said to me one day: “My father has cabled to ask whether you wish to sell out your interest in that idea you gave him.” I said: “Yes, I do. In these days I will sell anything for money.” “Well,” he said, “what would you take?” I said I believed that a statement recently rendered to me showed that there were already fifty thousand dollars to my credit, and I would take sixty thousand. Next morning when I called Mr. Morgan handed me checks for seventy thousand dollars. “Mr. Carnegie,” he said, “you were mistaken. You sold out for ten thousand dollars less than the statement showed to your credit. It now shows not fifty but sixty thousand to your credit, and the additional ten makes seventy.” The payments were in two checks, one for sixty thousand dollars and the other for the additional ten thousand. I handed him back the ten-thousand-dollar check, saying: “Well, that is something worthy of you. Will you please accept these ten thousand with my best wishes?” “No, thank you,” he said, “I cannot do that.” Such acts, showing a nice sense of honorable understanding as against mere legal rights, are not so uncommon in business as the uninitiated might believe. And, after that, it is not to be wondered at if I determined that so far as lay in my power neither Morgan, father or son, nor their house, should suffer through me. They had in me henceforth a firm friend.

This is rose colored glasses. He has a very good relationship with the father, but things soured with the son greatly. Eventually they mended fences enough to sell the company, but it was not this undying loyalty to the whole house that he makes it seem.

I believe the true road to preëminent success in any line is to make yourself master in that line. I have no faith in the policy of scattering one’s resources, and in my experience I have rarely if ever met a man who achieved preëminence in money-making—certainly never one in manufacturing—who was interested in many concerns. The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.

Focus is everything.

It has been with me a cardinal doctrine that I could manage my own capital better than any other person, much better than any board of directors. The losses men encounter during a business life which seriously embarrass them are rarely in their own business, but in enterprises of which the investor is not master. My advice to young men would be not only to concentrate their whole time and attention on the one business in life in which they engage, but to put every dollar of their capital into it. If there be any business that will not bear extension, the true policy is to invest the surplus in first-class securities which will yield a moderate but certain revenue if some other growing business cannot be found. As for myself my decision was taken early. I would concentrate upon the manufacture of iron and steel and be master in that.

I wish this were true, because if so he truly called his shot and executed superbly. But given how inaccurate so many parts of his autobiography are, I have to discount it quite a bit.

The sound rule in business is that you may give money freely when you have a surplus, but your name never—neither as endorser nor as member of a corporation with individual liability.

Your reputation is everything.

Industry

The Keystone Bridge Works have always been a source of satisfaction to me. Almost every concern that had undertaken to erect iron bridges in America had failed. Many of the structures themselves had fallen and some of the worst railway disasters in America had been caused in that way. Some of the bridges had given way under wind pressure but nothing has ever happened to a Keystone bridge, and some of them have stood where the wind was not tempered. There has been no luck about it. We used only the best material and enough of it, making our own iron and later our own steel. We were our own severest inspectors, and would build a safe structure or none at all.

Be your own harshest critic is a great rule in life.

Uphill work it will be for a few years until your work is proven, but after that it is smooth sailing. Instead of objecting to inspectors they should be welcomed by all manufacturing establishments. A high standard of excellence is easily maintained, and men are educated in the effort to reach excellence. I have never known a concern to make a decided success that did not do good, honest work, and even in these days of the fiercest competition, when everything would seem to be matter of price, there lies still at the root of great business success the very much more important factor of quality. The effect of attention to quality, upon every man in the service, from the president of the concern down to the humblest laborer, cannot be overestimated.

Could not agree more - once you have a reputation for quality (hard as it is to earn and maintain), the universe will conspire to help you.

The surest foundation of a manufacturing concern is quality. After that, and a long way after, comes cost.

100%

“Ah, gentlemen,” I said, “there is the point. A little more money and you could have had the indestructible wrought-iron and your bridge would stand against any steamboat. We never have built and we never will build a cheap bridge. Ours don’t fall.”

Again, I don’t believe this is accurate, but if so, man was he styling on these guys.

The Lucy Furnace became the most profitable branch of our business, because we had almost the entire monopoly of scientific management.

Underpinning every business success is some technological innovation. Carnegie is no exception. The key though is that he was in the industry long enough to recognize at once the insane opportunity that this new furnace type provided. Many others could have acted on this but didn’t.

I had not failed to notice the growth of the Bessemer process. If this proved successful I knew that iron was destined to give place to steel; that the Iron Age would pass away and the Steel Age take its place.

And pass away it did. Again, survive long enough to even know what luck looks like.

The supply of superior coke was a fixed quantity—the Connellsville field being defined. We found that we could not get on without a supply of the fuel essential to the smelting of pig iron; and a very thorough investigation of the question led us to the conclusion that the Frick Coke Company had not only the best coal and coke property, but that it had in Mr. Frick himself a man with a positive genius for its management. He had proved his ability by starting as a poor railway clerk and succeeding.

Frick is the ultimate COO, and they died hating each other to the bitter end despite the incredible partnership they had. Unsurprisingly there isn’t much about Frick in the autobiography. Coke here is a coal derivative, not cocaine.

It may be accepted as an axiom that a manufacturing concern in a growing country like ours begins to decay when it stops extending. To make a ton of steel one and a half tons of iron stone has to be mined, transported by rail a hundred miles to the Lakes, carried by boat hundreds of miles, transferred to cars, transported by rail one hundred and fifty miles to Pittsburgh; one and a half tons of coal must be mined and manufactured into coke and carried fifty-odd miles by rail; and one ton of limestone mined and carried one hundred and fifty miles to Pittsburgh. How then could steel be manufactured and sold without loss at three pounds for two cents? This, I confess, seemed to me incredible, and little less than miraculous, but it was so. America is soon to change from being the dearest steel manufacturing country to the cheapest. Already the shipyards of Belfast are our customers. This is but the beginning. Under present conditions America can produce steel as cheaply as any other land, notwithstanding its higher-priced labor. There is no labor so cheap as the dearest in the mechanical field, provided it is free, contented, zealous, and reaping reward as it renders service. And here America leads.

It’s remarkable how many people in this era made wealth by making a commodity significantly cheaper than could otherwise be done. Rockefeller did this to oil and Carnegie did this to steel. He was the first vertical monopoly (his own rails would tranpsort goods to make more steel) and produced the cheapest steel in the world.

Oil

Everybody was in high glee; fortunes were supposedly within reach; everything was booming. On the tops of the derricks floated flags on which strange mottoes were displayed. I remember looking down toward the river and seeing two men working their treadles boring for oil upon the banks of the stream, and inscribed upon their flag was “Hell or China.” They were going down, no matter how far.

“Hell or China”, what an incredible quote.

In those early days all the arrangements were of the crudest character. When the oil was obtained it was run into flat-bottomed boats which leaked badly. Water ran into the boats and the oil overflowed into the river. The creek was dammed at various places, and upon a stipulated day and hour the dams were opened and upon the flood the oil boats floated to the Allegheny River, and thence to Pittsburgh. In this way not only the creek, but the Allegheny River, became literally covered with oil. The loss involved in transportation to Pittsburgh was estimated at fully a third of the total quantity, and before the oil boats started it is safe to say that another third was lost by leakage.

I keep forgetting that Pittsburgh was actually the site of the first oil well in the US! So Carnegie, living there for so long, would have learned quite a bit about the oil trade as well.

The oil gathered by the Indians in the early days was bottled in Pittsburgh and sold at high prices as medicine—a dollar for a small vial. It had general reputation as a sure cure for rheumatic tendencies. As it became plentiful and cheap its virtues vanished. What fools we mortals be!

Ouch.

Labor

The strike became more and more threatening. I remember being wakened one night and told that the freight-train men had left their trains at Mifflin; that the line was blocked on this account and all traffic stopped. Mr. Scott was then sleeping soundly. It seemed to me a pity to disturb him, knowing how overworked and overanxious he was; but he awoke and I suggested that I should go up and attend to the matter. He seemed to murmur assent, not being more than half awake. So I went to the office and in his name argued the question with the men and promised them a hearing next day at Altoona. I succeeded in getting them to resume their duties and to start the traffic.

I had remained abroad during the Homestead strike, instead of flying back to support my partners. It was to the effect that “I was always disposed to yield to the demands of the men, however unreasonable”; hence one or two of my partners did not wish me to return. Taking no account of the reward that comes from feeling that you and your employees are friends and judging only from economical results, I believe that higher wages to men who respect their employers and are happy and contented are a good investment, yielding, indeed, big dividends.

The best men as men, and the best workmen, are not walking the streets looking for work. Only the inferior class as a rule is idle. The kind of men we desired are rarely allowed to lose their jobs, even in dull times. It is impossible to get new men to run successfully the complicated machinery of a modern steel plant.

I closed by saying that if elected to my lamented friend’s place upon the Executive Committee I should esteem it an honor to serve. To this position I was elected by unanimous vote. I was thus relieved from the feeling that I was considered responsible by labor generally, for the Homestead riot and the killing of workmen. I owe this vindication to Mr. Oscar Straus, who had read my articles and speeches of early days upon labor questions, and who had quoted these frequently to workmen. The two labor leaders of the Amalgamated Union, White and Schaeffer from Pittsburgh, who were at this dinner, were also able and anxious to enlighten their fellow-workmen members of the Board as to my record with labor, and did not fail to do so.

Had I not allowed the union officers to sign, they would have had a grievance and an excuse for war. As it was, having allowed them to do so, how could they refuse so simple a request as mine, that each free and independent American citizen should also sign for himself. My recollection is that as a matter of fact the officers of the union never signed, but they may have done so. Why should they, if every man’s signature was required? Besides this, the workmen, knowing that the union could do nothing for them when the scale was adopted, neglected to pay dues and the union was deserted. We never heard of it again.

Of all my services rendered to labor the introduction of the sliding scale is chief. It is the solution of the capital and labor problem, because it really makes them partners—alike in prosperity and adversity. There was a yearly scale in operation in the Pittsburgh district in the early years, but it is not a good plan because men and employers at once begin preparing for a struggle which is almost certain to come. It is far better for both employers and employed to set no date for an agreed-upon scale to end.

There have been many incidents in my business life proving that labor troubles are not solely founded upon wages. I believe the best preventive of quarrels to be recognition of, and sincere interest in, the men, satisfying them that you really care for them and that you rejoice in their success.

Politics

At an early age I became a strong anti-slavery partisan and hailed with enthusiasm the first national meeting of the Republican Party in Pittsburgh, February 22, 1856, although too young to vote.

There’s a certain strain of modern liberalism that likes to pretend that one sin (having too much wealth) must automatically imply all the other sins (racism, etc). It’s important to remember that life is much more complicated than that. Most wealthy people are in fact, happy, good people who do a lot of good for the world.

Looking back to-day one cannot help regretting so high a price as the Civil War had to be paid to free our land from the curse, but it was not slavery alone that needed abolition. The loose Federal system with State rights so prominent would inevitably have prevented, or at least long delayed, the formation of one solid, all-powerful, central government. The tendency under the Southern idea was centrifugal. To-day it is centripetal, all drawn toward the center under the sway of the Supreme Court, the decisions of which are, very properly, half the dicta of lawyers and half the work of statesmen. Uniformity in many fields must be secured. Marriage, divorce, bankruptcy, railroad supervision, control of corporations, and some other departments should in some measure be brought under one head.

Very interesting to see dated opinions of the civil war.

I had then become the superintendent of the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The South had seceded. I was all aflame for the flag. Mr. Stokes, being a leading Democrat, argued against the right of the North to use force for the preservation of the Union. He gave vent to sentiments which caused me to lose my self-control, and I exclaimed: “Mr. Stokes, we shall be hanging men like you in less than six weeks.” I hear his laugh as I write, and his voice calling to his wife in the adjoining room: “Nancy, Nancy, listen to this young Scotch devil. He says they will be hanging men like me in less than six weeks.”

You can get a sense of how youthful and zealous of a patriot he was!

Grant, when President, was accused of being pecuniarily benefited by certain appointments, or acts, of his administration, while his friends knew that he was so poor that he had been compelled to announce his intention of abandoning the customary state dinners, each one of which, he found, cost eight hundred dollars—a sum which he could not afford to pay out of his salary. The increase of the presidential salary from $25,000 to $50,000 a year enabled him, during his second term, to save a little, although he cared no more about money than about uniforms. At the end of his first term I know he had nothing.

The salary increase is true, but none of the rest can be corroborated by any searches I could find.

The cause of democracy suffers more in Britain today from the generally received opinion that American politics are corrupt, and therefore that republicanism necessarily produces corruption, than from any other one cause. Yet, speaking with some knowledge of politics in both lands, I have not the slightest hesitation in saying that for every ounce of corruption of public men in the new land of republicanism there is one in the old land of monarchy, only the forms of corruption differ. Titles are the bribes in the monarchy, not dollars. Office is a common and proper reward in both. There is, however, this difference in favor of the monarchy; titles are given openly and are not considered by the recipients or the mass of the people as bribes.

Even our corruption is better than everyone else’s corruption! Truly American exceptionalism.

It was clear to my mind that the Civil War had resulted in a fixed determination upon the part of the American people to build a nation within itself, independent of Europe in all things essential to its safety. America had been obliged to import all her steel of every form and most of the iron needed, Britain being the chief seller. The people demanded a home supply and Congress granted the manufacturers a tariff of twenty-eight per cent ad valorem on steel rails—the tariff then being equal to about twenty-eight dollars per ton. Rails were selling at about a hundred dollars per ton, and other rates in proportion. Protection has played a great part in the development of manufacturing in the United States. Previous to the Civil War it was a party question, the South standing for free trade and regarding a tariff as favorable only to the North. The sympathy shown by the British Government for the Confederacy, culminating in the escape of the Alabama and other privateers to prey upon American commerce, aroused hostility against that Government, notwithstanding the majority of her common people favored the United States. The tariff became no longer a party question, but a national policy, approved by both parties.

Interesting to see how the political ailes have flipped regarding free trade.

The duties upon steel were successively reduced, with my cordial support, until the twenty-eight dollars duty on rails became only one fourth or seven dollars per ton.

Amen.

Free trade would only tend to prevent exorbitant prices here for a time when the demand was excessive. Home iron and steel manufacturers have nothing to fear from free trade.

Exactly this. People need to read more history.

The South typically was pro free trade, because it was seen as a way to reduce the North’s economic impact by bringing in more competition. Carnegie was a maverick relative to his other Republicans in arguing for free trade.

War & Peace

When released, in their spring upwards, they struck me in the face, knocked me over, and cut a gash in my cheek which bled profusely. In this condition I entered the city of Washington with the first troops, so that with the exception of one or two soldiers, wounded a few days previously in passing through the streets of Baltimore, I can justly claim that I “shed my blood for my country” among the first of its defenders.

This is absolutley false and never happened. He was in a completely different city for this. I hope he’s joking but based on the number of other historical inaccuracies I can’t say for certain.

The day that International Court is established will become one of the most memorable days in the world’s history. It will ring the knell of man killing man—the deepest and blackest of crimes. It should be celebrated in every land as I believe it will be some day, and that time, perchance, not so remote as expected.

It won’t, but I admire the vision.

“You’re a New Yorker and think of nothing but business and dollars. That is the way with New Yorkers; they care nothing for the dignity and honor of the Republic,” said his Excellency.

“Mr. President, I am one of the men in the United States who would profit most by war; it might throw millions into my pockets as the largest manufacturer of steel.”

“Well, that is probably true in your case; I had forgotten.”

“Mr. President, if I were going to fight, I would take some one of my size.”

“Well, would you let any nation insult and dishonor you because of its size?”

“Mr. President, no man can dishonor me except myself. Honor wounds must be self-inflicted.”

“You see our sailors were attacked on shore and two of them killed, and you would stand that?” he asked.

“Mr. President, I do not think the United States dishonored every time a row among drunken sailors takes place; besides, these were not American sailors at all; they were foreigners, as you see by their names. I would be disposed to cashier the captain of that ship for allowing the sailors to go on shore when there was rioting in the town and the public peace had been already disturbed.”

Say what you will, he genuinely wanted international peace.

It was urged that if we did not occupy the Philippines, Germany would. It never occurred to the urgers that this would mean Britain agreeing that Germany should establish a naval base at Macao, a short sail from Britain’s naval base in the East. Britain would as soon permit her to establish a base at Kingston, Ireland, eighty miles from Liverpool. I was surprised to hear men—men like Judge Taft, although he was opposed at first to the annexation—give this reason when we were discussing the question after the fatal step had been taken. But we know little of foreign relations. We have hitherto been a consolidated country. It will be a sad day if we ever become anything otherwise.

It’s amazing how little security threat theater has changed. The names and places change, but the logic to justify intervention always remains the same.

Until militarism is subordinated, there can be no World Peace. As I read this to-day [1914], what a change! The world convulsed by war as never before! Men slaying each other like wild beasts! I dare not relinquish all hope. In recent days I see another ruler coming forward upon the world stage, who may prove himself the immortal one. The man who vindicated his country’s honor in the Panama Canal toll dispute is now President. He has the indomitable will of genius, and true hope which we are told, “Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.” Nothing is impossible to genius! Watch President Wilson! He has Scotch blood in his veins.   [Here the manuscript ends abruptly, concluding the autobiography of Andrew Carnegie.]

I wish this were true, but in just 5 short years the world will plunge back into war.

Faith

My mother, however, took no interest in Swedenborg. Although always inculcating respect for all forms of religion, and discouraging theological disputes, she maintained for herself a marked reserve. Her position might best be defined by the celebrated maxim of Confucius: “To perform the duties of this life well, troubling not about another, is the prime wisdom.”

Not quite true - his family on his mother’s side was the closest thing to atheists that the time period would allow.

We accepted as proven that each stage of civilization creates its own God, and that as man ascends and becomes better his conception of the Unknown likewise improves. Thereafter we all became less theological, but I am sure more truly religious.

Here his Calvinist (and really atheist) views really start to come out. He’s not wrong though!

Scottish medicine was then as stern as Scottish theology (both are now much softened), and I was bled.

Every generation believes the next one is soft. It’s truly remarkable.

Eternal punishment, because of a few years’ shortcomings here on earth, would be the reverse of Godlike. Satan himself would recoil from it.

The shortest summary for why he disagrees with the orthodoxy of the Church.

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Overall I would skip this book if you’re not truly fascinating by Carnegie. I cannot overstate how incomplete and biased (and at time, just flat out wrong) it is. It’s more of a psychological thriller than a history book, but it is a fascinating peek into the mind of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time.

This is someone who conflicted with himself and society constantly, and even until the end, never resolved it. He hated unions with a passion while arguing until the day he died that he supported labor movements and the working man (no doubt influenced by his childhood). He argued vociferously that he was a patriot and loved America, but at the same time could not see that other patriots did not want America to give up its freedom to an international coalition. He was supremely self confident and believed in social darwinism (often as a justification for his rather brutal actions), but at the same time was an incessent people pleaser and could not stand the fact that some people did not like him.

Given the sheer number of personal demons he wrestled with, it’s even more remarkable how successful he eventually became. Be warned though, he is a terrible writer. You can tell that there was no ghost writer here.