Presentation Transcript

1. Andrew Carnegie:The Man Behind the Legend Iancu Antonio
2. 1835 - Born in Dunfermline Scotland Birth place of Andrew Carnegie Retrieved from http://en.wikiped ia.org/wiki/File:Birthplace_of_Andrew_Carnegie,_Dunfermline.jpg Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1835. He was born into an average working class family and his father was a skilled worker who worked in the weaving industry. Not only was his father in the weaving industry, but he was also apart of the Chartist group. The Chartist group focus was on getting better working conditions for the working class living in Great Britain. As the industrialization in the weaving industry grew in Great Britain, Carnegie’s weaving business slowly came to a stop and he was laid off like many others living there at the time. Carnegie and his family immigrated to the United States in 1848. Street view of Dunfermline, Scotland Photo Retrieved from http://fife-scotland.blogspot.com/2009/06/old-high-street-dunfermline-fife.html
3. 1848 - Early employment Only months after arriving in the country and obtaining his first job, Carnegie found himself moving up in the world and nearly doubled his weekly earnings bringing his pay to $2.00 per week. When he took the new factory job tending to steam engines and boilers he caught the eye of his supervisor and was promoted on the spot to work as a clerk in the factory. This position not only gave him a bigger paycheck but also took Carnegie out the dangerous working environments he had endured in his two prior positions. Andrew Carnegie was about business from almost the instant that his family arrived in the United States. At the age of 12 he took his first job in America and became a bobbin boy. While only making $1.20 per week, Carnegie began his path towards the American dream. He was filled with ideas and longed to make something more of himself so that he could better support his family. Image 1 retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/child-labor/5856 Image 2 retrieved from http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/springburn/spring016.htm Image 3 retrieved from http://artofmanliness.com/2012/03/28/andrew-carnegie-financial-lessons/
4. 1849 – Carnegie’s Continued Advancement By the age of 14, Andrew Carnegie had obtained a position at a telegraph business as a messenger boy. What set Carnegie apart from other messengers was his personality and his ability to be personable with everyone he met. Carnegie would memorize the people that he regularly delivered to so that while he was out running messages, if he came across someone he was to deliver to that day he could give them their message then, and not have to go all the way to their residence or office. This saved time and money for the company he worked for and showed promise to the people whom he delivered to. In addition to delivering the telegraph messages, Carnegie would share his dreams and ambitions with most anyone that he would meet. Not to long after Carnegie acquires the position of messenger, he was promoted to Telegraph Operator and begins to make nearly ten times what he was making as a messenger. Image retrieved from http://www.mtc.gov.on.ca/en/libraries/carnegie_clip_image002.jpg
5. 1853 - 1861 - The Young Entrepreneur In 1953 Andrew Carnegie takes a position that is about to change his life more than anyone could have ever predicted. Carnegie accepts a position working for the Pennsylvania Railroad working as a personal telegrapher for the superintendent Thomas Scott. Using the skills he had learned from his earlier position with the telegraph company, Carnegie’s salary again fattens and he begins learning everything he can about the railways and railroad industry. All of this isn’t enough for him as he continues to think outside of the box and looking for ways to make things run more efficient. While Carnegie worked for Scott he came up with two contributions that turned out to be most successful. Carnegie proposed that the telegraph office be open ‘round the clock and that rail cars should be burned if ever in a wreck that ends up blocking the railway. By the time Carnegie quit working for Scott, he had left a lasting impression on his employer and had just begun to leave his footprint in the rail industry. Pennsylvania Railroad Image retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pennsylvania_Railroad
6. 1853 - 1859 - The Young Entrepreneur CONT. As Carnegie’s success grew so did his ambition. After seeing the success that he had brought to his many former employers, he finally stepped out into a venture of his own. Carnegie made his first real investment in a new type of rail car called the sleeping car . Sleeping cars were a breakthrough for the railroad industry and two short years after he made his initial investment of little more then $200, he was grossing almost $5000 per year. Even with the substantial salary that he was paid by Thomas, the sum that he profited from his own venture paid more than three times what he was making working for him. Three years later in 1859, Carnegie was promoted to be Pennsylvania Railroad's new superintendent of it’s western division taking over the position Thomas Scott once held. With yet another raise in his salary and the money he was making in the rail car investment Carnegie was truly making a name for himself. At the end of 1859, Carnegie and his mother moved to the posh upscale area of Homewood. The American dream that brought the Carnegie family to the USA was unfolding before their very eyes. Sleeper Car Retrieved from http://www.chicagohistoryjournal.com/2010/08/andrew-carnegie-george-pullman-and.html
7. 1861 – 1865 – The Civil War & The Keystone Bridge Company In 1861 Carnegie started the Freedom iron company and being ever on the forefront of opportunity, Carnegie along side of his employer Thomas Scott, he began working for the Union Army during the height of the civil war. Carnegie again using his ability to see into the future, began to notice that the railroad were deteriorating partially due to the materials used to build them and the Confederate army who was destroying them. By owning a n iron mill he was able to cut costs further by using materials manufactured in his own mill. While supervising the repairs of the railways with Scott he became aware of the status of the telegraph lines. The line had be broken and were in utter disrepair. Carnegie took it upon himself to make these valuable repairs and upon his return to the city arranged with Scott to build more telegraph lines to Virginia. It was also during this time that he had profited so much from his initial sleeping car endeavor that he took a large sum of money and bought into the oil industry that was beginning to boom. By 1863, Carnegies income had reached a whopping $42,000 annually only $2400 of which came from the position that he held with the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1965 Carnegie changed tracks and quit working for the railroad in order to start his own business which he named The Keystone Bridge Company. Keystone was a success from the moment it started building. What set Carnegie’s venture apart was the way the work was done. For the first time bridges were being build with iron instead of the wood that they had been traditionally build with in the past. These valuable bridges and passageways that were built were truly revolutionary for the time for they were stronger and would last longer thus cutting costs which was what Carnegie was all about. Photo retrieved from http://suite101.com/article/andrew-carnegie-retirement-philanthropy-reasons-for-success-a364988
8. 1872 – 1875– The Age of Steel After almost two decades of successful endeavors, mass amounts of returns from investments and high yielding mergers Carnegie visits Henry Bessemer in England to see a new process that would revolutionize the industry that he would later amass the greater portion of his wealth from. Like Carnegie, Bessemer was also a revolutionary mind for his time. He demonstrated how the Bessemer Process . This process would make steel cheaper and easier then ever before. Steel was important because unlike the iron that was so commonly used, steel didn’t wear out. While Carnegie had already been using the Bessemer process to make steel, his visit make it apparent how much profit there was to be had in the making of steel for the commercial industry. In 1875 the first steel plant owned by Carnegie opens and fulfills it’s first order of 2000 rail of steel for his for railroad company the Pennsylvania Railroad. For the next several years Carnegie’s steel industry grows taking over other smaller plants. The Homestead Steel Mill Photo retrieved from http://www.brooklineconnection.com/history/Facts/Steel.html
9. 1889 – The Gospel of wealth In June of 1889 Andrew Carnegie was published in the North American Review. The article titled "wealth" was such a hit that that it was requested to be allowed to be published in England's Pall Mall Gazette. The English gazette published the article as "The Gospel of Wealth" and was later printed into a hard covered copy. What made this article special was that it was more like a bible for the modern millionaire. The text focused on the moral and ethical responsibility of the wealth and their duty to assist in the growth of the greater good and well being of the people. The article he wrote was written in two sections with the first focusing on how to acquire large amounts of wealth and was followed by the second defining how to best use wealth to benefit worthy causes. Carnegie believed that upon a wealthy persons death that little to nothing should be left in their estate, that it all should be disbursed to philanthropic causes. Photo retrieved from http://www.butler-bowdon.com/Andrew-Carnegie-The-Gospel-Of-Wealth
10. 1901 - the Biggest private Transaction in history As Carnegie continued to acquire addition steel operations and in March of 1901 he consolidated all of his companies and formed the United States Steel company. The company was so large and successful that it not only allowed Carnegie to drive steel prices even lower due to the growth in efficiency that it set a new world record for the most successful enterprise the world had ever seen. It was at this time that after J.P Morgan received at tip that Carnegie would entertain selling for the right price that he swooped in for the kill. During a game of golf Morgan asked Carnegie for a price and the following day the funds were transferred into his account. The largest private business transaction the world had ever seen had just taken place as Morgan paid Carnegie a cool $400,000,000 for U. S. Steel, making Carnegie the richest man in the world. J. P. Morgan Photo retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/americas-robber-barons-2012-3?op=1 Andrew Carnegie Photo retrieved from http://www.gravepedia.com/findagrave/andrew-carnegie-1919-1835.html
11. 1902 – 1911 – The Great philanthropist Andrew Carnegie had spent the better part of his life living as a shrewd and ruthless business man. After the sale of U.S. Steel in 1901 Carnegie's days as a business mogul had come to an end as he turned his eye to philanthropic endeavors. At this point in his life he began to show a much softer side to himself as he spent the remaining years of his life unloading the mass amounts of wealth he had acquired over the years different educational outlets. Specifically libraries, colleges and public halls. By the time he moved to his residence at Shadow Brook, he had given away some ninety percent of his wealth. Carnegie Mellon University Syracuse Carnegie Library Photos retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie
12. 1919 – The end of one of the great Captains of industry Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shadowbrook,_Lenox,_MA.jpg After living a life of greatness and after having given the better part of his life’s fortunes away, Carnegie retired to his home at Shadowbrook in Lenox, Massachusetts and died shortly after from bronchial pneumonia in 1919. Andrew Carnegie is the true embodiment of the American Dream. A story in history that shows how much influence and success one can create on their own. With his death he left a legacy, one that will surly forever have an impact on history for he was truly one of the greatest captains of industry.
13. Works Cited Andrew Carnegie. (2012). Biography.com Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/andrew-carnegie-9238756 Drain, M. (Producer). & Hopkins, T. (Director). (1997). The American Experience: Andrew Carnegie [Motion Picture]. United States: WGBH/Boston PBS. (2009). The American Experience Timeline: Andrew Carnegie. Retrieved from www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/timeline/timeline2.html Carnegie Corporation of New York. (2009). About Andrew Carnegie. Retrieved from carnegie.org/about-us/foundation-history/about-andrew-carnegie