Poor Boy Makes Good

Andrew Carnegie’s life story is like a chapter from Horatio Alger Jr.’s rags-to-riches series.

Carnegie’s experience is the American dream, a walking cliché: Hard-working immigrant boy becomes fabulously wealthy, then gives millions to charity.

Carnegie was born on this date, November 25, in 1835, in Dunfermline, Scotland, where his father tried to earn a living by weaving cloth on hand-powered looms.  When the Industrial Revolution, with steam-driven looms, made the elder Carnegie’s trade obsolete, he sold his looms and household goods and went to the United States with his wife and two sons: Andrew, age 13, and Thomas, 5.

Andrew dropped out of school when the family came to America and the Pittsburgh area. With his father, he went to work in a cotton factory. Teenage Andrew’s pay was $1.20 a week. Later, he worked for the telegraph company, first as a messenger boy and then as a telegraph operator. Next, he worked for what is now Penn Central Railroad, becoming a division manager by age 24.

Along the way, he bought stock in Woodruff Sleeping Car Company, the predecessor to the Pullman company. Near the end of the Civil War, Carnegie went into the iron business and then into steel. He became wealthy with Carnegie Steel, which he sold to United States Steel Corporation in 1901.

Carnegie has been dubbed a captain of industry and even a robber baron, but he is remarkable for his determination to give away great sums of his wealth. 

He was one of the first wealthy Americans to point to the moral obligation of the rich. He felt he and other rich men were morally obligated to share their fortunes with people in need. In his book, The Gospel of Wealth, he said all personal wealth beyond what it takes to provide for the needs of one's family should be considered as a trust fund to be used to aid the community. 

One of his most conspicuous donations is the series of more than 2500 free public libraries in many English-speaking countries. When he began this in 1881, there were only a few libraries open free to the public.

He created philanthropic and educational foundations in the U. S. and Europe; endowed Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh). 

Andrew Carnegie was physically little, standing under 5 foot, 6 inches. Though it may sound trite, he was, nevertheless, a giant of benevolence, giving away more than $350 million during his lifetime.

This wealthy man’s spirit of generosity strikes a key note for the Thanksgiving season, challenging us to be generous to others as a sign of genuine thanksgiving for God’s gifts to us. Whatever our level of financial resources, we can give proportionately to help others who are less fortunate.

A Verse for Today

But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18).

Each day through New Year's Day, January 1, 2013, daily inspirational thoughts will appear on this website, in keeping with Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and New Year's Day.  These are from my book Reflections for the Festive Season.  © 2002.  All rights reserved.