"Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself."
Andrew Carnegie
If ever there was someone who went from rags to riches, it was successful businessman Andrew Carnegie. He was born in 1835 to a rather poor Scottish family. His father was a handloom weaver, and his family suffered from an economic depression. In 1848, they came to the United States in hope of a better life, and settled down near Pittsburgh. At age 12, Andrew got his first job as a cotton factory worker, but he still continued his education at a night school. As a teenager, he worked as a messenger boy, and would later become a superintendent of the PA railroad.
His destiny began shaping during the Civil War, when he moved to Washington to work with Thomas A. Scott, the assistant secretary of the Civil War. Carnegie learned about telegraphs and helped to organize the telegraph system for the military. He was such an impressive, hard worker that after the war, he finally got the job as superintendent of the PA Railroad’s western division. This is when he began investing in the steel industry, iron mills, and factories.
Carnegie would visit Britain regularly over the years in order to keep an eye on the developments of the iron industries. Eventually, he realized that steel would replace iron for heavy goods manufacturing. And so he manufactured his very first blast furnace and would go on to become a leader in the steel industry.
Without a doubt, Andrew Carnegie became one of the most successful individuals the world has ever known. He became very interested in politics and social issues, and wrote many interesting books on personal development. In some of his books, he praised America for being the land of opportunities for everyone, rich or poor. He felt that America had the best educational system in the world since anyone, no matter how wealthy or poor, could receive an education in America and make something of his or herself.
And indeed Mr. Carnegie was a true example of just that. He was someone who came from poverty and worked himself up as the wealthiest man in America, if not the entire world. He was also a philanthropist, and gave away $350 million dollars by the time he passed away. He also helped set up a trust fund for the purpose of “improving mankind”, which resulted in over 3,000 public libraries in the US and Britain, the Carnegie Institutes of Pittsburgh and Washington, and the Endowment for International Peace. The latter was established for promoting peace and preventing wars.
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