DEATH OF ANDREW CARNEGIE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 272, 13 August 1919, Page 7

DEATH OF ANDREW CARNEGIE

PASSING OP A FAMOUS MULTIMILLIONAIRE

SKETCH OF A STRENUOUS LIFE v

8j Teloeraph-Preas Aasociatioc-Oopyrich!

Lenox (Massachusetts), August 11. Mr. Andrew Carnegie is dead, of bron. ehinl pneumonia. Mr. Carnegie was ill for three days, but his death was sudden, and his daughter was unablo to arrive in time—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. carnegjFsTareer Andrew Carnegie was one of tho most romarfeablo of modern millionaires. His fortune was estimated at from ,£10,000,030 U> £60,000,000, imA be made it all himself, after starting out in life without the proverbial penny. He inherited nothing, and he did not make money by speoulativo finanw; he built it up by industry, aided by phenomenal "luck.' The most remarkable feature about him, and one which distinguished him from I otlirir Kings of Capital, was tho fact that nftor having made- his millions, ho devoted himself to Riving them away. To "the poor," was his expressed determination, when he 'had reached 62 years of age. and he certainly did his best t(> achieve that end. Un to 1907 his total donations for public purposes in America and Europe amounted, so far as was known, to £3!!,3llfl.000, of which £10.600.000 was distributed in the four years preceding. His bequests were mostly in aid of library endowment • fnnclsj and technical education. Boyhood. Born in Dunfermline, on November 25. 183". he came of old Scotch stock, his father liouiff a master -weaver in a small way. Ho gleaned his education mostly from his mother and uncle, the former being a strong, godly woman of vigorous understanding. Adversity easting its shadow .over. Own, the family decided to emisrate to America. This was in l IMS, when William Carnegie and his wife, with Ajidrew and his brother,' emkirked i" a sailing ship, and made their war to PifitsbuTt, whero some relatives had ailirnady settled. At twelve years of e„go lAnd-row was put to work as bobbin boy. in', th l ? cotton factorv where bis father had obtained employment. Tho hnv's. wage was five shillings a week, for which ho started work before dnylight and worked until after sunset, with only ■forty minute" intersection for dinner. A year llater bf was taken on a.t a factory .whom bobbins were made, and set to fi.re a hoif ß r and run a small steam onsrine. At fourteen came deliverance from this jdmd'"vv. Ho became a le?e?raph lw i'i Pitts-burg, and ho was a nanny M wfen he found himself amo"g books, newsnapers, pens, and ink. Ho soon wfl-s promoted. By going to the office before the onerators arrived in tho inornin«r, and practising with other bnvs along the lines, he was aide to rfad the m*i=na?M. and then trok them l>v en v. Tin's nWHih- to'read bv sound fed to his onnoinhnent as o-cerator, at a salary of M a month. He was tlmn between fiffwn and sixteen years of age. and bright, smart, and intelligent as he was. did not. remain long in tlio telegranh office. Mv. Thor'as A. Scott, n. superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, w'hn bad freouently noticed Carnegie's brightness, offered' him the position of clerk and operator to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He accepted the offer and remained with the company for thirteen years. Beginning as telegraphic clerk and operator, be ■ h"-d been appointed to tho pest of ■Mr. Scott, as superintendent of tho Pittsburg division when he left.'When Mr. Scott became Assistant-Secretary of War ho nn.t Carnegie in charm of the military railroads a.nd lelegronhs of the ■ Government. Carnegie was then about twenty-three or four. "Struck Oil." Shortly .after his return from Washington, lie stumbled, by chance, upon the inventor of the sleeping oar,-with whom he formed a partnorshin that, gave him his first push nlong the- highway' to wealth. His first investment proved a veritable gold-mine. In the early sixties, the vast oil-fields was little known, and Carnegie'was one of the" lucky men who "struck oil." He, with some others, bought a farm for .£BOOO. and in one year it-paid in cash dividends no Iks than £20fl;000. After his appointment as' Mr. Scott's successor in the superintendence of tlio Pittsburg division of tho Pennsylvania. Railroad, he found the company was .making exneriments with a.n iron bridge. Before that all bridges hH been made out of wood.

The experiment was successful, and he saw thn.t there was a great future for those who undertook the manufacture of material for bridge buildinc. He therefore joined with several friends, raised ,£250 extra, from his banker, and started the. Keystone Bridge Works. The firm •was successful from the start. Jt began by building the first great bridge for the Ohio "Itiver, and never looked back. Carnegie soon resigned his nosition on the .railway and devoted himself to bridge building. Ho was situated at Pittsburg, in the heart of the richest iron and coal region in the worM. He kept in touch with the Old World, and it was from Kngln.nd in ISGB that he obtains d the, hint that he was to turn to such freed Account. English railways were then just beginning to substitute steel for iron ns the material for their metalled way.' Mr. Carnegie saw' that steel was the coming metal, and set to work to provide plant to anticipate the inevitable demand. He had established a, reputation, he was known to be a. man in whose hands everything prospered, ho could command as much capital as he required, and as he had faith in the future of the country whose praises he chanted' in his" book "Triumphant ])e"\oci'acy." ho acquired .nil the best coal andi iron mines in the neighbourhood- of 'Pittsburg. Afterwards ho extended his operations and acquired tins best iron-producing lands on the banks of Lake Superior, and built a railway 186 miles long in order to bring 'his ores to his shops. His idea was to own everything that was necessary for the production of .what he had to manufacture. In this way ho lias built up a veritable kingdom. The acquisition of the best mineral deposits which can be worked at. a minimum of' cost was the solid foundation, on which the Carnegie fortune rests, Personal Habits, As to his personal habits, ho never smoked, and was extremely abstemious where plcohol was. concerned. Good bealth, a good constitution, and good habits all contributed to his success, «ind after the first struggles of his early boyhood, - he knew singularly few reverses. "It is possible," wrote. Mr. W. T. Stead a few years ago, "that Mr. Carnegie's cheery, pleasant outlook uiion things in general is wirtly due to the absence of any deep religious convictions, if by religion wo mean the mystical, transcendental clement which Cromwell possessed in such a special manner. Mr. Carnegie is like the catllo whum Walt Whitman praised-. 'They do T'-nl lie mvi'lcc in the dark and weep for their sins.' A good digestion and an easy co'isciencn, or at least a conscience not haunted bv sense of sin, probably helped to enable Mr. Carnegie to take a chei'.rful view of life impossible to his ancestors, wlio were reared in the shadow of the Calvinistio faith. Mr. Carnegie has not been burdened with the cares and responsibilities of familv life mril a comparatively recent period. His devotion In his mother kept him single io middle age, and it is only three or four years since he first experienced tho satisfaction mid faced tl>" resnnnsibllity of parentage. To look habituallv upon the bright side of thing?, always to lake short vjews and to encounter the future with a cheerf'-i (•"-•id-iice Hiat {l>c l-«i'de"f;y is upwards and onwards, and that t'"o law governing all tilings lends Io Ihe survival of the fittest. i>"d Ihe evolution of Hie host —such is llie comfortable philosophy with u'Mob Mr. Carnegie has confronted the world." On rflirin." from business in America, he took up his residence at Skibo Castle, Scotland. His Philanthropy. Carnegie's philanthropy mado his name famous. His grants to various educational and charitable institution)) total, it is bolioved, oyer thirty-four niil-

lions sterling. Amongst these aro included:— ~. Pittsburg Carnegio Institution, Public Library, etc., .£4,400,000, with .81,100,000 as and when required. , . Scottish Universities .£2,000,000. Pensions for aged Professors of the United States and Canada, .02,000,000. American Hero Fund, .£1,000,000. Chicago University, £000,000. Union Engineering College lor U.S.A., £300,000. American Art Gallery, £203,0G0. Prineton University, ,£200,000. Central Bureau for American Republics, £150,000. , , .. _ Duqiicsno Institute. Homestead Jiistitlute, Johnstown Library, and Braddock Institute, £100,000 each. . King Edward's Hospital Fund, ■f.100,000. Alleghany Free Library, Edinburgh Free Library, £®ffCarnegie Town Library, £™ : ™'- Washington Free Library. £<jO,OOO. Robt. Koch Fund for campaign against tuburcillnsis, £25,000. Pennsylvania State College, £20,00.'. Hamilton Free ™™X-,, £la >% n "Aberdeen Technical College, ,00,000. Vic'firia Methodist College, lorontc.£10,000. , In addition to the foregoing no fewer than 1300 free libraries have been instituted or helped by Mr. Carnegie s -Jene''valence, or. promises, the entire r cost of uhicii is believed to exceed £8,000,000 Of the total £0,000,000 has gonv to tlm United States, £1,200,000 to 'England, i £100,0(3 to Scotland. £300*00 to Canada, £120,000 to Ireland, and otner shares to Porto Rico, New Zealand, and ho"lli Africa. , , ~„ What Mr. Carnegie set out to do for England by his Hero lund he has already done for America. It was in 1.101 that ho allotted a million sterling-, to place those following peaceful-vocations who have been injured in heroic-eftom to save human life, in somewhat bettor positions pecuniarily than betorc, until again able to work." i ... , ~ , The provisions were similar to those ot the last scheme. It was stipulated that a medal should bo struck having upon its two sides a recital of the deed it coinmemorated, which should be presented to the hero or heroino in person, or to the widow or other nearest relative.' somewhat in accord with the spirit of the late G. P. Watts' "Heroes' Memorial, in London, Mr. Carnegie arranged for the preparation and display in the office of the trust at. Pittsburg of a finely ■executed roll of heroes and heroines—aa will now bo done at Dunfermline. As to the Carnegie Dunfermline Irustees, it was by a trust deed, m»W Mr Carnegio madeoveraaumotiaUO.OOO, invested so as to yield an annual Tevenuo of £25,000, and also a park extending to 00 acres, purchased at tho price ot £15,000, to a body of trustees, sixteen ot | whom, wero nominated 'by himself, six I were chosen by tho Town Council of Dunfermline, and three by the School Board. In addition to this money and park, the trustees 1 were charged with the management of public baths and a gymnasium, erected bv Mr. Carnegio at a cost ot £15,000. 'The purpose of the trust was stated to be "to bring into the monotonous lives of the toiling mases of Dunfermline more of sweetness and light. Characteristic of Mr. Carnegie was his famous coat of arms, which ho de.-agned himself. Upon the escutcheon was a weaver's shuttle, because his fatherwas a weaver. "There is fine humour in a thought," remarked o magazine writer, "that steam machinery took away young Andrew Carnegie's livelihood and made it give him dominion over the whole world." There ia also on the escutcheon a shoemaker's knife, because his grandfather, made slices. It was that grandfather who wrote aii essay on "Hnndiucation versus Heitdification." which much influenced young "Andy." For a crest tho CKit-of-arnis had a crown revered, and surmounted by a liberty cap, the emblem of triumphant democracy. The esoutoheon was supported by an American fling; on one- side and a Scotch flag on the other.. Underneath (Was the motto - "Death to Privilege." Herbert N. Casson, the historian of the Steel Trust, awards to Carnegie the high- . est eminence ever achieved in four different way;. First, he \w° eminent "as a business builder." "He was the first

steelmaker in any country who flung goad machinery on the scrap-bean merely because something better had been invented." Second, ho was "an executive trainer." He not only niado steel, but •jteel-makers. Third, ho was eminent as "a wraith-master." He would not let wealth master him. He lived- his life and enjoyed it. whether tho market wont up or down. Fourth, he was eminent as n "civii'isatimi deiiener," He wa=, says Mr. Caflson, "no jubilee plunger of beneficence," 'but "a shaper of world-policies,") and "possibly tk» most origino.l and creative American of tho last hai'f-centiiry." •He was also probably the most popular multi-millionaire of his day.