Lesson 20
“Watch the costs and the profits will take care of themselves.”
Andrew Carnegie
Would you like to rich? Of course you do! Pretty much everybody wants to be well off (financially). Well an entrepreneur named Andrew Carnegie lived his version of the rags-to-riches story. Andrew Carnegie was the son of a poor Scottish weaver (William Carnegie) and was born November 25, 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland. Andrew had little formal education. The Carnegie’s immigrated in 1848 to America when times were tough. Their house was shared with another family so the actual living quarters for the Carnegie’s actually weren’t all that much.
Andrew became a source of income for the family when he was younger (than 99 years old). Considering that he learned how to recognize the sounds the incoming telegraphs produced, we might deduce that he was fairly initiative.
At 17 years of age, he became a secretary to a railroad superintendent.
Andrew invested in oil in 1864. He also invested in coal, express, and horse car companies. However, the investment that he became so well known for was his investment in iron and steel. He became known for leading the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, in the 1900, the profits of his corporation, named Carnegie Steel, were $40,000,000 of which Carnegies share was $25,000,000.
So as I said, in 1901, Carnegie formed U.S. Steel with a banker named J. P. Morgan. This became the largest corporation in the world.
During the U.S. Civil War,Andrew Carnegie was drafted into the U.S. army. But he did not serve. He paid another man $850 to take his place.
So Andrew Carnegie eventually owned a steel company, which he later sold for $304,000,000
Andrew Carnegie died in August 11, 1919 at the age of 83 in Lenox, Massachusetts. He had also given away about $350 million dollars. In today’s dollars that would be around 5 billion dollars.
Thanks for reading!
~SonofYHWH
Sources:
MISES WIRE
Timothy D. Terrell
Biography
Encyclopedia Britannica
History
Ducksters
Land Of The Living 