Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie came to the U. S from Scotland as a young man. When he came over here, his family was extremely poor and consequently he had to get a job to help support his family. The first job that he had was working in a bobbin factory. He worked his way up the ladder like most people do, and when he reached the position of superintendent at a railroad company, his boss was very impressed with his work and rewarded him by giving him stock. He made a good amount of money off of the stock that he held and it fascinated him that he could make money by virtually doing nothing. This was perhaps because he had to work so extremely hard before to make any kind of money. His fascination led to him investing more money into stocks and making millions of dollars which he eventually used to found the company that he is known for Carnegie Steel Company.
During this time, steel was big business and Carnegie intended to make all the money he could off of it. He used the Bessemer method for the making of the steel in his company, which allowed him to mass produce steel, and to produce it cheaply. Along with making a cheap quality product, Carnegie also used vertical and horizontal integration to help him be in control of nearly the entire steel industry in the U.S. Vertical integration involved buying out all the suppliers of the materials needed to make steel and make it unavailable to other companies. Also this made it so he could get the supplies wholesale. When the other steel companies began to fall, horizontal integration played in when he bought the struggling companies and merged them into his.In doing this he created a giant monopoly in the steel business allowing him to make tons of money.
When Carnegie was 66 years old, he began to consider retiring. After much thinking he sold his steel empire to John Pierpont Morgan. When he had sold his business he began the rest of his life's work as a generous philanthropist, which included funding libraries, colleges institutions and the now very famous Carnegie hall in New York city.
Carnegie impacted the United States by introducing new business strategies and by funding all of the things that he did. His impact on our country should not be overlooked. When Carnegie passed in 1919 he left behind a major legacy, and he will be forever remembered.
Comments
Good but be sure to always link your sources!