When the United States emerged from the Civil War, gradually recovered its economy, and gradually became one of the most developed countries in the world, a number of excellent entrepreneurs were born. Railroad giant Vanderbilt, oil overlord Rockefeller... They have made outstanding contributions to the development of the United States. Railroads allowed American goods and personnel to be transported at an unprecedented rate; kerosene made it dark throughout America at night. The speed of development of the United States is like a running train, rapidly surpassing a number of established powers, like kerosene lamps, guiding other countries in recent history.
Picture 1: Railway tycoon Vanderbilt
Figure 2: A picture of Rockefeller
Andrew Carnegie, the future American steel giant, was also like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller, born poor, relying on self-made to become an industry giant. But unlike the latter two, Andrew Carnegie had a mentor of his own and helped him build his own business step by step. The mentor was Vanderbilt's biggest rival, the pennsylvania Railroad owner: Thomas Scott.
Thomas Scott may not have imagined that the young man he had unearthed and worked in his company at the age of 12 would build a whole new empire to avenge him. It has a pivotal position in American history, enough to be on par with Vanderbilt and Rockefeller to fulfill his unfulfilled dreams.
Photo 3: Photo of Andrew Carnegie
Photo 4: Photograph of Andrew Carnegie as a child
At the age of 12, Andrew Carnegie began working for the Pennsylvania Railroad. And became the backbone of the family. Due to his age and work experience, he was only responsible for running errands, that is, helping to constantly pass letters and telegrams between offices. Because of his excellent work performance, he was deeply loved by the young Thomas Scott at that time.
Soon, Andrew Carnegie became Thomas Scott's personal assistant, helping him manage the company's affairs. It can be said that compared with the experience of other industry giants starting from scratch, his start can be said to be quite relaxed. However, a relatively easy start did not weaken his talents. At the age of 24, he became a manager for the Pennsylvania Railroad, overseeing the railroad's expansion project. In the present, this is undoubtedly enviable. Andrew Carnegie knew he was able to sit in the manager's seat at a young age because he had high hopes from his mentor Thomas Scott, who hoped that Andrew Carnegie would help him defeat his opponents and become the king of the railroad.
When your mentor has confidence in you, you should have more confidence in yourself. Not only because you can't live up to the expectations of others, but also because you have some talent and ability that has not yet been discovered. You have to jump out of your comfort zone and break through obstacles to improve yourself. Soon, Andrew Carnegie encountered one of the greatest difficulties of his life—the construction of a bridge across the Mississippi River.
At that time, due to technical reasons, many railway bridges across the Mississippi River had problems in construction or design, perhaps because of design reasons, or because of substandard building materials. In short, there are very few successful people. It is precisely for this reason that whoever successfully builds the bridge will lay his own railway to the west and become the king of the railway. Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Scott's most trusted person, took on the project. However, he did not understand bridge construction. Several of the schemes given by his bridge designers could not fully meet the design needs. At that time, the bridge was still made of wood or made of stone. But either the intensity is insufficient, or the use of raw materials is too large, which will seriously produce budgets.
A fortuitous coincidence led Carnegie to find a solution: on the way, he saw a blacksmith forging. At that time, due to the backwardness of production technology, the production cost of steel was extremely high, and it could only be used for small items such as knives and forks. Andrew Carnegie searched for various ways to produce steel and visited chemists everywhere. Bessemer, an engineer from the United Kingdom, invented a completely new process for producing steel, reducing the production time of a rail from two weeks to 15 minutes. Carnegie thought that since the iron was not strong enough, he would build the bridge with steel. Soon, on the Mississippi River, construction began on a brand new bridge. However, due to the extremely high price of steel, the construction cost of the bridge far exceeded the budget. Funding has been exhausted, payments are still unpaid, steel suppliers have stopped supplying raw materials, and construction of Andrew Carnegie's steel bridge has come to a standstill.
Figure 5: Metallurgical facilities of British metallurgist Bessemer
Thomas Scott's choice of Andrew Carnegie must have had his own reasons. He knows that a successful person must have a vision that can transcend the times. In addition, you have to take risks and even gamble on your own career. In this gamble, you have to be patient and persevere in order to become a great entrepreneur. Andrew Carnegie was convinced he saw the future and that steel was the perfect building material. If you are an ordinary person, facing a dilemma and great pressure, you will definitely fail. Faced with fear, Andrew Carnegie decided to turn to investors for help. And it was investors whose money saved Andrew Carnegie and his bridge.
At the age of 33, the first steel bridge over the Mississippi River, the St. Louis Bridge, was completed. But construction was not quickly accepted by the public, and the carrying capacity of the St. Louis Bridge was questioned. To reassure the public, Andrew Carnegie decided to prove the bridge by adopting a rumor that was so widespread at the time that elephants would not set foot on dangerous buildings. Apparently, he succeeded. The world's first road-railway dual-use bridge was born. Since then, all over the world, various steel structure bridges have been rapidly built, connecting more roads and railways, which has greatly facilitated transportation everywhere.
Figure 6: St. Louis Bridge, USA
The success of the St. Louis Bridge gave Thomas Scott the strength to compete with Vanderbilt and an andrew Carnegie saw a business opportunity. He realized that there would be a huge demand for steel in the United States in the future, especially in the construction of railways. If he can expand production and reduce selling prices, then he will have the ability to dominate the entire emerging steel industry. At this point, Thomas Scott was also very generous, funding the equivalent of the current full $21 million to Andrew Carnegie to support the construction of his own first large steel mill. When construction was completed, its daily output reached 225 tons per day. This figure is enough to meet the needs of railway companies and is inexpensive.
By this time, Andrew Carnegie's mentor Thomas Scott's railroad company had been hit hard by Rockefeller, and the company went bankrupt, and Thomas Scott was devastated and died in poverty. Andrew Carnegie was devastated by the death of his mentor and decided to take revenge on America's richest man. At the time, rockefeller succeeded in beating the railroad industry. A large number of railway companies went bankrupt, workers lost their jobs, and the entire rail transport industry came to a standstill. And Andrew Carnegie, a supplier of steel to the rail transport industry, was in trouble.
But soon he, like Rockefeller, managed to see business opportunities in things that changed. He noticed that due to the large number of unemployment, workers had to flock to metropolises such as Chicago in search of work. The demand for rental housing surged, and the expansion of the city began. Andrew Carnegie seized the opportunity to supply homebuilders with large quantities of high-quality and cheap steel. In just a few years, Chicago has added 100,000 buildings. It can be said that modern America was built with Andrew Carnegie's steel.
Some of the buildings in Chicago still use Carnegie steel
Andrew Carnegie's plan of revenge made him greedy, believing that only by surpassing Rockefeller to become the richest man in the United States could he avenge his mentor Thomas Scott, and that his subsequent series of actions, although gradually rich, were irreversibly damaged.
Like the american dream achievers of the same period, he showed extraordinary brains at an early age, relying on his own efforts and insights, ups and downs in their respective industries, and eventually became the indisputable hegemon of their respective fields. The difference is that Andrew Carnegie had a Bó Lè who gave him the opportunity to make a difference in steel. Vanderbilt and Rockefeller were both self-made.
Unlike the other two, Andrew Carnegie has a reputation far beyond theirs. He was awarded the title of "Father of American Philanthropy." He felt guilty about the massive death toll from the collapse of South Fork Dam, and he began donating millions of dollars to rebuild Johnstown. In addition, he donated money to build a large number of libraries and concert halls, such as the famous Carnegie Hall and the world-famous university Carnegie Mellon University. In addition to this, at that time he mainly wanted to avenge his mentor by becoming the richest entrepreneur in the United States. Not to mention whether he did it for himself, but it is rare to see that Andrew Carnegie was a serious entrepreneur.
Since there is a good side, there is also a bad side. He wants to increase profits, but he can only reduce workers' wages and extend working hours. But he didn't want to be the bad guy to tarnish his reputation, so he asked one of his later partners, the infamous Henry Frick, to do these dirty things for him. In this respect, there is some hypocrisy. This is also in line with the general law of the characteristics of historical figures. All we can do is to look at him with a heart of admiration, to learn from his righteousness and kindness, but at the same time, to be cruel to him by all means in order to increase profits.
Figure VIII Carnegie Mellon University