1848 on may 27th, the ship "Weiss caces" left Glasgow, England, crossed the Firth of Forth and sailed in the choppy Atlantic ocean. There is a boy 13 years old, his parents and his 5-year-old brother on board. Together with other poor immigrants from Scotland, they huddled in dark and low cabins, with poor food and dirty air, and suffered from the journey. After 50 days of turbulence, the ship finally reached its destination-new york Port on the east coast of the United States.
1848, 15 One morning in July, boys and new immigrants boarded the deck, facing the rising sun and overlooking this dreamland, and their hearts were full of longing. It is this 13-year-old boy who has changed from a penniless immigrant to the American steel king and the richest man in the world in the half century since he came to the United States, creating a miracle known as the "American Dream". He is andrew carnegie, one of the top ten chaebol in the United States.
1835165438+1October 25th, andrew carnegie was born in Danfermline, an ancient Scottish capital. My father, Will Carnegie, made a living by weaving linen plaids by hand, while my mother, Maggie, sewed shoes as a sideline. Although their parents are poor, they are honest and always enterprising. This is a family that has inherited the glorious tradition of pride, self-reliance and self-esteem.
Little Carnegie's grandfather was a cheerful, witty, humorous and indomitable man. As the eldest grandson, Carnegie Jr. was named after his grandfather andrew carnegie. He was proud to have such a grandfather since he was a child, and he was proud that his name accompanied him all his life. His grandfather was a natural speaker, a clever politician and an active local political leader. Maybe it's the ancestral genes. Carnegie was optimistic and eloquent since childhood, which had a great influence on his life.
In the second year of Carnegie's birth, his father used the money he had saved to buy three looms and hired several workers. Things got better at home and the whole family moved into a bungalow with a small attic. Carnegie helped his family since he was a child. As there is no running water, he gets up early every day, picks up a big bucket and goes to a nearby well to queue up for water. Pick a few buckets of water before going to school after breakfast. When I come back in the evening, I always help my mother who is busy sewing shoes, and at the same time I have to recite the poems and articles I learned at school silently.
1843, Carnegie was 8 years old, and the huge waves of the British industrial revolution swept over Danfermline. The first steam-driven linen loom appeared in this ancient town. Soon, the improved steam engine completely changed the face of this town. Danfermline's handicraft textile industry could not bear the impact of steam engine, and gradually declined and went bankrupt. The life of the Carnegie family has also gone from bad to worse. The assistant was fired and the loom was sold. Mother had to open a small shop to make a living. However, fatal blows followed, namely 1846 European famine and 1847 British economic crisis. The Carnegie family really couldn't get along, so they had to write to two menses who moved to Pittsburgh a few years ago, saying that they would also go to the United States with their families. Two menstrual letters said that now is a good opportunity to go to the United States and there are many employment opportunities. I hope they will leave soon.
Carnegie's parents sold all the looms and furniture in the family, and the trip to America was 20 pounds less. Thanks to the help of a good friend of my mother's, she lent them 20 pounds, and the family had enough travel expenses to go to America.
After getting off the boat in new york, the Carnegie family moved to Pittsburgh and settled down with relatives. In order to support the family, my father had no choice but to start his old job, knitting tablecloths and napkins, and he had to sell these products door to door along the street. Nevertheless, the money earned is far from enough for a family to spend. Mother had to sew shoes as a sideline, often sewing until late at night, while Carnegie and his younger brother Tom stayed aside to help. In this way, the family only earns 5 yuan a week, and life is quite difficult.
In order to share his parents' worries, Carnegie worked as a child laborer in a textile factory with a weekly salary of only $65,438 +0.20. Later, he took up the job of earning more money: burning boilers and dipping yarn tubes in oil pools. The smell in the oil pool was disgusting, and the boiling boiler made him sweat, but Carnegie gritted his teeth and went on working. Of course, he doesn't want to be so down and out all his life, but he should work hard and be proactive.
After a hard day's work, Carnegie attended night classes and took double accounting classes three times a week. The double-entry bookkeeping knowledge he learned during this period has become a magic weapon for him to establish a huge steel kingdom and be invincible.
/kloc-in the winter of 0/849, Carnegie came home from class one night and learned that his uncle had sent a message that the David telegraph company in Pittsburgh needed a messenger to send a telegram. He immediately realized that the opportunity had come.
The next morning, Carnegie put on brand-new clothes and shoes and went to the front of the telegraph company with his father. He stopped suddenly and said to his father, "I want to go in for an interview alone." Dad, please wait for me outside. " It turned out that he was worried that interviewing side by side with his father would be short. At the same time, he is also afraid that his father's inappropriate remarks will collide with Mr. David, thus losing this rare opportunity.
So he went to the second floor for an interview alone. Mr. David looked at the short Scottish boy with a long nose and asked, "Are you familiar with the streets in downtown Pittsburgh?"
Carnegie replied firmly, "No, but I promise to be familiar with all the streets of Pittsburgh within a week." He paused and added, "I am small, but I run faster than others." Please rest assured. "
Mr. David smiled with satisfaction: "The weekly salary is $2.50. Let's start working from now on!" " "
In this way, Carnegie got the job and took the first step in his life. At this time he was only 14 years old.
In just one week, Carnegie, dressed in a green uniform, fulfilled his promise made during the interview and became familiar with the streets of Pittsburgh. Two weeks later, he knew the route in the suburbs like the back of his hand. He is small, but diligent, and soon won the praise of the whole company. A year later, he was promoted to the head of messenger management.
Carnegie arrives at the company one hour early every day. After cleaning the room, he quietly ran to the telegraph room to learn to send a telegram. He cherished this secret learning opportunity very much, persisted day after day, and soon mastered the technology of sending and receiving telegrams. Later, he was promoted and became the first excellent operator in the telegraph office.
Pittsburgh is not only the transportation hub of the United States, but also the material distribution center and industrial center. As an advanced communication tool, telegraph plays an extremely important role in this city where businessmen gather. Walking down the street every day, sending telegrams and ticking telegrams, Carnegie is like entering a "business school". He is familiar with the name and characteristics of each company and understands the economic relations and business dealings between companies. Over time, he became familiar with this intangible "business encyclopedia" and benefited a lot in his later career. Therefore, when Carnegie reviewed this period, he called it "the first step to climb the ladder of life".
Because Carnegie works hard, he is appreciated by David, the general manager. One afternoon at the end of a month, Carnegie was left alone. When he walked into the general manager's office, he had butterflies in his stomach, worrying that he might have neglected something or done something wrong in his work. But David, the general manager, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Young man, you work harder and harder than others, so I will give you a separate salary increase from this month." Carnegie almost fainted with joy. He received $65,438+$03.5, $2.25 more than last month. This is a huge sum of money for poor teenagers who are only 15 years old.
When he got home, Carnegie just paid his mother 1 1.25 dollars as usual, and kept the increased $2.25 for the time being, because the money was too precious to him. Before going to bed at night, he told his younger brother the secret of the salary increase, and 7-year-old Tom was also surprised. So, the two brothers talked excitedly about their future careers, looking forward to opening a Carnegie Brothers Company in the future, earning a lot of money, giving their mother a shiny carriage, and never letting her old man sew shoes until midnight like now. They talked for a long time before falling asleep.
The next day at the dinner table, Carnegie gave his mother $2.25. He asked, "How much money did we borrow from others in Danfermline?" Mother looked surprised: "20 pounds of debt is almost enough." . Where did you get the money? "When my mother learned about the origin of the money, tears of joy welled up in her eyes, while the father sitting next to her showed a proud look. They realized that their son had a bright future and would do great things in the future. In order to pay back the 20 pounds donated by my friend, my mother saved 50 cents every day for the past two years, and made up 200 dollars, which was almost enough to pay off the debt. What a happy thing it is for my son to help pay off his debts with the increased money now. On this day, everyone in the family is full of joy.
After running errands and sending telegrams, Carnegie wanted to read more books to enrich himself, but because of his poor family, he had no extra money to buy books.
Fortunately, one day when he was looking through the newspaper, he found a message: james anderson, a retired colonel, was willing to lend 400 books hidden at home to teenagers who were eager to read. You can borrow a book from his house every Saturday, return it a week later and borrow another book.
So, ecstatic Carnegie found the colonel's home and borrowed his beloved book. From now on, every Saturday, he can be exposed to a brand-new world of knowledge.
Later, seeing more and more teenagers borrowing books, the colonel decided to set up a private library. He went to new york to buy books, expand his study, and borrowed a room from the city government to set up a real library.
Carnegie borrowed many good books from Anderson's library and got into the habit of reading. As long as he doesn't study for a day, he feels uneasy. Anderson gave him a chance to learn in the golden age of his life. Later, when Carnegie was successful in his career, in order to repay Mr. Anderson's help, he built a great hall and a library on the original site of his private library and erected a monument to commemorate the benefactor.
1853, Scott, the director of the western district of Pennsylvania Railway Company, took a fancy to Carnegie, who had excellent telegraph skills, and hired him as a private telegraph operator and secretary at a salary of $35 per month. At that time, Carnegie was already a boy of 18 years old, and he entered the wider world with great ambition.
In the history of Pennsylvania Railroad Company 10 years, Carnegie rose to the peak. At the age of 24, he was promoted to the director of the western region of the company, with an annual salary of 1500 USD, and gradually mastered the management skills of modern large enterprises. This skill was essential when he later organized a large steel enterprise.
At the same time, Carnegie also seized the opportunity, tried his hand at the beginning, participated in the investment, and succeeded frequently, gradually accumulating small wealth, which laid a certain economic foundation for him to establish steel enterprises in the future.
In 1856, Scott persuaded Carnegie to buy 10 shares of Adams Express Company for $600. At that time, Carnegie's total savings were only $60, but he was determined to make up the money. He discussed with his mother, who offered to borrow money with the house as collateral. In this way, Carnegie made his first investment with the loan. Soon, a bonus check of $65,438+00 from Adams Company was sent to Carnegie.
Soon, Carnegie acted as "Bole", introduced woodruff, the inventor of sleeper, into Pennsylvania Railway Company, and established the train sleeper manufacturing company. Carnegie bought the shares of 1/38 by borrowing and investing. Investing more than 200 dollars, the share of stock dividends in one year is as high as 5,000 dollars. Carnegie caught another chicken that can lay golden eggs. By 1863, Carnegie has become an expert in stock investment.
1865, Carnegie resolutely resigned from the railway company and began to concentrate on his own career. He founded the Pittsburgh Railway Company, the Locomotive Works and the Tieqiao Works, as well as the Ironmaking Works, and began to set foot in steel enterprises.
From 65438 to 60' s, the production and operation of steel in the United States were extremely dispersed, and many manufacturers had to go through the process from mining and ironmaking to finally making finished products such as rails and iron plates. In addition, middlemen increase prices in all production and sales links, resulting in high final product costs. Carnegie is well aware of these disadvantages of traditional steel enterprises, and he is determined to build a brand-new modern steel company that integrates supply, production and sales throughout the whole production process.
1872, Carnegie thought that the time was ripe for a big steelmaking. First of all, technically speaking, the low-cost acid converter steelmaking method has been invented, and he went to Britain to inspect the actual situation of the inventor Bessemer using this method in production. Secondly, the steel market in the United States is very vast, and the demand exceeds the supply. However, the United States is extremely rich in iron ore, and Michigan iron ore has entered the stage of large-scale mining. Thirdly, as far as financial resources are concerned, Carnegie already owns hundreds of thousands of dollars in stocks and other property. He decided to change the old law of investing everywhere and concentrate his funds on the steel industry. Finally, what makes Carnegie most confident is what he has mastered in the steel company 10 for many years.
Ability to manage large enterprises. So, by the end of 1873, he finally co-founded Kandri Iron and Steel Company. This company has a capital of $750,000. Carnegie is the largest shareholder with an investment of $250,000. In the next 20 years, Carnegie's wealth has increased dozens of times.
188 1 year, Carnegie realized his childhood dream and founded Carnegie Brothers Company with his younger brother Tom, whose steel output accounts for 1/37 of that of the United States. 1892, Carnegie merged Carnegie Brothers with two other companies to form a steel empire named after itself-Carnegie Steel Company. He finally reached the peak of his career and became a veritable steel tycoon. He was one of the three giants of American economic circles at that time, alongside Rockefeller and Morgan.
/kloc-At the end of 0/9 and the beginning of the 20th century, Carnegie Steel Company has become the largest steel enterprise in the world. It has more than 20,000 employees and the most advanced equipment in the world. Its annual output exceeds the national steel production in Britain, with an annual income of 40 million US dollars. Carnegie is the largest shareholder of the company, but he does not serve as chairman or general manager. His success depends largely on his appointment of a group of talents who know technology and management. Today, people often quote his famous saying: "If all the equipment and materials in my factory are burned out, but as long as I keep the whole class, I will still be the king of steel in a few years."
However, Carnegie is respected by the world, not only because he is a successful entrepreneur, but more importantly, because after his successful career, he did not hesitate to donate almost all his huge wealth to social welfare undertakings. In the latter half of his life, he mainly devoted himself to charity and world peace.
As early as the age of 33, Carnegie wrote such a passage in his diary: "People who are obsessed with money are people with low character. If I have been pursuing a career that can make money, I will surely degenerate one day. If I can get some wealth in the future, I will use it for social welfare. "
1900, Carnegie, who is over 60 years old, has made a name for himself. He was full of ambition and decided to retire with peace of mind and use his huge wealth to do what he had long wanted to do. This year, he announced in the Gospel of Wealth: "I don't try to earn more wealth." So he resolutely retired from his booming steel industry and sold Carnegie Steel Company to financial giant Morgan for $500 million. Then, he began to implement his great plan of dedicating wealth to society.
190 1, in the first year after retirement, he first set up a relief and pension fund for steel workers with 5 million dollars to thank the employees who helped him succeed in his career. Then, in order to help those ambitious and poor young people, he donated money to build 68 libraries in new york. The construction of this library took 16 years, and he donated120,000 dollars to build 3,500 libraries.
The following year, he donated $25 million to establish the Carnegie Institution in Washington, with US Secretary of State John as its president, which was mainly used to develop science, literature and fine arts. The association once built a "Carnegie" ocean survey ship and revised the world chart. In addition, the Wilson Observatory was built on the top of the mountain in California to observe space. For this association, Carnegie added funds several times in the following years, with a total donation of $73 million.
At the same time, Carnegie founded Carnegie University in Pittsburgh, his second hometown. Later, various schools and educational institutions were established in the United States and Britain. Such donations for the construction of educational facilities amount to $90 million.
In the next few years, Carnegie established several more funds. He donated $5 million to set up a "Helping Others Fund" to reward or relieve heroes and their families who died or were injured in an emergency to help others. He donated $39 million to set up a "retirement fund for university professors" to protect the life of educators in their later years. He also set up "Presidential Retirement Fund" and "Writers Fund" to provide financial support for American presidents or writers in their later years. In addition, he provided 1 1 countries with "Carnegie Celebrity Fund" and set up "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace" with100,000 US dollars, specifically to support people who have made contributions to world peace.
19 1 1 year, the elderly Carnegie couple have directly participated in the donation work in1year, and they are exhausted. Therefore, Carnegie decided to set up "Carnegie Company" with the remaining1500,000 dollars, and let the company staff participate in the donation work on their behalf.
Until the end of his life, Carnegie devoted his wealth to the society, with a total donation of more than 330 million US dollars. Of course, behind him, "Carnegie Corporation" and various Carnegie foundations are still implementing his donation plan, and this huge sum will continue to increase interest or earn dividends. In fact, the amount he donated in the world is far greater than this figure.
191August 09 1 1 Carnegie, 84, died of pneumonia in his villa in Luno, USA. Born in Scotland, this great man went from a penniless immigrant to the richest man in the world, the "king of steel". After his success, he donated almost all his wealth to the society. His donation before his death was huge enough to rival Nobel, a Swedish scientist and industrialist who established the Nobel Prize after his death. From a poor teenager to a charitable millionaire, Carnegie's legendary life is just like the story in The Arabian Nights.