The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-05-10
HOW CARNEGIE
WON MILLIONS


From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
The retirement of Andrew Carnegie from
the giant steel interests which he built up
in this city out of the fortunes of a mes
senger boy remains the talk of the town,
with an accompanying fringe of gossip and
speculation. In the clubs and In the homes
of the iron and steel masters 1t is the chief
topic. Carnegie's phenomenal career. his
Scotch shrewdness and unfinching nerve
and faith in his own enterprises, his brill
liant strokes and his rare errors, all these
are being discussed. Through 1t all it is
apparent that the name of Carnegie will go
down in history as the pioneer in the up
building of the American iron and steel
business.
Those who knew him well in the days
when he gave personal care to his interests
tell of the quickness with which he adopted
every mechanical appliance. which came
upon the market to cheaper production and
improve quality, of the apparent wasteful-
ness with which he discarded millions of
dollars worth of machinery in the course
of his career to replace 1t with something
better; but this swastefulness was only APP
parent, for out of 1t has grown the won
derful web of interests which may perpet-
uate his fame. Beyond this, these methods
are to great extent responsible for the
commanding position which the American
industries have taken in the role of the
worlds commerce.
Every improvement which went into a
Carnegie plant meant that other mills had
to adopt similar appliances soon after or
fall behind In the race In the end 1t was
a good thing for the American manufac-
turer, and his right-hand man. the Ameri-
can inventor.
1t is a matter of history that Andrew
Carnegie by his quickness in using the
best that came along SKINNED the cream
IN the use Of mechanical appliances. His
leadership in this field is unquestioned In
the end it resulted in lifting the entire
body of the iron and steel business In this
country to higher plane of operation,
ana this Is enc reason why we are now
selling iron and steel products to every
civilized country in the world to the
amaZement of the English, the Germans
and the French, who stand by in panied
establishment While here and there diff
ferent note may be found, the concensus
of opinion of Pittsburg manufacturers Writ
ualiy amounts to the foregoing. There are
none, even those who remain competitors
In the field, who do not voluntarily pay
this tribute. None was more emphatic ON
this point than B. L. Jones' head of the
Jones & Laughlins' interests, which. next
TO the carnegie, Is the largest Individual
steel concern in the United States.
Mr.. Carnegie has just closed a remark
able career in the world of STEEL" said Mr..
Jones, yesterday. I'm the first place he
went into the iron business at an oopor-
tune time. The consuming capacity of tho
country was about to increase tremend-
ously in consequence of the war. and the
energies which that conflict let from tho
leash. Mr.. Carnegie had the courage of his
convictions. He went into the business
with belief in its future, and instead OF
laying aside his first profits as was done
by more conservative men, he turned them
back into the business as fast as they wero
earned. Personally, he was a man of great
energy, and all of it that ne possessed to-
gether with every dollar in sight, became
factors in his business. In addition he
had wonderful faculty of surrounding
himself with the strongest and brightest
men in the business as soon as they gave
promise of development. Mr.. Carnegie
was undoubtedly able to estimate the ca
paeity of men to an unusual extent. He
always expected the best results and was
satisfied with no other. The standard of
his --work was to constantly increase the
tonnage of all output, this rule led 10
greater net profits and decreased average
costs. There can be no question but that
the great republican principle of protection
for home industries had much to do with
his success, as it had to do with the sue,
cess of the industry in general in this
country.
1.-THE profits which the tariff helped to
create enabled Mr.. Carnegie to continue
his programme of establishing new enter
prises. There is no doubt in my mind but
that Andrew Carnegie's influence on the
steel business of this country was epoch
making. He kept all of his competitors on
the jump, and in many cases this was good
for them. doubt whether we could today
be exporting iron and steel to all parts of
the world had 1t not been for the genius
OF Carnegie which was injected into tho
whole fabric of our industries He cheap
ened production and improved quality. His
holiness in striking out into unexolored
fields was a feature of his career, and this
nerve never deserted him. He was for
tunate in many of his associatio and
gathered about him able captains to whom
he could delegate parts of his responsible
ties. Many of these men were factors in
building up the Carnegie interests, for
without them Mr. Carnegie could not have
carried the load Nevertheless, his name
will go down as the greatest ironmaster
in the history of the world"
During the 70s and SOS, when the rest
of the iron and Steel manufacturers were
having their annual futile disturbances
with the workingmen, Carnegie kept his
VI.
Then, in 1889 and In 1892. at Homestead. he
gave them such an experience as to effec-
tually settle the question and give the
owners complete control of the works; and
proved TO the men that 1t was possible
for them to get their rights without the
aid of associations and committees, and at
the same time enjoy the highest wages
paid in the trade. BY his leading in the
use of the most improved mechanical ap-
planes, selecting the most profitable lines
and sticking to them, keeping his works
constantly in operation and exercising un- Z
wonted nerve and holiness in increasing s
his capacity for production, he distanced all I
competitors and led in the wonderful de-
velopment of the resources of our country,
Witnessed by the present generation"
General Charles L. Fitzhugh, president
of the Shoenberger Steel company, which s,
was recently absorbed by the National
company said: "Carnegies name will go
down In history as the leader in. the iron
cd hr1at Of ffa mi tHa !