The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1901-03-07

before so many opportunities for the
right kind OF young men Employers
everywhere arc OH the lookout for com
Detent. pushing young men and when
they arc found they do not easily part
with them" And he ought 20 know. for
it is ogyiag 60 the fact that he made
himself indispensable 20 Mr.. Carnegie
.hat he holds his present positio9. IL
~ said ;hnt when he had pushed hiya-
self forward TO occupy this enViable
station-of being indispensable TO his
emplOyers-an agent Of an English con-
cern asked him if he would take ssn-
liar position In England al salofy
abc<f as large as is now received ~
the president OF tl.c United States he
refused bul said nothing about IL TO
MI Carnegie. who, when he hnaliy
heard OF it, commended his determine
tion TO stand by him. but asked. what
Is II YOU really do want
- want 10 be n partncr in your com
pany," declared this young man with
the exceedingly level" head, and "a part
nor he became. in 1896 he was elected
it's president, with a salary and hold
inss in stock that, combined. have
made him many times over a million
aire before he has reached the age'ot 40.
Ills career has been aptly called me
tcoric. and q glance at his brief biogra-
ply Warrants the bestowal Of this term.
He was born, To use the stereotyped
phrase, OF poor but honest parents at
Williamsburg, Blair county. Pa. on the
18th OF February, 1862. when he was
20 years DID, his parents removed 10
Loretto, Pa, where he attended school
until about 10. at which age we find
him driving a mail wagon between Lo-
retto and Cresson, the beautiful SUM
mer resort near the summit of the Al
lcghany mountains Oh the Pennsylva-
MIA railroad. year later he was clerk
in a grocery store at Braddock, ten
miles from Pittsburg, where he not
only worked hard all day for his $40
per month and board but slept In the
store as night watchman. II happened
that there were large steel works at
Braddock, and all his spare hours were
spent in the foundries watching the
operations going on there. which had
for him great fascination. In 1880. at
the age of Is, he obtained his first po-
sition In direct line of advancement-as
stake driver in the engineer corps OF
the Carnegie steel works at $50 per
month. He showed n special aptitude
for the work, and his rise, though not
TdDlu, was seven yfdfS
later ne became chief engineer In this
capacity he superintended the building
OF the great Homestead steel plant
with the details OF which he showed
such familiarity that he was made it's
manager for two years after its com
plefIon; then he performed the same
service for the Edgar Thomson Steel
works, and i'm 1892 was manager of
both. IL was under his personal super
vision that the first armor plate was
turned out 10y the Carnegie company
for the United States navy, and the
plant became the largest of its kind lin
the country. At the age of "a MIR.
Schwab was president of the largest
steel combination in the world. and at
80 he finds himself still marching at the
head OF the procession. the recognized
commander of nearly 100000 men (four
times as many as are In the army OF
the United States), more or less de-
7 pendent upon him for support-at all
I events for leadership. He can no lon
\ ger be termed captain OF industry.
\ for he has long since been promoted
/ beyond that grade. He is a lieutenant
| general, If anything. and as such has
F, found his grade not by political or per-
! sonal favoritism, but through his fit-
/ ness for command.
! OF course, there are others Just as
Mt Just as well equipped. just as in.
dustrious, TO whom the opportunity
has not come, never will come: but, al
the same. there are no exceptions to the
rules laid down by this eminently sue
cessful one as 10 the course TO be fol
lowed toward gaining the ultimate enc
in view. There may seem an apparen
hiatus in his progress during the sever
years when he was an engineer. wheI
he spsnned The gulf between the pro
fessional and executive duties by sin