The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-08-11
ANDREW CARNEGIE DIED
TO-DAY At LENOX, MASS,
AFTER SHORT ILLNESS
(Continud from first page

kNuHJlhuu lTOlu HTsL page,l
on earth he could do with SO much mon
| ey."
Andrew was l6 when his father died
and he became at once the breadwinnel
for the family and true capitalist, HI
had been told by his trusted employer
that ten shares Of Adams Express stock
could be had for $500, and it was a good
investment. AT a family council that
night Carnegie's mother decided she
would mortgage her little home for $500
The stock was bought, and it brought
monthly dividends of one per cent.
Il ran see that first check of ten dol.
lars dividend money now" he said when
he became retired ironmaster with mil.
lions. ut was something new to all OF
us, for none of US had received anything
but from toll.
| The next step toward independence
and fortune came when 7. T. Woodruff,
the inventor of the sleeping car, ap-
preached him with model of the inven-
ton. He had not spoken to me a min
ute" Carnegie has since recalled, "be
| fore, like a flash, the whole range of its
value burst upon me. Yes | said,
that IS something which this continent
must have"
He consulted Scott. and the three in.
vested for the manufacture of the cars.
Carnegie, then earning $50 monthly, had
to borrow 5000 as his first installment
of capital, but later when he sold out his
interest to the Pullman company, he
had realized $4,000 for the venture.
Carnegie was 26 when the Civil war
broke out and he saw his old employer
and friend Scott elevated to the post of
assistant secretary of war. Carnegie in
turn won an appointment as director of
government railways and telegraphs. To
the carnage he saw at several battles
may be traced his lifelong belief in the
folly Of warfare"a blot upon civiliza-
ton"
Unwittingly following the lead Of a
man who was later to eclipse him in for
tune building Carnegie, at 80 years of
age, invested in OIL As one of syndi-
cate he bought up vast tract of oil
land. In a year, to the surprise OF all
the investors, it paid the astonishing
return of Sl,000,00O in cash dividends
upon a capital of $4,000.
Iron Magnate Attracted Carnegie.
But iron was the magnet then attract
ing Carnegie. The railroads were exper-
imenting with cast iron bridges. Car.
negle foresaw the demand for factory
that could turn out the iron parts, and
he formed the keystone Bridge works.
They built, as their first great piece, a
bridge over the Ohio river, with span
Of 300 feet Demand for similar struc-
lures became general, and the Keystone
works got the big orders and profits.
Carnegie then began to see that iron
rails mast be given up for steel. On
visit to England in 1868 he discovered
the success being obtained there with
the Bessemer process. Carnegie quietly
brought it home, and before the English
makers were aware Of the fact, he had
adopted il in his mills.
The romance of his success was such
that the immigrant boy Of ls4S became
some 40 years later the worlds leading
producer Of steel multi millionaire
himself and fast bringing score OF
other men into the same category. Many
square miles Of his mills surrounded
Pittsburg. He reached into upper Mich
igan, 700 miles away, and acquired vast
regions of ore land He established rail
way and steamship lines to bring the ore
to him. He boosted OF the reduction in
price of steel rails from 500 ton down
to S26, His critics claimed that even
the lower figure was maintained only by
the fact that he had monopolized the in
dustry. A former secretary once d.
yulged what was alleged to hsne been
official correspondence to the effect that
the Carnegie steel combination could sell
rails at profit as low as $40 a ton
It was certain that the grip which he
had upon the steel situation made his
necessary if others in quest
of wealth in steel were to realize the
millions they saw going to him He
was, accordingly, bought out in 1901 The
syndicate headed by J. p Morgan, which
desired to form the billion dollar United
States Steel corporation, paid $420,000,-
900 in their five per cent bonds for the
Carnegie company's holdings
What a fool ! was" Carnegie later
said in a hearing before Congressional |
at Washington, ito sell out to
the steel corporation for only S420,000,- |
600 / have since learned from the in
side that | could have received $780, |
100000 more from Mr. Morgan if we had |
placed that value on our properties Car. |
negie's personal share in these holdings /!
netted him about S250,00O,000. His first |
actual investment in iron had been $500 |
of borrowed money, 80 years before.
"The secret and method of my sue |
cess is simple, he said Il organized my |
business into departments | put the
best man could find at the head of each |
held him responsible and |
Judged him by results. ] have started |
more than fifty men on the road to mil
lionaires'
Carnegie's mother, to whom he repeat
eddy gave credit for all that he was, lived
to be an octogenarian and so devoted /
was he to her that he hesitated to marry. |
In 1883, however, he married Louise
Whitefield Of New York, by whom he /
had one child, a daughter Margaret, born
IN 1897. His bride was 20 years his iu- i
Nor. To her and her daughter probably
remains large fortune, notwithstanding
garnegies public gifts.
As an American citizen he established
! uapnifiepnt honn in Nam Norl, -, |