The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1919-08-19

could be had for $500, and it was a
good investment. At family coun-
Gil that night Carnegie's mother de-
cided she would mortgage her little
home for $500. The stock was
bought, and it brought monthly div
idends of l per cent.
81 can see that first check of $40
dividend money now," he said when
he became a retired ironmaster with
millions. "It was something new to
all of us, for none of US had ever
received anything but from toil.'
The next step toward indepen-
dence and fortune came when T. T.
Woodruff, the inventor of the sleep
ing car, approached him with a
model of the invention. "He had
not spoken to me minute" Car
negie has since recalled, "before,
like a flash, the whole range Of it's
value burst upon me. Yes said,
that is something which this con-
tinent must have. "
He consulted Scott, and the three
! invested 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 real
lied $4,000 for the venture.
Carnegie was 26 when the civil
war broke out, and he saw his old
employer and friend Scott eleveted
to the post of assistant secretary of
war. Carnegie in turn won an op-
pointment as director of govern
ment railways and telegraphs. To
the carnage he saw at several bat
ties may be traced his lifelong be-
lief in the folly of warfare-"a blot
upon civilization"
Uuwittingly following the lead of
man who was later to eclipse him
in fortune building, Carnegie, at
80 years of age, invested in oil. AS
one of a syndicate he bought up a
vast tract Of oil land. In a year, to
the surprise Of all the investors, it
paid the astonishing returns of ST.
100000 in cash dividends upon a
capital of $4,000.
Iron Attracted Carnegie.
But iron was the magnet then at
tracing Carnegie. Carnegie fore
saw the demand for a factory that
could turn out the iron parts, and
he formed the Keystone Bridge
works. They built, as their first
great piece, a brige over the Ohio
river, with a span of 800 feet. De-
mand for similar structures became
general and the Keystone works
got big orders and profits.
Carnegie then began to see that
iron rails must be given up for steel.
On visit to England in 1858 he dis
covered the success being obtained
there with the Bessemer process.
Carnegie quietly brought it home,
and before the English markets
were aware of the fact, he had
adopted it in his mills.
The romance Of his success was
such that the immigrant boy of 1848
became some 40 years later the
worlds leading producer Of steel, a
ti-millionaire himself, and fast
bringing score of other men into
the same category. Many square
miles of his mills surrounding Pitts
burg. He reached into upper Mich
igan, 700 miles away, and acquired
vast regions of ore land. He es-
tablished railway and steamship
lines to bring the ore to him. He
boasted of the reduction in price of
steel rails from $95 ton down to
$26. His critics claimed that even
the lower figure was maintained
only by the fact that he had mo-
nopolized the industry. A former
secretary once divulged what was
alleged to have been official CORE
spondence to the effect that the
Carnegie steel combination could
sell rails at profit as low as S12
a ton.
1t was certain that the grip
which he had upon the steel situa-
ton made his elimination necessary
if others in quest Of wealth in steel
were to realize the millions they
saw going to him. He was, accord
ingly, bought out in 1901. The syn
dicate, headed by j. P. Morgan,
which desired to form the billion