The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-08-11

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100000, and as president of the New
York Philharmonic society he spent his
money literally in furthering its ideals
He also literally backed the Pittsburgh /
orchestra.
To the Allied Engineers societies he
gave $2,O0O,000. His small gifts to col
leges amounted to some $20,000,000. No
man left at his death such an uniquel
and such scattered series of monu-d
ments to perpetpate his memory.
B In the background of these rs years
of philanthrophy there is the familiar
story OF Scotch thrift, a little luck, and
steel, which made7 such generosity pos
sible. - s.,fll
Carnegie was fond of telling the storyl
himself. Rapidly covered it was this:
His first penny he earned unexpectedly
IS child when he astonished his
schoolmaster in Dunfermline by recitr1
ing Burns long poem, "Man was Madel
to Mourn,' without break. There is
an anecdote of how, when asked in
Sunday school to recite a proverb
from Scripture, the young Scot unwit
lltingly forecast his own fortune by
giving the homely advice, "Look
after the pence, and the pounds will
take care of themselves
!, Andrew was II when his father, a
master weaver, was brought almost to
restitution. The steam looms drove
him out of business. The family num-
bered four, including candy and his
younger brother William. The parents
| decided to emigrate to America, whence
some relatives had proceeded them
with success. They settled at Allegheny
| City. Pa, across the river from Pitts
burgh, in 184S. The father and An
drew found work in cotton factory,
the son as bobbin boy. 1t was his first
work. The salary was $l.20 week. He
was soon promoted, at slight adj
vance, to engineers assistant. He
stocked the boilers and ran the engine
in the factory cellar.
At IA Carnegie emerged from the en-
CINE cellar and became a telegraph
messenger. j. Douglas Reid, q Dun
fermline- man, who had come to Amer
lea early, was head of the office and he
made Andrew his protege. Telegraphy
was then almost a new thing. Nobody
ventured to read the dots and dashes
! by sound. They were all impressed on
i tape. Carnegie is said to have been the
\ third operator in the United States
to accomplish the feat of reading mes
sages by sound alone. He practised
], mornings before the regular operators
, came around.
) Andrew was 16 when his father died.
land he became at once the bread-win
, ner for the family and true capital
list. He had been told by his trusted
employer that ten shares of Adams Ex-
press stock could be had for $500, and
: it was a good investment. At FAM
lily council that night, Carnegie s
, mother decided she would mortgage
her little home for $500. The stock
j was bought, and it brought monthly
= dividends of one per cent.
2 Carnegie was 90 when the Civil war
broke out and he saw his old employ
err and friend Scott elevated to the post
of assistant secretary of war. Carne-
gle in turn, won an appointment as
director of government railways and
telegraphs.. To the carnage he saw at
3 several battles may be traced his life
long belief In the folly of warfare
ga blot upon civilization so
t Unwittingly following the lead of
t a man. who was later to eclipse him in
fortune building, Carnegie, at 30 years
: of age, invested in OIL As one of a
! syndicate he bought up vast tract of
|. oil land. In a year, to the surprise OF
/ all the investors, it paid the astonish-
$ ing return of 100000 in cash divi-
: dends upon a capital of $4,000
e But iron was the magnet then at
+ tracing Carnegie The railroads were
experimenting with cast iron bridges
;, Carnegie foresaw the demand for fac.
0 tory that could turn out the iron parts
d and he formed the Keystone Bridge
: Works, They built, as their first great
d piece, bridge over the Ohio river
! with a span of 800 feet. Demand fol-
0 similar structures became general, anG
the Keystone works got the big order.
IL and profits.
f Carnegie then began TO see that iroI
e rails must be given up for steel. Oh
v a visit to England in 1868 he diseov
d cred the success being obtained there
n with the Bessemer process. Carnegi'
h quietly brought it home, and before th,
+ English makers were aware of the fact
y he had adopted it in his mills.
y The romance of his success was suel
d that the immigrant boy of 1S4S be
) came some 40 years later the world !
W leading producer of steel, multi-mi
h lionaire himself, and fast bringing ;
n score of other men into the same cate
t. CORY Many square miles of his mill
surrounded Pittsburgh He reache,
el into Upper Michigan, 700 miles away
D and acquired vast regions of ore land
l. He established railway and steamship
l. lines to bring the ore TO him. He boast
d ed of the reduction in price of stee
s, rails from sos ton down to $40. Hi
0. critics claimed that even the lower fig
N ure was maintained only by the fac
lel that he had monopolized the industry
n A former secretary once divulged wha
v was alleged TO have been official cor
IS respondence to the effect that the Car
le negie steel combination could sell rail
Z at profit as low as $l2 ton.
st 1t was certain that the grip whiel
20 he had upon the steel situation mad
his elimination necessary if others i
a quest of wealth in steel were to rea
h lie the millions they saw going to hin
n, He was, accordingly, bought out i
/ 1901. The syndicate headed by j.
as Morgan, which desired to form the BID
n n l;nn dollar JTnita1 Gtotac Stpel leorpol