Andrew Carnegie: A Captain Of Industry

Topic: Should Andrew Carnegie be described as a “captain of industry” or a “robber baron”?
Abstract: Nowadays, there still exists lots of controversial comments towards Andrew Carnegie. Some of them hold the view that Andrew Carnegie should be described as a captain of industry while others contend that he was only a robber baron. As far as I am concerned, Andrew Carnegie, known as the King of Steel, built the steel industry in the United States, and in the process, became one of the wealthiest men in America. He is a man worthy of being respected.
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century. He built a leadership role as a philanthropist for

Carnegie started work as a telegrapher and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. He accumulated further wealth as a bond salesman raising money for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh 's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for $480 million, creating the U.S. Steel Corporation. Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education and scientific research. With the fortune he made from business, he built Carnegie Hall and he founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, among others

Starting in 1853, Thomas A. Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company employed Carnegie as a secretary/telegraph operator at a salary of $4.00 per week. Carnegie accepted this job with the railroad as he saw more prospects for career growth and experience with the railroad than with the telegraph company. At age 18, the precocious youth began a rapid advance through the company, becoming the superintendent of the Pittsburgh Division. His employment by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company would be vital to his later success. The railroads were the first big businesses in America, and the Pennsylvania was one of the largest of them all. Carnegie learned much about management and cost control during these years, and from Scott in particular. American railroads had become the largest companies in the world, but a new industry emerged to challenge the railroads—the age of oil. But as railroad men like Tom Scott and his protege Andrew Carnegie took on big oil. Under the condition, Rockefeller declared war on the railroads. Unfortunately, the railroad industry was brought to its knee. Despite the fact that they were trapped in such a dilemma, Carnegie accepted the challenge to build the first major bridge to span the Mississippi River to unit America. Carnegie knew there was no reward without risk. He said: “Nothing is impossible. You have to be patient and have perseverance and have a sense of where you want to go and having the passion to still believe in