Wealth by Andrew Carnegie, June 1889, North American Review No. CCCXCI

Andrew Carnegie was one of America’s greatest businessmen. I’ll spare you the complete account of his life but I highly recommend reading about him HERE. To be quick with it Andrew Carnegie created the Carnegie Steel Company which later became U.S. Steel so yeah, he was a stud. In 1889 Carnegie wrote a short essay on what he viewed as the single largest issue of his age: the proper administration of wealth. The basic premise of Carnegie’s essay is that as a global race of man we should embrace the change in economic systems from our ancient communistic tendencies to the current, competition-based capitalist ones.

“The conditions of human life have not only been changed, but revolutionized, within the past few hundred years. In former days there was little difference between the dwelling, dress, food, and environment of the chief and those of his retainers.”

Carnegie is describing the increasing gap between the wealthy and the poor. He explains further that while this gap is indeed widening it is a necessary occurrence and should be embraced, not detested.

“This change, however, is not to be deplored, but welcomed as highly beneficial. It is well, nay, essential for the progress of the race, that the houses of some should be homes for all that is highest and best in literature and the arts, and for all the refinements of civilization, rather than that none should be so. Much better this great irregularity than universal squalor.”

“The poor enjoy what the rich could not before afford. What were the luxuries have become the necessities of life. The laborer now has more comforts than the landlord had a few generations ago.”

Here Carnegie is explaining that through this change of wealth accumulation and economics society has progressed much further and faster than ever before. The poor now have things only the wealthy had generations back. Think of running water, heat, refrigerators, air conditioners, and automobiles.

The remainder of the essay discusses the three main ways to dispose of one’s surplus wealth.
1. Given to the families of the decedents
2. Bequeathed for public purposes
3. Administered during their lives by its possessors

The short end of it is that Carnegie believes in two main ideas. He explains that providing your children with enough so that they feel they can do anything without being able to do nothing is the way to go. The surplus wealth he discusses is best administered by the owners of the wealth throughout their lives. This ensures that the money is used appropriately and as intended by the one who earned it.

Overall the essay is a great read and should be mandatory for everyone to at least go through once. I don’t want to explain too much of the work because I won’t do it justice so make sure you read the essay on your own HERE. I’ve included some excerpts from the rest of the essay that I found to be important to his message below.
“This policy would work powerfully to induce the rich man to attend to the administration of wealth during his life, which is the end that society should always have in view, as being that by far most fruitful for the people. Nor need it be feared that this policy would sap the root of enterprise and render men less anxious to accumulate, for to the class whose ambition it is to leave great fortunes and be talked about after their death, it will attract even more attention, and, indeed, be a somewhat nobler ambition to have enormous sums paid over to the state from their fortunes”

“This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community - the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poor brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves”

On the subject of charity
One of the serious obstacles to the improvement of our race is indiscriminate charity. It were better for mankind that the millions of the rich were thrown in to the sea than so spent as to encourage the slothful, the drunken, the unworthy. Of every thousand dollars spent in so-called charity today, it is probably that $950 is unwisely spent; so spent, indeed as to produce the very evils which it proposes to mitigate or cure. A man the other day admitted that he had given a quarter of a dollar to a man who approached him….He knew nothings of the habits of this beggar; knew not the use that would be made of this money, although he had every reason to suspect that it would be spent improperly. He only gratified his own feelings, saved himself from annoyance, and this was probably one of the most selfish and very worst actions of his life, for in all respects he is most worthy.