Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was not a hero

Andrew Carnegie was an immigrant who came to America and created an industry like no other. He was a self made man who invented a cheap way to produce high quality steel which eventually led to him becoming one of the world’s richest men. Although Carnegie is best known for his charities and giving away millions of dollars each year, he is not a hero. Carnegie wasn’t a fair competitor towards other businesses and made sure that his business would be the only one left of its kind in America. Also, Carnegie treated his workers very poorly and made life very complicated for them. Andrew Carnegie was also not a big fan of worker unions so when he bought the homestead factory he made sure the union would not last very long. Carnegie might be perceived as a man who made life easier but really all he did was make life harder for laborers and for other companies trying to thrive in America.

First of all, Andrew Carnegie created a monopoly, putting all other companies like his out of business. For example, Carnegie was concerned for his company when he realized Allegheny company’s new method undercut his prices. So he sent out a notice stating that Allegheny’s rails were defective which incited alarm and caused the company to go out of business (Doc D). This shows that Carnegie used selfish methods to eliminate the competition. So when Allegheny could no longer keep its business, Carnegie bought the company and added it to his monopoly. Andrew Carnegie made sure that he would be the only man in charge of the steel industry because he believed that very few people should be able to run businesses (Doc A). Carnegie lied to get to the top and that is not heroic.

Andrew Carnegie also treated his workers very poorly, paying them next to nothing and not creating a very safe environment for them to work in. Although Carnegie was one of the world’s richest men who donated millions every year to libraries, universities, and other...