Editing Andrew Carnegie (section)

===Intellectual influences===
====Herbert Spencer; evolutionary thought====
Carnegie claimed to be a champion of evolutionary thought—particularly the work of [[Herbert Spencer]], even declaring Spencer his teacher.<ref>''[[#Wealth|Wealth]]'', p. 165</ref> 

{{blockquote|... I came fortunately upon Darwin’s and Spencer’s works "The Data of Ethics," "First Principles," "Social Statics," "The Descent of Man." Reaching the pages which explain how man has absorbed such mental foods as were favorable to him, retaining what was salutary, rejecting what was deleterious, I remember that light came as in a flood and all was clear. Not only had I got rid of theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth of evolution. "All is well since all grows better" became my motto, my true source of comfort. Man was not created with an instinct for his own degradation, but from the lower he had risen to the higher forms. Nor is there any conceivable end to his march to perfection. His face is turned to the light; he stands in the sun and looks upward.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carnegie |first=Andrew |authorlink= |date=1920 |title=Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie with Illustrations |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17976 |accessdate=July 4, 2014}} Chapter XXV, p339</ref>}}

However although Carnegie claimed to be a disciple of Spencer, many of his actions went against the ideas he espoused.

Spencerian evolution was for individual rights and against government interference. Furthermore, Spencerian evolution held that those unfit to sustain themselves must be allowed to perish. Spencer believed that just as there were many varieties of beetles, respectively modified to existence in a particular place in nature, so too had human society "spontaneously fallen into division of labour".<ref>Spencer, Herbert, 1855 (''The Principles of Psychology'', Chapter 1. "Method"). (Kindle Locations 7196–7197). Kindle Edition</ref> Individuals who survived to this, the latest and highest stage of evolutionary progress would be "those in whom the power of self-preservation is the greatest—are the select of their generation."<ref>Spencer, Herbert 1904. (''An Autobiography'', Chapter 23, "A More Active Year") (Kindle Location 5572). Peerless Press. Kindle Edition</ref> Moreover, Spencer perceived governmental authority as borrowed from the people to perform the transitory aims of establishing social cohesion, insurance of rights, and security.<ref>Spencer, Herbert, 1851 (''Social Statics'', Chapter 19 "The Right to Ignore the State"). (Kindle Locations 43303–43309). Kindle Edition.</ref><ref>Spencer, Herbert, 1851 (''Social Statics'', "Chapter 21 The Duty of the State"). (Kindle Locations 44159–44168). Kindle Edition.</ref> Spencerian 'survival of the fittest' firmly credits any provisions made to assist the weak, unskilled, poor and distressed to be an imprudent disservice to evolution.<ref name="ReferenceA">Spencer, Herbert, 1851 (''Social Statics'', chapter 25 "poor-laws"). (Kindle Locations 45395–45420). Kindle Edition.</ref> Spencer insisted people should resist for the benefit of collective humanity, as severe fate singles out the weak, debauched, and disabled.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

====Laissez-faire economics====
Andrew Carnegie's political and economic focus during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was the defense of laissez-faire economics. Carnegie emphatically resisted government intrusion in commerce, as well as government-sponsored charities. Carnegie believed the concentration of capital was essential for societal progress and should be encouraged.<ref name="ReferenceB">''[[#Wealth|Wealth]]'', pp. 947–954.</ref> Carnegie was an ardent supporter of commercial "survival of the fittest" and sought to attain immunity from business challenges by dominating all phases of the steel manufacturing procedure.<ref name="ReferenceC">[[#Nasaw|Nasaw]], pp. 4762–67</ref> Carnegie's determination to lower costs included cutting labor expenses as well.<ref>''[[#Wealth|Wealth]]'', pp. 118–21</ref> In a notably Spencerian manner, Carnegie argued that unions impeded the natural reduction of prices by pushing up costs, which blocked evolutionary progress.<ref>''[[#Wealth|Wealth]]'', pp. 1188–95.</ref> Carnegie felt that unions represented the narrow interest of the few while his actions benefited the entire community.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>

On the surface, Andrew Carnegie appears to be a strict laissez-faire capitalist and follower of [[Herbert Spencer]], often referring to himself as a disciple of Spencer.<ref name="Carnegie, Andrew pp. 163-171">''[[#Wealth|Wealth]]'', pp. 163–71</ref> Conversely, Carnegie, a titan of industry, seems to embody all of the qualities of Spencerian [[survival of the fittest]]. The two men enjoyed a mutual respect for one another and maintained a correspondence until Spencer's death in 1903.<ref name="Carnegie, Andrew pp. 163-171"/> There are, however, some major discrepancies between Spencer's capitalist evolutionary conceptions and Andrew Carnegie's capitalist practices.

====Market concentration====
Spencer wrote that in production the advantages of the superior individual are comparatively minor, and thus acceptable, yet the benefit that dominance provides those who control a large segment of production might be hazardous to competition. Spencer feared that an absence of "sympathetic self-restraint" of those with too much power could lead to the ruin of their competitors.<ref name="autogenerated1">Spencer, Herbert 1887 (''The Ethics of Social Life: Negative Beneficence''). ''The Collected Works of 6 Books'' (With Active Table of Contents) (Kindle Locations 26500–26524). Kindle Edition.</ref> He did not think free-market competition necessitated competitive warfare. Furthermore, Spencer argued that individuals with superior resources who deliberately used investment schemes to put competitors out of business were committing acts of "commercial murder".<ref name="autogenerated1"/> Carnegie built his wealth in the steel industry by maintaining an extensively integrated operating system. Carnegie also bought out some regional competitors, and merged with others, usually maintaining the majority shares in the companies. Over the course of twenty years, Carnegie's steel properties grew to include the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, the Lucy Furnace Works, the Union Iron Mills, the Homestead Works, the Keystone Bridge Works, the Hartman Steel Works, the Frick Coke Company, and the Scotia ore mines among many other industry-related assets.<ref>Morris, Charles R. (2005). ''The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J.P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy''. Times Books. {{ISBN|0-8050-7599-2}}. p. 132</ref>

Herbert Spencer absolutely was against government interference in business in the form of regulatory limitations, taxes, and tariffs as well. Spencer saw tariffs as a form of taxation that levied against the majority in service to "the benefit of a small minority of manufacturers and artisans".<ref>Spencer, Herbert. ''Principles of Ethics'', 1897 (Chapter 22: "Political Rights-So-called"). (With Active Table of Contents) (Kindle Locations 24948–24956). Kindle Edition.</ref>

Despite Carnegie's personal dedication to Herbert Spencer as a friend, his adherence to Spencer's political and economic ideas is more contentious. In particular, it appears Carnegie either misunderstood or intentionally misrepresented some of Spencer's principal arguments. Spencer remarked upon his first visit to Carnegie's steel mills in Pittsburgh, which Carnegie saw as the manifestation of Spencer's philosophy, "Six months' residence here would justify suicide."<ref>Joseph Frazer Wall, ''Andrew Carnegie'' (1989) p. 386.</ref>

{{Blockquote|The conditions of human society create for this an imperious demand; the concentration of capital is a necessity for meeting the demands of our day, and as such should not be looked at askance, but be encouraged. There is nothing detrimental to human society in it, but much that is, or is bound soon to become, beneficial. It is an evolution from the heterogeneous to the homogeneous, and is clearly another step in the upward path of development.|Carnegie, Andrew 1901 The Gospel of Wealth and Other Timely Essays<ref name="ReferenceB"/>}}

[[File:Stained-glass window of Andrew Carnegie at the former Carnegie Library, Victoria Street, St Albans, June 2023.jpg|thumb|right|Stained-glass window of Andrew Carnegie at the former Carnegie Library, St Albans, Hertfordshire]]

====Charitable institutions====
On the subject of charity Andrew Carnegie's actions diverged in the most significant and complex manner from Herbert Spencer's philosophies. In his 1854 essay "Manners and Fashion", Spencer referred to public education as "Old schemes". He went on to declare that public schools and colleges fill the heads of students with inept, useless knowledge and exclude useful knowledge. Spencer stated that he trusted no organization of any kind, "political, religious, literary, philanthropic", and believed that as they expanded in influence so too did their regulations expand. In addition, Spencer thought that as all institutions grow they become ever more corrupted by the influence of power and money. The institution eventually loses its "original spirit, and sinks into a lifeless mechanism".<ref>Spencer, Herbert. 1854 (''Manners and Fashion'') ''The Collected Works of 6 Books'' (With Active Table of Contents) (Kindle Locations 74639–74656). Kindle Edition.</ref> Spencer insisted that all forms of philanthropy that uplift the poor and downtrodden were reckless and incompetent. Spencer thought any attempt to prevent "the really salutary sufferings" of the less fortunate "bequeath to posterity a continually increasing curse".<ref>Spencer, Herbert; Eliot, Charles William (September 15, 2011). ''The Collected Works of 6 Books'' (With Active Table of Contents) (Kindle Locations 45395–45420). Kindle Edition.</ref> Carnegie, a self-proclaimed devotee of Spencer,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/carnegie-herbert-spencer/#:~:text=%22I+remember+that+light+came,my+true+source+of+comfort.%22|title=Herbert Spencer &#124; American Experience &#124; PBS|website=www.pbs.org}}</ref> testified to Congress on February 5, 1915: "My business is to do as much good in the world as I can; I have retired from all other business."<ref>[[#Nasaw|Nasaw]], p. 787.</ref>

====Charity to enable people to develop====
Carnegie held that societal progress relied on individuals who maintained moral obligations to themselves and to society.<ref>[[#Nasaw|Nasaw]], pp. 11529–36.</ref> Furthermore, he believed that charity supplied the means for those who wish to improve themselves to achieve their goals.<ref name="autogenerated2">''[[#Wealth|Wealth]]'', pp. 747–48</ref> Carnegie urged other wealthy people to contribute to society in the form of parks, works of art, libraries and other endeavors that improve the community and contribute to the "lasting good".<ref>''[[#Wealth|Wealth]]''</ref> Carnegie also held a strong opinion against inherited wealth. Carnegie believed that the sons of prosperous businesspersons were rarely as talented as their fathers.<ref name="autogenerated2"/> By leaving large sums of money to their children, wealthy business leaders were wasting resources that could be used to benefit society. Most notably, Carnegie believed that the future leaders of society would rise from the ranks of the poor.<ref name="autogenerated3">''[[#Wealth|Wealth]]'', pp. 682–689.</ref> Carnegie strongly believed in this because he had risen from the bottom. He believed the poor possessed an advantage over the wealthy because they receive greater attention from their parents and are taught better work ethics.<ref name="autogenerated3"/>