ens ^3' CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF Mr. W. J. Crawford, Jr. ^LIN LIBRARY - CIRCULATION DATE DUE im^ ^•IVE FAL r-ym- WSflESMVE FA\ . l ]9 9Q -Wt-H-5i^ CT275.C28"a3 "'"™'"*'' '■"'"nr Autobiography of a„w IIHi;i»Mlliii4iS;..,,A?*ew Carneg _^oHn_^ 1924 029 807 728 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029807728 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, I9M, BY LOUISE WHITFIELD CARNEGIE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ^WMi PREFACE AFTER retiring from active business my husband yielded to the earnest solicitations of friends, both here and in Great Britain, and began to jot down from time to time recollections of his early days. He soon found, however, that instead of the leisure he expected, his life was more occupied with afifairs than ever before, and the writing of these memoirs was reserved for his play-time in Scotland. For a few weeks each summer we retired to our little bungalow on the moors at Aultnagar to enjoy the simple life, and it was there that Mr. Carnegie did most of his writing. He delighted in going back to those early times, and as he wrote he lived them all over again. He was thus engaged in July, 1914, when the war clouds began to gather, and when the fateful news of the 4th of August reached us, we immediately left our retreat in the hills and returned to Skibo to be more in touch with the situation. These memoirs ended at that time. Henceforth he was never able to interest himself in private aflFairs. Many times he made the attempt to continue writing, but found it useless. Until then he had lived the life of a man in middle life — and a young one at that — golfing, fishing, swimming each day, sometimes doing all three in one day. Optimist as he always was and tried to be, even in the face of the failure of his hopes, the world disaster was too much. His heart was broken. A severe attack of influenza followed by two serious attacks of pneumonia precipitated old age upon him. It was said of a contemporary who passed away a few months before Mr. Carnegie that "he never could have vi PREFACE borne the burden of old age." Perhaps the most inspiring part of Mr. Carnegie's life, to those who were privileged to know it intimately, was the way he bore his "burden of old age." Always patient, considerate, cheerful, grate- ful for any little pleasure or service, never thinking of himself, but always of the dawning of the better day, his spirit ever shone brighter and brighter until "he was not, for God took him." Written with his own hand on the fly-leaf of his manuscript are these words: "It is probable that mate- rial for a small volume might be collected from these memoirs which the public would care to read, and that a private and larger volume might please my relatives and friends. Much I have written from time to time may, I think, wisely be omitted. Whoever arranges these notes should be careful not to burden the public with too much. A man with a heart as well as a head should be chosen." Who, then, could so well fill this description as our friend Professor John C. Van Dyke? When the manu- script was shown to him, he remarked, without hav- ing read Mr. Carnegie's notation, "It would be a labor of love to prepare this for publication." Here, then, the choice was mutual, and the manner in which he has per- formed this "labor " proves the wisdom of the choice — a choice made and carried out in the name of a rare and beautiful friendship. Louise Whitfield Carnegie New York April 16, 1920 EDITOR'S NOTE THE story of a man's life, especially when it is told by the man himself, should not be interrupted by the hecklings of an editor. He should be allowed to tell the tale in his own way, and enthusiasm, even extrava- gance in recitation should be received as a part of the story. The quality of the man may underlie exuberance of spirit, as truth may be found in apparent exaggera- tion. Therefore, in preparing these chapters for publica- tion the editor has done little more than arrange the material chronologically and sequentially so that the narrative might run on unbrokenly to the end. Some footnotes by way of explanation, some illustrations that offer sight-help to the text, have been added; but the narrative is the thing. This is neither the time nor the place to character- ize or eulogize the maker of "this strange eventful history," but perhaps it is worth while to recognize that the history really was eventful. And strange. Nothing stranger ever came out of the Arabian Nights than the story of this poor Scotch boy who came to America and step by step, through many trials and triumphs, became the great steel master, built up a colossal industry, amassed an enormous fortune, and then deliberately and systematically gave away the whole of it for the enlight- enment and betterment of mankind. Not only that. He established a gospel of wealth that can be neither ig- nored nor forgotten, and set a pace in distribution that succeeding millionaires have followed as a precedent. In the course of his career he became a nation-builder, a leader in thought, a writer, a speaker, the friend of viii EDITOR'S NOTE workmen, schoolmen, and statesmen, the associate of both the lowly and the lofty. But these were merely interesting happenings in his life as compared with his great inspirations — his distribution of wealth, his pas- sion for world peace, and his love for mankind. Perhaps we are too near this history to see it in proper proportions, but in the time to come it should gain^in perspective and in interest. The generations hereafter may realize the wonder of it more fully than we of to- day. Happily it is preserved to us, and that, too, in Mr. Carnegie's own words and in his own buoyant style. It is a very memorable record — a record perhaps the like of which we shall not look upon again. John C. Van Dyke New York August, 1920 CONTENTS I. Parents and Childhood 1 II. Dunfermline and America 20 III. Pittsburgh and Work 32 IV. Colonel Anderson and Books 45 V. The Telegraph Office 54 VI. Railroad Service 65 VII. Superintendent of the Pennsylvania 84 VIIL Civil War Period 99 IX. Bridge-Building 115 X. The Iron Works 130 XI. New York as Headquarters 149 XII. Business Negotiations 167 XIII. The Age of Steel 181 XIV. Partners, Books, and Travel 198 XV. Coaching Trip and Marriage 210 XVI. Mills and the Men 220 vXVII. The Homestead Strike 228 \>XVIII. Problems of Labor 240 \v c^IX. The "Gospel of Wealth" 255 XX. Educational and Pension Funds XXI. The Peace P^ilace and Pittencriefp XXII. Matthew Arnold and Others XXIII. British Political Leaders 309 XXrV. Gladstone and Morley 318 X CONTENTS ^ XXV. Herbert Spencer and His Disciple 333 XXVI. Blaine and Harrison 341 XXVII. Washington Diplomacy 350 XXVIII. Hay and McKinley 358 XXIX. Meeting the German Emperor 366 Bibliography 373 Index 377 ILLUSTRATIONS Andrew Carnegie Photogravure frontispiece Andrew Carnegie's Birthplace 2 Dunfermline Abbey 6 Mr. Carnegie's Mother 22 Andrew Carnegie at Sixteen with his Brother Thomas 30 David McCargo 38 Robert Pitcairn 42 Colonel James Anderson 46 Henry Phipps 58 Thomas A. Scott 72 John Edgar Thomson 72 Thomas Morrison Carnegie 118 George Lauder 144 Junius Spencer Morgan 156 John Pierpont Morgan 172 An American Four-in-Hand in Britain 210 Andrew Carnegie (about 1878) 214 Mrs. Andrew Carnegie 218 Margaret Carnegie at Fifteen 240 Charles M. Schwab 256 The Carnegie Institute at Pittsburgh 262 Mr. Carnegie and Viscount Bryce 270 Matthew Arnold 298 William E. Gladstone 318 xii ILLUSTRATIONS Viscount Morley of Blackburn Mr. Carnegie and Viscount Morley 326 The Carnegie Family at Skibo 326 Herbert Spencer 334 James G. Blaine 342 Skibo Castle 356 Mr. Carnegie at Skibo, 1914 370 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF ANDKEW CAKNEGIE CHAPTER I PARENTS AND CHILDHOOD IF the story of any man's life, truly told, must be interesting, as some sage avers, those of my relatives and immediate friends who have insisted upon having an account of mine may not be unduly disappointed with this result. I may console myseK with the assurance that such a story must interest at least a certain number of people who have known me, and that knowledge will encourage me to proceed. A book of this kind, written years ago by my friend. Judge Mellon, of Pittsburgh, gave me so much pleasure that I am inclined to agree with the wise one whose opin- ion I have given above; for, certainly, the story which the Judge told has proved a source of infinite satis- faction to his friends, and must continue to influence succeeding generations of his family to live life well. And not only this; to some beyond his immediate circle it holds rank with their favorite authors. The book con- tains one essential feature of value — it reveals the man. It was written without any intention of attracting public notice, being designed only for his family. In like manner I intend to tell my story, not as one posturing before the public, but as in the midst of my own people and friends, tried and true, to whom I can speak with 2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE the utmost freedom, feeling that even trifling incidents may not be wholly destitute of interest for them. To begin, then, I was born in Dunfermline, in the attic of the small one-story house, corner of Moodie Street and Priory Lane, on the 25th of November, 1835, and, as the saying is, "of poor but honest parents, of good kith and kin." Dunfermline had long been noted as the center of the damask trade in Scotland.^ My father, William Carnegie, was a damask weaver, the son of Andrew Carnegie after whom I was named. My Grandfather Carnegie was well known throughout the district for his wit and humor, his genial nature and irrepressible spirits. He was head of the lively ones of his day, and known far and near as the chief of their joyous club — "Patiemuir College." Upon my return to Dunfermline, after an absence of fourteen years, I remember being approached by an old man who had been told that I was the grandson of the "Professor," my grandfather's title among his cronies. He was the very picture of palsied eld; "His nose and chin they threatened ither." As he tottered across the room toward me and laid his trembling hand upon my head he said: "And ye are the grandson o' Andra Carnegie! Eh, mon, I ha'e seen the day when your grandfaither and I could ha'e hal- looed ony reasonable man oot o' his jidgment," Several other old people of Dunfermline told me sto- ries of my grandfather. Here is one of them: One Hogmanay night ^ an old wif ey, quite a character ^ The Eighteenth-Century Carnegies lived at the picturesque hamlet of Patiemuir, two miles south of Dunfermline. The growing importance of the linen industry in Dunfermline finally led the Carnegies to move to that town. 2 The 31st of December. o Oh 03 a Q OPTIMISM 3 in the village, being surprised by a disguised face sud- denly thrust in at the window, looked up and after a moment's pause exclaimed, "Oh, it's jist that daft callant Andra Carnegie." She was right; my grandfather at seventy-five was out frightening his old lady friends, disguised like other frolicking youngsters. I think my optimistic nature, my ability to shed trouble and to laugh through life, making " all my ducks swans," as friends say I do, must have been inherited from this delightful old masquerading grandfather whose name I am proud to bear.^ A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune. Young people should know that it can be cultivated; that the mind like the body can be moved from the shade into sunshine. Let us move it then. Laugh trouble away if possible, and one usually can if he be^ahything of a philosopher, provided that seK-reproach comes not from his own wrongdoing. That always remains. There is no washing out of these "damned spots," The judge within sits in the supreme court and can never be cheated. Hence the grand rule of life which Burns gives : "Thine own reproach alone do fear," This motto adopted early in life has been more to me than all the sermons I ever heard, and I have heard not a few, although I may admit resemblance to my old friend Baillie Walker in my mature years. He was asked by his doctor about his sleep and replied that it was far * "There is no sign that Andrew, though he prospered in his wooing, was specially successful in acquisition of worldly gear. Otherwise, how- ever, he became an outstanding character not only in the village, but in the adjoining city and district. A 'brainy' man who read and thought for him- self he became associated with the radical weavers of Dunfermline, who in Patiemuir formed a meeting-place which they named a college (Andrew was the 'Professor' of it)." {Andrew Carnegie: His Dunfermline Ties and Benefactions, by J. B. Mackie, F. J. I.) \ 4 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE from satisfactory, he was very wakeful, adding with a twinkle in his eye: "But I get a bit fine doze i' the kirk noo and then." On my mother's side the grandfather was even more marked, for my grandfather Thomas Morrison was a friend of William Cobbett, a contributor to his "Reg- ister," and in constant correspondence with him. Even as I write, in Dunfermline old men who knew Grand- father Morrison speak of him as one of the finest orators and ablest men they have known. He was publisher of "The Precursor," a small edition it might be said of Cobbett's "Register," and thought to have been the first radical paper in Scotland. I have read some of his writings, and in view of the importance now given to technical education, I think the most remarkable of them is a pamphlet which he published seventy-odd years ago entitled "Head-ication versus Hand-ication." It insists upon the importance of the latter in a manner that would reflect credit upon the strongest advocate of technical education to-day. It ends with these words, "I thank God that in my youth I learned to make and mend shoes." Cobbett published it in the "Register" in 1833, remarking editorially, "One of the most valu- able communications ever published in the 'Register' upon the subject, is that of our esteemed friend and correspondent in Scotland, Thomas Morrison, which appears in this issue." So it seems I come by my scrib- bling propensities by inheritance — from both sides, for the Carnegies were also readers and thinkers. My Grandfather Morrison was a born orator, a keen politician., and the head of the advanced wing of the radical party in the district — a position which his son, my Uncle Bailie Morrison, occupied as his successor. More than one well-known Scotsman in America has GRANDFATHER THOMAS MORRISON 5 called upon me, to shake hands with "the grandson of Thomas Morrison." Mr. Farmer, president of the Cleve- land and Pittsburgh Railroad Company, once said to me, "I owe all that I have of learning and culture to the influence of your grandfather"; and Ebenezer Henderson, author of the remarkable history of Dun- fermline, stated that he largely owed his advancement in life to the fortunate fact that while a boy he entered my grandfather's service. I have not passed so far through life without receiv- ing some compliments, but I think nothing of a com- plimentary character has ever pleased me so much as this from a writer in a Glasgow newspaper, who had been a listener to a speech on Home Rule in America which I delivered in Saint Andrew's Hall. The corre- spondent wrote that much was then being said in Scot- land with regard to myself and family and especially my grandfather Thomas Morrison, and he went on to say, "Judge my surprise when I found in the grandson on the platform, in manner, gesture and appearance, a -periect facsimile of the Thomas Morrison of old." My surprising likeness to my grandfather, whom I do not remember to have ever seen, cannot be doubted, because I remember well upon my first return to Dun- fermline in my twenty-seventh year, while sitting upon a sofa with my Uncle Bailie Morrison, that his big black eyes filled with tears. He could not speak and rushed out of the room overcome. Returning after a time he explained that something in me now and then flashed before him his father, who would instantly vanish but come back at intervals. Some gesture it was, but what precisely he could not make out. My mother continually noticed in me some of my grandfather's peculiarities. The doctrine of inherited tendencies is 6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE proved every day and hour, but how subtle is the law which transraits gesture, something as it were beyond the material body. I was deeply impressed. My Grandfather Morrison married Miss Hodge, of Edinburgh, a lady in education, manners, and position, who died while the family was still young. At this time he was in good circumstances, a leather merchant con- ducting the tanning business in Dunfermline; but the peace after the Battle of Waterloo involved him in ruin, as it did thousands; so that while my Uncle Bailie, the eldest son, had been brought up in what might be termed luxury, for he had a pony to ride, the younger members of the family encountered other and harder days. The second daughter, Margaret, was my mother, about whom I cannot trust myself to speak at length. She inherited from her mother the dignity, refinement, and air of the cultivated lady. Perhaps some day I may be able to tell the world something of this heroine, but I doubt it. I feel her to be sacred to myself and not for others to know. None could ever really know her — I alone did that. After my father's early death she was all my own. The dedication of my first book^ tells the story. It was: "To my favorite Heroine My Mother." Fortunate in my ancestors I was supremely so in my birthplace. Where one is born is very important, for different surroundings and traditions appeal to and stimulate diflferent latent tendencies in the child. Ruskin truly observes that every bright boy in Edinburgh is influenced by the sight of the Castle. So is the child of Dunfermline, by its noble Abbey, the Westminster of Scotland, founded early in the eleventh century (1070) by Malcolm Canmore and his Queen Margaret, Scot- land's patron saint. The ruins of the great monastery 1 An American Four-in-Eand in Great Britain. New York, 1888. m < IS Q DUNFERMLINE ABBEY 7 and of the Palace where kings were born still stand, and there, too, is Pittencrieff Glen, embracing Queen Margaret's shrine and the ruins of King Malcolm's Tower, with which the old ballad of " Sir Patrick Spens " begins: "The King sits in Dunfermline tower, ^ Drinking the bluid red wine," The tomb of The Bruce is in the center of the Abbey, Saint Margaret's tomb is near, and many of the "royal folk" he sleeping close around. Fortunate, indeed, the child who first sees the light in that romantic town, which occupies high ground three miles north of the Firth of Forth, overlooking the sea, with Edinburgh in sight to the south, and to the north the peaks of the Ochils clearly in view. All is still redolent of the mighty past when Dunfermline was both nationally and reli- giously the capital of Scotland. The child privileged to develop amid such surround- ings absorbs poetry and romance with the air he breathes, assimilates history and tradition as he gazes around. These become to him his real world in child- hood — the ideal is the ever-present real. The actual has J yet to come when, later in life, he is launched into the workaday world of stern reality. Even then, and till his last day, the early impressions remain, sometimes for short seasons disappearing perchance, but only ap- parently driven away or suppressed. They are always rising and coming again to the front to exert their in- fluence, to elevate his thought and color his life. No bright child of Dunfermline can escape the influence of the Abbey, Palace, and Glen. These touch him and set fire to the latent spark within, making him something ^ The Percy Reliques and The Osford Book of Ballads give "town" in- stead of "tower"; but Mr. Carnegie insisted that it should be "tower," 8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE different and beyond what, less happily born, he would have become. Under these inspiring conditions my parents had also been born, and hence came, I doubt not, the potency of the romantic and poetic strain which pervaded both. As my father succeeded in the weaving business we removed from Moodie Street to a much more commo- dious house in Reid's Park. My father's four or five looms occupied the lower story; we resided in the upper, which was reached, after a fashion common in the older Scottish houses, by outside stairs from the pavement. It is here that my earliest recollections begin, and, strangely enough, the first trace of memory takes me back to a day when I saw a small map of America. It was upon rollers and about two feet square. Upon this my father, mother, Uncle William, and Aunt Aitken were looking for Pittsburgh and pointing out Lake Erie and Niagara. Soon after my uncle and Aunt Aitken sailed for the land of promise. At this time I remember my cousin-brother, George Lauder ("Dod"), and myseK were deeply impressed with the great danger overhanging us because a law- less flag was secreted in the garret. It had been painted to be carried, and I believe was carried by my father, or uncle, or some other good radical of our family, in a procession during the Corn Law agitation. There had been riots in the town and a troop of cavalry was quartered in the Guildhall. My grandfathers and uncles on both sides, and my father, had been foremost in addressing meetings, and the whole family circle was in a ferment. I remember as if it were yesterday being awakened during the night by a tap at the back window by men who had come to inform my parents that my uncle. THE CORN LAW AGITATION 9 Bailie Morrison, had been thrown into jail because he had dared to hold a meeting which had been for- bidden. The sherifiF with the aid of the soldiers had arrested him a few miles from the town where the meeting had been held, and brought him into the town during the night, followed by an immense throng of people.^ Serious trouble was feared, for the populace threat- ened to rescue him, and, as we learned afterwards, he had been induced by the provost of the town to step forward to a window overlooking the High Street and beg the people to retire. This he did, saying: "If there be a friend of the good cause here to-night, let him fold his arms." They did so. And then, after a pause, he said, "Now depart in peace!" ^ My uncle, like all our family, was a moral-force man and strong for obedience to law, but radical to the core and an intense admirer of the American Republic. One may imagine when all this was going on in public how bitter were the words that passed from one to the other in private. The denunciations of monarchical and aristocratic government, of privilege in all its forms, the ^ At the opening of the Lauder Technical School in October, 1880, nearly half a century after the disquieting scenes of 1842, Mr, Carnegie thus recalled the shock which was given to his boy mind: "One of my earliest recollections is that of being wakened in the darkness to be told that my Uncle Morrison was in jail. Well, it is one of the proudest boasts I can make to-day to be able to say that I had an uncle who was in jail. But, ladies and gentlemen, my uncle went to jail to vindicate the rights of public assembly." (Mackie.) 2 " The Crown agents wisely let the proceedings lapse. , . . Mr. Morrison was given a gratifying assurance of the appreciation of his fellow citizens by his election to the Council and his elevation to the Magisterial Bench, followed shortly after by his appointment to the office of Burgh Chamber- lain. The patriotic reformer whom the criminal authorities endeavored to convict as a law-breaker became by the choice of his fellow citizens a Magistrate, and was further given a certificate for trustworthiness and integrity." (Mackie.) 10 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE grandeur of the republican system, the superiority of America, a land peopled by our own race, a home for freemen in which every citizen's privilege was every man's right — these were the exciting themes upon which I was nurtured. As a child I could have slain king, duke, or lord, and considered their deaths a service to the state and hence an heroic act. Such is the influence of childhood's earliest associa- tions that it was long before I could trust myself to speak respectfully of any privileged class or person who had not distinguished himself in some good way and therefore earned the right to public respect. There was still the sneer behind for mere pedigree — "he is noth- ing, has done nothing, only an accident, a fraud strutting in borrowed plumes; all he has to his account is the accident of birth; the most fruitful part of his family, as with the potato, lies underground." I wondered that intelligent men could hve where another human being was born to a privilege which was not also their birth- right. I was never tired of quoting the only words which gave proper vent to my indignation : "There was a Brutus once that would have brooked Th' eternal devil to keep his state in Rome As easily as a king," But then kings were kings, not mere shadows. All this was inherited, of course. I only echoed what I heard at home. Dunfermline has long been renowned as perhaps the most radical town in the Kingdom, although I know Paisley has claims. This is all the more creditable to the cause of radicalism because in the days of which I speak the population of DunfermUne was in large part composed of men who were small manufacturers, each owning his own loom or looms. They were not tied RADICAL DUNFERMLINE 11 down to regular hours, their labors being piece work. They got webs from the larger manufacturers and the weaving was done at home. These were times of intense political excitement, and there was frequently seen throughout the entire town, for a short time after the midday meal, small groups of men with their aprons girt about them discussing aflfairs of state. The names of Hume, Cobden, and Bright were upon every one's tongue. I was often attracted, small as I was, to these circles and was an earnest lis- tener to the conversation, which was wholly one-sided. The generally accepted conclusion was that there must be a change. Clubs were formed among the townsfolk, and the London newspapers were subscribed for. The leading editorials were read every evening to the people, strangely enough, from one of the pulpits of the town. My imcle. Bailie Morrison, was often the reader, and, as the articles were commented upon by him and others after being read, the meetings were quite exciting. These political meetings were of frequent occurrence, and, as might be expected, I was as deeply interested as any of the family and attended many. One of my uncles or my father was generally to be heard. I re- member one evening my father addressed a large out- door meeting in the Pends. I had wedged my way in under the legs of the hearers, and at one cheer louder than all the rest I could not restrain my enthusiasm. Looking up to the man under whose legs I had found protection I informed him that was my father speaking. He lifted me on his shoulder and kept me there. To another meeting I was taken by my father to hear John Bright, who spoke in favor of J. B. Smith as the Liberal candidate for the Stirling Burghs. I made the criticism at home that Mr. Bright did not speak cor- 12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE rectly, as he said "men" when he meant "maan." He did not give the broad a we were accustomed to in Scotland. It is not to be wondered at that, nursed amid such surroundings, I developed into a violent young Republican whose motto was "death to privilege." At that time I did not know what privilege meant, but my father did. One of my Uncle Lauder's best stories was about this same J. B. Smith, the friend of John Bright, who was standing for Parliament in Dunfermline. Uncle was a member of his Committee and all went well until it was proclaimed that Smith was a "Unitawrian." The district was placarded with the enquiry: Would you vote for a "Unitawrian"? It was serious. The Chair- man of Smith's Committee in the village of Cairney Hill, a blacksmith, was reported as having declared he never would. Uncle drove over to remonstrate with him. They met in the village tavern over a gill: "Man, I canna vote for a Unitawrian," said the Chairman. "But," said my uncle, "Maitland [the opposing can- didate] is a Trinitawrian," "Damn; that's waur," was the response. And the blacksmith voted right. Smith won by a small majority. The change from hand-loom to steam-loom weaving was disastrous to our family. My father did not recog- nize the impending revolution, and was struggling under the old system. His looms sank greatly in value, and it became necessary for that power which never failed in any emergency — my mother — to step for- ward and endeavor to repair the family fortune. She opened a small shop in Moodie Street and contributed to the revenues which, though slender, nevertheless at POVERTY 13 that time sufficed to keep us in comfort and "respect- able." _^ I remember that shortly after this I began to learn \ what poverty meant. Dreadful days came when my \ father took the last of his webs to the great manuf ac- | turer, and I saw my mother anxiously awaiting his re- { turn to know whether a new web was to be obtained or \ that a period of idleness was upon us. It was burnt into my heart then that my father, though neither "abject, mean, nor vile," as Burns has it, had nevertheless to "Beg a brother of the earth To give him leave to toil." And then and there came the resolve that I would cure that when I got to be a man. We were not, however, reduced to anything like poverty compared with many of our neighbors. I do not know to what lengths of pri- vation my mother would not have gone that she might see her two boys wearing large white collars, and trimly dressed. ^ In an incautious moment my parents had promised that I should never be sent to school until I asked leave to go. This promise I afterward learned began to give them considerable uneasiness because as I grew up I showed no disposition to ask. The schoolmaster, Mr. Robert Martin, was applied to and induced to take some notice of me. He took me upon an excursion one day with some of my companions who attended school, and great relief was experienced by my parents when one day soon afterward I came and asked for permission to go to Mr. Martin's school.^ I need not say the permis- sion was duly granted. I had then entered upon my eighth year, which subsequent experience leads me to ^ It was known as Rolland School. 14 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE say is quite early enougli for any child to begin attend- ing school. The school was a perfect delight to me, and if any- thing occurred which prevented my attendance I was unhappy. This happened every now and then because my morning duty was to bring water from the well at the head of Moodie Street. The supply was scanty and irregular. Sometimes it was not allowed to run until late in the morning and a score of old wives were sitting around, the turn of each having been previously secured through the night by placing a worthless can in the line. This, as might be expected, led to numerous conten- tions in which I would not be put down even by these venerable old dames. I earned the reputation of being "an awfu' laddie." In this way I probably developed the strain of argumentativeness, or perhaps combative- ness, which has always remained with me. In the performance of these duties I was often late for school, but the master, knowing the cause, forgave the lapses. In the same connection I may mention that I had often the shop errands to run after school, so that in looking back upon my life I have the satisfaction of feeling that I became useful to my parents even at the early age of ten. Soon after that the accounts of the various people who dealt with the shop were entrusted to my keeping so that I became acquainted, in a small way, with business aflfairs even in childhood. One cause of misery there was, however, in my school experience. The boys nicknamed me "Martin's pet," and sometimes called out that dreadful epithet to me as I passed along the street. I did not know all that it meant, but it seemed to me a term of the utmost oppro- brium, and I know that it kept me from responding as freely as I should otherwise have done to that excellent UNCLE LAUDER 15 teacher, my only schoolmaster, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude which I regret I never had opportunity to do more than acknowledge before he died. I may mention here a man whose influence over me cannot be overestimated, my Uncle Lauder, George Lauder's father.^ My father was necessarily constantly at work in the loom shop and had little leisure to bestow upon me through the day. My uncle being a shopkeeper in the High Street was not thus tied down. Note the location, for this was among the shopkeeping aristoc- racy, and high and varied degrees of aristocracy there were even among shopkeepers in Dunfermline. Deeply affected by my Aunt Seaton's death, which occurred about the beginning of my school life, he found his chief solace in the companionship of his only son, George, and myseK. He possessed an extraordinary gift of deal- ing with children and taught us many things. Among others I remember how he taught us British history by imagining each of the monarchs in a certain place upon the walls of the room performing the act for which he was well known. Thus for me King John sits to this day above the mantelpiece signing the Magna Charta, and Queen Victoria is on the back of the door with her children on her knee. It may be taken for granted that the omission which, years after, I found in the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey was fully supplied in our list of monarchs. A slab in a small chapel at Westminster says that the body of Oliver Cromwell was removed from there. In the list of the monarchs which I learned at my uncle's knee the grand republican monarch appeared writing his message to the Pope of Rome, informing His Holiness that "if ^ The Lauder Teclmical College given by Mr. Carnegie to Dunfermline was named in honor of thb uncle, George Lauder, 16 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE he did not cease persecuting the Protestants the thunder of Great Britain's cannon would be heard in the Vati- can." It is needless to say that the estimate we formed of Cromwell was that he was worth them "a' thegither." It was from my uncle I learned all that I know of the early history of Scotland — of Wallace and Bruce and Burns, of Blind Harry's history, of Scott, Ramsey, Tannahill, Hogg, and Fergusson. I can truly say in the words of Burns that there was then and there created in me a vein of Scottish prejudice (or patriotism) which will cease to exist only with life. Wallace, of course, was our hero. Everything heroic centered in him. Sad was the day when a wicked big boy at school told me that England was far larger than Scotland. I went to the uncle, who had the remedy. "Not at all, Naig; if Scotland were rolled out flat as England, Scotland would be the larger, but would you have the Highlands rolled down?" Oh, never! There was balm in Gilead for the wounded young patriot. Later the greater population of England was forced upon me, and again to the uncle I went. "Yes, Naig, seven to one, but there were more than that odds against us at Bannockburn." And again there was joy in my heart — joy that there were more English men there since the glory was the greater. This is something of a commentary upon the truth that war breeds war, that every battle sows the seeds of future battles, and that thus nations become tradi- tional enemies. The experience of American boys is that of the Scotch. They grow up to read of Washington and Valley Forge, of Hessians hired to kill Americans, and they come to hate the very name of EngUshman, Such was my experience with my American nephews. Scot- land was all right, but England that had fought Scot- UNCLE LAUDER 17 land was the wicked partner. Not till they became men was the prejudice eradicated, and even yet some of it may linger. Uncle Lauder has told me since that he often brought people into the room assuring them that he could make "Dod" (George Lauder) and me weep, laugh, or close our little fists ready to fight — in short, play upon all our moods through the influence of poetry and song. The betrayal of Wallace was his trump card which never failed to cause our little hearts to sob, a complete break- down being the invariable result. Often as he told the story it never lost its hold. No doubt it received from time to time new embellishments. My uncle's stories never wanted "the hat and the stick" which Scott gave his. How wonderful is the influence of a hero upon children! I spent many hours and evenings in the High Street with my uncle and "Dod," and thus began a lifelong brotherly alliance between the latter and myseK. " Dod " and "Naig" we always were in the family. I could not say " George " in infancy and he could not get more than "Naig" out of Carnegie, and it has always been "Dod" and "Naig" with us. No other names would mean any- thing. There were two roads by which to return from my uncle's house in the High Street to my home in Moodie Street at the foot of the town, one along the eerie churchyard of the Abbey among the dead, where there was no light; and the other along the lighted streets by way of the May Gate. When it became necessary for me to go home, my uncle, with a wicked pleasure, would ask which way I was going. Thinking what Wallace would do, I always replied I was going by the Abbey. I have the satisfaction of believing that never, not even 18 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE upon one occasion, did I yield to the temptation to take the other turn and follow the lamps at the junction of the May Gate. I often passed along that churchyard and through the dark arch of the Abbey with my heart in my mouth. Trying to whistle and keep up my cour- age, I would plod through the darkness, falling back in all emergencies upon the thought of what Wallace would have done if he had met with any foe, natural or super- natural. King Robert the Bruce never got justice from my cousin or myself in childhood. It was enough for us that he was a king while Wallace was the man of the peo- ple. Sir John Graham was our second. The intensity of a Scottish boy's patriotism, reared as I was, constitutes a real force in his life to the very end. If the source of my stock of that prime article — courage — were studied, I am sure the final analysis would find it founded upon Wallace, the hero of Scotland. It is a tower of strength for a boy to have a hero. It gave me a pang to find when I reached America that there was any other country which pretended to have anything to be proud of. What was a country with- out Wallace, Bruce, and Burns? I find in the untraveled Scotsman of to-day something still of this feeling. It remains for maturer years and wider knowledge to tell us that every nation has its heroes, its romance, its traditions, and its achievements; and while the true Scotsman will not find reason in after years to lower the estimate he has formed of his own country and of its position even among the larger nations of the earth, he will find ample reason to raise his opinion of other na- tions because they all have much to be proud of — quite enough to stimulate their sons so to act their parts as not to disgrace the land that gave them birth. A SCOTTISH BOY'S PATRIOTISM 19 It was years before I could feel that the new land could be anything but a temporary abode. My heart was in Scotland. I resembled Principal Peterson's lit- tle boy who, when in Canada, in reply to a question, said he liked Canada "very well for a visit, but he could never live so far away from the remains of Bruce and Wallace." CHAPTER II DUNFERMLINE AND AMERICA MY good Uncle Lauder justly set great value upon recitation in education, and many were the pen- nies which Dod and I received for this. In our little frocks or shirts, our sleeves rolled up, paper helmets and blackened faces, with laths for swords, my cousin and myself were kept constantly reciting Norval and Glenalvon, Roderick Dhu and James Fitz-James to our schoolmates and often to the older people, I remember distinctly that in the celebrated dialogue between Norval and Glenalvon we had some qualms about repeating the phrase, — "and false as helV At first we made a slight cough over the objectionable word which always created amusement among the spec- tators. It was a great day for us when my uncle per- suaded us that we could say "hell" without swearing. I am afraid we practiced it very often. I always played the part of Glenalvon and made a great mouthful of the word. It had for me the wonderful fascination attributed to forbidden fruit. I can well understand the story of Marjory Fleming, who being cross one morning when Walter Scott called and asked how she was, answered: "I am very cross this morning, Mr. Scott, I just want to say *damn' [with a swing], but I winna." Thereafter the expression of the one fearful word was a great point. Ministers could say "damnation" in the pulpit without sin, and so we, too, had full range on "hell" in recitation. Another passage made a deep impression. In the fight between Norval and Glenalvon, Norval says, "When we contend again our LIFE AT SCHOOL 21 t strife is mortal." Using these words in an article written for the "North American Review" in 1897, my uncle came across them and immediately sat down and wrote me from Dunfermline that he knew where I had found the words. He was the only man living who did. My power to memorize must have been greatly strengthened by the mode of teaching adopted by my uncle. I cannot name a more important means of bene- fiting young people than encouraging them to commit favorite pieces to memory and recite them often. Any- thing which pleased me I could learn with a rapidity which surprised partial friends. I could memorize any- thing whether it pleased me or not, but if it did not im- press me strongly it passed away in a few hours. One of the trials of my boy's life at school in Dun- fermline was committing to memory two double verses of the Psalms which I had to recite daily. My plan was not to look at the psalm until I had started for school- It was not more than five or six minutes' slow walk, but I could readily master the task in that time, and, as the psalm was the first lesson, I was prepared and passed through the ordeal successfully. Had I been asked to repeat the psalm thirty minutes afterwards the attempt would, I fear, have ended in disastrous failure. The first penny I ever earned or ever received from any person beyond the family circle was one from my school-teacher, Mr. Martin, for repeating before the school Burns's poem, "Man was made to Mourn." In writing this I am reminded that in later years, dining with Mr. John Morley in London, the conversation turned upon the life of Wordsworth, and Mr. Morley said he had been searching his Burns for the poem to "Old Age," so much extolled by him, which he had not been able to find under that title. I had the pleasure of 22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE repeating part of it to him. He promptly handed me a second penny. Ah, great as Morley is, he was n't my school-teacher, Mr. Martin — the first "great" man I ever knew. Truly great was he to me. But a hero surely is "Honest John" Morley. In religious matters we were not much hampered. While other boys and girls at school were compelled to learn the Shorter Catechism, Dod and I, by some ar- rangement the details of which I never clearly under- stood, were absolved. All of our family connections, Morrisons and Landers, were advanced in their theologi- cal as in their political views, and had objections to the catechism, I have no doubt. We had not one orthodox Presbyterian in our family circle. My father, Uncle and Aunt Aitken, Uncle Lauder, and also my Uncle Car- negie, had fallen away from the tenets of Calvinism. At a later day most of them found refuge for a time in the doctrines of Swedenborg. My mother was always reticent upon religious subjects. She never mentioned these to me nor did she attend church, for she had no servant in those early days and did all the housework, including cooking our Sunday dinner. A great reader, always, Channing the Unitarian was in those days her special delight. She was a marvel! During my childhood the atmosphere around me was in a state of violent disturbance in matters theological as well as political. Along with the most advanced ideas which were being agitated in the political world — the death of privilege, the equality of the citizen. Repub- licanism — I heard many disputations upon theological subjects which the impressionable child drank in to an extent quite unthought of by his elders. I well remember that the stern doctrines of Calvinism lay as a terrible nightmare upon me, but that state of mind was soon ANDREW CARNEGIE S MOTHER CALVINISM 23 over, owing to the influences of which I have spoken. I grew up treasuring within me the fact that my father had risen and left the Presbyterian Church one day when the minister preached the doctrine of infant damnation. This was shortly after I had made my ap- pearance. Father could not stand it and said: "If that be your religion and that your God, I seek a better religion and a nobler God." He left the Presbyterian Church never to return, but he did not cease to attend various other churches. I saw him enter the closet every morning to pray and that impressed me. He was indeed a saint and always remained devout. All sects became to him as agencies for good. He had discovered that theologies were many, but religion was one. I was quite satisfied that my father knew better than the minister, who pic- tured not the Heavenly Father, but the cruel avenger of the Old Testament — an "Eternal Torturer" as An- drew D. White ventures to call him in his autobiography. Fortunately this conception of the Unknown is now largely of the past. One of the chief enjoyments of my childhood was the keeping of pigeons and rabbits. I am grateful every time I think of the trouble my father took to build a suitable house for these pets. Our home became headquarters for my young companions. My mother was always look- ing to home influences as the best means of keeping her two boys in the right path. She used to say that the first step in this direction was to make home pleasant; and there was nothing she and my father would not do to please us and the neighbors' children who centered about us. My first business venture was securing my compan- ions' services for a season as an employer, the compen- 24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE sation being that the young rabbits, when such came, should be named after them. The Saturday hoh'day was generally spent by my flock in gathering food for the rabbits. My conscience reproves me to-day, looking back, when I think of the hard bargain I drove with my young playmates, many of whom were content to gather dandehons and clover for a whole season with me, con- ditioned upon this unique reward — the poorest return ever made to labor. Alas! what else had I to offer them! Not a penny. I treasure the remembrance of this plan as the earliest evidence of organizing power upon the development of which my material success in life has hung — a success not to be attributed to what I have known or done my- self, but to the faculty of knowing and choosing others who did know better than myself. Precious knowledge this for any man to possess. I did not imderstand steam machinery, but I tried to understand that much more complicated piece of mechanism — man. Stopping at a small Highland inn on our coaching trip in 1898, a gentleman came forward and introduced himseK. He was Mr. Macintosh, the great furniture manufacturer of Scotland — a fine character as I found out afterward. He said he had ventured to make himself known as he was one of the boys who had gathered, and sometimes he feared "conveyed," spoil for the rabbits, and had "one named after him.'' It may be imagined how glad I was to meet him — the only one of the rabbit boys I have met in after-life. I hope to keep his friendship to the last and see him often. [As I read this manuscript to-day, December 1, 1913, I have a very precious note from him, recalling old times when we were boys to- gether. He has a reply by this time that will warm his heart as his note did mine.] LEAVING DUNFERMLINE 25 With the introduction and improvement of steam machinery, trade grew worse and worse in DunfermHne for the small manufacturers, and at last a letter was written to my mother's two sisters in Pittsburgh stating that the idea of our going to them was seriously enter- tained — not, as I remember hearing my parents say, to benefit their own condition, but for the sake of their two young sons. Satisfactory letters were received in reply. The decision was taken to sell the looms and fur- niture by auction. And my father's sweet voice sang often to mother, brother, and me: "To the West, to the West, to the land of the free. Where the mighty Missouri rolls down to the sea; Where a man is a man even though he must toil And the poorest may gather the fruits of the soil." The proceeds of the sale were most disappointing. The looms brought hardly anything, and the result was that twenty pounds more were needed to enable the family to pay passage to America. Here let me record an act of friendship performed by a lifelong companion of my mother — who always attracted stanch friends because she was so stanch herself — Mrs. Henderson, by birth Ella Ferguson, the name by which she was known in our family. She boldly ventured to advance the need- ful twenty pounds, my Uncles Lauder and Morrison guaranteeing repayment. Uncle Lauder also lent his aid and advice, managing all the details for us, and on the 17th day of May, 1848, we left Dunfermline. My father's age was then forty-three, my mother's thirty- three. I was in my thirteenth year, my brother Tom in his fifth year — a beautiful white-haired child with lustrous black eyes, who everywhere attracted atten- tion. 26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE I had left school forever, with the exception of one winter's night-schooling in America, and later a French night-teacher for a time, and, strange to say, an elocu- tionist from whom I learned how to declaim, I could read, write, and cipher, and had begun the study of algebra and of Latin. A letter written to my Uncle Lauder during the voyage, and since returned, shows that I was then a better penman than now. I had wrestled with English grammar, and knew as little of what it was designed to teach as children usually do. I had read little except about Wallace, Bruce, and Burns; but knew many familiar pieces of poetry by heart. I should add to this the fairy tales of childhood, and especially the "Arabian Nights," by which I was carried into a new world. I was in dreamland as I de- voured those stories. On the morning of the day we started from beloved Dunfermline, in the omnibus that ran upon the coal railroad to Charleston, I remember that I stood with tearful eyes looking out of the window until Dunferm- line vanished from view, the last structure to fade being the grand and sacred old Abbey. During my first fourteen years of absence my thought was almost daily, as it was that morning, "When shall I see you again?" Few days passed in which I did not see in my mind's eye the talismanic letters on the Abbey tower — "King Robert The Bruce." All my recollections of childhood, all I knew of fairyland, clustered around the old Abbey and its curfew bell, which tolled at eight o'clock every evening and was the signal for me to run to bed before it stopped. I have referred to that bell in my "American Four-in-Hand in Britain" ^ when passing the Abbey and I may as well quote from it now: ^ An American Four-in-Hand in Britain, New York, 1886. THE ABBEY BELL 27 As we drove down the Pends I was standing on the front seat of the coach with Provost Walls, when I heard the first toll of the Abbey bell, tolled in honor of my mother and my- self. My knees sank from under me, the tears came rushing before I knew it, and I turned round to tell the Provost that I must give in. For a moment I felt as if I were about to faint. Fortunately I saw that there was no crowd before us for a little distance. I had time to regain control, and biting my lips till they actually bled, I murmured to myself, "No matter, keep cool, you must go on"; but never can there come to my ears on earth, nor enter so deep into my soul, a sound that shall haunt and subdue me with its sweet, gra- cious, melting power as that did. By that curfew bell I had been laid in my little couch to sleep the sleep of childish innocence. Father and mother, sometimes the one, sometimes the other, had told me as they bent lovingly over me night after night, what that bell said as it tolled. Many good words has that bell spoken to me through their translations. No wrong thing did I do through the day which that voice from all I knew of heaven and the great Father there did not tell me kindly about ere I sank to sleep, speaking the words so plainly that I knew that the power that moved it had seen all and was not angry, never angry, never, but so very, very sorry. Nor is that bell dumb to me to-day when I hear its voice. It still has its message, and now it sounded to welcome back the exiled mother and son under its precious care again. The world has not within its power to devise, much less to bestow upon us, such reward as that which the Abbey bell gave when it tolled in our honor. But my brother Tom should have been there also; this was the thought that came. He, too, was beginning to know the wonders of that bell ere we were away to the newer land. Rousseau wished to die to the strains of sweet music. Could I choose my accompaniment, I could wish to pass into the dim beyond with the tolling of the Abbey bell sounding in my ears, telling me of the race that had been run, and calling me, as it had called the little white-haired child, for the last time — to sleep. 28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE I have had many letters from readers speaking of this pas- sage in my book, some of the writers going so far as to say that tears fell as they read. It came from the heart and perhaps that is why it reached the hearts of others. We were rowed over in a small boat to the Edin- burgh steamer in the Firth of Forth. As I was about to be taken from the small boat to the steamer, I rushed to Uncle Lauder and clung round his neck, crying out: *'I cannot leave you! I cannot leave you!" I was torn from him by a kind sailor who lifted me up on the deck of the steamer. Upon my return visit to Dujxfermline this dear old fellow, when he came to see me, told me it was the saddest parting he had ever witnessed. We sailed from the Broomielaw of Glasgow in the 800-ton sailing ship Wiscasset. During the seven weeks of the voyage, I came to know the sailors quite well, learned the names of the ropes, and was able to direct the passengers to answer the call of the boatswain, for the ship being undermanned, the aid of the passengers was urgently required. In consequence I was invited by the sailors to participate on Sundays, in the one delicacy of the sailors' mess, plum duflf. I left the ship with sincere regret. The arrival at New York was bewildering. I had been taken to see the Queen at Edinburgh, but that was the extent of my travels before emigrating. Glasgow we had not time to see before we sailed. New York was the first great hive of human industry among the inhabit- ants of which I had mingled, and the bustle and excite- ment of it overwhelmed me. The incident of our stay in New York which impressed me most occurred while I was walking through Bowling Green at Castle Garden. I was caught up in the arms of one of the Wiscasset sailors, Robert Barryman, who was decked out in regular Jack- ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK 29 ashore fashion, with blue jacket and white trousers. I thought him the most beautiful man I had ever seen. He took me to a refreshment stand and ordered a glass of sarsaparilla for me, which I drank with as much relish as if it were the nectar of the gods. To this day nothing that I have ever seen of the kind rivals the im- age which remains in my mind of the gorgeousness of the highly ornamented brass vessel out of which that nectar came foaming. Often as I have passed the identi- cal spot I see standing there the old woman's sarsapa- rilla stand, and I marvel what became of the dear old sailor. I have tried to trace him, but in vain, hoping that if found he might be enjoying a ripe old age, and that it might be in my power to add to the pleasure of his declining years. He was my ideal Tom Bowling, and when that fine old song is sung I always see as the "form of manly beauty" my dear old friend Barryman. Alas! ere this he's gone aloft. Well; by his kindness on the voyage he made one boy his devoted friend and admirer. We knew only Mr. and Mrs. Sloane in New York — parents of the well-known John, Willie, and Henry Sloane. Mrs. Sloane (Euphemia Douglas) was my mother's companion in childhood in Dunfermline. Mr, Sloane and my father had been fellow weavers. We called upon them and were warmly welcomed. It was a genuine pleasure when Willie, his son, bought ground from me in 1900 opposite our New York residence for his two married daughters so that our children of the third generation became playmates as our mothers were in Scotland. My father was induced by emigration agents in New York to take the Erie Canal by way of Buffalo and Lake Erie to Cleveland, and thence down the canal to Beaver — a journey which then lasted three weeks. so AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE and is made to-day by rail in ten hours. There was no railway communication then with Pittsburgh, nor in- deed with any western town. The Erie Railway was under construction and we saw gangs of men at work upon it as we traveled. Nothing comes amiss to youth, and I look back upon my three weeks as a passenger upon the canal-boat with unalloyed pleasure. All that was disagreeable in my experience has long since faded from recollection, excepting the night we were com- pelled to remain upon the wharf -boat at Beaver wait- ing for the steamboat to take us up the Ohio to Pitts- burgh. This was our first introduction to the mosquito in all its ferocity. My mother suffered so severely that in the morning she could hardly see. We were all frightful sights,^ ut I do not remember that even the stinging misery of that night kept me from sleeping soundly. I could always sleep, never knowing "horrid night, the child of hell." Our friends in Pittsburgh had been anxiously waiting to hear from us, and in their warm and affectionate greeting all our troubles were forgotten. We took up our residence with them in AUegheiiy City. A brother of my Uncle Hogan had built a small weaver's shop at the back end of a lot in Rebecca Street. This had a second story in which there were two rooms, and it was in these (free of rent, for my Aunt Aitken owned them) that my parents began housekeeping. My uncle soon gave up weaving and my father took his place and began making tablecloths, which he had not only to weave, but afterwards, acting as his own merchant, to travel and sell, as no dealers could be found to take them in quantity. He was compelled to market them himself, selling from door to door. The returns were meager in the extreme. ANDREW CARNEGIE AT SIXTEEN WITH HIS BROTHER THOMAS SETTLING IN ALLEGHENY CITY 31 As usual, my mother came to the rescue. There was no keeping her down. In her youth she had learned to bind shoes in her father's business for pin-money, and the skill then acquired was now turned to account for the benefit of the family. Mr. Phipps, father of my friend and partner Mr. Henry Phipps, was, like my grandfather, a master shoemaker. He was our neighbor in Allegheny City. Work was obtained from him, and in addition to attending to her household duties — for, of course, we had no servant — this wonderful woman, my mother, earned four dollars a week by binding shoes. Midnight would often find her at work. In the intervals during the day and evening, when household cares would permit, and my young brother sat at her knee threading needles and waxing the thread for her, she recited to him, as she had to me, the gems of Scottish minstrelsy which she seemed to have by heart, or told him tales which failed not to contain a moral. This is where the children of honest poverty have the most precious of all advantages over those of wealth. The mother, nurse, cook, governess, teacher, saint, all in one; the father, exemplar, guide, counselor, and friend! Thus were my brother and I brought up. What has the child of millionaire or nobleman that counts compared to such a heritage? My mother was a busy woman, but all her work did not prevent her neighbors from soon recognizing her as a wise and kindly woman whom they could call upon for counsel or help in times of trouble. Many have told me what my mother did for them. So it was in after years wherever we resided; rich and poor came to her with their trials and found good counsel. She tow- ered among her neighbors wherever she went. CHAPTER III PITTSBURGH AND WORK THE great question now was, what could be found for me to do. I had just completed my thirteenth year, and I fairly panted to get to work that I might help the family to a start in the new land. The pros- pect of want had become to me a frightful nightmare. My thoughts at this period centered in the determina- tion that we should make and save enough of money to produce three hundred dollars a year — twenty-five dollars monthly, which I figured was the sum required to keep us without being dependent upon others. Every necessary thing was very cheap in those days. The brother of my Uncle Hogan would often ask what my parents meant to do with me, and one day there occurred the most tragic of all scenes I have ever witnessed. Never can I forget it. He said, with the kindest intentions in the world, to my mother, that I was a likely boy and apt to learn; and he believed that if a basket were fitted out for me with knickknacks to sell, I could peddle them around the wharves and make quite a considerable sum. I never knew what an en- raged woman meant till then. My mother was sitting sewing at the moment, but she sprang to her feet with outstretched hands and shook them in his face. "What! my son a peddler and go among rough men upon the wharves! I would rather throw him into the Allegheny River. Leave me!" she cried, pointing to the door, and Mr. Hogan went. She stood a tragic queen. The next moment she had AN HEROIC MOTHER 33 broken down, but only for a few moments did tears fall and sobs come. Then she took her two boys in her arms and told us not to mind her fooHshness. There were many things in the world for us to do and we could be useful men, honored and respected, if we al- ways did what was right. It was a repetition of Helen Macgregor, in her reply to Osbaldistone in which she threatened to have her prisoners "chopped into as many pieces as there are checks in the tartan." But the reason for the outburst was different. It was not because the occupation suggested was peaceful labor, for we were taught that idleness was disgraceful; but because the suggested occupation was somewhat va- grant in character and not entirely respectable in her eyes. Better death. Yes, mother would have taken her two boys, one under each arm, and perished with them rather than they should mingle with low com- pany in their extreme youth. As I look back upon the early struggles this can be said: there was not a prouder family in the land. A keen sense of honor, independence, self-respect, pervaded the household. Walter Scott said of Burns that he had the most extraordinary eye he ever saw in a human being. I can say as much for my mother. As Burns has it: "Her eye even turned on empty space. Beamed keen with honor." Anything low, mean, deceitful, shifty, coarse, under- hand, or gossipy was foreign to that heroic soul. Tom and I could not help growing up respectable characters, having such a mother and such a father, for the father, too, was one of nature's noblemen, beloved by all, a saint. Soon after this incident my father found it necessary \ 34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE to give up hand-loom ^weaving and to enter the cot- ton factory of Mr. Blackstock, an old Scotsman in Allegheny City, where we lived. In this factory he also obtained for me a position as bobbin boy, and my first work was done there at one dollar and twenty cents per week. It was a hard life. In the winter father and I had to rise and breakfast in the darkness, reach the factory before it was daylight, and, with a short interval for lunch, work till after dark. The hours hung heavily upon me and in the work itself I took no pleasiire; but the cloud had a silver lining, as it gave me the feeling that I was doing something for my world — our family. I have made millions since, but none of those millions gave me such happiness as my first week's earnings. I was now a helper of the family, a breadwinner, and no longer a total charge upon my parents. Often had I heard my father's beautiful singing of "The Boatie Rows" and often I longed to fulfill the last lines of the verse : "When Aaleck, Jock, and Jeanettie, Are up and got their lair, ^ They '11 serve to gar the boatie row. And lichten a' our care." I was going to make our tiny craft skim. It should be noted here that Aaleck, Jock, and Jeanettie were first to get their education. Scotland was the first country that required all parents, high or low, to educate their children, and established the parish public schools. Soon after this Mr. John Hay, a fellow-Scotch manu- facturer of bobbins in Allegheny City, needed a boy, and asked whether I would not go into his service. I went, and received two dollars per week; but at first the work was even more irksome than the factory. I ^ Education. WORK IN A BOBBIN FACTORY 35 had to run a small steam-engine and to fire the boiler in the cellar of the bobbin factory. It was too much for me. I found myself night after night, sitting up in bed trying the steam gauges, fearing at one time that the steam was too low and that the workers above would complain that they had not power enough, and at another time that the steam was too high and that the boiler might burst. But all this it was a matter of honor to conceal from my parents. They had their own troubles and bore them. I must play the man and bear mine. My hopes were high, and I looked every day for some change to take place. What it was to be I knew not, but that it would come I felt certain if I kept on. Besides, at this date I was not beyond asking myself what Wallace would have done and what a Scotsman ought to do. Of one thing I was sure, he ought never to give up. One day the chance came. Mr. Hay had to make out some bills. He had no clerk, and was himself a poor penman. He asked me what kind of hand I could write, and gave me some writing to do. The result pleased him, and he found it convenient thereafter to let me make out his bills. I was also good at figures; and he soon found it to be to his interest — and besides, dear old man, I beheve he was moved by good feeling to- ward the white-haired boy, for he had a kind heart and was Scotch and wished to relieve me from the engine — to put me at other things, less objectionable except in one feature. It now became my duty to bathe the newly made spools in vats of oil. Fortunately there was a room re- served for this purpose and I was alone, but not all the resolution I could muster, nor all the indignation I felt at my own weakness, prevented my stomach from be- 36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE having in a most perverse way. I never succeeded in overcoming tlie nausea produced by the smell of the oil. Even Wallace and Bruce proved impotent here. But if I had to lose breakfast, or dinner, I had all the better appetite for supper, and the allotted work was done. A real disciple of Wallace or Bruce could not give up; he would die first. My service with Mr. Hay was a distinct advance upon the cotton factory, and I lalso made the acquaint- ance of an employer who was very kind to me. Mr. Hay kept his books in single entry, and I was able to handle them for him; but hearing that all great firms kept their books in double entry, and after talking over the matter with my companions, John Phipps, Thomas N. Miller, and William Cowley, we all determined to attend night school during the winter and learn the larger system. So the four of us went to a Mr. Williams in Pittsburgh and learned double-entry bookkeeping. One evening, early in 1850, when I returned home from work, I was told that Mr. David Brooks, manager of the telegraph oflSce, had asked my Uncle Hogan if he knew where a good boy could be found to act as mes- senger. Mr. Brooks and my uncle were enthusiastic draught-players, and it was over a game of draughts that this important inquiry was made. Upon such trifles do the most momentous consequences hang. A word, a look, an accent, may affect the destiny not only of individuals, but of nations. He is a bold man who calls anything a trifle. Who was it who, being advised to dis- regard trifles, said he always would if any one could tell him what a trifle was? The young should remember that upon trifles the best gifts of the gods often hang. My uncle mentioned my name, and said he would see whether I would take the position. I remember so well THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 37 the family council that was held. Of course I was wild with delight. No bird that ever was confined in a cage longed for freedom more than I. Mother favored, but father was disposed to deny my wish. It would prove too much for me, he said; I was too young and too small. For the two dollars and a half per week offered it was evident that a much larger boy was expected. Late at night I might be required to run out into the country with a telegram, and there would be dangers to encoun- ter. Upon the whole my father said that it was best that I should remain where I was. He subsequently withdrew his objection, so far as to give me leave to try, and I be- lieve he went to Mr. Hay and consulted with him. Mr. Hay thought it would be for my advantage, and al- though, as he said, it would be an inconvenience to him, still he advised that I should try, and if I failed he was kind enough to say that my old place would be open for me. This being decided, I was asked to go over the river to Pittsburgh and call on Mr. Brooks. My father wished to go with me, and it was settled that he should accom- pany me as far as the telegraph office, on the corner of Fourth and Wood Streets. It was a bright, sunshiny morning and this augured well. Father and I walked over from Allegheny to Pittsburgh, a distance of nearly two miles from our house. Arrived at the door I asked father to wait outside. I insisted upon going alone up- stairs to the second or operating floor to see the great man and learn my fate. I was led to this, perhaps, be- cause I had by that time begun to consider myself some- thing of an American. At first boys used to call me " Scotchie ! Scotchie ! " and I answered, " Yes, I 'm Scotch and I am proud of the name." But in speech and in ad- dress the broad Scotch had been worn off to a slight 38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE extent, and I imagined that I could make a smarter showing if alone with Mr. Brooks than if my good old Scotch father were present, perhaps to smile at my airs. I was dressed in my one white linen shirt, which was usually kept sacred for the Sabbath day, my blue round- about, and my whole Sunday suit, I had at that time, and for a few weeks after I entered the telegraph service, but one linen suit of summer clothing; and every Saturday night, no matter if that was my night on duty and I did not return till near midnight, my mother washed those clothes and ironed them, and I put them on fresh on Sabbath morning. There was nothing that heroine did not do in the struggle we were making for elbow room in the western world. Father's long factory hours tried his strength, but he, too, fought the good fight like a hero and never failed to encourage me. The interview was successful. I took care to explain that I did not know Pittsburgh, that perhaps I would not do, would not be strong enough; but all I wanted was a trial. He asked me how soon I could come, and I said that I could stay now if wanted. And, looking back over the circumstance, I think that answer might well be pondered by young men. It is a great mistake not to seize the opportunity. The position was offered to me; something might occur, some other boy might be sent for. Having got myself in I proposed to stay there if I could. Mr. Brooks very kindly called the other boy — for it was an additional messenger that was wanted — and asked him to show me about, and let me go with him and learn the business. I soon found opportunity to run down to the corner of the street and tell my father that it was all right, and to go home and tell mother that I had got the situation. I And that is how in 1850 1 got my first real start in life. DAVID McCARGO A REAL START IN LIFE 39 From the dark cellar running a steam-engine at two dollars a week, begrimed with coal dirt, without a trace of the elevating influences of life, I was lifted into para- dise, yes, heaven, as it seemed to me, with newspapers, pens, pencils, and sunshine about me. There was scarcely a minute in which I could not learn something or find out how much there was to learn and how little I knew. , I felt that my foot was upon the ladder and that I was | bound to climb. J I had only one fear, and that was tliat I could not learn quickly enough the addresses of the various busi- ness houses to which messages had to be delivered. I therefore began to note the signs of these houses up one side of the street and down the other. At night I ex- ercised my memory by naming in succession the various firms. Before long I could shut my eyes and, beginning at the foot of a business street, call oflf the names of the firms in proper order along one side to the top of the street, then crossing on the other side go down in regu- lar order to the foot again. The next step was to know the men themselves, for it gave a messenger a great advantage, and often saved a long journey, if he knew members or employees of firms. He might meet one of these going direct to his office. It was reckoned a great triumph among the boys to deliver a message upon the street. And there was the additional satisfaction to the boy himself, that a great man (and most men are great to messengers), stopped upon the street in this way, seldom failed to note the boy and compliment him. The Pittsburgh of 1850 was very different from what it has since become. It had not yet recovered from the great fire which destroyed the entire business portion of the city on April 10, 1845. The houses were mainly of 40 AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE wood, a few only were of brick, and not one was fire- proof. The entire population in and around Pittsburgh was not over forty thousand. The business portion of the city did not extend as far as Fifth Avenue, which was then a very quiet street, remarkable only for having the theater upon it. Federal Street, Allegheny, consisted of straggling business houses with great open spaces be- tween them, and I remember skating upon ponds in the very heart of the present Fifth Ward. The site of our Union Iron Mills was then, and many years later, a cabbage garden. General Robinson, to whom I delivered many a tele- graph message, was the first white child born west of the Ohio River. I saw the first telegraph line stretched from the east into the city; and, at a later date, I also saw the first locomotive, for the Ohio and Pennsylvania Rail- road, brought by canal from Philadelphia and unloaded from a scow in Allegheny City. There was no direct railway communication to the East. Passengers took the canal to the foot of the Allegheny Mountains, over which they were transported to HoUidaysburg, a dis- tance of thirty miles by rail; thence by canal again to Columbia, and then eighty-one miles by rail to Phila- delphia — a journey which occupied three days.^ The great event of the day in Pittsburgh at that time was the arrival and departure of the steam packet to and from Cincinnati, for daily communication had been established. The business of the city was largely that of forwarding merchandise East and West, for it was the great transfer station from river to canal. A rolling mill ^ "Beyond Philadelpliia was tlie Camden and Amboy Railway; beyond Pittsburgh, the Fort Wayne and Chicago, separate organizations with which we had nothmg to do." {Problems of To-day yhy Andrew Cavnegie, p. 187. New York, 1908.) THE PITTSBURGH OF 1850 41 had begun to roll iron; but not a ton of pig metal was made, and not a ton of steel for many a year thereafter. The pig iron manufacture at first was a total failure because of the lack of proper fuel, although the most valuable deposit of coking coal in the world lay within a few miles, as much undreamt of for coke to smelt iron- stone as the stores of natural gas which had for ages lain untouched under the city. There were at that time not half a dozen "carriage" people in the town; and not for many years after was the attempt made to introduce livery, even for a coachman. As late as 1861, perhaps, the most notable financial event which had occurred in the annals of Pittsburgh was the retirement from business of Mr. Fahnestock with the enormous sum of $174,000, paid by his partners for his interest. How great a sum that seemed then and how trifling now ! My position as messenger boy soon made me ac-^ quainted with the few leading men of the city. The bar of Pittsburgh was distinguished. Judge Wilkins was at its head, and he and Judge MacCandless, Judge Mc- Clure, Charles Shaler and his partner, Edwin M. Stan- ton, afterwards the great War Secretary ("Lincoln's right-hand man") were all well known to me — the last- named especially, for he was good enough to take notice of me as a boy. In business circles among prominent men who still survive, Thomas M. Howe, James Park, C. G. Hussey, Benjamin F. Jones, William Thaw, John Chal- f ant. Colonel Herron were great men to whom the mes- senger boys looked as models, and not bad models either, as their lives proved. [Alas! all dead as I revise this paragraph in 1906, so steadily moves the solemn procession.] My life as a telegraph messenger was in every respect 42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE a happy one, and it was while in this position that I laid the foundation of my closest friendships. The senior messenger boy being promoted, a new boy was needed, and he came in the person of David McCargo, after- wards the well-known superintendent of the Allegheny Valley Railway. He was made my companion and we had to deliver all the messages from the Eastern line, while two other boys delivered the messages from the West. The Eastern and Western Telegraph Companies were then separate, although occupying the same build- ing. "Davy" and I became firm friends at once, one great bond being that he was Scotch; for, although. "Davy" was born in America, his father was quite as much a Scotsman, even in speech, as my own father, A short time after "Davy's" appointment a third boy was required, and this time I was asked if I could find a suitable one. This I had no difficulty in doing in my chum, Robert Pitcairn, later on my successor as superintendent and general agent at Pittsburgh of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Robert, like myself, was not only Scotch, but Scotch-born, so that "Davy," "Bob," and "Andy" became the three Scotch boys who delivered all the messages of the Eastern Telegraph Line in Pitts- burgh, for the then magnificent salary of two and a haK dollars per week. It was the duty of the boys to sweep the office each morning, and this we did in turn, so it will be seen that we all began at the bottom. Hon. H. W. Oliver,^ head of the great manufacturing firm of Oliver Brothers, and W. C. Morland,^ City Solicitor, subse- quently joined the corps and started in the same fash- ion. It is not the rich man's son that the young struggler for advancement has to fear in the race of life, nor his nephew, nor his cousin. Let him look out for the "dark 1 Died 1904. 2 jyi^^ i889. ROBERT PITCAIRN A MESSENGER BOY'S LIFE 43 horse" in the boy who begins by sweeping out the oflBce. A messenger boy in those days had many pleasures. There were wholesale fruit stores, where a pocketful of apples was sometimes to be had for the prompt delivery of a message; bakers' and confectioners' shops, where sweet cakes were sometimes given to him. He met with very kind men, to whom he looked up with respect; they spoke a pleasant word and complimented him on his promptness, perhaps asked him to deliver a message on the way back to the oflSce. I do not know a situation in which a boy is more apt to attract attention, which is all a really clever boy requires in order to rise. Wise men are always looking out for clever boys. - One great excitement of this life was the extra charge of ten cents which we were permitted to collect for messages delivered beyond a certain limit. These " dime messages," as might be expected, were anxiously watched, and quarrels arose among us as to the right of delivery. In some cases it was alleged boys had now and then taken a dime message out of turn. This was the only cause of serious trouble among us. By way of settlement I proposed that we should "pool" these mes- sages and divide the cash equally at the end of each week. I was appointed treasurer. Peace and good-humor reigned ever afterwards. This pooling of extra earnings not being intended to create artificial prices was really cooperation. It was my first essay in financial organiza- tion. The boys considered that they had a perfect right to spend these dividends, and the adjoining confectioner's shop had running accounts with most of them. The ac- counts were sometimes greatly overdrawn. The treas- urer had accordingly to notify the confectioner, which A^4'-ii£a e he had reserved for me, although I had never approved the scheme. But nothing in the world would ever induce me to be guilty of endorsing the paper of that construction company or of any other concern than our own firm. I knew that it would be impossible for me to pay the Morgan loan in sixty days, or even to pay my proper- 174 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE tion of it. Besides, it was not that loan by itseK, but the half-dozen other loans that would be required there- after that had to be considered. This marked another step in the total business separation which had to come between Mr. Scott and myself. It gave more pain than all the financial trials to which I had been subjected up to that time. It was not long after this meeting that the disaster came and the country was startled by the failure of those whom it had regarded as its strongest men. I fear Mr. Scott's premature death ^ can measurably be attrib- uted to the humiliation which he had to bear. He was a sensitive rather than a proud man, and his seemingly impending failure cut him to the quick. Mr. McManus and Mr. Baird, partners in the enterprise, also soon passed away. These two men were manufacturers like myself and in no position to engage in railway con- struction. The business man has no rock more dangerous to encounter in his career than this very one of endorsing commercial paper. It can easily be avoided if he asks himseK two questions: Have I surplus means for all possible requirements which will enable me to pay with- out inconvenience the utmost sum for which I am liable under this endorsement? Secondly: Am I willing to lose this sum for the friend for whom I endorse.^ If these two questions can be answered in the affirmative he may be permitted to oblige his friend, but not otherwise, if he be a wise man. And if he can answer the first question in the affirmative it will be well for him to consider whether it would not be better then and there to pay the entire sum for which his name is asked. I am sure it would be. A man's means are a trust to be 1 Died May 21. 1881. KEEPING OUT OF DEEP WATER 175 sacredly held for his own creditors as long as he has debts and obligations. Notwithstanding my refusal to endorse the Morgan renewal, I was invited to accompany the parties to New York next morning in their special car for the purpose of consultation. This I was only too glad to do. Anthony Drexel was also called in to accompany us. During the journey Mr. McCuUough remarked that he had been looking around the car and had made up his mind that there was only one sensible man in it; the rest had all been "fools." Here was "Andy" who had paid for his shares and did not owe a dollar or have any responsi- bility in the matter, and that was the position they all ought to have been in. Mr. Drexel said he would like me to explain how I had been able to steer clear of these unfortunate troubles. I answered: by strict adherence to what I believed to be my duty never to put my name to anything which I knew I could not pay at maturity; or, to recall the fa- miliar saying of a Western friend, never to go in where you could n't wade. This water was altogether too deep for me. / ^ Regard for this rule has kept not only myself but my partners out of trouble. Indeed, we had gone so far in our partnership agreement as to prevent ourselves from endorsing or committing ourselves in any way be- yond trifling sums, except for the firm. This I also gave as a reason why 1 could not endorse. During the period which these events cover I had made repeated journeys to Europe to negotiate various securities, and in all I sold some thirty millions of dol- lars worth. This was at a time when the Atlantic cable had not yet made New York a part of London financially considered, and when London bankers would lend their 176 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE balances to Paris, Vienna, or Berlin for a shadow of dif- ference in the rate of interest rather than to the United States at a higher rate. The Republic was considered Jess safe than the Continent by these good people. My brother and Mr. Phipps conducted the iron business so successfully that I could leave for weeks at a time with- out anxiety. There was danger lest I should drift away from the manufacturing to the financial and banking business. My successes abroad brought me tempting opportunities, but my preference was always for manu- facturing. I wished to make something tangible and sell it and I continued to invest my profits in extending the works at Pittsburgh. The small shops put up originally for the Keystone Bridge Company had been leased for other purposes and ten acres of ground had been secured in Lawrence- ville on which new and extensive shops were erected. Repeated additions to the Union Iron Mills had made them the leading mills in the United States for all sorts of structural shapes. Business was promising and all the surplus earnings I was making in other fields were re- quired to expand the iron business. I had become inter- ested, with my friends of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in building some railways in the Western States, but gradually withdrew from all such enter- prises and made up my mind to go entirely contrary to the adage not to put all one's eggs in one basket. I de- termined that the proper policy was "to put all good eggs in one basket and then watch that basket." % I believe the true road to preeminent success in any line is to make yourself master in that line. I have no faith in the policy of scattering one's resources, and in my experience I have rarely if ever met a man who achieved preeminence in money-making — certainly THE ROAD TO SUCCESS 177 never one in manufacturing — who was interested in many concerns. The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one Hne and stuck to it. It is surprising how few men appreciate the enormous dividends deriv- able from investment in their own business. There is scarcely a manufacturer in the world who has not in his works some machinery that should be thrown out and replaced by improved appliances; or whp does not for the want of additional machinery or new methods lose more than suflScient to pay the largest dividend ob^ tainable by investment beyond his own domain. And yet most business men whom I have known invest in bank shares and in far-away enterprises, while the true gold mine lies right in their own factories. I have tried always to hold fast to this important' fact. It has been with me a cardinal doctrine that I couldf manage my own capital better than any other person, : much better than any board of directors. The losses men ; encounter during a business life which seriously em- barrass them are rarely in their own business, but in enterprises of which the investor is not master. My ad- vice to young men would be not only to concentrate their whole time and attention on the one business in life in which they engage, but to put every dollar of their capital into it. If there be any business that will not bear extension, the true policy is to invest the sur- plus in first-class securities which will yield a moderate but certain revenue if some other growing business can not be found. As for myself ray decision was taken early. I would concentrate upon the manufacture of iron and steel and be master in that. My visits to Britain gave me excellent opportunities to renew and make acquaintance with those prominent in the iron and steel business — Bessemer in the front. 178 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE Sir Lothian Bell, Sir Bernard Samuelson, Sir Windsor Richards, Edward Martin, Bingley, Evans, and the whole host of captains in that industry. My election to the council, and finally to the presidency of the British Iron and Steel Institute soon followed, I being the first president who was not a British subject. That honor was highly appreciated, although at first declined, because I feared that I could not give sufficient time to its duties, owing to my residence in America. As we had been compelled to engage in the manu- facture of wrought-iron in order to make bridges and other structures, so now we thought it desirable to manufacture our own pig iron. And this led to the erec- tion of the Lucy Furnace in the year 1870 — a venture which would have been postponed had we fully appre- ciated its magnitude. We heard from time to time the ominous predictions made by our older brethren in the manufacturing business with regard to the rapid growth and extension of our young concern, but we were not deterred. We thought we had sufficient capital and credit to justify the building of one blast furnace. The estimates made of its cost, however, did not cover more than half the expenditure. It was an ex- periment with us. Mr. Kloman knew nothing about blast-furnace operations. But even without exact knowl- edge no serious blunder was made. The yield of the Lucy Furnace (named after my bright sister-in-law) exceeded our most sanguine expectations and the then unprecedented output of a hundred tons per day was made from one blast furnace, for one week — an output that the world had never heard of before. We held the record and many visitors came to marvel at the marvel. It was not, however, all smooth sailing with our iron business. Years of panic came at intervals. We had MAKING PIG IRON 179 passed safely through the fall in values following the war, when iron from nine cents per pound dropped to three. Many failures occurred and our financial manager had his time fully occupied in providing funds to meet emergencies. Among many wrecks our firm stood with credit unimpaired. But the manufacture of pig iron gave us more anxiety than any other department of our business so far. The greatest service rendered us in this branch of manufacturing was by Mr. Whitwell, of the celebrated Whitwell Brothers of England, whose blast-furnace stoves were so generally used. Mr. Whit- well was one of the best-known of the visitors who came to marvel at the Lucy Furnace, and I laid the difficulty we then were experiencing before him. He said immedi- ately: "That comes from the angle of the bell being wrong." He explained how it should be changed. Our Mr. Kloman was slow to believe this, but I urged that a small glass-model furnace and two bells be made, one as the Lucy was and the other as Mr. Whitwell advised it should be. This was done, and upon my next visit experiments were made with each, the result being just as Mr. Whitwell had foretold. Our bell distributed the large pieces to the sides of the furnace, leaving the center a dense mass through which the blast could only partially penetrate. The Whitwell bell threw the pieces to the center leaving the circumference dense. This made all the difference in the world. The Lucy's troubles were over. -^^ What a kind, big, broad man was Mr. Whitwell, with no narrow jealousy, no withholding his knowledge! We had in some departments learned new things and were able to be of service to his firm in return. At all events, after that everything we had was open to the Whitwells. 180 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE [To-day, as I write, I rejoice that one of the two still is with us and that our friendship is still warm. He was my predecessor in the presidency of the British Iron and Steel Institute.] CHAPTER XIII THE AGE OF STEEL LOOKING back to-day it seems incredible that only- forty years ago (1870) chemistry in the United States was an almost unknown agent in connection with the manufacture of pig iron. It was the agency, above all others, most needful in the manufacture of iron and steel. The blast-furnace manager of that day was usually a rude bully, generally a foreigner, who in addition to his other acquirements was able to knock down a man now and then as a lesson to the other un- ruly spirits under him. He was supposed to diagnose the condition of the furnace by instinct, to possess some almost supernatural power of divination, like his con- gener in the country districts who was reputed to be able to locate an oil well or water supply by means of a hazel rod. He was a veritable quack doctor who ap- plied whatever remedies occurred to him for the troubles of his patient. \ The Lucy Furnace was out of one trouble and into an- other, owing to the great variety of ores, limestone, and coke which were then supplied with little or no regard to their component parts. This state of affairs became in- tolerable to us. We finally decided to dispense with the rule-of-thumb-and-intuition manager, and to place a young man in charge of the furnace. We had a young shipping clerk, Henry M. Curry, who had distinguished himself, and it was resolved to make him manager. Mr. Phipps had the Lucy Furnace under his special charge. His daily visits to it saved us from failure there. Not that the furnace was not doing as well as other fur- 182 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE naces in the West as to money-making, but being so much larger than other furnaces its variations entailed much more serious results. I am afraid my partner had something to answer for in his Sunday morning visits to the Lucy Furnace when his good father and sister left the house for more devotional duties. But even if he had gone with them his real earnest prayer could not but have had reference at times to the precarious con- dition of the Lucy Furnace then absorbing his thoughts. -' The next step taken was to find a chemist as Mr. Curry's assistant and guide. We found the man in a learned German, Dr. Fricke, and great secrets did the doctor open up to us. Iron stone from mines that had a high reputation was now found to contain ten, fifteen, and even twenty per cent less iron than it had been credited with. Mines that hitherto had a poor reputa- tion we found to be now yielding superior ore. The good was bad and the bad was good, and everything was topsy-turvy. Nine tenths of all the uncertainties of pig-iron making were dispelled under the burning sun of chemical knowledge. At a most critical period when it was necessary for the credit of the firm that the blast furnace should make its best product, it had been stopped because an exceed- ingly rich and pure ore had been substituted for an inferior ore — an ore which did not yield more than two thirds of the quantity of iron of the other. The fur- nace had met with disaster because too much lime had been used to flux this exceptionally pure ironstone. The very superiority of the materials had involved us in serious losses. I What fools we had been ! But then there was this con- solation: we were not as great fools as our competitors. It was years after we had taken chemistry to guide us THE CHEMISTRY OF PIG IRON 183 that it was said by the proprietors of some other fur- naces that they could not afford to employ a chemist. Had they known the truth then, they would have known that they could not afford to be without one. Looking back it seems pardonable to record that we were the first to employ a chemist at blast furnaces — something our competitors pronounced extravagant. The Lucy Furnace became the most profitable branch of our business, because we had almost the entire monop- oly of scientific management. Having discovered the secret, it was not long (1872) before we decided to erect an additional furnace. Thiswas done with great economy as compared with our first experiment. The mines which had no reputation and the products of which many firms would not permit to be used in their blast fur- naces found a purchaser in us. Those mines which were able to obtain an enormous price for their products, owing to a reputation for quality, we quietly ignored. A curious illustration of this was the celebrated Pilot Knob mine in Missouri. Its product was, so to speak, under a cloud. A small portion of it only could be used, it was said, without obstructing the furnace. Chemistry told us that it was low in phosphorus, but very high in silicon. There was no better ore and scarcely any as rich, if it were properly fluxed. We therefore bought heavily of this and received the thanks of the proprietors for rendering their property valuable. It is hardly believable that for several years we were able to dispose of the highly phosphoric cinder from the puddling furnaces at a higher price than we had to pay for the pure cinder from the heating furnaces of our competitors — a cinder which was richer in iron than the puddled cinder and much freer from phosphorus. Upon some occasion a blast furnace had attempted to smelt 184 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE the flue cinder, and from its greater purity the furnace did not work well with a mixture intended for an im- purer article; hence for years it was thrown over the banks of the river at Pittsburgh by our competitors as worthless. In some cases we were even able to exchange a poor article for a good one and obtain a bonus. But it is still more unbelievable that a prejudice, equally unfounded, existed against putting into the blast furnaces the roll-scale from the mills which was pure oxide of iron. This reminds me of my dear friend and fellow-Dunfermline townsman, Mr. Chisholm, of Cleveland. We had many pranks together. One day, when I was visiting his works at Cleveland, I saw men wheeling this valuable roll-scale into the yard. I asked Mr. Chisholm where they were going with it, and he said: "To throw it over the bank. Our managers have always complained that they had bad luck when they attempted to remelt it in the blast furnace." I said nothing, but upon my return to Pittsburgh I set about having a joke at his expense. We had then a young man in our service named Du Puy, whose father was known as the inventor of a direct process in iron- making with which he was then experimenting in Pitts- burgh. I recommended our people to send Du Puy to Cleveland to contract for all the roll-scale of my friend's establishment. He did so, buying it for fifty cents per ton and having it shipped to him direct. This continued for some time. I expected always to hear of the joke being discovered. The premature death of Mr. Chis- holm occurred before I could apprise him of it. His suc- cessors soon, however, followed our example. I had not failed to notice the growth of the Bessemer process. If this proved successful I knew that iron was THE BESSEMER PROCESS 185 destined to give place to steel; that the Iron Age would pass away and the Steel Age take its place. My friend, John A. Wright, president of the Freedom Iron Works at Lewiston, Pennsylvania, had visited England pur- posely to investigate the new process. He was one of our best and most experienced manufacturers, and his de- cision was so strongly in its favor that he induced his company to erect Bessemer works. He was quite right, but just a little in advance of his time. The capital re- quired was greater than he estimated. More than this, it was not to be expected that a process which was even then in somewhat of an experimental stage in Britain could be transplanted to the new country and operated successfully from the start. The experiment was certain to be long and costly, and for this my friend had not made sufficient allowance. At a later date, when the process had become estab- lished in England, capitalists began to erect the present Pennsylvania Steel Works at Harrisburg. These also had to pass through an experimental stage and at a critical moment would probably have been wrecked but for the timely assistance of the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company. It required a broad and able man like President Thomson, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, to recommend to his board of directors that so large a sum as six hundred thousand dollars should be advanced to a manufacturing concern on his road, that steel rails might be secured for the line. The result fully justified his action. The question of a substitute for iron rails upon the Pennsylvania Railroad and other leading lines had be- come a very serious one. Upon certain curves at Pitts- burgh, on the road connecting the Pennsylvania with the Fort Wayne, I had seen new iron rails placed every 186 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE six weeks or two months. Before the Bessemer process was known I had called President Thomson's attention to the efforts of Mr. Dodds in England, who had car- bonized the heads of iron rails with good results. I went to England and obtained control of the Dodds patents and recommended President Thomson to appropriate twenty thousand dollars for experiments at Pittsburgh, which he did. We built a furnace on our grounds at the upper mill and treated several hundred tons of rails for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and with remarkably good results as compared with iron rails. These were the first hard-headed rails used in America. We placed them on some of the sharpest curves and their superior service far more than compensated for the advance made by Mr. Thomson. Had the Bessemer process not been successfully developed, I verily believe that we should ultimately have been able to improve the Dodds process sufficiently to make its adoption general. But there was nothing to be compared with the solid steel article which the Bessemer process produced. Our friends of the Cambria Iron Company at Johns- town, near Pittsburgh — the principal manufacturers of rails in America — decided to erect a Bessemer plant. In England I had seen it demonstrated, at least to my satisfaction, that the process could be made a grand suc- cess without undue expenditure of capital or great risk. Mr. William Coleman, who was ever alive to new meth- ods, arrived at the same conclusion. It was agreed we should enter upon the manufacture of steel rails at Pittsburgh. He became a partner and also my dear friend Mr. David McCandless, who had so kindly ofifered aid to my mother at my father's death. The latter was not forgotten. Mr. John Scott and Mr. David A. Stewart, and others joined me; Mr. Edgar Thomson ERECTION OF STEEL-RAIL MILLS 187 and Mr. Thomas A. Scott, president and vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, also became stockholders, anxious to encourage the development of steel. The steel-rail company was organized January 1, 1873, The question of location was the first to engage our serious attention. I could not reconcile myself to any location that was proposed, and finally went to Pitts- burgh to consult with my partners about it. The subject was constantly in my mind and in bed Sunday morning the site suddenly appeared to me. I rose and called to my brother: "Tom, you and Mr. Coleman are right about the location; right at Braddock's, between the Pennsyl- vania, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the river, is the best situation in America; and let's call the works after our dear friend Edgar Thomson. Let us go over to Mr. Cole- man's and drive out to Braddock's." We did so that day, and the next morning Mr. Cole- man was at work trying to secure the property. Mr- McKinney, the owner, had a high idea of the value of his farm. What we had expected to purchase for five or six hundred dollars an acre cost us two thousand. But since then we have been compelled to add to our original purchase at a cost of five thousand dollars per acre. There, on the very field of Braddock's defeat, we be- gan the erection of our steel-rail mills. In excavating for the foundations many relics of the battle were found — bayonets, swords, and the like. It was there that the then provost of Dunfermline, Sir Arthur Halkett, and his son were slain. How did they come to be there will very naturally be asked. It must not be forgotten that, in those days, the provosts of the cities of Britain were members of the aristocracy— the great men of the dis- trict who condescended to enjoy the honor of the po- 188 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE sition without performing the duties. No one in trade was considered good enough for the provostship. We have remnants of this aristocratic notion throughout Britain to-day. There is scarcely any life assurance or railway company, or in some cases manufacturing com- pany but must have at its head, to enjoy the honors of the presidency, some titled person totally ignorant of the duties of the position. So it was that Sir Arthur Halkett, as a gentleman, was Provost of Dunfermline, but by calling he followed the profession of arms and was killed on this spot. It was a coincidence that what had been the field of death to two native-born citizens of Dunfermline should be turned into an industrial hive by two others. Another curious fact has recently been discovered. Mr. John Morley's address, in 1904 on Founder's Day at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, referred to the capture of Fort Duquesne by General Forbes and his writing Prime Minister Pitt that he had rechristened it "Pittsburgh" for him. This General Forbes was then Laird of Pittencrieff and was born in the Glen which I purchased in 1902 and presented to Dunfermline for a public park. So that two Dunfermline men have been Lairds of Pittencrieflf whose chief work was in Pitts- burgh. One named Pittsburgh and the other labored for its development. In naming the steel mills as we did the desire was to honor my friend Edgar Thomson, but when I asked per- mission to use his name his reply was significant. He said that as far as American steel rails were concerned, he did not feel that he wished to connect his name with them, for they had proved to be far from creditable. Uncertainty was, of course, inseparable from the ex- perimental stage; but, when I assured him that it was THOMSON AND THE STEEL MH^LS 189 now possible to make steel rails in America as good in every particular as the foreign article, and that we in- tended to obtain for our rails the reputation enjoyed by the Keystone bridges and the Kloman axles, he con- sented. He was very anxious to have us purchase land upon the Pennsylvania Railroad, as his first thought was always for that company. This would have given the Pennsylvania a monopoly of our traffic. When he visited Pittsburgh a few months later and Mr. Robert Pitcairn, my successor as superintendent of the Pittsburgh Divi- sion of the Pennsylvania, pointed out to him the situa- tion of the new works at Braddock's Station, which gave us not only a connection with his own line, but also with the rival Baltimore and Ohio line, and with a rival in one respect greater than either — the Ohio River — he said, with a twinkle of his eye to Robert, as Robert told me: "Andy should have located his works a few miles farther east." But Mr. Thomson knew the good and sufficient reasons which determined the selection of the unrivaled site. The works were well advanced when the financial panic of September, 1873, came upon us. I then entered upon the most anxious period of my business life. All was going well when one morning in our summer cottage, in the Allegheny Mountains at Cresson, a telegram came announcing the failure of Jay Cooke & Co. Almost every hour after brought news of some fresh disaster. House after house failed. The question every morning was which would go next. Every failure depleted the resources of other concerns. Loss after loss ensued, until a total paralysis of business set in. Every weak spot was discovered and houses that otherwise would have been 190 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE strong were borne down largely because our country -lacked a proper banking system. ^e had not much reason to be anxious about our debts. Not what we had to pay of our own debts could give us much trouble, but rather what we might have to pay for our debtors. It was not our bills payable but ou^ bills receivable which required attention, for we soon had to begin meeting both. Even our own banks had to beg us not to draw upon our balances. One incident will shed some light upon the currency situation. One of oizr pay-days was approaching. One hundred thousand dol- lars in small notes were absolutely necessary, and to obtain these we paid a premium of twenty-four htmdred dollars in New York and had them expressed to Pitts- burgh. It was impossible to borrow money, even upon the best collaterals; but by selling securities, which I had in reserve, considerable sums were realized — the company undertaking to replace them later. It happened that some of the railway companies whose lines centered in Pittsburgh owed us large sums for material furnished — the Fort Wayne road being the largest debtor. I remember calling upon Mr. Thaw, the vice-president of the Fort Wayne, and telling him we must have our money. He replied: "You ought to have your money, but we are not pay- ing anything these days that is not protestable." "Very good," I said, "your freight bills are in that category and we shall follow your excellent example. Now I am going to order that we do not pay you one dollar for freight." "Well, if you do that," he said, "we will stop your freight." I said we would risk that. The railway company could not proceed to that extremity. And as a matter of fact THE PANIC OP 1873 191 we ran for some time without paying the freight bills. It was simply impossible for the manufacturers of Pitts- burgh to pay their accruing liabilities when their cus- tomers stopped payment. The banks were forced to renew maturing paper. They behaved splendidly to us, as they always have done, and we steered safely through. But in a critical period like this there was one thought uppermost with me, to gather more capital and| keep it in our business so that come what would wel should never again be called upon to endure such nights' and days of racking anxiety. Speaking for myself in this great crisis, I was at first the most excited and anxious of the partners. I could scarcely control myself. But when I finally saw the strength of our financial position I became philosophi- cally cool and found myself quite prepared, if necessary, to enter the directors' rooms of the various banks with which we dealt, and lay our entire position before their boards. I felt that this could result in nothing discredit- able to us. No one interested in our business had lived extravagantly. Our manner of life had been the very reverse of this. No money had been withdrawn from the business to build costly homes, and, above all, not one of us had made speculative ventures upon the stock exchange, or invested in any other enterprises than those connected with the main business. Neither had we exchanged endorsements with others. Besides this we could show a prosperous business that was making money every year. I was thus enabled to laugh away the fears of my partners, but none of them rejoiced more than I did that the necessity for opening our lips to anybody about our finances did not arise. Mr. Coleman, good friend and true, with plentiful means and splendid credit, did not 192 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP ANDREW CARNEGIE fail to volunteer to give us his endorsements. In this we stood alone; William Coleman's name, a tower of strength, was for us only. How the grand old man comes before me as I write. His patriotism knew no bounds. Once when visiting his mills, stopped for the Fourth of July, as they always were, he found a corps of men at work repairing the boilers. He called the manager to him and asked what this meant. He ordered all work suspended. "Work on the Fourth of July!" he exclaimed, "when there's plenty of Sundays for repairs!" He was furious. When the cyclone of 1873 struck us we at once be- gan to reef sail in every quarter. Very reluctantly did we decide that the construction of the new steel works must cease for a time. Several prominent persons, who had invested in them, became unable to meet their payments and I was compelled to take over their in- terests, repaying the full cost to all. In that way con- trol of the company came into my hands. The first outburst of the storm had aflFected the finan- cial world connected with the Stock Exchange. It was some time before it reached the commercial and manu- facturing world. But the situation grew worse and worse and finally led to the crash which involved my friends in the Texas Pacific enterprise, of which I have already spoken. This was to me the severest blow of all. People could, with difficulty, believe that occupying such intimate relations as I did with the Texas group, I could by any possibility have kept myseK clear of their financial obligations. Mr. Schoenberger, president of the Exchange Bank at Pittsburgh, with which we conducted a large busi- ness, was in New York when the news reached him of the embarrassment of Mr. Scott and Mr. Thomson. He WEATHERING THE GALE 193 hastened to Pittsburgh, and at a meeting of his board next morning said it was simply impossible that I was not involved with them. He suggested that the bank should refuse to discount more of our bills receivable. He was alarmed to find that the amount of these bearing our endorsement and under discount, was so large. Prompt action on my part was necessary to pre- vent serious trouble. I took the first train for Pitts- burgh, and was able to announce there to all concerned that, although I was a shareholder in the Texas enter- prise, my interest was paid for. My name was not upon one dollar of their paper or of any other outstanding paper. I stood clear and clean without a financial obliga tion or property which I did not own and which was not fully paid for. My only obligations were those connected with our business; and I was prepared to pledge for it every dollar I owned, and to endorse every obligation the firm had outstanding. Up to this time I had the reputation in business of being a bold, fearless, and perhaps a somewhat reck- less young man. Our operations had been extensive, our growth rapid and, although still young, I had been han-^ dling millions. My own career was thought by the elderly ones of Pittsburgh to have been rather more brilliant than substantial. I know of an experienced one who declared that if "Andrew Carnegie's brains did not carry him through his luck would." But I think nothing cotild be farther from the truth than the estimate thus suggested. I am sure that any competent judge would be surprised to find how little I ever risked for myself or my partners. When I did big things, some large cor- poration like the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was behind me and the responsible party. My supply of Scotch caution never has been small; but I was appar- 194 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE ently something of a dare-devil now and then to the manufacturing fathers of Pittsburgh. They were old and I was young, which made all the diflference. The fright which Pittsburgh financial institutions had with regard to myself and our enterprises rapidly gave place to perhaps somewhat unreasoning confi- dence. Our credit became unassailable, and thereafter in times of financial pressure the offerings of money to us increased rather than diminished, just as the deposits of the old Bank of Pittsburgh were never so great as when the deposits in other banks ran low. It was the only bank in America which redeemed its circulation in gold, disdaining to take refuge under the law and pay its obligations in greenbacks. It had few notes, and I doubt not the decision paid as an advertisement. In addition to the embarrassment of my friends Mr. Scott, Mr. Thomson, and others, there came upon us later an even severer trial in the discovery that our partner, Mr. Andrew Kloman, had been led by a party of speculative people into the Escanaba Iron Company. He was assured that the concern was to be made a stock company, but before this was done his colleagues had succeeded in creating an enormous amount of liabih- ties — about seven hundred thousand dollars. There was nothing but bankruptcy as a means of reinstating Mr. Kloman. This gave us more of a shock than all that had pre- ceded, because Mr. Kloman, being a partner, had no right to invest in another iron company, or in any other company involving personal debt, without informing his partners. There is one imperative rule for men in business — no secrets from partners. Disregard of this rule involved not only Mr. Kloman himself, but our company, in peril, coming, as it did, atop of the diflScul- MR, KLOMAN'S BUSINESS DIFFICULTIES 195 ties of my Texas Pacific friends with whom I had been intimately associated. The question for a time was whether there was anything really sound. Where could we find bedrock upon which we could stand? Had Mr. Kloman been a business man it would have been impossible ever to allow him to be a partner with us again after this discovery. He was not such, however, but the ablest of practical mechanics with some business ability. Mr. Kloman's ambition had been to be in the oflBce, where he was worse than useless, rather than in the mill devising and running new machinery, where he was without a peer. We had some diflSculty in placing him in his proper position and keeping him there, which may have led him to seek an outlet elsewhere. He was perhaps flattered by men who were well known in the community; and in this case he was led by persons who knew how to reach him by extolling his wonderful busi- ness abilities in addition to his mechanical genius — abihties which his own partners, as already suggested, but faintly recognized. After Mr. Kloman had passed through the bank- ruptcy court and was again free, we offered him a ten per cent interest in our business, charging for it only the actual capital invested, with nothing whatever for good-will. This we were to carry for him until the profits paid for it. We were to charge interest only on the cost, and he was to assume no responsibility. The offer was accompanied by the condition that he should not enter into any other business or endorse for others, but give his whole time and attention to the mechanical and not the business management of the mills. Could he have been persuaded to accept this, he would have been a multimillionaire; but his pride, and more particularly that of his family, perhaps, would not permit this. He 196 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE ' would go into business on his own account, and, not- withstanding the most urgent appeals on my part, and that of my colleagues, he persisted in the determination to start a new rival concern with his sons as business managers. The result was failure and premature death. How f ooUsh we are not to recognize what we are best fitted for and can perform, not only with ease but with pleasure, as masters of the craft. More than one able man I have known has persisted in blundering in an oflSce when he had great talent for the mill, and has worn himself out, oppressed with cares and anxieties, his life a continual roxmd of misery, and the result at last failure. I never regretted parting with any man so much as Mr. Kloman. His was a good heart, a great mechanical brain, and had he been left to himself I be- lieve he would have been glad to remain with us. Offers of capital from others — oflfers which failed when needed — turned his head, and the great mechanic soon proved the poor man of affairs.^ ^ Long after the circiunstances here recited, Mr. Isidor Straus called upon Mr. Henry Phipps and asked hun if two statements which had been publicly made about Mr. Carnegie and his partners in the steel company were true. Mr. Phipps replied they were not. Then said Mr. Straus; "Mr. Phipps, you owe it to yourself and also to Mr. Carnegie to say so publicly." This Mr. Phipps did in the New York Herald, January 30, 1904, in the following handsome manner and without Mr. Carnegie's knowledge: Qtiestion: "In a recent publication mention was made of Mr. Carnegie's not having treated Mr. Miller, Mr. Kloman, and yourself properly during your early partnership, and at its termination. Can you tell me anything about this?" Answer: "Mr. Miller has already spoken for himself in this matter, and I can say that the treatment received from Mr. Carnegie during our part- nership, so far as I was concerned, was always fair and liberal. "My association with Mr. Eloman in business goes back forty-three years. Everjrthing in connection with Mr. Carnegie's partnership with Mr. Xloman was of a pleasant nature. "At a much more recent date, when the firm of Carnegie, Kloman and Company was formed, the partners were Andrew Carnegie, Thomas M. MR. KLOMAN'S BUSINESS DIFFICULTIES 197 Carnegie, Andrew Kloman, and myself. The Carnegies held the controlling interest. "After the partnership agreement was signed, Mr. Kloman said to me that the Carnegies, owning the larger interest, might be too enterprising in making improvements, which might lead us into serious trouble; and he thought that they should consent to an article in the partnership agree- ment requiring the consent of three partners to make effective any vote for improvements. I told him that we could not exact what he asked, as their larger interest assured them control, but I would speak to them. When the subject was broached, Mr. Carnegie promptly said that if he could not carry Mr. Kloman or myself with his brother in any improvements he would not wish them made. Other matters were arranged by courtesy during our partnership in the same manner." Qixestion: "What you have told me suggests the question, why did Mr. Kloman leave the firm?" Answer: "During the great depression which followed the panic of 1873, Mr. Kloman, through an unfortunate partnership in the Escanaba Furnace Company, lost his means, and his interest in our firm had to be disposed of. We bought it at book value at a time when manufacturing properties were selling at ruinous prices, often as low as one third or one half their cost. "After the settlement had been made with the creditors of the Escanaba Company, Mr. E^loman was offered an interest by Mr. Carnegie of $100,000 in our firm, to be paid only from future profits. This Mr. Kloman declined, as he did not feel like taking an interest which formerly had been much larger. Mr. Carnegie gave him $40,000 from the firm to make a new start. This amount was invested in a rival concern, which soon closed. "I knew of no disagreement during this early period with Mr. Carnegie, and their relations continued pleasant as long as Mr. Kloman lived. Har- mony always marked their intercourse, and they had the kindliest feeling one for the other," w CHAPTER XIV PAETNERS, BOOKS, AND TRAVEL HEN Mr. Kloman had severed his connection with us there was no hesitation in placing Wilham Borntraeger in charge of the mills. It has always been with especial pleasure that I have pointed to the career of William. He came direct from Germany — a young man who could not speak English, but being distantly connected with Mr. Kloman was employed in the mills, at first in a minor capacity. He promptly learned Eng- lish and became a shipping clerk at six dollars per week. He had not a particle of mechanical knowledge, and yet such was his unflagging zeal and industry for the inter- ests of his employer that he soon became marked for being everywhere about the mill, knowing everything, and attending to everything. William was a character. He never got over his Ger- man idioms and his inverted English made his remarks very effective. Under his superintendence the Union Iron Mills became a most profitable branch of our busi- ness. He had overworked himself after a few years' ap- plication and we decided to give him a trip to Europe. He came to New York by way of Washington. When he called upon me in New York he expressed himself as more anxious to return to Pittsburgh than to revisit Germany. In ascending the Washington Monument he had seen the Carnegie beams in the stairway and also at other points in public buildings, and as he expressed it: "It yust make me so broud dat I want to go right back and see dat everyting is going right at de mill." Early hours in the morning and late in the dark hours WILLIAM BORNTRAEGER 199 at night William was in the mills. His life was there. He was among the first of the young men we admitted to partnership, and the poor German lad at his death was in receipt of an income, as I remember, of about $50,000 a year, every cent of which was deserved. Stories about him are many. At a dinner of our partners to celebrate the year's business, short speeches were in order from every one. William summed up his speech thus: "What we haf to do, shentlemens, is to get brices up and costs down and efery man stand on his own bottom.'' There was loud, prolonged, and repeated laughter. Captain Evans ("Fighting Bob") was at one time government inspector at our mills. He was a severe one. William was sorely troubled at times and finally of- fended the Captain, who complained of his behavior. We tried to get William to realize the importance of pleasing a government official. William's reply was: "But he gomes in and smokes my cigars" (bold Cap- tain! William reveled in one-cent Wheeling tobies) "and then he goes and contems my iron. What does you tinks of a man like dat? But I apologize and dreat him right to-morrow." The Captain was assured William had agreed to make due amends, but he laughingly told us afterward that William's apology was : "Veil, Captain, I hope you vas all right dis morning. I haf noting against you, Captain," holding out his hand, which the Captain finally took and all was well. William once sold to our neighbor, the pioneer steel- maker of Pittsburgh, James Park, a large lot of old rails which we could not use. Mr. Park found them of a very bad quality. He made claims for damages and William was told that he must go with Mr. Phipps to meet Mr. Park and settle. Mr. Phipps went into Mr. Park's office, 200 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE while William took a look around the works in search of the condemned material, which was nowhere to be seen. Well did William know where to look. He finally entered the office, and before Mr. Park had time to say a word William began: "Mr. Park, I vas glad to hear dat de old rails what I sell you don't suit for steel. I will buy dem all from you back, five dollars ton profit for you." Well did William know that they had all been used. Mr. Park was non- plussed, and the affair ended. William had triumphed. Upon one of my visits to Pittsburgh William told me he had something "particular" he wished to tell me — something he could n't tell any one else. This was upon his return from the trip to Germany. There he had been asked to visit for a few days a former schoolfellow, who had risen to be a professor: "Well, Mr. Carnegie, his sister who kept his house was very kind to me, and ven I got to Hamburg I tought I sent her yust a little present. She write me a letter, then I write her a letter. She write me and I write her, and den I ask her would she marry me. She was very educated, but she write yes. Den I ask her to come to New York, and I meet her dere, but, Mr. Carnegie, dem people don't know noting about business and de mills. Her bruder write me dey want me to go dere again and marry her in Chairmany, and I can go away not again from de mills. I tought I yust ask you aboud it." "Of course you can go again. Quite right, William, you should go. I think the better of her people for feel- ing so. You go over at once and bring her home. I'll arrange it." Then, when parting, I said: "William, I suppose your sweetheart is a beautiful, tall, 'peaches- and-cream' kind of German young lady." "Veil, Mr. Carnegie, she is a leetle stout. If I had the THE EDGAR THOMSON STEEL COMPANY 201 rolling of her I give her yust one more passJ^ All William^s illustrations were founded on mill practice. [I find my- self bursting into fits of laughter this morning (June, 1912) as I re-read this story. But I did this also when reading that "Every man must stand on his own bot- tom."] Mr. Phipps had been head of the commercial depart- ment of the mills, but when our business was enlarged, he was required for the steel business. Another young man, WiUiam L. Abbott, took his place. Mr. Abbott's history is somewhat akin to Borntraeger's. He came to us as a clerk upon a small salary and was soon assigned to the front in charge of the business of the iron mills. He was no less successful than was William. He became a partner with an interest equal to William's, and finally was promoted to the presidency of the company. Mr. Curry had distinguished himself by this time in his management of the Lucy Furnaces, and he took his place among the partners, sharing equally with the others. There is no way of making a business successful that can vie with the policy of promoting those who render exceptional service. We finally converted the firm of Carnegie, McCandless & Co. into the Edgar Thomson Steel Company, and included my brother and Mr. Phipps, both of whom had declined at first to go into the steel business with their too enterprising senior. But when I showed them the earnings for the first year and told them if they did not get into steel they would find themselves in the wrong boat, they both recon- sidered and came with us. It was fortunate for them as for us. r^ My experience has been that no partnership of new men gathered promiscuously from various fields can prove a good working organization as at first consti- 202 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE tuted. Changes are required. Our Edgar Thomson Steel Company was no exception to this rule. Even before we began to make rails, Mr. Coleman became dissatisfied with the management of a railway official who had come to us with a great and deserved reputa- tion for method and ability. I had, therefore, to take over Mr. Coleman's interest. It was not long, however, before we found that his judgment was correct. The new man had been a railway auditor, and was excellent in accounts, but it was unjust to expect him, or any other office man, to be able to step into manufacturing and be successful from the start. He had neither the knowledge nor the training for this new work. This does not mean that he was not a splendid auditor. It was our own blunder in expecting the impossible. The mills were at last about ready to begin ^ and an organization the auditor proposed was laid before me for approval. I found he had divided the works into two departments and had given control of one to Mr. Ste- venson, a Scotsman who afterwards made a fine record as a manufacturer, and control of the other to a Mr. Jones. Nothing, X am certain, ever affected the success of the steel company more than the decision which I gave upon that proposal. Upon no account could two men be in the same works with equal authority. An army with two commanders-in-chief, a ship with two captains, could not fare more disastrously than a manu- facturing concern with two men in command upon the same ground, even though in two different departments. I said: "This will not do. I do not know Mr. Stevenson, nor do I know Mr. Jones, but one or the other must be made captain and he alone must report to you." ^ The steel-rail mills were ready and rails were rolled in 1874. CAPTAIN JONES 203 The decision fell upon Mr. Jones and in this way we obtained "The Captain," who afterward made his name famous wherever the manufacture of Bessemer steel is known. The Captain was then quite young, spare and active, bearing traces of his Welsh descent even in his stature, for he was quite short. He came to us as a two-doUar-a- day mechanic from the neighboring works at Johnstown. We soon saw that he was a character. Every movement told it. He had volunteered as a private during the Civil War and carried himself so finely that he became captain of a company which was never known to flinch. Much of the success of the Edgar Thomson Works belongs to this man. In later years he declined an interest in the firm which would have made him a millionaire. I told him one day that some of the young men who had been given an in- terest were now making much more than he was and we had voted to make him a partner. This entailed no financial responsibility, as we always provided that the cost of the interest given was payable only out of profits. "No," he said, "I don't want to have my thoughts running on business. I have enough trouble looking after these works. Just give me a h — 1 of a salary if you think I'm worth it." "All right, Captain, the salary of the President of the United States is yours," "That's the talk," said the little Welshman.^ ^ The story is told that when Mr. Carnegie was selecting his younger partners he one day sent for a young Scotsman, Alexander R. Peacock, and asked him rather abruptly: "Peacock, what would you give to be made a millionaire?" "A liberal discount for cash, sir," was the answer. He was a partner owning a two per cent interest when the Carnegie Steel Company was merged into the United States Steel Corporation. 204 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE Our competitors in steel were at first disposed to ig- nore us. Knowing the diflSculties they had in starting their own steel works, they could not believe we would be ready to deliver rails for another year and declined to recognize us as competitors. The price of steel rails when we began was about seventy dollars per ton. We sent our agent through the country with instructions to take orders at the best prices he could obtain; and before our competitors knew it, we had obtained a large number — quite suflficient to justify us in making a start. So perfect was the machinery, so admirable the plans, so skillful were the men selected by Captain Jones, and so great a manager was he himself, that our success was phenomenal. I think I place a unique statement on record when I say that the result of the first month's operations left a margin of profit of $11,000. It is also remarkable that so perfect was our system of accounts that we knew the exact amount of the profit. We had learned from experience in our iron works what exact accounting meant. There is nothing more profitable than clerks to check up each transfer of material from one department to another in process of manufacture. The new venture in steel having started oflf so prom- isingly, I began to think of taking a holiday, and my long-cherished purpose of going around the world came to the front. Mr. J. W. Vandevort ("Vandy") and I [^accordingly set out in the autumn of 1878. I took with me several pads suitable for penciling and began to make a few notes day by day, not with any intention of pub- lishing a book; but thinking, perhaps, I might print a few copies of my notes for private circulation. The sensation which one has when he first sees his remarks in the form of a printed book is great. When the package THE PLEASURES OF AUTHORSHIP 205 came from the printers I re-read the book trying to decide whether it was worth while to send copies to my friends. I came to the conclusion that upon the whole it was best to do so and await the verdict. The writer of a book designed for his friends has no reason to anticipate an unkind reception, but there is always some danger of its being damned with faint praise. The responses in my case, however, exceeded expectations, and were of such a character as to satisfy me that the writers really had enjoyed the book, or meant at least a part of what they said about it. Every author is prone to believe sweet words. Among the first that came were in a letter from Anthony Drexel, Phila- delphia's great banker, complaining that I had robbed him of several hours of sleep. Having begun the book he could not lay it down and retired at two o'clock in the morning after finishing. Several similar letters were received. I remember Mr. Huntington, president of the Central Pacific Railway, meeting me one morning and saying he was going to pay me a great compliment. "What is it?" I asked. "Oh, I read your book from end to end." "Well," I said, "that is not such a great compliment. Others of our mutual friends have done that." "Oh, yes, but probably none of your friends are like me. I have not read a book for years except my ledger and I did not intend to read yours, but when I began it I could not lay it down. My ledger is the only book I have gone through for five years." ^ I was not disposed to credit all that my friends said, but others who had obtained the book from them were pleased with it and I lived for some months under in- toxicating, but I trust not perilously pernicious, flat- tery. Several editions of the book were printed to meet 206 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE the request for copies. Some notices of it and extracts got into the papers, and finally Charles Scribner's Sons asked to publish it for the market. So "Round the World" ^ came before the public and I was at last "an author." A new horizon was opened up to me by this voyage. It quite changed my intellectual outlook. Spencer and Darwin were then high in the zenith, and I had become deeply interested in their work. I began to view the various phases of human life from the standpoint of the evolutionist. In China I read Confucius; in India, Buddha and the sacred books of the Hindoos; among the Parsees, in Bombay, I studied Zoroaster. The re- sult of my journey was to bring a certain mental peace. Where there had been chaos there was now order. My mind was at rest. I had a philosophy at last. The words of Christ "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you," had a new meaning for me. Not in the past or in the future, but now and here is Heaven within us. All our duties lie in this world and in the present, and trying impa- tiently to peer into that which lies beyond is as vain as fruitless. ■^ All the remnants of theology in which I had been born and bred, all the impressions that Swedenborg had made upon me, now ceased to influence me or to occupy my thoughts. I found that no nation had all the truth in the revelation it regards as divine, and no tribe is so low as to be left without some truth; that every people has had its great teacher; Buddha for one; Confucius for another; Zoroaster for a third; Christ for a fourth. The teachings of all these I found ethically akin so that \ I could say with Matthew Arnold, one I was so proud to call friend: ^ Round the World, by Andrew Carnegie. New York and London, 1884. THE TRIP ROUND THE WORLD 207 "Children of men! the unseen Power, whose eye For ever doth accompany mankind Hath looked on no religion scornfully That men did ever find. Which has not taught weak wills how much they can? Which has not fall'n in the dry heart Hke rain? Which has not cried to sunk, self -weary man, Thou must he born again." "The Light of Asia," by Edwin Arnold, came out at this time and gave me greater delight than any similar poetical work I had recently read. I had just been in India and the book took me there again. My apprecia- tion of it reached the author's ears and later having made his acquaintance in London, he presented me with the original manuscript of the book. It is one of my most precious treasures. Every person who can, even at a sacrifice, make the voyage around the world should do so. All other travel compared to it seems incomplete, gives us merely vague impressions of parts of the whole. When the circle has been completed, you feel on your return that you have seen (of course only in the mass) all there is to be seen. The parts fit into one symmetrical whole and you see humanity wherever it is placed work- ing out a destiny tending to one definite end. The world traveler who gives careful study to the bibles of the various religions of the East will be well repaid. The conclusion reached will be that the inhabitants of each country consider their own religion the best of all. They rejoice that their lot has been cast where it is, and are disposed to pity the less fortunate condemned to live beyond their sacred limits. The masses of all nations are usually happy, each mass certain that: " East or West Home is best." 208 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE Two illustrations of this from our "Round the World " trip may be noted: Visiting the tapioca workers in the woods near Singapore, we found them busily engaged, the children running about stark naked, the parents clothed in the usual loose rags. Our party attracted great attention. We asked our guide to tell the people that we came from a country where the water in such a pond as that before us would become sohd at this sea- son of the year and we could walk upon it and that sometimes it would be so hard horses and wagons crossed wide rivers on the ice. They wondered and asked why we did n't come and live among them. They really were very happy. Again: On the way to the North Cape we visited a reindeer camp of the Laplanders. A sailor from the ship was deputed to go with the party. I walked homeward with him, and as we ap- proached the fiord looking down and over to the opposite shore we saw a few straggling huts and one two-story house under construction. What is that new building for? we asked. "That is to be the home of a man born in Tromso who has made a great deal of money and has now come back to spend his days there. He is very rich," "You told me you had travelled all over the world. You have seen London, New York, Calcutta, Melbourne, and other places. If you made a fortune like that man what place would you make your home in old age?" His eye glistened as he said: "Ah, there's no place like Tromso." This is in the arctic circle, six months of night, but he had been born in Tromso. Home, sweet, sweet home! Among the conditions of life or the laws of nature, some of which seem to us faulty, some apparently un- just and merciless, there are many that amaze us by their beauty and sweetness. Love of home, regardless of its character or location, certainly is one of these. And what a pleasure it is to find that, instead of the THE LOVE OF HOME 209 Supreme Being confining revelation to one race or na- tion, every race has the message best adapted for it in its present stage of development. The Unknown Power has neglected none. CHAPTER XV COACHING TRIP AND MARRIAGE THE Freedom of my native town (Dunf emlline) was conferred upon me July 12, 1877, the first Freedom and the greatest honor I ever received. I was over- whelmed. Only two signatures upon the roll came be- tween mine and Sir Walter Scott's, who had been made a Burgess. My parents had seen him one day sketch- ing Dunfermline Abbey and often told me about his appearance. My speech in reply to the Freedom was the subject of much concern. I spoke to my Uncle Bailie Morrison, telling him I just felt like saying so and so, as this really was in my heart. He was an ora- tor himself and he spoke words of wisdom to me then. "Just say that, Andra; nothing like saying just what you really feel." It was a lesson in public speaking which I took to heart. There is one rule I might suggest for youthful orators. When you stand up before an audience reflect that there are before you only men and women. You should speak to them as you speak to other men and women in daily intercourse. If you are not trying to be something different from yourself, there is no more oc- casion for embarrassment than if you were talking in your office to a party of your own people — none what- ever. It is trying to be other than one's self that unmans one. Be your own natural self and go ahead. I once asked Colonel IngersoU, the most effective public speaker I ever heard, to what he attributed his power. "Avoid elocutionists like snakes,'* he said, "and be yourself." COACHING IN BRITAIN 211 I spoke again at Dunfermline, July 27, 1881, when my mother laid the foundation stone there of the first free library building I ever gave. My father was one of five weavers who founded the earliest library in the town by opening their own books to their neighbors- Dunfermline named the building I gave "Carnegie Library." The architect asked for my coat of arms. I informed him I had none, but suggested that above the door there might be carved a rising sun shedding its rays with the motto: "Let there be light." This he adopted, We had come up to Dunfermline with a coaching party. When walking through England in the year 1867 with George Lauder and Harry Phipps I had formed the idea of coaching from Brighton to Inverness with a party of my dearest friends. The time had come for the long-promised trip, and in the spring of 1881 we sailed from New York, a party of eleven, to enjoy one of the_^ happiest excursions of my life. It was one of the holi- days from business that kept me young and happy — worth all the medicine in the world. All the notes I made of the coaching trip were a few lines a day in twopenny pass-books bought before we started. As with "Round the World," I thought that I might some day write a magazine article, or give some account of my excursion for those who accompanied me; but one wintry day I decided that it was scarcely worth while to go down to the New York office, three miles distant, and the question was how I should oc- cupy the spare time. I thought of the coaching trip, and decided to write a few lines just to see how I should get on. The narrative flowed freely, and before the day was over I had written between three and four thousand words. I took up the pleasing task every stormy day 212 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE when it was unnecessary for me to visit the office, and in exactly twenty sittings I had finished a book. I handed the notes to Scribner's people and asked them to print a few hundred copies for private circulation. The volume pleased my friends, as "Round the World" had done. Mr. Champlin one day told me that Mr. Scrib- ner had read the book and would like very much to pub- lish it for general circulation upon his own accoimt, subject to a royalty. The vain author is easily persuaded that what he has done is meritorious, and I consented. [Every year this still nets me a small sum in royalties. And thirty years have gone by, 1912.] The letters I received upon the publication ^ of it were so numerous and some so gush- ing that my people saved them and they are now bound together in scrapbook form, to which additions are made from time to time. The number of invalids who have been pleased to write me, stating that the book had brightened their lives, has been gratifying. Its reception in Britain was cordial; the "Spectator" gave it a favor- able review. But any merit that the book has comes, I am sure, from the total absence of effort on my part to make an impression. I wrote for my friends; and what one does easily, one does well. I reveled in the writing of the book, as I had in the journey itself. The year 1886 ended in deep gloom for me. My life as a happy careless young man, with every want looked after, was over. I was left alone in the world. My mother and brother passed away in November, within a few days of each other, while I lay in bed under a severe attack of typhoid fever, imable to move and, perhaps ^ Published privately in 1882 under the title Our Coaching Trip, Brighton to Inverness, Published by the Scribners in 1883 under the title of An American Four-in-Hand in Britain, SICKNESS AND SORROW 213 fortunately, unable to feel the full weight of the catas- trophe, being myself face to face with death. I was the first stricken, upon returning from a visit in the East to our cottage at Cresson Springs on top of the AUeghanies where my mother and I spent our happy summers. I had been quite imwell for a day or two be- fore leaving New York. A physician being summoned, my trouble was pronounced typhoid fever. Professor Dennis was called from New York and he corroborated the diagnosis. An attendant physician and trained nurse were provided at once. Soon after my mother broke down and my brother in Pittsburgh also was reported ill. I was despaired of, I was so low, and then my whole nature seemed to change. I became reconciled, indulged in pleasing meditations, was without the slightest pain. My mother's and brother's serious condition had not been revealed to me, and when I was informed that both had left me forever it seemed only natural that I should follow them. We had never been separated; why should we be now? But it was decreed otherwise. I recovered slowly and the future began to occupy my thoughts. There was only one ray of hope and com- fort in it. Toward that my thoughts always turned. For several years I had known Miss Louise Whitfield. Her mother permitted her to ride with me in the Central Park. We were both very fond of riding. Other young ladies were on my list. I had fine horses and often rode in the Park and around New York with one or the other of the circle. In the end the others all faded into ordinary beings. Miss Whitfield remained alone as the perfect one beyond any I had met. Finally I began to find and admit to myseK that she stood the supreme test I had applied to several fair ones in my time. She alone did so 214 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE of all I had ever known. I could recommend young men to apply this test before offering themselves. K they can honestly believe the following lines, as I did, then all is well: "Full many a lady I've eyed with best regard: for several virtues Have I liked several women, never any With so full soul, but some defect in her Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed, And put it to the foil; but you, O you. So perfect and so peerless are created Of every creatiu'e's best." ^ In my soul I could echo those very words. To-day, after twenty years of life with her, if I could find stronger words I could truthfully use them. My advances met with indifferent success. She was not without other and younger admirers. My wealth and future plans were against me. I was rich and had everything and she felt she could be of little use or bene- fit to me. Her ideal was to be the real helpmeet of a young, struggling man to whom she could and would be indispensable, as her mother had been to her father. The care of her own family had largely fallen upon her after her father's death when she was twenty-one. She was now twenty-eight; her views of life were formed. At times she seemed more favorable and we corresponded. Once, however, she returned my letters saying she felt she must put aside all thought of accepting me. Professor and Mrs. Dennis took me from Cresson to their own home in New York, as soon as I could be re- moved, and I lay there some time under the former's personal supervision. Miss Whitfield called to see me, for I had written her the first words from Cresson I was ^ Ferdinand to Miranda in The Tempest ANDREW CARNEGIE (ABOUT 1878) MARRIAGE 215 able to write. She saw now that I needed her. I was left alone in the world. Now she could be in every sense the "helpmeet." Both her heart and head were now willing and the day was fixed. We were married in New York April 22, 1887, and sailed for our honeymoon which was passed on the Isle of Wight. Her delight was intense in finding the wild flowers. She had read of Wandering Willie, Heartsease, Forget- me-nots, the Primrose, Wild Thyme, and the whole list of homely names that had been to her only names till now. Everything charmed her. Uncle Lauder and one of my cousins came down from Scotland and visited us, and then we soon followed to the residence at Kilgras- ton they had selected for us in which to spend the sum- mer. Scotland captured her. There was no doubt about that. Her girlish reading had been of Scotland — Scott's novels and "Scottish Chiefs" being her favorites. She soon became more Scotch than I. All this was fulfilling my fondest dreams. We spent some days in Dunfermline and enjoyed them much. The haunts and incidents of my boyhood were visited and recited to her by all and sundry. She got nothing but flattering accounts of her husband which gave me a good start with her. I was presented with the Freedom of Edinburgh as we passed northward — Lord Rosebery making the speech. The crowd in Edinburgh was great. I addressed the working-men in the largest hall and received a pres- ent from them as did Mrs. Carnegie also — a brooch she values highly. She heard and saw the pipers in all their glory and begged there should be one at our home — a piper to walk around and waken us in the morning and also to play us in to dinner. American as she is to the core, and Connecticut Puritan at that, she declared 216 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE that if condemned to live upon a lonely island and al- lowed to choose only one musical instrument, it would be the pipes. The piper was secured quickly enough. One called and presented credentials from Cluny Mc- Pherson. We engaged him and were preceded by him playing the pipes as we entered our Kilgraston house. We enjoyed Kilgraston, although Mrs. Carnegie still longed for a wilder and more Highland home. Mat- thew Arnold visited us, as did Mr. and Mrs. Blaine, Senator and Mrs. Eugene Hale, and many friends.^ Mrs. Carnegie would have my relatives up from Dun- fermline, especially the older uncles and aunties. She charmed every one. They expressed their surprise to me that she ever married me, but I told them I was equally surprised. The match had evidently been pre- destined. We took our piper with us when we returned to New York, and also our housekeeper and some of the serv- ants. Mrs. NicoU remains with us still and is now, after twenty years' faithful service, as a member of the family. George Irvine, our butler, came to us a year later and is also as one of us. Maggie Anderson, one of the ^ John Hay, writing to his friend Henry Adams under date of London, August 25, 1887, has the following to say about the party at Kilgraston : "After that we went to Andy Carnegie in Perthshire, who is keeping his honeymoon, having just married a pretty girl. . . , The house is thronged with visitors — sixteen when we came away — we merely stayed three days : the others were there for a fortnight. Among them were your friends Blaine and Hale of Maine. Carnegie likes it so well he is going to do it every summer and is looking at all the great estates in the County with a view of renting or purchasing. We went with him one day to Dupplin Castle, where I saw the most beautiful trees I ever beheld in my wander- ing life. The old Earl of is miserably pjoor — not able to buy a bottle of seltzer — with an estate worth millions in the hands of his creditors, and sure to be sold one of these days to some enterprising Yankee or British Buttonmaker. I wish you or Carnegie would buy it, I would visit you fre- quently." (Thayer, Life and Letters of John Hay, vol. ii, p. 74.) SKIBO CASTLE 217 servants, is the same. They are devoted people, of high character and true loyalty.^ The next year we were offered and took Cluny Castle. Our piper was just the man to tell us all about it. He had been born and bred there and perhaps influenced our selection of that residence where we spent several summers. On March 30, 1897, there came to us our daughter. As I first gazed upon her Mrs. Carnegie said, *'Her name is Margaret after your mother. Now one request I have to make." "What is it, Lou?" " We must get a summer home since this little one has been given us. We cannot rent one and be obliged to go in and go out at a certain date. It should be our home." "Yes," I agreed. "I make only one condition." "What is that?" I asked. "It must be in the Highlands of Scotland." "Bless you," was my reply. "That suits me. You know I have to keep out of the sun's rays, and where can we do that so surely as among the heather? I'll be a committee of one to inquire and report." Skibo Castle was the result. It is now twenty years since Mrs. Carnegie entered and changed my life, a few months after the passing of my mother and only brother left me alone in the world. My life has been made so happy by her that I cannot imagine myself living without her guardianship. I thought I knew her when she stood Ferdinand's test,^ but it was only the surface of her qualities I had seen * "No man is a true gentleman who does not inspire the affection and devotion of his servants." {Problems of To-day > by Andrew Carnegie. New York, 1908, p. 59.) 2 The reference is to the quotation from The Tempest on page 214. 218 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE and felt. Of their purity, holiness, wisdom, I had not sounded the depth. In every emergency of our active, changing, and in later years somewhat public life, in all her relations with others, including my family and her own, she has proved the diplomat and peace-maker. Peace and good-will attend her footsteps wherever her blessed influence extends. In the rare instances de- manding heroic action it is she who first reahzes this and plays the part. The Peace-Maker has never had a quarrel in all her life, not even with a schoolmate, and there does not live a soul upon the earth who has met her who has the slightest cause to complain of neglect. Not that she does not welcome the best and gently avoid the im- desirable — none is more fastidious than she — but neither rank, wealth, nor social position affects her one iota. She is incapable of acting or speaking rudely; all is in perfect good taste. Still, she never lowers the standard. Her intimates are only of the best. She is always thinking how she can do good to those around her — planning for this one and that in case of need and making such judicious arrangements or presents as surprise those cooperating with her. I cannot imagine myself going through these twenty years without her. Nor can I endure the thought of liv- ing after her. In the course of nature I have not that to meet; but then the thought of what will be cast upon her, a woman left alone with so much requiring atten- tion and needing a man to decide, gives me intense pain and I sometimes wish I had this to endure for her. But then she will have our blessed daughter in her life and perhaps that will keep her patient. Besides, Margaret needs her more than she does her father. Why, oh, why, are we compelled to leave the heaven MRS. ANDREW CARNEGIE HEAVEN ON EARTH 219 we have found on earth and go we know not where! For I can say with Jessica : "It is very meet The Lord Bassanio live an upright life; For, having such a blessing in his lady, He finds the joys of heaven here on earth." CHAPTER XVI MILLS AND THE MEN f 'TT^HE one vital lesson in iron and steel that I learned X in Britain was the necessity for owning raw ma- terials and finishing the completed article ready for its '.^ purpose. Having solved the steel-rail problem at the Edgar Thomson Works, we soon proceeded to the next step. The difficulties and uncertainties of obtaining reg- ular supplies of pig iron compelled us to begin the erec- tion of blast furnaces. Three of these were built, one, however, being a reconstructed blast furnace purchased from the Escanaba Iron Company, with which Mr. Klo- man had been connected. As is usual in such cases, the furnace cost us as much as a new one, and it never was as good. There is nothing so unsatisfactory as purchases of inferior plants. But although this purchase was a mistake, directly considered, it proved, at a subsequent date, a source of great profit because it gave us a furnace small enough for the manufacture of spiegel and, at a later date, of ferro-manganese. We were the second firm in the United States to manufacture our own spiegel, and the first, and for years the only, firm in America that made ferro- manganese. We had been dependent upon foreigners for a supply of this indispensable article, paying as high as eighty dollars a ton for it. The manager of our blast furnaces, Mr. Julian Kennedy, is entitled to the credit of suggesting that with the ores within reach we could make ferro-manganese in our small furnace. The experi- ment was worth trying and the result was a great suc- cess. We were able to supply the entire American de- BUYING A MINE 221 mand and prices fell from eighty to fifty dollars per ton as a consequence. While testing the ores of Virginia we found that these were being quietly purchased by Europeans for ferro- manganese, the owners of the mine being led to believe that they were used for other purposes. Our Mr. Phipps at once set about purchasing that mine. He obtained an option from the owners, who had neither capital nor skill to work it efficiently. A high price was paid to them for their interests, and (with one of them, Mr. Davis, a very able young man) we became the owners, but not until a thorough investigation of the mine had proved that there was enough of manganese ore in sight to re- pay us. All this was done with speed; not a day was lost when the discovery was made. And here lies the great advantage of a partnership over a corporation. The president of the latter would have had to consult a board of directors and wait several weeks and perhaps months for their decision. By that time the mine would probably have become the property of others. We continued to develop our blast-furnace plant, every new one being a great improvement upon the preceding, until at last we thought we had arrived at a standard furnace. Minor improvements would no doubt be made, but so far as we could see we had a perfect plant and our capacity was then fifty thousand tons per month of pig iron. The blast-furnace department was no sooner added than another step was seen to be essential to our inde- pendence and success. The supply of superior coke was a fixed quantity — the Connellsville field being defined. We found that we could not get on without a sup- ply of the fuel essential to the smelting of pig iron; and a very thorough investigation of the question led us 222 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE to the conclusion that the Frick Coke Company had not only the best coal and coke property, but that it had in Mr. Frick himself a man with a positive genius for its management. He had proved his ability by start- ing as a poor railway clerk and succeeding. In 1882 we purchased one half of the stock of this company, and by subsequent purchases from other holders we became owners of the great bulk of the shares. \ There now remained to be acquired only the supply I of iron stone. If we could obtain this we should be in the position occupied by only two or three of the European concerns. We thought at one time we had succeeded in discovering in Pennsylvania this last remaining link in the chain. We were misled, however, in our investment in the Tyrone region, and lost con- siderable sums as the result of our attempts to mine and use the ores of that section. They promised well at the edges of the mines, where the action of the weather for ages had washed away impurities and enriched the ore, but when we penetrated a small distance they proved too "lean" to work. Our chemist, Mr. Prousser, was then sent to a Penn- sylvania furnace among the hills which we had leased, with instructions to analyze all the materials brought to him from the district, and to encourage people to bring him specimens of minerals. A striking example of the awe inspired by the chemist in those days was that only with great diflaculty could he obtain a man or a boy to assist him in the laboratory. He was suspected of illicit intercourse with the Powers of Evil when he undertook to tell by his suspicious-looking apparatus what a stone contained. I believe that at last we had to send him a man from our office at Pittsburgh. One day he sent us a report of analyses of ore re- ANOTHER MINE 223 markable for the absence of phosphorus. It was really an ore suitable for making Bessemer steel. Such a dis- covery attracted our attention at once. The owner of the property was Moses Thompson, a rich farmer, pro- prietor of seven thousand acres of the most beautiful agricultural land in Center County, Pennsylvania. An appointment was made to meet him upon the ground from which the ore had been obtained. We found the mine had been worked for a charcoal blast furnace fifty or sixty years before, but it had not borne a good repu- tation then, the reason no doubt being that its product was so much purer than other ores that the same amount of flux used caused trouble in smelting. It was so good it was good for nothing in those days of old. We finally obtained the right to take the mine over at any time within six months, and we therefore be- gan the work of examination, which every purchaser of mineral property should make most carefully. We ran lines across the hillside fifty feet apart, with cross-lines at distances of a hundred feet apart, and at each point of intersection we put a shaft down through the ore. I believe there were eighty such shafts in all and the ore was analyzed at every few feet of depth, so that before we paid over the hundred thousand dollars asked we knew exactly what there was of ore. The result hoped for was more than realized. Through the ability of my cousin and partner, Mr. Lauder, the cost of mining and washing was reduced to a low figure, and the Scotia ore made good all the losses we had incurred in the other mines, paid for itself, and left a profit besides. In this case, at least, we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. We trod upon sure ground with the chemist as our guide. It will be seen that we were determined to get raw materials and were active in the pursuit. 224 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE We had lost and won, but the escapes in business affairs are sometimes very narrow. Driving with Mr. Phipps from the mills one day we passed the National Trust Company office on Penn Street, Pittsburgh. I noticed the large gilt letters across the window, "Stock- holders individually liable." That very morning in look- ing over a statement of our affairs I had noticed twenty shares "National Trust Company" on the list of assets. I said to Harry: "If this is the concern we own shares in, won't you please sell them before you return to the office this afternoon?" He saw no need for haste. It would be done in good time. "No, Harry, oblige me by doing it instantly." He did so and had it transferred. Fortunate, indeed, was this, for in a short time the bank failed with an enormous deficit. My cousin, Mr. Morris, was among the ruined shareholders. Many others met the same fate. Times were panicky, and had we been individ- ually liable for all the debts of the National Trust Com- pany our credit would inevitably have been seriously imperiled. It was a narrow escape. And with only twenty shares (two thousand dollars' worth of stock), taken to oblige friends who wished our name on their list of -shareholders! The lesson was not lost. The sound rule in business is that you may give money freely when you have a surplus, but your name never — neither as en- dorser nor as member of a corporation with individual ''liability. A trifling investment of a few thousand dol- lars, a mere trifle — yes, but a trifle possessed of deadly explosive power. The rapid substitution of steel for iron in the im- mediate future had become obvious to us. Even in our ACQUIRING THE HOMESTEAD MILLS 225 Keystone Bridge Works, steel was being used more and more in place of iron. King Iron was about to be deposed by the new King Steel, and we were becoming more and more dependent upon it. We had about con- cluded in 1886 to build alongside of the Edgar Thomson Mills new works for the manufacture of miscellaneous shapes of steel when it was suggested to us that the jfive or six leading manufacturers of Pittsburgh, who had combined to build steel mills at Homestead, were will- ing to sell their mills to us. These works had been built originally by a syndicate of manufacturers, with the view of obtaining the neces- sary supplies of steel which they required in their vari- ous concerns, but the steel-rail business, being then in one of its booms, they had been tempted to change plans and construct a steel-rail mill. They had been able to make rails as long as prices remained high, but, as the mills had not been specially designed for this purpose, they were without the indispensable blast fur- naces for the supply of pig iron, and had no coke lands for the supply of fuel. They were in no condition to compete with us. It was advantageous for us to purchase these works. I felt there was only one way we could deal with their owners, and that was to propose a consolidation with Carnegie Brothers & Co. We offered to do so on equal terms, every dollar they had invested to rank against our dollars. Upon this basis the negotiation was promptly concluded. We, however, gave to all parties the option to take cash, and most fortunately for us, all elected to do so except Mr. George Singer, who continued with us to his and our entire satisfaction. Mr. Singer told us afterwards that his associates had been greatly exer- cised as to how they could meet the proposition I was 226 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE to lay before them. They were much afraid of being overreached but when I proposed equahty all around, dollar for dollar, they were speechless. This purchase led to the reconstruction of all our firms. The new firm of Carnegie, Phipps & Co. was organized in 1886 to run the Homestead Mills. The firm of Wilson, Walker & Co. was embraced in the firm of Carnegie, Phipps & Co., Mr. Walker being elected chairman. My brother was chairman of Carnegie Broth- ers & Co. and at the head of all. A further extension of our business was the establishing of the Hartman Steel Works at Beaver Falls, designed to work into a hundred various forms the product of the Homestead Mills. So now we made almost everything in steel from a wire nail up to a twenty-inch steel girder, and it was then not thought probable that we should enter into any new field. It may be interesting here to note the progress of our works during the decade 1888 to 1897. In 1888 we had twenty millions of dollars invested; in 1897 more than double or over forty-five millions. The 600,000 tons of pig iron we made per annum in 1888 was trebled; we made nearly 2,000,000. Our product of iron and steel was in 1888, say, 2000 tons per day; it grew to exceed 6000 tons. Our coke works then embraced about 5000 ovens; they were trebled in number, and our capacity, then 6000 tons, became 18,000 tons per day. Our Frick Coke Company in 1897 had 42,000 acres of coal land, more than two thirds of the true Connellsville vein. Ten years hence increased production may be found to have been equally rapid. It may be accepted as an axiom that a manufacturing concern in a growing country like ours begins to decay when it stops extending. To make a ton of steel one and a half tons of iron THE LAW OF THE SURPLUS 227 stone has to be mined, transported by rail a hundred miles to the Lakes, carried by boat hundreds of miles, transferred to cars, transported by rail one hundred and fifty miles to Pittsburgh; one and a half tons of coal must be mined and manufactured into coke and carried fifty-odd miles by rail; and one ton of limestone mined and carried one hundred and fifty miles to Pitts- burgh. How then could steel be manufactured and sold without loss at three pounds for two cents? This, I con- fess, seemed to me incredible, and little less than mirac- ulous, but it was so. America is soon to change from being the dearest steel manufacturing country to the cheapest. Already the shipyards of Belfast are our customers. This is but the beginning. Under present conditions America can produce steel as cheaply as any other land, notwith-j 1 standing its higher-priced labor. There is no labor so cheap as the dearest in the mechanical field, provided, it is free, contented, zealous, and reaping reward as it renders service. And here America leads. One great advantage which America will have in competing in the markets of the world is that her manu- facturers will have the best home market. Upon this they can depend for a return upon capital, and the rplus product can be exported with advantage, even ien the prices received for it do not more than cover tual cost, provided the exports be charged with theii>-v oportion of all expenses. The nation that has the best ►me market, especially if products are standardized, ours are, can soon outsell the foreign producer. The phrase I used in Britain in this connection was: "The J Law of the Surplus." It afterward came into general use in commercial discussions. CHAPTER XVII THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE WHILE upon the subject of our manufacturing interests, I may record that on July 1, 1892, dur- ing my absence in the Highlands of Scotland, there occurred the one really serious quarrel with our work- men in our whole history. For twenty-six years I had ^gen actively in charge of the relations between our- ^Ives and our men, and it was the pride of my life to think how delightfully satisfactory these had been and were. I hope I fully deserved what my chief partner, Mr. Phipps, said in his letter to the "New York Herald,'' January 30, 1904, in reply to one who had declared I had remained abroad during the Homestead strike, instead of flying back to support my partners. It was to the effect that "I was always disposed to yield to the demands of the men, however unreasonable"; hence one or two of my partners did not wish me to return.^ Taking no account of the reward that comes from feel- ^ The full statement of Mr. Phipps is as follows: Question: "It was stated that Mr. Carnegie acted in a cowardly manner in not returning to America from Scotland and being present when the strike was in progress at Homestead." Answer: "When Mr. Carnegie heard of the trouble at Homestead he immediately wired that he would take the first ship for America, but his partners begged him not to appear, as they were of the opinion that the welfare of the Company required that he should not be in this country at the time. They knew of his extreme disposition to always grant the de- mands of labor, however unreasonable. "I have never known of any one interested in the business to make any complaint about Mr. Carnegie's absence at that time, but all the partners rejoiced that they were permitted to manage the affair in their own way." (Henry Phipps in the New York Herald, January 30, 1904.) TROUBLE BREWING AT HOMESTEAD 229 ing that you and your employees are friends and judg- ing only from economical results, I believe that higher wages to men who respect their employers and are happy and contented are a good investment, yielding, indeed,/ big dividends. / ' The manufacture of steel was revolutionized by the Bessemer open-hearth and basic inventions. The ma- chinery hitherto employed had become obsolete, and our firm, recognizing this, spent several millions at Home- stead reconstructing and enlarging the works. The new machinery made about sixty per cent more steel than\ the old. Two hundred and eighteen tonnage men (that ^ is, men who were paid by the ton of steel produced) / were working under a three years' contract, part of the / last year being with the new machinery. Thus their earn- [ ings had increased almost sixty per cent before the end of the contract. The firm offered to divide this sixty per cent with them in the new scale to be made thereafter. That is to\ say, the earnings of the men would have been thirty per cent greater than under the old scale and the othe^ thirty per cent would have gone to the firm to recomf- pense it for its outlay. The work of the men would not have been much harder than it had been hitherto, as the improved machinery did the work. This was not only fair and liberal, it was generous, and under ordi- nary circumstances would have been accepted by the men with thanks. But the firm was then engaged ln| making armor for the United States Government, which we had declined twice to manufacture and which was urgently needed. It had also the contract to furnish material for the Chicago Exhibition. Some of the leadersj of the men, knowing these conditions, insisted upon de-l manding the whole sixty per cent, thinking the firm 230 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE would be compelled to give it. The firm could not agree, nor should it have agreed to such an attempt as this to take it by the throat and say, "Stand and deliver." It very rightly declined. Had I been at home nothing would have induced me to yield to this unfair attempt to extort. -Up to this point all had been right enough. The pol- icy I had pursued in cases of difference with our men was that of patiently waiting, reasoning with them, and showing them that their demands were unfair; but never attempting to employ new men in their places — never. The superintendent of Homestead, however, was assured by the three thousand men who were not con- cerned in the dispute that they could run the works, and were anxious to rid themselves of the two hundred and eighteen men who had banded themselves into a union and into which they had hitherto refused to admit "^ those in other departments — only the "heaters" and "rollers" of steel being eligible. My partners were misled by this superintendent, who was himself misled. He had not had great experience in such affairs, having recently been promoted from a sub- ordinate position. The unjust demands of the few union men, and the opinion of the three thousand non-union men that they were unjust, very naturally led him into thinking there would be no trouble and that the workmen would do as they had promised. There were many men among the three thousand who could take, and wished to take, the places of the two hundred and eighteen — at least so it was reported to me. It is easy to look back and say that the vital step of opening the works should never have been taken. All the firm had to do was to say to the men: "There is a labor dispute here and you must settle it between your- TROUBLE BREWING AT HOMESTEAD 231 selves. The firm has made you a most liberal offer. The works will run when the dispute is adjusted, and not till then. Meanwhile your places remain open to you." Or, it might have been well if the superintendent had said to the three thousand men, "All right, if you wil come and run the works without protection," thui throwing upon them the responsibility of protectin, themselves — three thousand men as against two hun dred and eighteen. Instead of this it was thought advis- able (as an additional precaution by the state oflBcials, I understand) to have the sherifif with guards to protect the thousands against the hundreds. The leaders of the latter were violent and aggressive men; they had guns and pistols, and, as was soon proved, were able to in- timidate the thousands. . I quote what I once laid down in writing as our rule : "My idea is that the Company should be known a; determined to let the men at any works stop work; that it will confer freely with them and wait patiently until they decide to return to work, never thinking of trying new men — never." The best men as men, and the bestn workmen, are not walking the streets looking for work. Only the inferior class as a rule is idle. The kind of men we desired are rarely allowed to lose their jobs, even in dull times. It is impossible to get new men to run suc-^ cessfuUy the complicated machinery of a modern steel plant. The attempt to put in new men converted the7 thousands of old men who desired to work, into luke-*^ warm supporters of our policy, for workmen can always be relied upon to resent the employment of new men. Who can blame them? If I had been at home, however, I might have been persuaded to open the works, as the superintendent de- sired, to test whether our old men would go to work as 232 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE they had promised. But it should be noted that the works were not opened at first by my partners for new ,men. On the contrary, it was, as I was informed upon my return, at the wish of the thousands of our old men \ that they were opened. This is a vital point. My partners ' were in no way blamable for making the trial so recom- mended by the superintendent. Our rule never to em- ploy new men, but to wait for the old to return, had not been violated so far. In regard to the second opening of the works, after the strikers had shot the sheriff's officers, it is also easy to look back and say, "How much better had the works been closed until the old men voted to return"; but the Governor of Pennsylvania, with / eight thousand troops, had meanwhile taken charge of the situation. ^ I was traveling in the Highlands of Scotland when the trouble arose, and did not hear of it until two days after. 'Nothing I have ever had to meet in all my life, before \or since, wounded me so deeply. No pangs remain of ally wound received iu my business career save that of Homestead. It was so unnecessary. The men were out- rageously wrong. The strikers, with the new machinery, would have made from four to nine dollars a day under the new scale — thirty per cent more than they were making with the old machinery. While in Scotland I received the following cable from the officers of the _union of our workmen: "Kind master, tell us what you wish us to do and we shall do it for you." This was most touching, but, alas, too late. The mis- chief was done, the works were in the hands of the Governor; it was too late. I received, while abroad, numerous kind messages from friends conversant with the circumstances, who GLADSTONE'S COMMENDATION 233 imagined my unhappiness. The following from Mr. Gladstone was greatly appreciated: My dear Mr. Carnegie, My wife has long ago offered her thanks, with my own, for your most kind congratulations. But I do not forget that you have been suffering yourself from anxieties, and have been exposed to imputations in connection with your gallant efforts to direct rich men into a course of action more en- lightened than that which they usually follow, I wish I could relieve you from these imputations of journalists, too often rash, conceited or censorious, rancorous, ill-natured. I wish to do the Kttle, the very little, that is in my power, which is simply to say how sure I am that no one who knows you will be prompted by the unfortunate occurrences across the water (of which manifestly we cannot know the exact merits) to qualify in the slightest degree either his confidence in your generous views or his admiration of the good and great work you have already done. Wealth is at present like a monster threatening to swallow up the moral life of man; you by precept and by example have been teaching him to disgorge. I for one thank you. BeHeve me Very faithfully yours (Signed) W. E. Gladstone I insert this as giving proof, if proof were needed, of Mr, Gladstone's large, sympathetic nature, alive and sensitive to everything transpiring of a nature to arouse sympathy — Neapolitans, Greeks, and Bulga- rians one day, or a stricken friend the next. — The general public, of course, did not know that I was in Scotland and knew nothing of the initial trouble at Homestead. Workmen had been killed at the Carne- gie Works, of which I was the controlling owner. That was sufficient to make my name a by-word for years. But at last some satisfaction came. Senator Hanna was 234 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE president of the National Civic Federation, a body com- posed of capitalists and workmen which exerted a benign influence over both employers and employed, and the Honorable Oscar Straus, who was then vice-president, invited me to dine at his house and meet the officials of the Federation. Before the date appointed Mark Hanna, its president, my lifelong friend and former agent at Cleveland, had suddenly passed away. I attended the dinner. At its close Mr. Straus arose and said that the question of a successor to Mr. Hanna had been consid- ered, and he had to report that every labor organization heard from had favored me for the position. There were present several of the labor leaders who, one after another, arose and corroborated Mr. Straus. I do not remember so complete a surprise and, I shall confess, one so gratefixl to me. That I deserved well from labor I felt. I knew myseK to be warmly sympathetic with the working-man, and also that I had the regard of our own workmen; but throughout the country it was naturally the reverse, owing to the Homestead riot, /the Carnegie Works meant to the public Mr. Carnegie's war upon labor's just earnings. I arose to explain to the officials at the Straus dinner that I could not possibly accept the great honor, because I had to escape the heat of summer and the head of the Federation must be on hand at all seasons ready to grap- ple with an outbreak, should one occur. My embarrass- ment was great, but I managed to let all understand that this was felt to be the most welcome tribute I could have received — a balm to the hurt mind. I closed by saying that if elected to my lamented friend's place upon the Executive Committee I should esteem it an honor to serve. To this position I was elected by unani- mous vote. I was thus relieved from the feeling that I VINDICATION 235 was considered responsible by labor generally, for the Homestead riot and the killing of workmen. ^ I owe this vindication to Mr. Oscar Straus, who had read my articles and speeches of early days upon labor questions, and who had quoted these frequently to workmen. The two labor leaders of the Amalgamated Union, White and Schaeffer from Pittsburgh, who were at this dinner, were also able and anxious to enlighten their fellow-workmen members of the Board as to my record with labor, and did not fail to do so. A mass meeting of the workmen and their wives was afterwards held in the Library Hall at Pittsburgh to greet me, and I addressed them from both my head and my heart. The one sentence I remember, and always .' shall, was to the effect that capital, labor, and employer 1: were a three-legged stool, none before or after the/'j others, all equally indispefisable. Then came the cordial] ; hand-shaking and all was well. Having thus rejoined hands and hearts with our employees and their wives, | I felt that a great weight had been effectually lifted, but I had had a terrible experience although thousands of miles from the scene. An incident flowing from the Homestead trouble is told by my friend. Professor John C. Van Dyke, of Rutgers College. In the spring of 1900, 1 went up from Guaymas, on the Gulf of California, to the ranch of a friend at La Noria Verde, thinking to have a week's shooting in the mountains of Sonora. The ranch was far enough removed from civilization, and I had expected meeting there only a few Mexicans and many Yaqui Indians, but much to my surprise I found an English-speaking man, who proved to be an American. I did not have long to wait in order to find out what brought him there, for he was very lonesome and disposed to talk. His name was McLuckie, and up to 1892 he had been a skilled 236 AUTOBIOGKAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE mechanic in the employ of the Carnegie Steel Works at Homestead. He was what was called a "top hand," received large wages, was married, and at that time had a home and considerable property. In addition, he had been honored by his fellow-townsmen and had been made burgomaster of Homestead. When the strike of 1892 came McLuckie naturally sided with the strikers, and in his capacity as burgomaster gave the order to arrest the Pinkerton detectives who had come to Homestead by steamer to protect the works and preserve order. He believed he was fully justified in doing this. As he explained it to me, the detectives were an armed force invad- ing his bailiwick, and he had a right to arrest and disarm them. The order led to bloodshed, and the conflict was begun in real earnest. The story of the strike is, of course, well known to all. The strikers were finally defeated. As for McLuckie, he was in- dicted for murder, riot, treason, and I know not what other offenses. He was compelled to flee from the State, was wounded, starved, pursued by the officers of the law, and obliged to go into hiding until the storm blew over. Then he found that he was blacklisted by all the steel men in the United States and could not get employment anywhere. His money was gone, and, as a final blow, his wife died and his home was broken up. After many vicissitudes he resolved to go to Mexico, and at the time I met him he was trying to get employment in the mines about fifteen miles from La Noria Verde. But he was too good a mechanic for the Mexicans, who required in mining the cheapest kind of unskilled peon labor. He could get nothing to do and had no money. He was literally down to his last copper. Naturally, as he told the story of his misfortunes, I felt very sorry for him, especially as he was a most intelligent person and did no unnecessary whining about his troubles. I do not think I told him at the time that I knew Mr. Carnegie and had been with him at Cluny in Scotland shortly after the Homestead strike, nor that I knew from Mr. Carne- gie the other side of the story. But McLuckie was rather careful not to blame Mr. Carnegie, saying to me several times that if "Andy" had been there the trouble would never have McLUCKIE'S VERDICT 237 arisen. He seemed to think "the boys" could get on very- well with "Andy" but not so well with some of his partners. I was at the ranch for a week and saw a good deal of Mc- Luckie in the evenings. When I left there, I went directly to Tucson, Arizona, and from there I had occasion to write to Mr. Carnegie, and in the letter I told him about meeting with McLuckie. I added that I felt very sorry for the man and thought he had been treated rather badly. Mr. Carnegie answered at once, and on the margin of the letter wrote in lead pencil: " Give_MdLu£M&jallJiLe.-r^^ don't mention my name." I wrote to McLuckie immediately, dffering^him' wl'mfc'mouey he needed, mentioning no sum, but giving him to understand that it would be suflBcient to put him on his feet again. He declined it. He said he would fight it out and make his own way, which was the right-enough American spirit. I could not help but admire it in him. As I remember now, I spoke about him later to a friend, Mr. J. A. Naugle, the general manager of the Sonora Rail- way. At any rate, McLuckie got a job with the railway at driving wells, and made a great success of it. A year later, or perhaps it was in the autumn of the same year, I again met him at Guaymas, where he was superintending some repairs on his machinery at the railway shops. He was much changed for the better, seemed happy, and to add to his con- tentment, had taken unto himself a Mexican wife. And now that his sky was cleared, I was anxious to tell him the truth about my offer that he might not think unjustly of those who had been compelled to fight him. So before I left him, I said, "McLuckie, I want you to know now that the money I of- fered you was not mine. That was Andrew Carnegie's money. It was his offer, made through me." McLuckie was fairly stunned, and all he could say was: "Well, that was damned white of Andy, was n't it?" I would rather risk that verdict of McLuckie's as a passport to Paradise than all the theological dogmas in- vented by man. I knew McLuckie well as a good fellow. It was saidliis property in Homestead was worth thirty thousand dollars. He wa's under arrest for the shooting 238 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE of the police oflScers because lie was the burgomaster, and also the chairman of the Men's Committee of Homestead. He had to fly, leaving all behind him. After this story got into print, the following skit ap- peared in the newspapers because I had declared I'd rather have McLuckie's few words on my tombstone than any other inscription, for it indicated I had been kind to one of our workmen: "JUST BY THE WAY" Sanby on Andy Oh ! hae ye beared what Andy 's spiered to hae upo' his tomb. When a' his gowd is gie*n awa an' Death has sealed his doom ! Nae Scriptur' hne wi' tribute fine that dealers aye keep handy. But juist this irreleegious screed — "That's damned white of Andy!" The gude Scot laughs at epitaphs that are but meant to flatter. But never ane was sae profane, an' that's nae laughin' matter. Yet, gin he gies his siller all awa, mon, he 's a dandy. An' we '11 admit his right to it, for "That 's damned white of Andy ! '* There's not to be a "big, big D," an' then a dash thereafter. For Andy would na spoil the word by trying to make it safter; He's not the lad to juggle terms, or soothing speech to bandy. A blunt, straightforward mon is he — an' "That's damned white of Andy!" Sae when he's deid, we'll gie good heed, an' write it as he askit; We '11 carve it on his headstone an' we '11 stamp it on his casket : "Wha dees rich, dees disgraced," says he, an' sure's my name is Sandy, 'T wull be nae rich man that he '11 dee — an' " That 's damned white of Andy!" 1 ^ Mr. Carnegie was very fond of this story because, being human, he was fond of applause and, being a Robert Burns radical, he preferred the ap- plause of Labor to that of Rank. That one of his men thought he had acted "white" pleased^ him beyond measure. He stopped short with that tribute SANDY ON ANDY 239 and never asked, never knew, why or how the story happened to be told. Perhaps this is the time and place to tell the story of the story. Sometime in 1901 over a dinner table in New York, I heard a statement regarding Mr. Carnegie that he never gave anything without the require- ment that his name be attached to the gift. The remark came from a prominent man who should have known he was talking nonsense. It rather angered me. I denied the statement, saying that I, personally, had given away money for Mr. Carnegie that only he and I knew about, and that he had given many thousands in this way through others. By way of illustra- tion I told the story about McLuckie. A Pittsburgh man at the table car- ried the story back to Pittsburgh, told it there, and it finally got into the newspapers. Of course the argument of the story, namely, that Mr. Car- negie sometimes gave without publicity, was lost sight of and only the refrain, "It was damned white of Andy," remained, Mr. Carnegie never knew that there was an argument. He liked the refrain. Some years after- ward at Skibo (1906), when he was writing this Autobiography, he asked me if I would not write out the story for him. I did so. I am now glad of the chance to write an explanatory note about it. . . . John C. Van Dyke, CHAPTER XVIII PROBLEMS OF LABOR I SHOULD like to record here some of the labor dis- putes I have had to deal with, as these may point a moral to both capital and labor. The workers at the blast furnaces in our steel-rail works once sent in a " round-robin " stating that unless the firm gave them an advance of wages by Monday afternoon at four o 'clock they would leave the furnaces. Now, the scale upon which these men had agreed to work did not lapse until the end of the year, several months off. I felt if men would break an agreement there was no use in making a second agreement with them, but nevertheless I took the night train from New York and was at the works early in the morning. I asked the superintendent to call together the three committees which governed the works — not only the blast-furnace committee that was alone involved, but the mill and the converting works committees as well. They appeared and, of course, were received by me with great courtesy, not because it was good policy to be courteous, but because I have always enjoyed meeting r our men. I am bound to say that the more I know of \ working-men the higher I rate their virtues. But it is I with them as Barrie says with women: "Bootless the ^Lord made a' things weel, but he left some michty queer kinks in women." They have their prejudices and "red rags," which have to be respected, for the main root of trouble is ignorance, not hostility. The committee sat in a semicircle before me, all with their hats off, of MARGARET CARNEGIE AT FIFTEEN DEALING WITH A MILL COMMITTEE 241 course, as mine was also; and really there was the ap- pearance of a model assembly. Addressing the chairman of the mill committee, I said : "Mr. Mackay" (he was an old gentleman and wore spectacles), "have we an agreement with you covering the remainder of the year.^" Taking the spectacles off slowly, and holding them in his hand, he said : "Yes, sir, you have, Mr. Carnegie, and you have n't got enough money to make us break it either." "There spoke the true American workman," I said. "I am proud of you." "Mr. Johnson" (who was chairman of the rail con- verters' committee), "have we a similar agreement with you?" Mr. Johnson was a small, spare man; he spoke very deliberately: "Mr. Carnegie, when an agreement is presented to me to sign, I read it carefully, and if it don't suit me, I don't sign it, and if it does suit me, I do sign it, and when I sign it I keep it." "There again speaks the self-respecting American workman," I said. Turning now to the chairman of the blast-furnaces committee, an Irishman named Kelly, I addressed the same question to him: "Mr. Kelly, have we an agreement with you cover- ing the remainder of this year?" Mr. Kelly answered that he could n't say exactly. There was a paper sent round and he signed it, but did n't read it over carefully, and did n't understand just what was in it. At this moment our superintendent, Captain Jones, excellent manager, but impulsive, ex- claimed abruptly: 242 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE "Now, Mr. Kelly, you know I read that over twice and discussed it with you!" "Order, order, Captain! Mr. Kelly is entitled to give his explanation. I sign many a paper that I do not read — documents our lawyers and partners present to me to sign. Mr. Kelly states that he signed this document under such circumstances and his statement must be received. But, Mr. Kelly, I have always found that the best way is to carry out the provisions of the agreement one signs carelessly and resolve to be more careful next time. Would it not be better for you to continue four months longer under this agreement, and then, when you sign the next one, see that you understand it?" There was no answer to this, and I arose and said: "Gentlemen of the Blast-Furnace Committee, you have threatened our firm that you will break your agree- ment and that you will leave these blast furnaces (which means disaster) unless you get a favorable answer to your threat by four o'clock to-day. It is not yet three, but your answer is ready. You may leave the blast fur- naces. The grass will grow around them before we yield to your threat. The worst day that labor has ever seen in this world is that day in which it dishonors itself by breaking its agreement. You have your answer." The committee filed out slowly and there was silence among the partners. A stranger who was coming in on business met the committee in the passage and he re- ported : "As I came in, a man wearing spectacles pushed up alongside of an Irishman he called Kelly, and he said: *You fellows might just as well understand it now as later. There's to be no d d monkeying round these works.' " That meant business. Later we heard from one of our LOYALTY OF WORKmO-MEN 243 clerks what took place at the furnaces. Kelly and his committee marched down to them. Of course^ the men' were waiting and watching for the committee and a crowd had gathered. When the furnaces were reached, Kelly called out to them: "Get to work, you spalpeens, what are you doing here? Begorra, the little boss just hit from the shoulder. He won't fight, but he says he has sat down, and begorra, we all know he'll be a skeleton afore he rises. Get to work, ye spalpeens." The Irish and Scotch-Irish are queer, but the easiest and best fellows to get on with, if you only know how. That man Kelly was my stanch friend and admirer e yer afterward, and he was before that one of our most vio- x lent men. My experience is that you can always rely upon the great body of working-men to do what is right, provided they have not taken up a position and prom- ised their leaders to stand by them. But their loyalty to their leaders even when mistaken, is something to make us proud of them. Anything can be done with men who have this feeling of loyalty within them. They only need to be treated fairly. _ , The way a strike was once broken at our steel-rail mills is interesting. Here again, I am sorry to say, one himdred and thirty-four men in one department had bound themselves under secret oath to demand in- creased wages at the end of the year, several months away. The new year proved very unfavorable for busi- ness, and other iron and steel manufacturers throughout the country had eflFected reductions in wages. Never- theless, these men, having secretly sworn months pre- viously that they would not work unless they got in- creased wages, thought themselves bound to insist upon their demands. We could not advance wages when our 244 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE competitors were reducing them, and the works were stopped in consequence. Every department of the works was brought to a stand by these strikers. The blast fur- naces were abandoned a day or two before the time agreed upon, and we were greatly troubled in conse- quence. I went to Pittsburgh and was surprised to find the furnaces had been banked, contrary to agreement. I was to meet the men in the morning upon arrival at Pittsburgh, but a message was sent to me from the works stating that the men had " left the furnaces and would meet me to-morrow." Here was a nice reception! My reply was : "No they won't. Tell them I shall not be here to- , morrow. Anybody can stop work; the trick is to start it again. Some fine day these men will want the works started and will be looking around for somebody who can start them, and I will tell them then just what I do now: that the works will never start except upon a sliding scale based upon the prices we get for our prod- ucts. That scale will last three years and it will not be submitted by the men. They have submitted many scales to us. It is our turn now, and we are going to sub- mit a scale to them. "Now," I said to my partners, "I am going back to New York in the afternoon. Nothing more is to be done." A short time after my message was received by the men they asked if they could come in and see me that afternoon before I left. I answered: "Certainly!" They came in and I said to them: "Gentlemen, your chairman here, Mr. Bennett, as- sured you that I would make my appearance and settle with you in some way or other, as I always have settled. BREAKING A STRIKE 245 That is true. And he told you that I would not fight, which is also true. He is a true prophet. But he told you something else in which he was slightly mistaken. He said I could not fight. Gentlemen/' looking Mr. Bennett straight in the eye and closing and raising my fist, "he forgot that I was Scotch. But I will tell you something; I will never fight you. I know better than to fight labor. I will not fight, but I can beat any committee that was ever made at sitting down, and I have sat down. These works will never start until the men vote by a two- thirds majority to start them, and then, as I told you this morning, they will start on our sliding scale. I have nothing more to say." They retired. It was about two weeks afterwards that one of the house servants came to my library in New York with a card, and I found upon it the names of two of our workmen, and also the name of a reverend gentle- man. The men said they were from the works at Pitts- burgh and would like to see me. "Ask if either of these gentlemen belongs to the blast- furnace workers who banked the furnaces contrary to agreement." The man returned and said "No." I replied: "In that case go down and tell them that I shall be pleased to have them come up." Of course they were received with genuine warmth and cordiality and we sat and talked about New York, for some time, this being their first visit. "Mr. Carnegie, we really came to talk about the trouble at the works," the minister said at last. "Oh, indeed!" I answered. "Have the men voted?" "No," he said. My rejoinder was: "You will have to excuse me from entering upon that 246 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE subject; I said I never would discuss it until they voted by a two-thirds majority to start the mills. Gentlemen, you have never seen New York. Let me take you out and show you Fifth Avenue and the Park, and we shall come back here to lunch at half-past one." This we did, talking about everything except the one thing that they wished to talk about. We had a good time, and I know they enjoyed their lunch. There is one great difference between the American working-man and the foreigner. The American is a man; he sits down at lunch with people as if he were (as he generally is) a gentleman born. It is splendid. They returned to Pittsburgh, not another word hav- ing been said about the works. But the men soon voted (there were very few votes against starting) and I went again to Pittsburgh. I laid before the committee the scale under which they were to work. It was a sliding I scale based on the price of the product. Such a scale \ really makes capital and labor partners, sharing pros- perous and disastrous times together. Of course it has a minimum, so that the men are always sure of living ! wages. As the men had seen these scales, it was unneces- sary to go over them. The chairman said: "Mr. Carnegie, we will agree to everything. And now," he said hesitatingly, "we have one favor to ask of you, and we hope you will not refuse it." "Well, gentlemen, if it be reasonable I shall surely grant it." "Well, it is this: That you permit the officers of the union to sign these papers for the men." "Why, certainly, gentlemen! With the greatest pleas- ure! And then I have a small favor to ask of you, which I hope you will not refuse, as I have granted yours. Just to please me, after the officers have signed, let THE SLIDING SCALE 247 every workman sign also for himself. You see, Mr. Bennett, this scale lasts for three years, and some man, or body of men, might dispute whether your president of the union had authority to bind them for so long, but if we have his signature also, there cannot be any mis- understanding. ' ' There was a pause; then one man at his side whis- pered to Mr. Bennett (but I heard him perfectly) : "By golly, the jig's up!" So it was, but it was not by direct attack, but by a flank movement. Had I not allowed the union officers to sign, they would have had a grievance and an excuse for war. As it was, having allowed them to do so, how could . they refuse so simple a request as mine, that each free and independent American citizen should also sign for himself. My recollection is that as a matter of fact the officers of the union never signed, but they may have done so. Why should they, if every man's signature was required? Besides this, the workmen, knowing that the union could do nothing for them when the scale was adopted, neglected to pay dues and the union was de- serted. We never heard of it again. [That was in 1889, now twenty-seven years ago. The scale has never been changed. The men would not change it if they could; it works for their benefit, as I told them it would.] v Of all my services rendered to l^-bor the introduction ^ of the sliding scale is chief. It is the solution of the capi- tal and labor problem, because it really makes them partners — alike in prosperity and adversity. There was a yearly scale in operation in the Pittsburgh dis- j trict in the early years, but it is not a good plan because men and employers at once begin preparing for a strug- gle which is almost certain to come. It is far better for both employers and employed to set no date for an 248 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE agreed-upon scale to end. It should be subject to six months' or a year's notice on either side, and in that way might and probably would run on for years. To show upon what trifles a contest between capital and labor may turn, let me tell of two instances which were amicably settled by mere incidents of seemingly little consequence. Once when I went out to meet a men's committee, which had in our opinion made un- fair demands, I was informed that they were influenced by a man who secretly owned a drinking saloon, al- though working in the mills. He was a great bully. The sober, quiet workmen were afraid of him, and the drink- ing men were his debtors. He was the real instigator of the movement. We met in the usual friendly fashion. I was glad to see the men, many of whom I had long known and could call by name. When we sat down at the table the leader's seat was at one end and mine at the other. We therefore faced each other. After I had laid our proposi- tion before the meeting, I saw the leader pick up his hat from the floor and slowly put it on his head, intimating that he was about to depart. Here was my chance. "Sir, you are in the presence of gentlemen! Please be so good as to take your hat off or leave the room!" My eyes were kept full upon him. There was a silence that could be felt. The great bully hesitated, but I knew whatever he did, he was beaten. If he left it was because he had treated the meeting discourteously by keeping his hat on, he was no gentleman; if he remained and took off his hat, he had been crushed by the rebuke. I did n't care which course he took. He had only two and either of them was fatal. He had delivered himself into my hands. He very slowly took off the hat and put it on the floor. Not a word did he speak thereafter in that BELLY EDWARDS 249 conference. I was told afterward that he had to leave the place. The men rejoiced in the episode and a settle- ment was harmoniously effected. When the three years' scale was proposed to the men, a committee of sixteen was chosen by them to confer with us. Little progress was made at first, and I an- nounced my engagements compelled me to return the next day to New York. Inquiry was made as to whether we would meet a committee of thirty-two, as the men wished others added to the committee — a sure sign of division in their ranks. Of course we agreed. The com- mittee came from the works to meet me at the office in Pittsburgh. The proceedings were opened by one of our best men, Billy Edwards (I remember him well; he rose to high position afterwards), who thought that the total offered was fair, but that the scale was not equable. Some departments were all right, others were not fairly dealt with. Most of the men were naturally of this opinion, but when they came to indicate the under- paid, there was a difference, as was to be expected. No two men in the different departments could agree. Billy began: "Mr, Carnegie, we agree that the total sum per ton to be paid is fair, but we think it is not properly distributed among us. Now, Mr. Carnegie, you take my job-" "Order, order!" I cried. "None of that, Billy. Mr. Carnegie Hakes no man's job.' Taking another's job is an unpardonable offense among high-classed workmen." There was loud laughter, followed by applause, and then more laughter. I laughed with them. We had scored on Billy. Of course the dispute was soon settled. It is not solely, often it is not chiefly, a matter of dol- lars with workmen. Appreciation, kind treatment, a fair 250 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE deal — these are often the potent forces with the American workmen. Employers can do so many desirable things for their men at little cost. At one meeting when I asked what we could do for them, I remember this same Billy Ed- wards rose and said that most of the men had to run in debt to the storekeepers because they were paid monthly. Well I remember his words : "I have a good woman for wife who manages well. We go into Pittsburgh every fourth Saturday afternoon and buy our supplies wholesale for the next month and save one third. Not many of your men can do this. Shopkeepers here charge so much. And another thing, they charge very high for coal. If you paid your men every two weeks, instead of monthly, it would be as good for the careful men as a raise in wages of ten per cent or more." "Mr. Edwards, that shall be done," I replied. It involved increased labor and a few more clerks, but that was a small matter. The remark about high prices charged set me to thinking why the men could not open a cooperative store. This was also arranged — the firm agreeing to pay the rent of the building, but insisting that the men themselves take the stock and manage it. Out of that came the Braddock's Cooperative Society, a valuable institution for many reasons, not the least of them that it taught the men that business had its diflSculties. The coal trouble was cured eflFectively by our agree- ing that the company sell all its men coal at the net cost price to us (about half of what had been charged by coal dealers, so I was told) and arranging to deliver it at the men's houses — the buyer paying only actual cost of cartage. WORKMEN'S SAVINGS 251 There was another matter. We found that the men's savings caused them anxiety, for Httle faith have the prudent, saving men in banks and, unfortunately, our Government at that time did not follow the British in having post-ofl5ce deposit banks. We offered to take the actual savings of each workman, up to two thousand dollars, and pay six per cent interest upon them, to en- courage thrift. Their money was kept separate from the business, in a trust fund, and lent to such as wished to build homes for themselves. I consider this one of the best things that can be done for the saving workman. It was such concessions as these that proved the most^l profitable investments ever made by the company^f even from an economical standpoint. It pays to go be--' yond the letter of the bond with your men. Two of my partners, as Mr. Phipps has put it, "knew my extreme disposition to always grant the demands of labor, how- ever unreasonable," but looking back upon my failing in this respect, I wish it had been greater — much greater. No expenditure returned such dividends as the friendship of our workmen. We soon had a body of workmen, I truly believe, wholly unequaled — the best workmen and the best men ever drawn together. Quarrels and strikes became things of the past. Had the Homestead men been our own old men, instead of men we had to pick up, it is scarcely possible that the trouble there in 1892 could i have arisen. The scale at the steel-rail mills, introduced J in 1889, has been running up to the present time (1914), and I think there never has been a labor grievance at the works since. The men, as I have already stated, dis- solved their old union because there was no use paying dues to a union when the men themselves had a three years' contract. Although their labor union is dissolved 252 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE another and a better one has taken its place — a cordial union between the employers and their men, the best union of all for both parties. ^^ It is for the interest of the employer that his men shall make good earnings and have steady work. The sliding scale enables the company to meet the market; and sometimes to take orders and keep the works run- ning, which is the main thing for the working-men. High wages are well enough, but they are not to be compared with steady employment. The Edgar Thom- son Mills are, in my opinion, the ideal works in respect to the relations of capital and labor. I am told the men in our day, and even to this day (1914) prefer two to three turns, but three turns are sure to come. Labor's hours are to be shortened as we progress. Eight hours will be the rule — eight for work, eight for sleep, and eight for rest and recreation. There have been many incidents in my business life proving that labor troubles are not solely founded upon wages. I believe the best preventive of quarrels to be recognition of, and sincere interest in, the men, satisfying them that you really care for them and that you rejoice in their success. This I can sincerely say — that I al- ways enjoyed my conferences with our workmen, which were not always in regard to wages, and that the better I knew the men the more I liked them. They have usu- ally two virtues to the employer's one, and they are certainly more generous to each other. Labor is usually helpless against capital. The em- ployer, perhaps, decides to shut up the shops; he ceases to make profits for a short time. There is no change in his habits, food, clothing, pleasures — no agonizing fear of want. Contrast this with his workman whose lessen- ing means of subsistence torment him. He has few com- HOW TO AVOID LABOR TROUBLES 253 forts, scarcely the necessities for his wife and children in health, and for the sick little ones no proper treatment. It is not capital we need to guard, but helpless labor. If I returned to business to-morrow, fear of labor troubles would not enter my mind, but tenderness for poor and sometimes misguided though well-meaning laborers would fill my heart and soften it; and thereby soften theirs. Upon my return to Pittsburgh in 1892, after the Homestead trouble, I went to the works and met many of the old men who had not been concerned in the riot. They expressed the opinion that if I had been at home the strike would never have happened. I told them that the company had offered generous terms and beyond its offer I should not have gone; that before their, cable reached me in Scotland, the Governor of the State had appeared on the scene with troops and wished the law vindicated; that the question had then passed out of my partners' hands. I added: "You were badly advised. My partners' offer should have been accepted. It was very generous. I don't know that I would have offered so much." To this one of the rollers said to me: "Oh, Mr. Carnegie, it wasn't a question of dollars. The boys would have let you kick 'em, but they would n't let that other man stroke their hair." So much does sentiment count for in the practical affairs of life, even with the laboring classes. This is not generally believed by those who do not know them, but I am certain that disputes about wages do not account for one half the disagreements between capital and labor. There is lack of due appreciation and of kind treatment of employees upon the part of the employers. Suits had been entered against many of the strikers. 254 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE but upon my return these were promptly dismissed. All the old men who remained, and had not been guilty of violence, were taken back, I had cabled from Scotland urging that Mr. Schwab be sent back to Homestead. He had been only recently promoted to the Edgar Thomson Works. He went back, and "Charlie," as he was aflFec- tionately called, soon restored order, peace, and har- mony. Had he remained at the Homestead Works, in all probability no serious trouble would have arisen. "Charlie" liked his workmen and they liked him; but there still remained at Homestead an unsatisfactory ele- ment in the men who had previously been discarded from our various works for good reasons and had found employment at the new works before we purchased them. CHAPTER XIX THE "GOSPEL OF WEALTH" AFTER my book, "The Gospel of Wealth," ^ was published, it was inevitable that I should live up to its teachings by ceasing to struggle for more wealth. I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution. Our profits had reached forty millions of dollars per year and the prospect of increased earnings before us was amaz- ing. Our successors, the United States Steel Corpora- tion, soon after the purchase, netted sixty millions in one year. Had our company continued in business and adhered to our plans of extension, we figured that sev- enty millions in that year might have been earned. Steel had ascended the throne and was driving away all inferior material. It was clearly seen that there was a great future ahead; but so far as I was concerned I knew the task of distribution before me would tax me in my old age to the utmost. As usual, Shakespeare had placed his talismanic touch upon the thought and framed the sentence — "So distribution should undo excess, ,_^nd each man have enough." At this juncture— that is March, 1901— Mr. Schwab 1 The Gospel of Wealth (Century Company, New York, 1900) contains various magazine articles written between 1886 and 1899 and published in the Youth's Companion, the Century Magazine, the North American Review, the Forum, the Contemporary Eeview, the Fortnightly Review, the Nineteenth Century, and the Scottish Leader, Gladstone asked that the article in the North American Review be printed in England. It was published in the Pall Mall Budget and christened the "Gospel of Wealth." Gladstone, Cardinal Manning, Rev, Hugh Price, and Rev. Dr. Hermann Adler answered it, and Mr. Carnegie replied to them. 256 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE told me Mr. Morgan had said to him he should really like to know if I wished to retire from business; if so he thought he could arrange it. He also said he had consulted our partners and that they were disposed to sell, being attracted by the terms Mr. Morgan had offered. I told Mr. Schwab that if my partners were desirous to sell I would concur, and we finally sold. There had been so much deception by speculators buying old iron and steel mills and foisting them upon innocent purchasers at inflated values — hundred-dollar shares in some cases selling for a trifle — that I de- clined to take anything for the common stock. Had I done so, it would have given me just about one hundred millions more of five per cent bonds, which Mr. Morgan said afterwards I could have obtained. Such was the prosperity and such the money value of our steel busi- ness. Events proved I should have been quite justified in asking the additional sum named, for the common stock has paid five per cent continuously since. ^ But I had enough, as has been proved, to keep me busier than ever before, trying to distribute it. My first distribution was to the men in the mills. The following letters and papers will explain the gift: New Yorh N.Y„ March 12, 1901 I make this first use of surplus wealth, four millions of first mortgage 5% Bonds, upon retiring from business, as an ac- ^ The Carnegie Steel Company was bought by Mr. Morgan at Mr. Carnegie's own price. There was some talk at the time of his holding out for a higher price than he received, but testifying before a committee of the House of Representatives in January, 1912, Mr. Carnegie said: "I con- sidered what was fair: and that is the option Morgan got. Schwab went down and arranged it. I never saw Morgan on the subject or any man con- nected with him. Never a word passed between him and me. I gave my memorandum and Morgan saw it was eminently fair. I have been told many times since by insiders that I should have asked $100,000,000 more and could have got it easily. Once for all, I want to put a stop to all this talk about Mr. Carnegie * forcing high prices for anything,*" ^^'-^ ^^— /f/'f, i^f^ -^-^c^-^K^c^r-ii^^ CHARLES M. SCHWAB FIRST DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH 257 knowledgment of the deep debt which I owe to the work- men who have contributed so greatly to my success. It is designed to reheve those who may suffer from accidents, and provide small pensions for those needing help in old age. In addition I give one million dollars of such bonds, the proceeds thereof to be used to maintain the Ubraries and halls I have built for our workmen. In return, the Homestead workmen presented the following address: Munkall, Pa.y Feb'y 23, 1903 Mr. Andrew Carnegie New York, N.Y. Dear Sir: We, the employees of the Homestead Steel Works, desire by this means to express to you through our Committee our great appreciation of your benevolence in establishing the "Andrew Carnegie Relief Fund," the first annual report of its operation having been placed before us during the past month. The interest which you have always shown in your work- men has won for you an appreciation which cannot be ex- pressed by mere words. Of the many channels through which you have sought to do good, we believe that the "Andrew Carnegie Relief Fund " stands first. We have personal knowl- edge of cares lightened and of hope and strength renewed in homes where human prospects seemed dark and discouraging. Respectfully yours Harry F. Rose, Roller John Bell, Jr., Blacksmith Committee -{ J. A. Horton, Timekeeper Walter A. Greig, Electric Foreman Harry Cusack, Yardmaster The Lucy Furnace men presented me with a beau- tiful silver plate and inscribed upon it the following address: 258 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE Andrew Carnegie Relief Fund Lucy Furnaces WhereaSy Mr. Andrew Carnegie, in his munificent phi- lanthropy, has endowed the "Andrew Carnegie Rehef Fund" for the benefit of employees of the Carnegie Company, Therefore be it Resolved, that the employees of the Lucy Furnaces, in special meeting assembled, do convey to Mr. Andrew Carne- gie their sincere thanks for and appreciation of his unexcelled and bounteous endowment, and furthermore be it Resolved, that it is their earnest wish and prayer that his life may be long spared to enjoy the fruits of his works. " James Scott, Chairman Louis A. Hutchison, Secretary James Daly Committee ■{ R. C. Taylor John V. Ward Frederick Voelker John M. Veigh I sailed soon for Europe, and as usual some of my partners did not fail to accompany me to the steamer and bade me good-bye. But, oh! the difference to me! Say what we would, do what we would, the solemn change had come. This I could not fail to realize. The wrench was indeed severe and there was pain in the good-bye which was also a farewell. Upon my return to New York some months later, I felt myself entirely out of place, but was much cheered by seeing several of "the boys" on the pier to welcome me — the same dear friends, but so different. I had lost my partners, but not my friends. This was something; it was much. Still a vacancy was left. I had now to take Up my self-appointed task of wisely disposing of surplus wealth. That would keep me deeply interested. One day my eyes happened to see a line in that most LIBRARY BUILDINGS 259 valuable paper, the "Scottish American/' in which I had found many gems. This was the line: "The gods send thread for a web begun." It seemed almost as if it had been sent directly to me. This sank into my heart, and I resolved to begin at once my first web. True enough, the gods sent thread in the proper form. Dr. J. S. Billings, of the New York Public Libraries, came as their agent, and of dollars, five and a quarter millions went at one stroke for sixty-eight branch libraries, promised for New York City. Twenty more libraries for Brooklyn followed. My father, as I have stated, had been one of the five pioneers in Dunfermline who combined and gave access to their few books to their less fortunate neighbors. I had followed in his footsteps by giving my native town a library — its foundation stone laid by my mother — so that this public library was really my first gift. It was followed by giving a public library and hall to Allegheny City — our first home in America. President Harrison kindly accompanied me from Washington and opened these buildings. Soon after this, Pittsburgh asked for a library, which was given. This developed, in due course, into a group of buildings embracing a museum, a picture gallery, technical schools, and the ^ Margaret Morrison School for Young Women. This group of buildings I opened to the public November / 5, 1895. In Pittsburgh I had made my fortune and inj the twenty-four millions already spent on this group, ^ she gets back only a small part of what she gave, and to! which she is richly entitled. ! The second large gift was to found the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The 28th of January, 1902, ^ The total gifts to the Carnegie Institute at Pittsburgh amounted to about twenty-eight million dollars. 260 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE I gave ten million dollars in five per cent bonds, to which there has been added sufficient to make the total cash value twenty-five millions of dollars, the additions being made upon record of results obtained. I natu- rally wished to consult President Roosevelt upon the matter, and if possible to induce the Secretary of State, Mr. John Hay, to serve as chairman, which he readily agreed to do. With him were associated as directors my old friend Abram S. Hewitt, Dr. Billings, William E. Dodge, Elihu Root, Colonel Higginson, D. 0. Mills, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, and others. When I showed President Roosevelt the list of the distinguished men who had agreed to serve, he re- marked: "You could not duplicate it." He strongly favored the foimdation, which was incorporated by an act of Congress April 28, 1904, as follows: To encourage in the broadest and most liberal manner in- vestigations, research and discovery, and the application of knowledge to the improvement of mankind; and, in particu- lar, to conduct, endow and assist investigation in any depart- ment of science, literature or art, and to this end to cooper- ate with governments, universities, colleges, technical schools, learned societies, and individuals. I was indebted to Dr. Billings as my guide, in select- ing Dr. Daniel C. Gilman as the first President. He passed away some years later. Dr. Billings then rec- ommended the present highly successful president, Dr. Robert S. Woodward. Long may he continue to guide the affairs of the Institution! The history of its achieve- ments is so well known through its publications that details here are unnecessary. I may, however, refer to two of its undertakings that are somewhat unique. It is doing a world-wide service with the wood-and-bronze yacht, ** Carnegie," which is voyaging around the world THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION 261 correcting the errors of the earlier surveys. Many of these ocean surveys have been found misleading, ow- ing to variations of the compass. Bronze being non- magnetic, while iron and steel are highly so, previous observations have proved liable to error. A notable in- stance is that of the stranding of a Cunard steamship near the Azores. Captain Peters, of the "Carnegie," thought it advisable to test this case and found that the captain of the ill-fated steamer was sailing on the course laid down upon the admiralty map, and was not to blame. The original observation was wrong. The error caused by variation was promptly corrected. This is only one of numerous corrections reported to the nations who go down to the sea in ships. Their thanks are our ample reward. In the deed of gift I ex- pressed the hope that our young Republic might some day be able to repay, at least in some degree, the great debt it owes to the older lands. Nothing gives me deeper satisfaction than the knowledge that it has to some extent already begun to do so. With the unique service rendered by the wandering " Carnegie," we may rank that of the fixed observatory upon Mount Wilson, California, at an altitude of 5886 feet. Professor Hale is in charge of it. He attended the gathering of leading astronomers in Rome one year, and such were his revelations there that these savants resolved their next meeting should be on top of Mount Wilson. And so it was. There is but one Mount Wilson. From a depth sev- enty-two feet down in the earth photographs have been taken of new stars. On the first of these plates many new worlds — I believe sixteen — were discovered. On the second I think it was sixty new worlds which had come into our ken, and on the third plate there were 262 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE estimated to be more than a hundred — ^ several of them said to be twenty times the size of our sun. Some of them were so distant as to require eight years for their light to reach us, which inclines us to bow our heads whisper- ing to ourselves, "All we know is as nothing to the un- known." When the monster new glass, three times larger than any existing, is in operation, what revela- tions are to come! I am assured if a race inhabits the moon they will be clearly seen. -^ — The third delightful task was founding the Hero Fund, in which my whole heart was concerned. I had heard of a serious accident in a coal pit near Pittsburgh, and how the former superintendent, Mr. Taylor, al- though then engaged in other pursuits, had instantly driven to the scene, hoping to be of use in the crisis. Rallying volunteers, who responded eagerly, he led them down the pit to rescue those below. Alas, alas, he the heroic leader lost his own life. I could not get the thought of this out of my mind. My dear, dear friend, Mr. Richard Watson Gilder, had sent me the following true and beautiful poem, and I re-read it the morning after the accident, and resolved then to establish the Hero Fund. IN THE TIME OF PEACE 'T was said: "When roll of drum and battle's roar Shall cease upon the earth, O, then no more The deed — the race — of heroes in the land." But scarce that word was breathed when one small hand Lifted victorious o'er a giant wrong That had its victims crushed through ages long; Some woman set her pale and quivering face Firm as a rock against a man's disgrace; o p m CO < w H P E-t 03 o THE HERO FUND 263 A little child suffered in silence lest His savage pain should wound a mother's breast; Some quiet scholar flung his gauntlet down And risked, in Truth's great name, the synod's frown; A civic hero, in the calm realm of laws, Did that which suddenly drew a world's applause; And one to the pest his lithe young body gave That he a thousand thousand lives might save. Hence arose the five-million-dollar fund to reward heroes, or to support the families of heroes, who perish in the eflfort to serve or save their fellows, and to sup- plement what employers or others do in contributing to the support of the families of those left destitute through accidents. This fund, established April 15, 1904, has proved from every point of view a decided success. I cherish a fatherly regard for it since no one suggested it to me. As far as I know, it never had been thought of; hence it is emphatically "my ain bairn." Later I extended it to my native land. Great Britain, with headquarters at Dunfermline — the Trustees of the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust undertaking its ad- ministration, and splendidly have they succeeded. In due time it was extended to France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Denmark. Regarding its workings in Germany, I received a letter from David Jayne Hill, our American Ambassador at Berlin, from which I quote: My main object in writing now is to tell you how pleased His Majesty is with the working of the German Hero Fund. He is enthusiastic about it and spoke in most complimentary terms of your discernment, as well as your generosity in founding it. He did not believe it would fill so important a 264 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE place as it is doing. He told me of several cases that are really touching, and which would otherwise have been wholly un- provided for. One was that of a young man who saved a boy from drowning and just as they were about to hft him out of the water, after passing up the child into a boat, his heart failed, and he sank. He left a lovely young wife and a httle boy. She has already been helped by the Hero Fund to estab- lish a little business from which she can make a living, and the education of the boy, who is very bright, will be looked after. This is but one example. Valentini (Chief of the Civil Cabinet), who was somewhat skeptical at first regarding the need of such a fund, is now glowing with enthusiasm about it, and he tells me the whole Commission, which is composed of carefully chosen men, is earnestly devoted to the work of making the very best and wisest use of their means and has devoted much time to their decisions. They have corresponded with the English and French Commission, arranged to exchange reports, and made plans to keep in touch with one another in their work. They were deeply interested in the American report and have learned much from it. King Edward of Britain was deeply impressed by the provisions of the fund, and wrote me an autograph letter of appreciation of this and other gifts to my na- tive land, which I deeply value, and hence insert. Windsor Castle, Noverriber 21, 1908 Dear Mr. Carnegie: I have for some time past been anxious to express to you my sense of your generosity for the great public objects which you have presented to this country, the land of yom- birth. Scarcely less admirable than the gifts themselves is the great care and thought you have taken in guarding against their misuse, I am anxious to tell you how warmly I recognize your most generous benefactions and the great services they are likely to confer upon the country. THE HERO FUND 265 As a mark of recognition, I hope you will accept the por- trait of myself which I am sending to you. Believe me, dear Mr. Carnegie, Sincerely yours Edward R. & I. Some of the newspapers in America were doubtful of the merits of the Hero Fund and the first annual re- port was criticized, but all this has passed away and the action of the fund is now warmly extolled. It has con- quered, and long will it be before the trust is allowed to perish! The heroes of the barbarian past wounded or killed their fellows; the heroes of our civilized day serve or save theirs. Such the difference between physical and moral courage, between barbarism and civilization. Those who belong to the first class are soon to pass away, for we are finally to regard men who slay each other as we now do cannibals who eat each other; but those in the latter class will not die as long as man exists upon the earth, for such heroism as they display is god-like. The Hero Fund will prove chiefly a pension fund. Already it has many pensioners, heroes or the widows or children of heroes. A strange misconception arose at first about it. Many thought that its purpose was to stimulate heroic action, that heroes were to be induced to play their parts for the sake of reward. This never entered my mind. It is absurd. True heroes think not of reward. They are inspired and think only of their fellows endangered; never of themselves. The fund is intended to pension or provide in the most suitable manner for the hero should he be disabled, or for those dependent upon him should he perish in his attempt to save others. It has made a fine start and will grow in popularity year after year as its aims and services are 266 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE better understood. To-day we have in America 1430 hero pensioners or their families on our list. I found the president for the Hero Fund in a Carnegie veteran, one of the original boys, Charlie Taylor. No salary for Charlie — not a cent would he ever take. He loves the work so much that I believe he would pay highly for permission to live with it. He is the right man in the right place. He has charge also, with Mr. Wilmot's able assistance, of the pensions for Carnegie workmen (Carnegie Relief Fund^); also the pensions for railway employees of my old division. Three relief funds and all of them benefiting others. I got my revenge one day upon Charlie, who was always urging me to do for others. He is a graduate of Lehigh University and one of her most loyal sons. Lehigh wished a building and Charlie was her chief ad- vocate. I said nothing, but wrote President Drinker offering the funds for the building conditioned upon my naming it. He agreed, and I called it "Taylor Hall." When Charlie discovered this, he came and protested that it would make him ridiculous, that he had only been a modest graduate, and was not entitled to have his name publicly honored, and so on. I enjoyed his plight immensely, waiting until he had finished, and then said that it would probably make him somewhat ridiculous if I insisted upon "Taylor Hall," but he ought to be willing to sacrifice himself somewhat for Lehigh. If he was n't consumed with vanity he would not care much how his name was used if it helped his Alma Mater. Taylor was not much of a name anyhow. It was his insufferable vanity that made such a fuss. He should conquer it. He could make his decision. He could sacrifice the name of Taylor or sacrifice Lehigh, just as ^ This fund is now managed separately. TAYLOR HALL AT LEHIGH 267 he liked, but: "No Taylor, no Hall." I had him! Visitors who may look upon that structure in after days and wonder who Taylor was may rest assured that he was a loyal son of Lehigh, a working, not merely a preaching, apostle of the gospel of service to his fellow-men, and one of the best men that ever lived. Such is our Lord High Commissioner of Pensions. CHAPTER XX EDUCATIONAL AND PENSION FUNDS THE fifteen-million-dollar' pension fund for aged university professors (The Carnegie Endowment for the Advancement of Learning), the fourth impor- tant gift, given in June, 1905, required the selection of twenty-five trustees from among the presidents of edu- cational institutions in the United States. When twenty- four of these — President Harper, of Chicago Univer- sity, being absent through illness — honored me by meeting at our house for organization, I obtained an im- portant accession of those who were to become more intimate friends. Mr. Frank A. Vanderlip proved of great service at the start — his Washington experience being most valuable — ■ and in our president. Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, we found the indispensable man. This fund is very near and dear to me — knowing, as I do, many who are soon to become beneficiaries, and convinced as I am of their worth and the value of the service already rendered by them. Of all professions, that of teaching is probably the most unfairly, yes, most meanly paid, though it should rank with the high- est. Educated men, devoting their lives to teaching the young, receive mere pittances. When I first took my seat as a trustee of Cornell University, I was shocked to find how small were the salaries of the professors, as a rule ranking below the salaries of some of our clerks. To save for old age with these men is impossible. Hence the universities without pension funds are compelled to retain men who are no longer able, should no longer be required, to perform their duties. Of the usefulness of FUND FOR UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS 269 the fund no doubt can be entertained.^ The first list of beneficiaries published was conclusive upon this point, containing as it did several names of world-wide reputa- tion, so great had been their contributions to the stock of human knowledge. Many of these beneficiaries and their widows have written me most affecting letters. These I can never destroy, for if I ever have a fit of melancholy, I know the cure lies in re-reading these letters. My friend, Mr. Thomas Shaw (now Lord Shaw), of Dunfermline had written an article for one of the English reviews showing that many poor people in Scotland were unable to pay the fees required to give their children a university education, although some had deprived themselves of comforts in order to do so. After reading Mr. Shaw's article the idea came to me to give ten millions in five per cent bonds, one half of the £104,000 yearly revenue from it to be used to pay the fees of the deserving poor students and the other haK to improve the universities. The first meeting of the trustees of this fund (The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland) was held in the Edinburgh oflSce of the Secretary of State for Scotland in 1902, Lord BaKour of Burleigh presid- ing. It was a notable body of men — Prime Minister Balfour, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (afterwards Prime Minister), John Morley (now Viscount Morley), James Bryce (now Viscount Bryce), the Earl of Elgin, Lord Rosebery, Lord Reay, Mr. Shaw (now Lord Shaw), Dr. John Ross of Dunfermline, " the man-of -all-work " that makes for the happiness or instruction of his fellow- man, and others. I explained that I had asked them to act because I could not entrust funds to the faculties of 1 The total amount of this fund in 1919 was $29,250,000. 270 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE the Scottish universities after reading the report of a re- cent commission. Mr. Balfour promptly exclaimed : " Not a penny, not a penny ! " The Earl of Elgin, who had been a member of the commission, fully concurred. The details of the proposed fund being read, the Earl of Elgin was not sure about accepting a trust which was not strict and specific. He wished to know just what his duties were. I had given a majority of the trustees the right to change the objects of beneficence and modes of applying funds, should they in after days decide that the purposes and modes prescribed for education in Scotland had become unsuitable or unnecessary for the advanced times. Balfour of Burleigh agreed with the Earl and so did Prime Minister Balfour, who said he had never heard of a testator before who was willing to give such powers. He questioned the propriety of doing so. "Well," I said, "Mr. BaKour, I have never known of a body of men capable of legislating for the generation ahead, and in some cases those who attempt to legislate even for their own generation are not thought to be eminently successful." v^ There was a ripple of laughter in which the Prime Minister himSelf heartily joined, and he then said: "You are right, quite right; but you are, I think, the first great giver who has been wise enough to take this view." I had proposed that a majority should have the power, but Lord Balfour suggested not less than two thirds. This was accepted by the Earl of Elgin and approved by all. I am very sure it is a wise provision, as after days will prove. It is incorporated in all my large gifts, and I rest assured that this feature will in future times prove valuable. The Earl of Elgin, of Dunfermline, did not ANDREW CARNEGIE AND VISCOUNT BRYCE LORD RECTOR OF ST. ANDREWS 271 hesitate to become Chairman of this trust. When I told Premier Balfour that I hoped Elgin could be induced to assume this duty, he said promptly, "You could not get a better man in Great Britain." We are all enthely satisfied now upon that point. The query is: where could we get his equal? It is an odd coincidence that there are only four liv- ing men who have been made Burgesses and received the Freedom of Dunfermline, and all are connected with the trust for the Universities of Scotland, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Earl of Elgin, Dr. John Ross, and myself. But there is a lady in the circle to-day, the only one ever so greatly honored with the Freedom of Dunfermline, Mrs. Carnegie, whose devotion to the town, like my own, is intense. My election to the Lord Rectorship of St. Andrews in 1902 proved a very important event in my life. It admitted me to the university world, to which I had been a stranger. Few incidents in my life have so deeply im- pressed me as the first meeting of the faculty, when I took my seat in the old chair occupied successively by so many distinguished Lord Rectors during the nearly five hundred years which have elapsed since St. An- drews was founded. I read the collection of rectorial speeches as a preparation for the one I was soon to make. The most remarkable paragraph I met with in any of them was Dean Stanley's advice to the students to "go to Burns for your theology." That a high dignitary of the Church and a favorite of Queen Victoria should ven- ture to say this to the students of John Knox's Univer- sity is most suggestive as showing how even theology improves with the years. The best rules of conduct are in Burns. First there is: "Thine own reproach alone do fear." I took it as a motto early in life. And secondly: 272 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE "The fear o' hell's a hangman's whip To haud the wretch in order; But where ye feel your honor grip. Let that aye be your border." John Stuart Mill's rectorial address to the St. An- drews students is remarkable. He evidently wished to give them of his best. The prominence he assigns to music as an aid to high living and pure refined enjoy- ment is notable. Such is my own experience. An invitation given to the principals of the four Scotch universities and their wives or daughters to spend a week at Skibo resulted in much joy to Mrs. Carnegie and myself. The first meeting was attended by the Earl of Elgin, chairman of the Trust for the Uni- versities of Scotland, and Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Sec- retary for Scotland, and Lady Balfour. After that " Prin- cipals' Week" each year became an established custom. They as well as we became friends, and thereby, they all agree, great good results to the universities. A spirit of cooperation is stimulated. Taking my hand upon leaving after the first yearly visit. Principal Lang said: "It has taken the principals of the Scotch univer- sities five hundred years to learn how to begin our ses- sions. Spending a week together is the solution." One of the memorable results of the gathering at Skibo in 1906 was that Miss Agnes Irwin, Dean of Rad- cliffe College, and great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin, spent the principals' week with us and all were charmed with her. Franklin received his first doc- tor's degree from St. Andrews University, nearly one hundred and fifty years ago. The second centenary of his birth was finely celebrated in Philadelphia, and St. Andrews, with numerous other universities throughout the world, sent addresses. St. Andrews also sent a de- DEGREE FOR DEAN AGNES IRWIN £73 gree to the great-granddaughter. As Lord Rector, I was deputed to confer it and place the mantle upon her. This was done the first evening before a large audi- ence, when more than two hundred addresses were presented. The audience was deeply impressed, as well it might be. St. Andrews University, the first to confer the de- gree upon the great-grandfather, conferred the same de- gree upon the great-grandchild one hundred and forty- seven years later (and this upon her own merits as Dean of Radcliffe College) ; sent it across the Atlantic to be bestowed by the hands of its Lord Rector, the first who was not a British subject, but who was born one as Franklin was, and who became an American citizen as Franklin did; the ceremony performed in Philadel- phia where Franklin rests, in the presence of a brilliant assembly met to honor his memory. It was all very beautiful, ' and I esteemed myself favored, indeed, to be the medium of such a graceful and appropriate cere- mony. Principal Donaldson of St. Andrews was surely inspired when he thought of it! My unanimous reelection by the students of St. An- drews, without a contest for a second term, was deeply appreciated. And I liked the Rector's nights, when the students claim him for themselves, no member of the faculty being invited. We always had a good time. After the first one. Principal Donaldson gave me the verdict of the Secretary as rendered to him: "Rector So-and So talked to us. Rector Thus-and-So talked at us, both from the platform; Mr. Carnegie sat down in our circle and talked with us." The question of aid to our own higher educational institutions often intruded itself upon me, but my be- lief was that our chief universities, such as Harvard 274 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE and Columbia, with five to ten thousand students/ „ jwere large enough; that further growth was undesirable; that the smaller institutions (the colleges especially) were in greater need of help and that it would be a better use of surplus wealth to aid them. Accordingly, I afterwards confined myself to these and am satisfied that this was wise. At a later date we found Mr. Rocke- feller's splendid educational fund, The General Educa- tion Board, and ourselves were working in this fruitful field without consultation, with sometimes undesirable results. Mr. Rockefeller wished me to join his board and this I did. Cooperation was soon found to be much to our mutual advantage, and we now work in unison. In giving to colleges quite a number of my friends have been honored as was my partner Charlie Taylor. Conway Hall at Dickinson College, was named for Mon- cure D. Conway, whose Autobiography, recently pub- lished, is pronounced " literature " by the "Atheneeum." It says: "These two volumes lie on the table glistening like gems 'midst the piles of autobiographical rubbish by which they are surrounded." That is rather suggestive for one who is adding to the pile. The last chapter in Mr. Conway's Autobiography ends with the following paragraph: Implore Peace, O my reader, from whom I now part. Im- plore peace not of deified thunder clouds but of every man, woman, child thou shalt meet. Do not merely offer the prayer, "Give peace in our time," but do thy part to answer it ! Then, at least, though the world be at strife, there shall be peace in thee. My friend has put his finger upon our deepest disgrace. It surely must soon be abolished between civilized nations. 1 Columbia University in 1920 numbered all told some 25,000 students in the various departments. ELIHU ROOT 275 The Stanton Chair of Economics at Kenyon College, Ohio, was founded in memory of Edwin M, Stanton, who kindly greeted me as a boy in Pittsburgh when I delivered telegrams to him, and was ever cordial to me in Washington, when I was an assistant to Secretary Scott. The Hanna Chair in Western Reserve University, Cleveland; the John Hay Library at Brown University; the second Elihu Root Fund for Hamilton, the Mrs. Cleveland Library for Wellesley, gave me pleasure to christen after these friends. I hope more are to follow, commemorating those I have known, liked, and honored. I also wished a General Dodge Library and a Gayley Library to be erected from my gifts, but these friends had already obtained such honor from their respective Alma Maters. My first gift to Hamilton College was to be named the Elihu Root Foundation, but that ablest of all our Secretaries of State, and in the opinion of President Roosevelt, "the wisest man he ever knew," took care, it seems, not to mention the fact to the college authori- ties. When I reproached him with this dereliction, he laughingly replied : "Well, I promise not to cheat you the next gift you give us." And by a second gift this lapse was repaired after all, but I took care not to entrust the matter directly to him. The Root Fund of Hamilton ^ is now established beyond his power to destroy. Root is a great man, and, as the greatest only are he is, in his simplicity, sublime. President Roosevelt declared he would crawl on his hands and knees from the White House to the Capitol if this would insure Root's nomination to the presi- dency with a prospect of success. He was considered 1 It amounts to $250,000. 276 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE vulnerable because he had been counsel for corpora- tions and was too little of the spouter and the dema- gogue, too much of the modest, retiring statesman to split the ears of the groundlings,^ The party foolishly decided not to risk Root. My connection with Hampton and Tuskegee Insti- tutes, which promote the elevation of the colored race we formerly kept in slavery, has been a source of satis- faction and pleasure, and to know Booker Washington is a rare privilege. We should all take our hats off to the man who not only raised himself from slavery, but helped raise millions of his race to a higher stage of civ- ilization. Mr. Washington called upon me a few days after my gift of six hundred thousand dollars was made to Tuskegee and asked if he might be allowed to make one suggestion. I said: "Certainly." "You have kindly specified that a sum from that fund be set aside for the future support of myseK and wife during our lives, and we are very grateful, but, Mr, Carnegie, the sum is far beyond our needs and will seem to my race a fortune. Some might feel that I was no longer a poor man giving my services without thought of saving money. Would you have any ob- jection to changing that clause, striking out the smn, and substituting *only suitable provision'? I'll trust 1 At the Meeting in Memory of the Life and Work of Andrew Carnegie held on April 25, 1920, in the Engineering Societies Building in New York, Mr. Root made an address in the course of which, speaking of Mr. Car- negie, he said: "He belonged to that great race of nation-builders who have made the development of America the wonder of the world. . . . He was the kindliest man I ever knew. Wealth had brought to him no hardening of the heart, nor made him forget the dreams of his youth. Kindly, affectionate, chari- table in his judgments, unrestrained in his sympathies, noble in his im- pulses, I wish that all the people who think of him as a rich man giving away money he did not need could know of the hundreds of kindly things he did unknown to the world." BOOKER WASHINGTON 277 the trustees. Mrs, Washington and myself need very little." I did so, and the deed now stands, but when Mr. Baldwin asked for the original letter to exchange it for the substitute, he told me that the noble soul objected. That document addressed to him was to be preserved forever, and handed down; but he would put it aside and let the substitute go on file. This is an indication of the character of the leader of his race. No truer, more self-sacrificing hero ever lived: a man compounded of all the virtues. It makes one bet- ter just to know such pure and noble souls — human nature in its highest types is already divine here on earth. K it be asked which man of our age, or even of the past ages, has risen from the lowest to the highest, the answer must be Booker Washington. He rose from slavery to the leadership of his people — a modern Moses and Joshua combined, leading his people both onward and upward. In connection with these institutions I came in con- tact with their officers and trustees — men like Princi- pal HoUis B. Frissell of Hampton, Robert C. Ogden, George Foster Peabody, V. Everit Macy, George Mc- Aneny and William H. Baldwin — recently lost to us, alas! — men who labor for others. It was a blessing to know them intimately. The Cooper Union, the Mechanics and Tradesmen's Society, indeed every insti- tution^ in which I became interested, revealed many men and women devoting their time and thought, not to "miserable aims that end with self," but to high ideals which mean the relief and uplift of their less fortunate brethren. ^ The universities, colleges, and educational institutions to which Mr. Caraegie gave either endowment funds or buildings number five hundred. All told his gifts to them amounted to $27,000,000. 278 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE My giving of organs to churches came very early in my career, I having presented to less than a hundred members of the Swedenborgian Church in Allegheny which my father favored, an organ, after declining to contribute to the building of a new church for so few. Applications from other churches soon began to pour in, from the grand CathoUc Cathedral of Pittsburgh down to the small church in the country village, and I was kept busy. Every church seemed to need a better organ than it had, and as the full price for the new instrument was paid, what the old one brought was clear profit. Some ordered organs for very small churches which would almost split the rafters, as was the case with the first organ given the Swedenborgians; others had bought organs before applying but our check to cover the amount was welcome. Finally, however, a rigid system of giving was developed. A printed schedule requiring answers to many questions has now to be filled and re- turned before action is taken. The department is now perfectly systematized and works admirably because we graduate the gift according to the size of the church. Charges were made in the rigid Scottish Highlands that I was demoralizing Christian worship by giving organs to churches. The very strict Presbyterians there still denounce as wicked an attempt "to worship God with a kist fu' o' whistles," instead of using the human God-given voice. After that I decided that I should re- quire a partner in my sin, and therefore asked each con- gregation to pay one haK of the desired new organ. Upon this basis the organ department still operates and con- tinues to do a thriving business, the demand for im- proved organs still being great. Besides, many new churches are required for increasing populations and for these organs are essential. THE PRIVATE PENSION FUND 279 1 see no end to it. In requiring the congregation to pay one half the cost of better instruments, there is assurance of needed and reasonable expenditure. Believing from my own experience that it is salutary for the congrega- tion to hear sacred music at Intervals in the service and then slowly to disperse to the strains of the reverence- compelling organ after such sermons as often show us little of a Heavenly Father, I feel the money spent for organs is well spent. So we continue the organ depart- ment.^ — Of all my work of a philanthropic character, my pri- vate pension fund gives me the highest and noblest re- turn. No satisfaction equals that of feeling you have been permitted to place in comfortable circumstances, in their old age, people whom you have long known to be kind and good and in every way deserving, but who from no fault of their own, have not sufficient means to live respectably, free from solicitude as to their mere maintenance. Modest sums insure this freedom. It sur- 1 prised me to find how numerous were those who needed some aid to make the difference between an old age of happiness and one of misery. Some such cases had arisen before my retirement from business, and I had sweet satisfaction from this source. Not one person have I ever placed upon the pension list^ that did not fully deserve assistance. It is a real roll of honor and mutual affection. All are worthy. There is no publicity about it. No one knows who is embraced. Not a word is ever breathed to others. This is my favorite and best answer to the question which will never down in my thoughts: "What good am * The "organ department" up to 1919 had given 7689 organs to as many different churches at a cost of over six million dollars. 2 This amounted to over $250,000 a year. 280 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE I doing in the world to deserve all my mercies?" Well, the dear friends of the pension list give me a satisfactory reply, and this always comes to me in need. I have had far beyond my just share of life's blessings; therefore I never ask the Unknown for anything. We are in the pres- ence of universal law and should bow our heads in silence and obey the Judge within, asking nothing, fearing nothing, just doing our duty right along, seeking no re- ward here or hereafter. It is, indeed, more blessed to give than to receive. These dear good friends would do for me and mine as I do for them were positions reversed. I am sure of this. Many precious acknowledgments have I received. Some venture to tell me they remember me every night in their prayers and ask for me every blessing. Often I cannot refrain from giving expression to my real feelings in re- turn. "Pray, don't," I say. "Don't ask anything more for me. I've got far beyond my just share already. Any fair committee sitting upon my case would take away more than haK the blessings already bestowed." These are not mere words, I feel their truth. The Railroad Pension Fund is of a similar nature. Many of the old boys of the Pittsburgh Division (or their widows) are taken care of by it. It began years ago and grew to its present proportions. It now benefits the worthy railroad men who served under me when I was superintendent on the Pennsylvania, or their widows, who need help. I was only a boy when I first went among these trainmen and got to know them by name. They were very kind to me. Most of the men beneficiaries of the fund I have known personally. They are dear friends. Although the four-million-dollar fund I gave for STEEL WORKERS' PENSIONS 281 workmen in the mills (Steel Workers' Pensions) embraces hundreds that I never saw, there are still a sufficient number upon it that I do remember to give that fund also a strong hold upon me. CHAPTER XXI THE PEACE PALACE AND PITTENCRIEFF PEACE, at least as between English-speaking peo- ples,^ must have been early in my thoughts. In 1869, when Britain launched the monster Monarch, then the largest warship known, there was, for some now- forgotten reason, talk of how she could easily compel tribute from our American cities one after the other. Nothing could resist her. I cabled John Bright, then in the British Cabinet (the cable had recently been opened) : "First and best service possible for Monarch, bring- ing home body Peabody." ^ No signature was given. Strange to say, this was done, and thus the Monarch became the messenger of peace, not of destruction. Many years afterwards I met Mr. Bright at a small dinner party in Birmingham and told him I was his young anonymous correspondent. He was surprised that no signature was attached and said his heart was in the act. I am sure it was. He is entitled to all credit. He was the friend of the Republic when she needed friends during the Civil War. He had always been my favorite living hero in public life as he had been my father's. Denounced as a wild radical at first, he kept ^ "Let men say what they will, I say that as surely as the sun in the heavens once shone upon Britain and America united, so surely it is one morning to rise, shine upon, and greet again the Reunited States — the British-American Union." (Quoted in Alderson's Andrew Carnegie, The Man and His Work, p. 108. New York, 1909.) 2 George Peabody, the American merchant and philanthropist, who died in London in 1869. PEACE AND ARBITRATION 283 steadily on until the nation came to his point of view. Always for peace he would have avoided the Crimean War, in which Britain backed the wrong horse, as Lord Salisbury afterwards acknowledged. It was a great privilege that the Bright family accorded me, as a friend, to place a replica of the Manchester Bright statue in Parliament, in the stead of a poor one removed. I became interested in the Peace Society of Great Britain upon one of my early visits and attended many of its meetings, and in later days I was especially drawn to the Parliamentary Union established by Mr. Cremer, the famous working-man's representative in Parliament. Few men living can be compared to Mr. Cremer. When he received the Nobel Prize of £8000 as the one who had done the most that year for peace, he promptly gave all but £1000, needed for pressing wants, to the Arbitration Committee. It was a noble sacrifice. What is money but dross to the true hero ! Mr. Cremer is paid a few dollars a week by his trade to enable him to exist in London as their member of Parliament, and here was fortune thrown in his lap only to be devoted by him to the cause of peace. This is the heroic in its finest form. I had the great pleasure of presenting the Committee to President Cleveland at Washington in 1887, who re- ceived the members cordially and assured them of his hearty cooperation. From that day the abolition of war grew in importance with me until it finally overshad- owed all other issues. The surprising action of the first Hague Conference gave me intense joy. Called primarily to consider disarmament (which proved a dream), it created the commanding reality of a permanent tribunal to settle international disputes. I saw in this the greatest step toward peace that humanity had ever taken, and 284 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE taken as if by inspiration, without much previous dis- cussion. No wonder the sublime idea captivated the con- ference. If Mr. HoUs, whose death I so deeply deplored, were alive to-day and a delegate to the forthcoming second Conference with his chief, Andrew D. White, I feel that these two might possibly bring about the creation of the needed International Court for the abolition of war. He it was who started from The Hague at night for Ger- many, upon request of his chief, and saw the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Emperor and finally prevailed upon them to approve of the High Court, and not to withdraw their delegates as threatened — a serv- ice for which Mr. HoUs deserves to be enrolled among the greatest servants of mankind. Alas, death came to him while still in his prime. The day that International Court is established will become one of the most memorable days in the world's history.^ It will ring the knell of man killing man — the deepest and blackest of crimes. It should be celebrated in every land as I believe it will be some day, and that time, perchance, not so remote as expected. In that era not a few of those hitherto extolled as heroes will have found oblivion because they failed to promote peace and good-will instead of war. When Andrew D. White and Mr. HoUs, upon their return from The Hague, suggested that I offer the funds needed for a Temple of Peace at The Hague, I informed them that I never could be so presumptuous; that if the ^ "I submit that the only measure required to-day for the maintenance of world peace is an agreement between three or four of the leading Civi- lized Powers (and as many more as desire to join — the more the better) pledged to cooperate against disturbers of world peace, should such arise." (Andrew Carnegie, in address at unveiling of a bust of William Ilandall Cremer at the Peace Palace of The Hague, August 29, 1913.) PRESIDENCY OF THE PEACE SOCIETY 285 Government of the Netherlands informed me of its de- sire to have such a temple and hoped I would furnish the means, the request would be favorably considered. They demurred, saying this could hardly be expected from any Government. Then I said I could never act in the matter. Finally the Dutch Government did make application, through its Minister, Baron Gevers in Washington, and I rejoiced. Still, in writing him, I was careful to say that the drafts of his Government would be duly honored. I did not send the money. The Government drew upon me for it, and the draft for a miUion and a half is kept as a memento. It seems to me almost too much that any individual should be permitted to perform so noble a duty as that of providing means for this Temple of Peace — the most holy building in the world because it has the holiest end in view. I do not even except St. Peter's, or any building erected to the glory of God, whom, as Luther says, "we cannot serve or aid; He needs no help from us." This temple is to bring peace, which is so greatly needed among His erring creatures. "The highest worship of God is service to man." At least, I feel so with Luther and Franklin. When in 1907 friends came and asked me to accept the presidency of the Peace Society of New York, which they had determined to organize, I declined, alleging that I was kept very busy with many aflfairs, which was true; but my conscience troubled me afterwards for declining. If I were not willing to sacrifice myseK for the cause of peace what should I sacrifice for? What was I good for? Fortunately, in a few days, the Rever- end Lyman Abbott, the Reverend Mr. Lynch, and some other notable laborers for good causes called to urge my reconsideration. I divined their errand and frankly 286 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE told them they need not speak. My conscience had been tormenting me for declining and I would accept the presidency and do my duty. After that came the great national gathering (the following April) when for the first time in the history of Peace Society meet- ings, there attended delegates from thirty-five of the states of the Union, besides many foreigners of distinc- tion.^ My first decoration then came unexpectedly. The French Government had made me Knight Commander of the Legion of Honor, and at the Peace Banquet in New York, over which I presided. Baron d'Estournelles de Constant appeared upon the stage and in a compeUing speech invested me with the regalia amid the cheers of the company. It was a great honor, indeed, and appre- ciated by me because given for my services to the cause of International Peace. Such honors humble, they do not exalt; so let them come.^ They serve also to remind me that I must strive harder than ever, and watch every act and word more closely, that I may reach just a lit- tle nearer the standard the givers — deluded souls — mis- takenly assume in their speeches, that I have already attained. • •••••• * . No gift I have made or can ever make can possibly approach that of Pittencriefif Glen, Dunfermline. It is ^ Mr. Carnegie does not mention the fact that in December, 1910, he gave to a board of trustees $10,000,000, the revenue of which was to be admin- istered for "the abolition of international war, the foulest blot upon our civilization," This is known as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Honorable Elihu Root is president of the board of trustees. 2 Mr. Carnegie received also the Grand Cross Order of Orange-Nassau from Holland, the Grand Cross Order of Danebrog from Denmark, a gold medal from twenty-one American Republics and had doctors' degrees from innumerable universities and colleges. He was also a member of many institutes, learned societies and clubs — over 190 in number. PITTENCRIEFF GLEN 287 saturated with childish sentiment — all of the purest and sweetest. I must tell that story: Among my earliest recollections are the sti^ggles of Dunfermline to obtain the rights of the town to part of the Abbey grounds and the Palace ruins. My Grand- father Morrison began the campaign, or, at least, was one of those who did. The struggle was continued by my Uncles Lauder and Morrison, the latter honored by being charged with having incited and led a band of men to tear down a certain wall. The citizens won a victory in the highest court and the then Laird ordered that thereafter "no Morrison be admitted to the Glen." I, being a Morrison like my brother-cousin, Dod, was debarred. The Lairds of Pittencrieff for generations had been at variance with the inhabitants. The Glen is unique, as far as I know. It adjoins the Abbey and Palace grounds, and on the west and north it lies along two of the main streets of the town. Its area (between sixty and seventy acres) is finely sheltered, its high hills grandly wooded. It always meant paradise to the child of Dunfermline. It certainly did to me. When I heard of paradise, I translated the word into Pittencrieff Glen, believing it to be as near to paradise as anything I could think of. Happy were we if through an open lodge gate, or over the wall or under the iron grill over the burn, now and then we caught a glimpse inside. Almost every Sunday Uncle Lauder took "Dod" and "Naig" for a walk around the Abbey to a part that overlooked the Glen — the busy crows fluttering around in the big trees below. Its Laird was to us children the embodiment of rank and wealth. The Queen, we knew, lived in Windsor Castle, but she did n't own Pitten- crieff, not she! Hunt of Pittencrieff would n't exchange 288 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE with her or with any one. Of this we were sure, because certainly neither of us would. In all my childhood's — yes and in my early manhood's — air-castle building (which was not small), nothing comparable in grandeur approached PittencrieflF. My Uncle Lauder predicted many things for me when I became a man, but had he foretold that some day I should be rich enough, and so supremely fortunate as to become Laird of Pittencrieff, he might have turned my head. And then to be able to hand it over to Dunfermline as a public park — my paradise of childhood! Not for a crown would I barter that privilege. When Dr. Ross whispered to me that Colonel Hunt might be induced to sell, my ears cocked themselves instantly. He wished an extortionate price, the doctor thought, and I heard nothing further for some time. When indisposed in London in the autumn of 1902, my mind ran upon the subject, and I intended to wire Dr. Ross to come up and see me. One morning, Mrs. Carnegie came into my room and asked me to guess who had arrived and I guessed Dr. Ross. Sure enough, there he was. We talked over Pittencrieff. I suggested that if our mutual friend and fellow-townsman, Mr. Shaw in Edinburgh (Lord Shaw of Dunfermline) ever met Colonel Hunt's agents he could intimate that their client might some day regret not closing with me as another purchaser equally anxious to buy might not be met with, and I might change my mind or pass away. Mr. Shaw told the doctor when he mentioned this that he had an appointment to meet with Hunt's lawyer on other business the next morning and would certainly say so. I sailed shortly after for New York and received there one day a cable from Mr. Shaw stating that the Laird PITTENCRIEFF GLEN 289 would accept forty-five thousand pounds. Should he close? I wired: "Yes, provided it is under Ross's con- ditions"; and on Christmas Eve, I received Shaw's reply: "Hail, Laird of Pittencrieflf !" So I was the happy possessor of the grandest title on earth in my esti- mation. The King — well, he was only the King. He did n't own King Malcolm's tower nor St. Margaret's shrine, nor Pittencrieflf Glen. Not he, poor man. I did, and I shall be glad to condescendingly show the King those treasures should he ever visit Dunfermline. As the possessor of the Park and the Glen I had a chance to find out what, if anything, money could do for the good of the masses of a community, if placed in the hands of a body of public-spirited citizens. Dr. Ross was taken into my confidence so far as Pittencrieflf Park was concerned, and with his advice certain men intended for a body of trustees were agreed upon and invited to Skibo to organize. They imagined it was in regard to transferring the Park to the town; not even to Dr. Ross was any other subject mentioned. When they heard that half a million sterling in bonds, bearing five per cent interest, was also to go to them for the benefit of Dunfermline, they were surprised.^ It is twelve years since the Glen was handed over to the trustees and certainly no public park was ever dearer to a people. The children's yearly gala day, the flower shows and the daily use of the Park by the people are surprising. The Glen now attracts people from neigh- boring towns. In numerous ways the trustees have succeeded finely in th^ direction indicated in the trust deed, namely: To bring into the monotonous lives of the toiling masses of Dunfermline, more "of sweetness and light," to give to * Additional gifts, made later, brought this gift up to $3,750,000. 290 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE them — especially the young — some charm, some happi- ness, some elevating conditions of life which residence else- where would have denied, that the child of my native town, looking back in after years, however far from home it may have roamed, will feel that simply by virtue of being such, life has been made happier and better. If this be the fruit of your labors, you will have succeeded; if not, you will have failed. To this paragraph I owe the friendship of Earl Grey, formerly Governor-General of Canada. He wrote Dr. Ross: "I must know the man who wrote that document in the 'Times' this morning." We met in London and became instantly sympathetic. He is a great soul who passes instantly into the heart and stays there. Lord Grey is also to-day a member (trustee) of the ten-million-dollar fund for the United Kingdom.^ ^ Mr. Carnegie refers to the gift of ten million dollars to the Camegie United Kingdom Trust merely in connection with Earl Grey. His references to his gifts are casual, in that he refers only to the ones in which he happens for the moment to be interested. Those he mentions are merely a part of the whole. He gave to the ChuLrch Peace Union over $2,000,000, to the United Engineering Society $1,500,000, to the International Bureau of American Republics $850,000, and to a score or more of research, hospital, and educational boards sums ranging from $100,000 to $500,000. He gave to various towns and cities over twenty-eight hundred library buildings at a cost of over $60,000,000. The largest of his gifts he does not mention at all. This was made in 1911 to the Carnegie Corporation of New York and was $125,000,000. The Corporation is the residuary legatee under Mr. Car- negie's will and it is not yet known what further sum may come to it through that instrument. The object of the Corporation, as defined by Mr, Carnegie himself in a letter to the trustees, is: "To promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and un- derstanding among the people of the United States by aiding technical schools, institutions of higher learning, libraries, scientific research, hero funds, useful publications and by such other agencies and means as shall from time to time be found appropriate therefor." The Carnegie benefactions, all told, amount to something over $350,000,- 000 — surely a huge sum to have been brought together and then dis- tributed by one man. RETIREMENT 291 Thus, Pittencrieff Glen is the most soul-satisfying public gift I ever made, or ever can make. It is poetic justice that the grandson of Thomas Morrison, radical leader in his day, nephew of Bailie Morrison, his son and successor, and above all son of my sainted father and my most heroic mother, should arise and dispos- sess the lairds, should become the agent for conveying the Glen and Park to the people of Dunfermline for- ever. It is a true romance, which no air-castle can quite equal or fiction conceive. The hand of destiny seems to hover over it, and I hear something whispering: "Not altogether in vain have you lived — not altogether in vain." This is the crowning mercy of my career! I set it apart from all my other public gifts. Truly the whirligig of time brings in some strange revenges. " It is now thirteen years since I ceased to accumulate wealth and began to distribute it. I could never have succeeded in either had I stopped with having enough to retire upon, but nothing to retire to. But there was the habit and the love of reading, writing and speaking upon occasion, and also the acquaintance and friendship of educated men which I had made before I gave up business. For some years after retiring I could not force myself to visit the works. This, alas, would recall so many who had gone before. Scarcely one of my early friends would remain to give me the hand-clasp of the days of old. Only one or two of these old men would call me "Andy." Do not let it be thought, however, that my younger partners were forgotten, or that they have not played a vefy important part in sustaining me in the eflFort of reconciling myself to the new conditions. Far otherwise! The most soothing influence of all was their prompt or- ganization of the Carnegie Veteran Association, to ex- 292 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE pire only when the last member dies. Om* yearly dinner together, in our own home in New York, is a source of the greatest pleasure, — so great that it lasts from one year to the other. Some of the Veterans travel far to be present, and what occurs between us constitutes one of the dearest joys of my life, I carry with me the af- fection of "my boys." I am certain I do. There is no possible mistake about that because my heart goes out to them. This I niunber among my many blessings and in many a brooding hour this fact comes to me, and I say to myself: "Rather this, minus fortune, than multi- millionairedom without it — yes, a thousand times, , yes." I Many friends, great and good men and women, Mrs. Carnegie and I are favored to know, but not one whit shall these ever change our joint love for the "boys.'* For to my infinite delight her heart goes out to them as does mine. She it was who christened our new New York home with the first Veteran dinner. "The partners first" was her word. It was no mere idle form when they elected Mrs. Carnegie the first honorary member, and our daughter the second. Their place in our hearts is secure. Although I was the senior, still we were " boys together." Perfect trust and common aims, not for self only, but for each other, and deep affection, moulded us into a brotherhood. We were friends first and partners after- wards. Forty-three out of forty-five partners are thus bound together for life. Another yearly event that brings forth many choice spirits is our Literary Dinner, at home, our dear friend Mr. Richard Watson Gilder, editor of the "Century," being the manager.^ His devices and quotations from ^ "Yesterday we had a busy day in Toronto. The grand event was a dinner at six o'clock where we all spoke, A. C. making a remarkable ad- BURROUGHS AND SETON 293 the writings of the guest of the year, placed upon the cards of the guests, are so appropriate, as to cause much hilarity. Then the speeches of the novitiates give zest to the occasion. John Morley was the guest of honor when with us in 1895 and a quotation from his works was upon the card at each plate. One year Gilder appeared early in the evening of the dinner as he wished to seat the guests. This had been done, but he came to me saying it was well he had looked them over. He had found John Burroughs and Ernest Thompson Seton were side by side, and as they were then engaged in a heated controversy upon the habits of beasts and birds, in which both had gone too far in their criticisms, they were at dagger's points. Gilder said it would never do to seat them together. He had separated them. I said nothing, but slipped into the dining-room unobserved and replaced the cards as be- fore. Gilder's surprise was great when he saw the men next each other, but the result was just as I had ex- pected. A reconciliation took place and they parted good friends. Moral: If you wish to play peace-maker, seat adversaries next each other where they must begin by being civil. Burroughs and Seton both enjoyed the trap I set for them. True it is, we only hate those whom we do not dress. ... I can't tell you how I am enjoying this. Not only seeing new places, but the talks with our own party. It is, indeed, a liberal education. A. C. is truly a 'great' man; that is, a man of enormous faculty and a great imagination. I don't remember any friend who has such a range of poetical quotation, unless it is Stedman. (Not so much range as numerous quota- tions from Shakespeare, Burns, Byron, etc.) His views are truly large and prophetic. And, unless I am mistaken, he has a genuine ethical character. He is not perfect, but he is most interesting and remarkable; a true demo- crat; his benevolent actions having a root in principle and character. He is not accidentally the intimate friend of such high natures as Arnold and Morley." (Letters of Richard Watson Gilder, edited by bis daughter Rosa- mond GUder, p. 374. New York, 1916.) 294 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE know. It certainly is often the way to peace to invite your adversary to dinner and even beseech him to come, taking no refusal. Most quarrels become acute from the parties not seeing and communicating with each other and hearing too much of their disagreement from others. They do not fully understand the other's point of view and all that can be said for it. Wise is he who offers the hand of reconciliation should a difference with a friend arise. Unhappy he to the end of his days who refuses it. No possible gain atones for the loss of one who has been a friend even if that friend has become somewhat less dear to you than before. He is still one with whom you have been intimate, and as age comes on friends pass rapidly away and leave you. He is the happy man who feels there is not a human being to whom he does not wish happiness, long life, and deserved success, not one in whose path he would cast an obstacle nor to whom he would not do a service if in his power. All this he can feel without being called upon to retain as a friend one who has proved unworthy beyond question by dishonorable conduct. For such there should be nothing felt but pity, infinite pity. And pity for your own loss also, for true friendship can only feed and grow upon the virtues- " When love begins to sicken and decay It useth an enforced ceremony." The former geniality may be gone forever, but each can wish the other nothing but happiness. None of my friends hailed my retirement from business more warmly than Mark Twain. I received from him the following note, at a time when the newspapers were talking much about my wealth. MARK TWAIN 295 Dear Sir and Friend: You seem to be prosperous these days. Could you lend an admirer a dollar and a half to buy a hymn-book with? God will bless you if you do; I feel it, I know it. So will I. If there should be other applications this one not to count. Yours Mark P.S. Don't send the hymn-book, send the money. I want to make the selection myself, M, When he was lying ill in New York I went to see him frequently, and we had great times together, for even lying in bed he was as bright as ever. One call was to say good-bye, before my sailing for Scotland. The Pension Fund for University Professors was announced in New York soon after I sailed. A letter about it from Mark, addressed to "Saint Andrew," reached me in Scotland, from which I quote the following: You can take my halo. If you had told me what you had done when at my bedside you would have got it there and then. It is pure tin and paid "the duty" when it came down. Those intimate with Mr. Clemens (Mark Twain) will certify that he was one of the charmers. Joe Jeffer- son is the only man who can be conceded his twin brother in manner and speech, their charm being of the same kind. "Uncle Remus" (Joel Chandler Harris) is another who has charm, and so has George W. Cable; yes, and Josh Billings also had it. Such people brighten the lives of their friends, regardless of themselves. They make sunshine wherever they go. In Rip Van Winkle's words: "All pretty much alike, dem fellers." Every one of them is unselfish and warm of heart. The public only knows one side of Mr. Clemens — the amusing part. Little does it suspect that he was a 296 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE man of strong convictions upon political and social ques- tions and a moralist of no mean order. For instance, upoui the capture of Aguinaldo by deception, his pen was the most trenchant of all. Junius was weak in comparison. The gathering to celebrate his seventieth birthday was unique. The literary element was there in force, but Mark had not forgotten to ask to have placed near him the multi-millionaire, Mr. H. H, Rogers, one who had been his friend in need. Just like Mark. Without excep- tion, the leading literary men dwelt in their speeches exclusively upon the guest's literary work. When my turn came, I referred to this and asked them to note that what our friend had done as a man would live as long as what he had written. Sir Walter Scott and he were linked indissolubly together. Our friend, like Scott, was ruined by the mistakes of partners, who had become hopelessly bankrupt. Two courses lay before him. One the smooth, easy, and short way — the legal path. Sur- render all your property, go through bankruptcy, and start afresh. This was all he owed to creditors. The other path, long, thorny, and dreary, a life struggle, with everything sacrificed. There lay the two paths and this was his decision: "Not what I owe to my creditors, but what I owe to myself is the issue." There are times in most men's lives that test whether they be dross or pure gold. It is the decision made in the crisis which proves the man. Our friend entered the fiery furnace a man and emerged a hero. He paid his debts to the utmost farthing by lecturing around the world. "An amusing cuss, Mark Twain," is all very well as a popular verdict, but what of Mr. Clemens the man and the hero, for he is both and in the front rank, too, with Sir Walter. MARK TWAIN 297 He had a heroine in his wife. She it was who sustained him and traveled the world round with him as his guard- ian angel, and enabled him to conquer as Sir Walter did. This he never failed to tell to his intimates. Never in my life did three words leave so keen a pang as those uttered upon my first call after Mrs. Clemens passed away. I fortunately found him alone and while my hand was still in his, and before one word had been spoken by either, there came from him, with a stronger pressure of my hand, these words: "A ruined home, a ruined home." The silence was unbroken. I write this years after, but still I hear the words again and my heart responds. One mercy, denied to our forefathers, comes to us of to-day. If the Judge within give us a verdict of acquittal as having lived this life well, we have no other Judge to fear. "To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." Eternal punishment, because of a few years' short- comings here on earth, would be the reverse of Godlike. Satan himself would recoil from it. CHAPTER XXII MATTHEW ARNOLD AND OTHERS THE most charming man, John Morley and I agree, that we ever knew was Matthew Arnold. He had, indeed, " a charm " — that is the only word which ex- presses the effect of his presence and his conversation. Even his look and grave silences charmed. He coached with us in 1880, 1 think, through Southern England — William Black and Edwin A. Abbey being of the party. Approaching a pretty village he asked me if the coach might stop there a few minutes. He ex- plained that this was the resting-place of his godfather, Bishop Keble, and he should like to visit his grave. He continued : "Ah, dear, dear Keble! I caused him much sorrow by my views upon theological subjects, which caused me sorrow also, but notwithstanding he was deeply grieved, dear friend as he was, he traveled to Oxford and voted for me for Professor of English Poetry." We walked to the quiet churchyard together. Matthew Arnold in silent thought at the grave of Keble made upon me a lasting impression. Later the subject of his theological views was referred to. He said they had caused sorrow to his best friends. "Mr. Gladstone once gave expression to his deep disappointment, or to something like displeasure, say- ing I ought to have been a bishop. No doubt my writ- ings prevented my promotion, as well as grieved my friends, but I could not help it. I had to express my views." I remember well the sadness of tone with which these Photograph from Underwood ic Underwood, N.Y. MATTHEW ARNOLD MATTHEW ARNOLD 299 last words were spoken, and how very slowly. They came as from the deep. He had his message to deliver. Stead- ily has the age advanced to receive it. His teachings pass almost uncensured to-day. If ever there was a seriously religious man it was Matthew Arnold. No irreverent word ever escaped his lips. In this he and Gladstone were equally above reproach, and yet he had in one short sentence slain the supernatural. "The case against miracles is closed. They do not happen." He and his daughter, now Mrs. Whitridge, were our guests when in New York in 1883, and also at our moun- tain home in the AUeghanies, so that I saw a great deal, but not enough, of him. My mother and myself drove him to the hall upon his first public appearance in New York. Never was there a finer audience gathered. The lecture was not a success, owing solely to his inability to speak well in public. He was not heard. When we returned home his first words were: " Well, what have you all to say? Tell me! Will I do as a lecturer?" I was so keenly interested in his success that I did not hesitate to tell him it would never do for him to go on unless he fitted himself for public speaking. He must get an elocutionist to give him lessons upon two or three points. I urged this so strongly that he consented to do so. After we all had our say, he turned to my mother, saying: "Now, dear Mrs. Carnegie, they have all given me their opinions, but I wish to know what you have to say about my first night as a lecturer in America." "Too ministerial, Mr. Arnold, too ministerial," was the reply slowly and softly delivered. And to the last Mr. Arnold would occasionally refer to that, saying he felt it hit the nail on the head. When he returned to New 300 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE York from his Western tour, lie had so much improved that his voice completely filled the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He had taken a few lessons from a professor of elocution in Boston, as advised, and all went well thereafter. He expressed a desire to hear the noted preacher, Mr. Beecher; and we started for Brooklyn one Sunday morning. Mr. Beecher had been apprized of our coming so that after the services he might remain to meet Mr. Arnold. When I presented Mr. Arnold he was greeted warmly. Mr. Beecher expressed his delight at meeting one in the flesh whom he had long known so well in the spirit, and, grasping his hand, he said: "There is nothing you have written, Mr. Arnold, which I have not carefully read at least once and a great deal many times, and always with profit, always with profit!" "Ah, then, I fear, Mr. Beecher," replied Arnold, "you may have found some references to yourself which would better have been omitted." "Oh, no, no, those did me the most good of all," said the smiling Beecher, and they both laughed. Mr. Beecher was never at a loss. After presenting Matthew Arnold to him, I had the pleasure of present- ing the daughter of Colonel IngersoU, saying, as I did so: "Mr. Beecher, this is the first time Miss IngersoU has ever been in a Christian church." He held out both hands and grasped hers, and look- ing straight at her and speaking slowly, said : "Well, well, you are the most beautiful heathen I ever saw." Those who remember Miss IngersoU in her youth will not differ greatly with Mr. Beecher. Then: "How's your father. Miss IngersoU? I hope he 'swell HENRY WARD BEECHER 301 Many a time he and I have stood together on the plat- form, and was n't it lucky for me we were on the same side!" Beecher was, indeed, a great, broad, generous man, who absorbed what was good wherever found. Spen- cer's philosophy, Arnold's insight tempered with sound sense, Ingersoll's staunch support of high political ends were powers for good in the Republic. Mr. Beecher was great enough to appreciate and hail as helpful friends all of these men. Arnold visited us in Scotland in 1887, and talking one day of sport he said he did not shoot, he could not kill anything that had wings and could soar in the clear blue sky; but, he added, he could not give up fishing — "the accessories are so delightful." He told of his happi- ness when a certain duke gave him a day's fishing twice or three times a year. I forget who the kind duke was, but there was something unsavory about him and men- tion was made of this. He was asked how he came to be upon intimate terms with such a man. "Ah!" he said, "a duke is always a personage with us, always a personage, independent of brains or conduct. We are all snobs. Hundreds of years have made us so, all snobs. We can't help it. It is in the blood." This was smilingly said, and I take it he made some mental reservations. He was no snob himself, but one who naturally "smiled at the claims of long descent," for generally the " descent ' ' cannot be questioned. He was interested, however, in men of rank and wealth, and I remember when in New York he wished particularly to meet Mr. Vanderbilt. I ventured to say he would not find him different from other men. "No, but it is something to know the richest man in the world," he replied. "Certainly the man who makes 302 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE his own wealth eclipses those who inherit rank from others." t I asked him one day why he had never written criti- cally upon Shakespeare and assigned him his place upon the throne among the poets. He said that thoughts of doing so had arisen, but reflection always satisfied him that he was incompetent to write upon, much less to criticize, Shakespeare. He believed it could not be suc- cessfully done. Shakespeare was above all, could be measured by no rules of criticism; and much as he should have liked to dwell upon his transcendent genius, he had always recoiled from touching the subject. I said that I was prepared for this, after his tribute which stands to-day unequaled, and I recalled his own lines from his sonnet: SHAKESPEARE Others abide our question. Thou art free. We ask and ask — Thou smilest and art still. Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty, Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea. Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place, Spares but the cloudy border of his base To the foil'd searching of mortality; And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know, Self-school'd, self-scann'd, self-honour'd, self-secure, Didst stand on earth unguess'd at — Better so ! All pains the immortal spirit must endure. All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow. Find their sole voice in that victorious brow. I knew Mr. Shaw (Josh Billings) and wished Mr. Ar- nold, the apostle of sweetness and light, to meet that JOSH BILLINGS 303 rough diamond — rough, but still a diamond. Fortu- nately one morning Josh came to see me in the Windsor Hotel, where we were then living, and referred to our guest, expressing his admiration for him. I replied: "You are going to dine with him to-night. The ladies are going out and Arnold and myself are to dine alone; you complete the trinity." To this he demurred, being a modest man, but I was inexorable. No excuse would be taken; he must come to oblige me. He did. I sat between them at dinner and enjoyed this meeting of extremes. Mr. Arnold became deeply interested in Mr. Shaw's way of putting things and liked his Western anecdotes, laughing more heartily than I had ever seen him do before. One incident after another was told from the experience of the lecturer, for Mr. Shaw had lectured for fifteen years in every place of ten thousand inhabitants or more in the United States. Mr. Arnold was desirous of hearing how the lectm^er held his audiences. "Well," he said, "you mustn't keep them laughing too long, or they will think you are laughing at them. After giving the audience amusement you must become earnest and play the serious role. For instance, 'There -are two things in this life for which no man is ever prepared. Who will tell me what these are?' Finally some one cries out 'Death.' 'Well, who gives me the other ,^' Many re- spond — wealth, happiness, strength, marriage, taxes. At last Josh begins, solemnly: 'None of you has given the second. There are two things on earth for which no man is ever prepared, and them's twins,' and the house shakes." Mr. Arnold did also. "Do you keep on inventing new stories?" was asked. "Yes, always. You can't lecture year after year unless 304 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE you find new stories, and sometimes these fail to crack. I had one nut which I felt sure would crack and bring down the house, but try as I would it never did itself justice, all because I could not find the indispensable word, just one word. I was sitting before a roaring wood fire one night up in Michigan when the word came to me which I knew would crack like a whip. I tried it on the boys and it did. It lasted longer than any one word I used. I began: *This is a highly critical age. People won't believe until they fully understand. Now there 's Jonah and the whale. They want to know all about it, and it's my opinion that neither Jonah nor the whale fully understood it. And then they ask what Jonah was doing in the whale's — the whale's society.' " Mr. Shaw was walking down Broadway one day when accosted by a real Westerner, who said: "I think you are Josh BilHngs." "Well, sometimes I am called that." "I have five thousand dollars for you right here in my pocket-book." "Here's Delmonico's, come in and tell me all about it." After seating themselves, the stranger said he was part owner in a gold mine in California, and explained that there had been a dispute about its ownership and that the conference of partners broke up in quarreling. The stranger said he had left, threatening he would take the bull by the horns and begin legal proceedings. "The next morning I went to the meeting and told them I had turned over Josh Billings's almanac that morning and the lesson for the day was: 'When you take the bull by the horns, take him by the tail; you can get a better hold and let go when you're a mind to.' We laughed and laughed and felt that was good sense. We ARNOLD AND SHAW 305 took your advice, settled, and parted good friends. Some one moved that five thousand dollars be given Josh, and as I was coming East they appointed me treasurer and I promised to hand it over. There it is." The evening ended by Mr. Arnold saying: "Well, Mr. Shaw, if ever you come to lecture in England, I shall be glad to welcome and introduce you to your, first audience. Any foolish man called a lord could do you more good than I by introducing you, but I should so much like to do it." Imagine Matthew Arnold, the apostle of sweetness and light, introducing Josh Billings, the foremost of jesters, to a select London audience. In after years he never failed to ask after "our leo- nine friend, Mr. Shaw." Meeting Josh at the Windsor one morning after the notable dinner I sat down with him in the rotunda and be pulled out a small memorandum book, saying as he did so : "Where's Arnold? I wonder what he would say to this. The 'Century' gives me $100 a week, I agreeing to send them any trifle that occurs to me. I try to give it something. Here 's this from Uncle Zekiel, my weekly budget: 'Of course the critic is a greater man than the author. Any fellow who can point out the mistakes another fellow has made is a darned sight smarter fellow than the fellow who made them.' " I told Mr. Arnold a Chicago story, or rather a story about Chicago. A society lady of Boston visiting her schoolmate friend in Chicago, who was about to be married, was overwhelmed with attention. Asked by a noted citizen one evening what had charmed her most in Chicago, she graciously replied: "What surprises me most is n't the bustle of business, 306 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE or your remarkable development materially, or your grand residences; it is the degree of culture and refine- ment I find here." The response promptly came: "Oh, we are just dizzy on cult out here, you bet." Mr. Arnold was not prepared to enjoy Chicago, which had impressed him as the headquarters of Philistinism. He was, however, surprised and gratified at meeting with so much "culture and refinement." Before he started he was curious to know what he should find most interest- ing, I laughingly said that he would probably first be taken to see the most wonderful sight there, which was said to be the slaughter houses, with new machines so perfected that the hog driven in at one end came out hams at the other before its squeal was. out of one's ears. Then after a pause he asked reflectively: "But why should one go to slaughter houses, why should one hear hogs squeal?" I could give no reason, so the matter rested. Mr. Arnold's Old Testament favorite was certainly Isaiah : at least his frequent quotations from that great poet, as he called him, led one to this conclusion. I found in my tour around the world that the sacred books of other religions had been stripped of the dross that had necessarily accumulated around their legends. I remem- bered Mr. Arnold saying that the Scriptures should be so dealt with. The gems from Confucius and others which delight the world have been selected with much care and appear as "collects." The disciple has not the objec- tionable accretions of the ignorant past presented to him. The more one thinks over the matter, the stronger one's opinion becomes that the Christian will have to follow the Eastern example and winnow the wheat from the chaff — worse than chaff, sometimes the positively pernicious and even poisonous refuse. Burns, in the THE SCRIPTURES 307 "Cotter's Saturday Night/* pictures the good man taking down the big Bible for the evening service: " He wales a portion with judicious care." We should have those portions selected and use the se- lections only. In this, and much besides, the man whom I am so thankful for having known and am so favored as to call friend, has proved the true teacher in advance of his age, the greatest poetic teacher in the domain of " the future and its viewless things." I took Arnold down from our summer home at Cres- son in the AUeghanies to see black, smoky Pittsburgh. In the path from the Edgar Thomson Steel Works to the railway station there are two flights of steps to the bridge across the railway, the second rather steep. When we had ascended about three quarters of it he suddenly stopped to gain breath. Leaning upon the rail and put- ting his hand upon his heart, he said to me : "Ah, this will some day do for me, as it did for my father." I did not know then of the weakness of his heart, but I never forgot this incident, and when not long after the sad news came of his sudden death, after exertion in England endeavoring to evade an obstacle, it came back to me with a great pang that our friend had foretold his fate. Our loss was great. To no man I have known could Burns's epitaph upon Tam Samson be more appropri- ately applied : "Tam Samson's weel-wom clay here lies: Ye canting zealots, spare him ! If honest worth in heaven rise. Ye '11 mend or ye win near him," The name of a dear man comes to me just here, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, of Boston, everybody's doctor. 308 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE whose only ailment toward the end was being eighty years of age. He was a boy to the last. When Matthew Arnold died a few friends could not resist taking steps toward a suitable memorial to his memory. These friends quietly provided the necessary sum, as no public appeal could be thought of. No one could be permitted to contribute to such a fund except such as had a right to the privilege, for privilege it was felt to be. Double, triple the sum could readily have been obtained. I had the great satis- faction of being permitted to join the select few and to give the matter a little attention upon our side of the Atlantic. Of course I never thought of mentioning the matter to dear Dr. Holmes — not that he was not one of the elect, but that no author or professional man should be asked to contribute money to funds which, with rare exceptions, are best employed when used for themselves. One morning, however, I received a note from the doc- tor, saying that it had been whispered to him that there was such a movement on foot, and that I had been mentioned in connection with it, and if he were judged worthy to have his name upon the roll of honor, he would be gratified. Since he had heard of it he could not rest without writing to me, and he should like to hear in reply. That he was thought worthy goes without say- ing. This is the kind of memorial any man might wish. I venture to say that there was not one who contributed to it who was not grateful to the kind fates for giving him the opportunity. CHAPTER XXIII BRITISH POLITICAL LEADERS IN London, Lord Rosebery, then in Gladstone's Cab- inet and arising statesman, was good enough to invite me to dine with him to meet Mr. Gladstone, and I am indebted to him for meeting the world's first citizen. This was, I think, in 1885, for my "Triumphant Democ- racy" ^ appeared in 1886, and I remember giving Mr. Gladstone, upon that occasion, some startling figures which I had prepared for it. I never did what I thought right in a social matter with greater self-denial, than when later the first invi- tation came from Mr. Gladstone to dine with him. I was engaged to dine elsewhere and sorely tempted to plead that an invitation from the real ruler of Great Britain should be considered as much of a command as that of the ornamental dignitary. But I kept my engagement and missed the man I most wished to meet. The privilege came later, fortunately, when subsequent visits to him at Hawarden were made. Lord Rosebery opened the first library I ever gave, that of Dunfermline, and he has recently (1905) opened the latest given by me — one away over in Stornoway. When he last visited New York I drove him along the Riverside Drive, and he declared that no city in the world possessed such an attraction. He was a man of brilliant parts, but his resolutions were "Sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought/* ^ Triumphant Democracy, or Fifty Years' March of the Republic, London and New York, 1886. 310 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE Had he been born to labor and entered tbe House of Commons in youth, instead of being dropped without effort into the gilded upper chamber, he might have ac- quired in the rough-and-tumble of life the tougher skin, for he was highly sensitive and lacked tenacity of pur- pose essential to command in political life. He was a charming speaker — a eulogist with the lightest touch and the most graceful style upon certain themes of any speaker of his day. [Since these lines were written he has become, perhaps, the foremost eulogist of our race. He has achieved a high place. All honor to him !] One morning I called by appointment upon him. After greetings he took up an envelope which I saw as I entered had been carefully laid on his desk, and handed it to me, saying: "I wish you to dismiss your secretary." "That is a big order. Your Lordship. He is indispen- sable, and a Scotsman," I replied. "What is the matter with him?" "This is n't your handwriting; it is his. What do you think of a man who spells Rosebery with two r'5.^" I said if I were sensitive on that point life would not be endurable for me. "I receive many letters daily when at home and I am sure that twenty to thirty per cent of them mis-spell my name, ranging from *Karnaghie' to 'Carnagay.'" But he was in earnest. Just such little matters gave him great annoyance. Men of action should learn to laugh at and enjoy these small things, or they themselves may become "small." A charming personality withal, but shy, sensitive, capricious, and reserved, qualities which a few years in the Commons would probably have modified. When he was, as a Liberal, surprising the House of LORD ROSEBERY 311 Lords and creating some stir, I ventured to let off a little of my own democracy upon him. "Stand for Parliament boldly. Throw off your heredi- tary rank, declaring you scorn to accept a privilege which is not the right of every citizen. Thus make yourself the real leader of the people, which you never can be while a peer. You are young, brilliant, captivating, with the gift of charming speech. No question of your being Prime Minister if you take the plunge." To my surprise, although apparently interested, he said very quietly: "But the House of Commons could n't admit me as a peer." "That's what I should hope. If I were in your place, and rejected, I would stand again for the next vacancy and force the issue. Insist that one having renounced his hereditary privileges becomes elevated to citizenship and is eligible for any position to which he is elected. Victory is certain. That's playing the part of a Cromwell. De- mocracy worships a precedent-breaker or a precedent- maker." We dropped the subject. Telling Morley of this after- ward, I shall never forget his comment: "My friend, Cromwell doesn't reside at Number 38 Berkeley Square." Slowly, solemnly spoken, but con- clusive. Fine fellow, Rosebery, only he was handicapped by being born a peer. On the other hand, Morley, rising from the ranks, his father a surgeon hard-pressed to keep his son at college, is still "Honest John," unaffected in the slightest degree by the so-called elevation to the peerage and the Legion of Honor, both given for merit. The same with "Bob" Reid, M.P., who became Earl Loreburn and Lord High Chancellor, Lord Haldane, his 312 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE successor as Chancellor; Asquith, Prime Minister, Lloyd George, and others. Not even the rulers of our Republic to-day are more democratic or more thorough men of the people. When the world's foremost citizen passed away, the question was, Who is to succeed Gladstone; who can suc- ceed him? The younger members of the Cabinet agreed to leave the decision to Morley. Harcourt or Campbell- Bannerman? There was only one impediment in the path of the former, but that was fatal — inability to control his temper. The issue had unfortunately aroused him to such outbursts as really unfitted him for leadership, and so the man of calm, sober, unclouded judgment was considered indispensable. I was warmly attached to Harcourt, who in turn was a devoted admirer of our Republic, as became the hus- band of Motley's daughter. Our census and our printed reports, which I took care that he should receive, in- terested him deeply. Of course, the elevation of the representative of my native town of Dunfermline (Campbell-Bannerman) ^ gave me unalloyed pleasure, the more so since in returning thanks from the Town House to the people assembled he used these words: "I owe my election to my Chairman, Bailie Morrison." The Bailie, Dunfermline's leading radical, was my uncle. We were radical families in those days and are so still, both Carnegies and Morrisons, and intense admir- ers of the Great Republic, like that one who extolled Washington and his colleagues as "men who knew and dared proclaim the royalty of man" — a proclamation worth while. There is nothing more certain than that the English-speaking race in orderly, lawful develop- ^ Campbell-Bannerman was chosen leader of the* Liberal Party in December, 1898. THE EARL OF ELGIN S13 ment will soon establish the golden rule of citizenship through evolution, never revolution: "The rank is but the guinea's stamp. The man's the gowd for a' that." This feeling already prevails in all the British colonies. The dear old Motherland hen has ducks for chickens which give her much anxiety breasting the waves, while she, alarmed, screams wildly from the shore; but she will learn to swim also by and by. In the autumn of 1905 Mrs. Carnegie and I attended the ceremony of giving the Freedom of Dunfermline to our friend. Dr. John Ross, chairman of the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust, foremost and most zealous worker for the good of the town. Provost Macbeth in his speech informed the audience that the honor was seldom con- ferred, that there were only three living burgesses — one their member of Parliament, H. Campbell-Banner- man, then Prime Minister; the Earl of Elgin of Dun- fermline, ex- Viceroy of India, then Colonial Secretary; and the third myself. This seemed great company for me, so entirely out of the running was I as regards oflScial station. The Earl of Elgin is the descendant of The Bruce. Their family vault is in Dunfermline Abbey, where his great ancestor lies under the Abbey bell. It has been noted how Secretary Stanton selected General Grant as the one man in the party who could not possibly be the commander. One would be very apt to make a similar mistake about the Earl. When the Scottish Universities were to be reformed the Earl was second on the com- mittee. When the Conservative Government formed its Committee upon the Boer War, the Earl, a Liberal, was appointed chairman. When the decision of the House 314 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE of Lords brought dire confusion upon the United Free Church of Scotland, Lord Elgin was called upon as the Chairman of Committee to settle the matter. Parlia- ment embodied his report in a bill, and again he was placed at the head to apply it. When trustees for the Universities of Scotland Fund were to be selected, I told Prime Minister Balfour I thought the Earl of Elgin as a Dunfermline magnate could be induced to take the chairmanship. He said I could not get a better man in Great Britain. So it has proved. John Morley said to me one day afterwards, but before he had, as a member of the Dunfermline Trust, experience of the chairman: "I used to think Elgin about the most problematical public man in high position I had ever met, but I now know him one of the ablest. Deeds, not words; judg- ment, not talk." Such the descendant of The Bruce to-day, the em- bodiment of modest worth and wisdom combined. Once started upon a Freedom-getting career, there seemed no end to these honors.* With headquarters in London in 1906, 1 received six Freedoms in six consecu- tive days, and two the week following, going out by morning train and returning in the evening. It might be thought that the ceremony would become monotonous, but this was not so, the conditions being different in each case. I met remarkable men in the mayors and provosts and the leading citizens connected with municipal affairs, and each community had its own individual stamp and its problems, successes, and failures. There was generally one greatly desired improvement over- shadowing all other questions engrossing the attention ^ Mr. Carnegie had received no less than fifty-four Freedoms of cities in Great Britain and Ireland. This was a record — Mr. Gladstone coming second with seventeen. BRITISH MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 315 of the people. Each was a little world in itself. The City- Council is a Cabinet in miniature and the Mayor the Prime Minister. Domestic politics keep the people agog. Foreign relations are not wanting. There are inter-city questions with neighboring communities, joint water or gas or electrical undertakings of mighty import, conferences deciding for or against alliances or separa- tions. In no department is the contrast greater between the old world and the new than in municipal government. In the former the families reside for generations in the place of birth with increasing devotion to the town and all its surroundings. A father achieving the mayorship stimulates the son to aspire to it. That invaluable asset, city pride, is created, culminating in romantic attach- ment to native places. Councilorships are sought that each in his day and generation may be of some service to the town. To the best citizens this is a creditable ob- ject of ambition. Few, indeed, look beyond it — mem- bership in Parliament being practically reserved for men of fortune, involving as it does residence in London without compensation. This latter, however, is soon to be changed and Britain follow the universal practice of paying legislators for service rendered. [In 1908; since realized; four hundred pounds is now paid.] After this she will probably follow the rest of the world by having Parliament meet in the daytime, its members fresh and ready for the day's work, instead of giving all day to professional work and then with exhausted brains undertaking the work of governing the country after dinner. Cavendish, the authority on whist, being asked if a man could possibly finesse a knave, second round, third player, replied, after reflect- ing, "Yes, he might after dinner. ^^ 316 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE The best people are on the councils of British towns, incorruptible, public-spirited men, proud of and devoted to their homes. In the United States progress is being made in this direction, but we are here still far behind Britain. Nevertheless, people tend to settle permanently in places as the country becomes thickly populated. We shall develop the local patriot who is anxious to leave the place of his birth a little better than he found it. It is only one generation since the provostship of Scotch towns was generally reserved for one of the local landlords belonging to the upper classes. That "the Briton dearly loves a lord" is still true, but the love is rapidly disappearing. In Eastbourne, Kings-Lynn, Salisbury, Ilkeston, and many other ancient towns, I found the mayor had risen from the ranks, and had generally worked with his hands. The majority of the council were also of this type. All gave their time gratuitously. It was a source of much pleasure to me to know the provosts and leaders in council of so many towns in Scotland and England, not forgetting Ireland where my Freedom tour was equally attractive. Nothing could excel the reception accorded me in Cork, Waterford, and Limerick. It was surprising to see the welcome on flags expressed in the same Gaelic words, Cead mille failthe (meaning "a hundred thou- sand welcomes") as used by the tenants of Skibo. Nothing could have given me such insight into local public life and patriotism in Britain as Freedom-taking, which otherwise might have become irksome. I felt myself so much at home among the city chiefs that the embarrassment of flags and crowds and people at the windows along our route was easily met as part of the duty of the day, and even the address of the chief mag- istrate usually furnished new phases of life upon which BRITISH MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 317 I could dwell. The lady mayoresses were delightful in all their pride and glory. My conclusion is that the United Kingdom is better served by the leading citizens of her municipalities, elected by popular vote, than any other country far and away can possibly be; and that all is sound to the core in that important branch of government. Parlia- ment itself could readily be constituted of a delegation of members from the town councils without impairing its eflSciency. Perhaps when the suflScient payment of members is established, many of these will be found at Westminster and that to the advantage of the Kingdom. CHAPTER XXIV GLADSTONE AND MORLEY MR. GLADSTONE paid my "American Four-in- Hand in Britain" quite a compliment when Mrs. Carnegie and I were his guests at Hawarden in April, 1892. He suggested one day that I should spend the morning with him in his new library, while he arranged his books (which no one except himself was ever allowed to touch), and we could converse. In prowling about the shelves I found a unique volume and called out to my host, then on top of a library ladder far from me han- dling heavy volumes: "Mr. Gladstone, I find here a book 'Dunfermline Worthies,' by a friend of my father's, I knew some of the worthies when a child." "Yes," he replied, "and if you will pass your hand three or four books to the left I think you will find another book by a Dunfermline man." I did so and saw my book " An American Four-in- Hand in Britain." Ere I had done so, however, I heard that organ voice orating in full swing from the top of the ladder: "What Mecca is to the Mohammedan, Benares to the Hindoo, Jerusalem to the Christian, all that Dun- fermline is to me." My ears heard the voice some moments before my brain realized that these were my own words called forth by the first glimpse caught of Dunfermline as we approached it from the south. ^ ^ The whole paragraph is as follows: "How beautiful is Dunfermline seen from the Ferry Hills, its grand old Abbey towering over all, seeming to hallow the city, and to lend a charm and dignity to the lowliest tenement ! Photograph from Underwood fif Underwood, xV.r. WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE A VISIT TO GLADSTONE 319 "How on earth did you come to get this book?" I asked. "I had not the honor of knowing you when it was written and could not have sent you a copy." "No!" he rephed, "I had not then the pleasure of your acquaintance, but some one, I think Rosebery, told me of the book and I sent for it and read it with delight. That tribute to Dunfermline struck me as so extraordinary it lingered with me. I could never forget it." This incident occurred eight years after the "Ameri- can Four-in-Hand " was written, and adds another to the many proofs of Mr. Gladstone's wonderful memory. Perhaps as a vain author I may be pardoned for confess- ing my grateful appreciation of his no less wonderful judgment. The politician who figures publicly as "reader of the lesson" on Sundays, is apt to be regarded suspiciously. I confess that until I had known Mr. Gladstone well, I had found the thought arising now and then that the wary old gentleman might feel at least that these ap- pearances cost him no votes. But all this vanished as I learned his true character. He was devout and sincere if ever man was. Yes, even when he records in his diary (referred to by Morley in his "Life of Gladstone") that, while addressing the House of Commons on the budget for several hours with great acceptance, he was "con- scious of being sustained by the Divine Power above." Try as one may, who can deny that to one of such abounding faith this belief in the support of the Un- known Power must really have proved a sustaining Nor is there in all broad Scotland, nor in many places elsewhere that I know of, a more varied and delightful view than that obtained from the Park upon a fine day. What Benares is to the Hindoo, Mecca to the Mohammedan, Jerusalem to the Christian, all that Dunfermline is to me." {An American Four-in-Hand in Britain, p. 282.) 320 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE influence, although it may shock others to think that any mortal being could be so bold as to imagine that the Creator of the Universe would concern himself about Mr. Gladstone's budget, prepared for a little speck of this little speck of earth? It seems almost sac- rilegious, yet to Mr. Gladstone we know it was the re- verse — a religious belief such as has no doubt often enabled men to accomplish wonders as direct agents of God and doing His work. On the night of the Queen's Jubilee in June, 1887, Mr. Blaine and I were to dine at Lord Wolverton's in Piccadilly, to meet Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone — Mr. Blaine's first introduction to him. We started in a cab from the Metropole Hotel in good time, but the crowds were so dense that the cab had to be abandoned in the middle of St. James's Street. Reaching the pavement, Mr. Blaine following, I found a policeman and explained to him who my companion was, where we were going, and asked him if he could not undertake to get us there. He did so, pushing his way through the masses with all the authority of his office and we followed. But it was nine o'clock before we reached Lord Wolverton's. We separated after eleven. Mr. Gladstone explained that he and Mrs. Glad- stone had been able to reach the house by coming through Hyde Park and around the back way. They expected to get back to their residence, then in Carlton Ter- race, in the same way- Mr. Blaine and I thought we should enjoy the streets and take our chances of getting back to the hotel by pushing through the crowds. We were doing this successfully and were moving slowly with the current past the Reform Club when I heard a word or two spoken by a voice close to the building on my right. I said to Mr. Blaine: GLADSTONE AND BLAINE S21 "That is Mr. Gladstone's voice." He said: "It is impossible. We have just left him returning to his residence." "I don't care; I recognize voices better than faces, and I am sure that is Gladstone's." Finally I prevailed upon him to return a few steps. We got close to the side of the house and moved back. I came to a muffled figure and whispered: "What does 'Gravity' out of its bed at midnight?" Mr. Gladstone was discovered. I told him I recog- nized his voice whispering to his companion. "And so," I said, "the real ruler comes out to see the illuminations prepared for the nominal ruler!" He replied: "Young man, I think it is time you were in bed." We remained a few minutes with him, he being care- ful not to remove from his head and face the cloak that covered them. It was then past midnight and he was eighty, but, boylike, after he got Mrs. Gladstone safely home he had determined to see the show. The conversation at the dinner between Mr. Glad- stone and Mr. Blaine turned upon the differences in Parliamentary procedure between Britain and America. During the evening Mr. Gladstone cross-examined Mr. Blaine very thoroughly upon the mode of procedure of the House of Representatives of which Mr. Blaine had been the Speaker. I saw the "previous question," and summary rules with us for restricting needless de- bate made a deep impression upon Mr. Gladstone. At intervals the conversation took a wider range. Mr. Gladstone was interested in more subjects than perhaps any other man in Britain. When I was last with him in Scotland, at Mr. Armistead's, his mind was as clear and vigorous as ever, his interest in affairs 322 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE equally strong. The topic which then interested him most, and about which he plied me with questions, was the tall steel buildings in our country, of which he had been reading. What puzzled him was how it could be that the masonry of a fifth floor or sixth story was often finished before the third or fourth. This I ex- plained, much to his satisfaction. In getting to the bot- tom of things he was indefatigable. Mr. Morley (although a lord he still remains as an author plain John Morley) became one of our British friends quite early as editor of the "Fortnightly Re- view," which published my first contribution to a Brit- ish periodical.^ The friendship has widened and deepened in our old age until we mutually confess we are very close friends to each other. ^ We usually exchange short notes (sometimes long ones) on Sunday afternoons as the spirit moves us. We are not alike; far from it. We are drawn together because opposites are mutually beneficial to each other. I am optimistic; all my ducks being swans. He is pessimistic, looking out soberly, even darkly, upon the real dangers ahead, and some- times imagining vain things. He is inclined to see "an ^ An American Four-in-Hand in Britain. 2 " Mr. Carnegie had proved his originality, fullness of mind, and bold strength of character, as much or more in the distribution of wealth as he had shown skill and foresight in its acquisition. We had become known to one another more than twenty years before through Matthew Arnold. His extraordinary freshness of spirit easily carried Arnold, Herbert Spencer, myself, and afterwards many others, high over an occasional crudity or haste ,in judgment such as befalls the best of us in ardent hours. People with a genius for picking up pins made as much as they liked of this : it was wiser to do justice to bis spacious feel for the great object^ of the world — for knowledge and its spread, invention, light, improvement of social re- lations, equal chances to the talents, the passion for peace. These are glorious things; a touch of exaggeration in expression is easy to set right. ... A man of high and wide and well-earned mark in his generation." (John, Viscount Morley, in Recollections, vol. n, pp. 110, 112. New York, 1919.) HIHPiiPf^^^l ^^^^^^^^HE|^'^'*§'i^'fM^^^^^^^| ^^^^^^^^^KK^^zi^fidUMl^^^^^^^H ^^H^o'^'lHH^^^^I ^^^^^^^"^- ■— « ^M^^gv^^^B^^^^M Wf h^qhI^^^^I m ' "'^^H^^^^^^^^l^^^^l l^t ir^'^^H ^^f -1^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Hl ^^^^^^B ^^^^HE ^1 ^i^^^^^^/^^i^^n ^^^^H^^^^^^H HSi^'yjH Br iH.' M^^^^^m' ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 ^H^^'^; j[^H |Bt4i:jfl ^^I^^^^^H H^^HH H^pVi^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^^^^K>- '^H 1 photograph from Underwood if Underwood, N.Y. VISCOUNT MORLEY OF BLACKBURN MORLEY'S PESSIMISM 323 officer in every bush." The world seems bright to me, and earth is often a real heaven — so happy I am and so thankful to the kind fates. Morley is seldom if ever wild about anything; his judgment is always deliberate and his eyes are ever seeing the spots on the sun. I told him the story of the pessimist whom nothing ever pleased, and the optimist whom nothing ever dis- pleased, being congratulated by the angels upon their having obtained entrance to heaven. The pessimist re- plied: "Yes, very good place, but somehow or other this halo don't fit my head exactly." The optimist retorted by telling the story of a man being carried down to purgatory and the Devil laying his victim up against a bank while he got a drink at a spring — temperature very high. An old friend ac- costed him: "Well, Jim, how's this? No remedy possible; you're a gone coon sure." The reply came: "Hush, it might be worse." "How 's that, when you are being carried down to the bottomless pit? " "Hush" — pointing to his Satanic Majesty — "he might take a notion to make me carry him," Morley, like myself, was very fond of music and reveled in the morning hour during which the organ was being played at Skibo. He was attracted by the ora- torios as also Arthur Balfour. I remember they got tickets together for an oratorio at the Crystal Palace. Both are sane but philosophic, and not very far apart as philosophers, I understand; but some recent produc- tions of Balfour send him far afield speculatively — a field which Morley never attempts. He keeps his foot on the firm ground and only treads where the way is 324 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE cleared. No danger of his being "lost in the woods" while searching for the path. Morley's most astonishing announcement of recent days was in his address to the editors of the world, as- sembled in London. He informed them in effect that a few lines* from Burns had done more to form and main- tain the present improved political and social condi- tions of the people than all the millions of editorials ever written. This followed a remark that there were now and then a few written or spoken words which were in themselves events; they accomplished what they described. Tom Paine's "Rights of Man" was men- tioned as such. Upon his arrival at Skibo after this address we talked it over. I referred to his tribute to Burns and his six lines, and he replied that he did n't need to tell me what lines these were. "No," I said, "I know them by heart." In a subsequent address, unveiling a statue of Burns in the park at Montrose, I repeated the lines I supposed he referred to, and he approved them. He and I, strange to say, had received the Freedom of Montrose together years before, so we are fellow-freemen. At last I induced Morley to visit us in America, and he made a tour through a great part of our country in 1904. We tried to have him meet distinguished men like himself. One day Senator Elihu Root called at my request and Morley had a long interview with him. After the Senator left Morley remarked to me that he had enjoyed his companion greatly, as being the most satisfactory American statesman he had yet met. He was not mistaken. For sound judgment and wide knowledge of our public affairs Elihu Root has no superior. MORLEY IN AMERICA S25 Morley left us to pay a visit to President Roosevelt at the White House, and spent several fruitful days in company with that extraordinary man. Later, Morley's remark was : "Well, I've seen two wonders in America, Roose- velt and Niagara." That was clever and true to life — a great pair of roaring, tumbling, dashing and splashing wonders, knowing no rest, but both doing their appointed work, such as it is. Morley was the best person to have the Acton library and my gift of it to him came about in this way. When Mr. Gladstone told me the position Lord Acton was in, I agreed, at his suggestion, to buy Acton's library and allow it to remain forTiis use during life. Unfortunately, he did not live long to enjoy it — only a few years — and then I had the library upon my hands. I decided that Morley could make the best use of it for himself and would certainly leave it eventually to the proper insti- tution. I began to tell him that I owned it when he in- terrupted me, saying: "Well, I must tell you I have known this from the day you bought it. Mr. Gladstone could n't keep the secret, being so overjoyed that Lord Acton had it secure for life." Here were he and I in close intimacy, and yet never had one mentioned the situation to the other; but it was a surprise to me that Morley was not surprised. This incident proved the closeness of the bond between Glad- stone and Morley — the only man he could not resist sharing his happiness with regarding earthly affairs. Yet on theological subjects they were far apart where Acton and Gladstone were akin. The year after I gave the fund for the Scottish uni- 326 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE versities Morley went to Balmoral as minister in attend- ance upon His Majesty, and wired that he must see me before we sailed. We met and he informed me His Maj- esty was deeply impressed with the gift to the univer- sities and the others I had made to my native land, and wished him to ascertain whether there was anything in his power to bestow which I would appreciate. I asked: "What did you say.^" Morley replied: "I do not think so." I said: "You are quite right, except that if His Maj- esty would write me a note expressing his satisfaction with what I had done, as he has to you, this would be deeply appreciated and handed down to my descendants as something they would all be proud of." This was done. The King's autograph note I have already transcribed elsewhere in these pages. That Skibo has proved the best of all health resorts for Morley is indeed fortunate, for he comes to us sev- eral times each summer and is one of the family. Lady Morley accompanying him. He is as fond of the yacht as I am myself, and, fortunately again, it is the best medicine for both of us. Morley is, and must always remain, "Honest John." No prevarication with him, no nonsense, firm as a rock upon all questions and in all emergencies; yet always looking around, fore and aft, right and left, with a big heart not often revealed in all its tenderness, but at rare intervals and upon fit oc- casion leaving no doubt of its presence and power. And after that silence. Chamberlain and • Morley were fast friends as ad- vanced radicals, and I often met and conferred with them when in Britain. When the Home Rule issue was raised, much interest was aroused in Britain over our American Federal system, I was appealed to freely and MR. CARNEGIE WITH VISCOUNT MORLEY THE CARNEGIE FAMILY AT SKIBO IRISH HOME RULE 327 delivered public addresses in several cities, explaining and extolling our union, many in one, the freest govern- ment of the parts producing the strongest government of the whole. I sent Mr. Chamberlain Miss Anna L. Dawes's "How We Are Governed," at his request for informa- tion, and had conversations with Morley, Gladstone, and many others upon the subject. I had to write Mr. Morley that I did not approve of the first Home Rule Bill for reasons which I gave. When I met Mr. Gladstone he expressed his regret at this and a full talk ensued. I objected to the exclusion of the Irish members from Parliament as being a practical separation. I said we should never have allowed the Southern States to cease sending representatives to Washington. "What would you have done if they refused?" he asked. "Employed all the resources of civilization — first, stopped the mails," I replied. He paused and repeated: "Stop the mails." He felt the paralysis this involved and was silent, and changed the subject. In answer to questions as to what I should do, I al- ways pointed out that America had many legislatures, but only one Congress. Britain should follow her exam- ple, one Parliament and local legislatures (not parlia- ments) for Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. These should be made states like New York and Virginia. But as Britain has no Supreme Court, as we have, to decide upon laws passed, not only by state legislatures but by Congress, the judicial being the final authority and not the political, Britain should have Parliament as the one national final authority over Irish measures. Therefore, the acts of the local legislature of Ireland 328 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE should lie for three months' continuous session upon the table of the House of Commons, subject to adverse action of the House, but becoming operative unless dis- approved. The provision would be a dead letter unless improper legislation were enacted, but if there were improper legislation, then it would be salutary. The clause, I said, was needed to assure timid people that no secession could arise. Urging this view upon Mr. Morley afterwards, he told me this had been proposed to Parnell, but rejected. Mr. Gladstone might then have said: "Very well, this provision is not needed for myself and others who think with me, but it is needed to enable us to carry Britain with us. I am now unable to take up the question. The responsibility is yours." One morning at Hawarden Mrs. Gladstone said: "William tells me he has such extraordinary conver- sations with you." These he had, no doubt. He had not often, if ever, heard the breezy talk of a genuine republican and did not understand my inability to conceive of diflFerent hereditary ranks. It seemed strange to me that men should deliberately abandon the name given them by their parents, and that name the parents' name. Espe- cially amusing were the new titles which required the old hereditary nobles much effort to refrain from smiling at as they greeted the newly made peer who had per- haps bought his title for ten thousand pounds, more or less, given to the party fund. Mr. Blaine was with us in London and I told Mr. Gladstone he had expressed to me his wonder and pain at seeing him in his old age hat in hand, cold day as it was, at a garden party doing homage to titled nobodies. Union of Church and State was touched upon, and also GIADSTONE AND THE FUTURE 329 my "Look Ahead," which foretells the reunion of our race owing to the inability of the British Islands to expand, I had held that the disestablishment of the English Church was inevitable, because among other reasons it was an anomaly. No other part of the race had it. All religions were fostered, none favored, in every other English-speaking state. Mr. Gladstone asked: "How long do you give our EstabHshed Church to live?" My reply was I could not fix a date; he had had more experience than I in disestablishing churches. He nodded and smiled. When I had enlarged upon a certain relative decrease of population in Britain that must come as compared with other countries of larger area, he asked : "What future do you forecast for her?" I referred to Greece among ancient nations and said that it was, perhaps, not accident that Chaucer, Shake- speare, Spenser, Milton, Burns, Scott, Stevenson, Bacon, Cromwell, Wallace, Bruce, Hume, Watt, Spencer, Darwin, and other celebrities had arisen here. Genius did not depend upon material resources. Long after Britain could not figure prominently as an industrial nation, not by her decline, but through the greater growth of others, she might in my opinion become the modern Greece and achieve among nations moral ascendancy. He caught at the words, repeating them musingly: "Moral ascendancy, moral ascendancy, I like that, I like that." I had never before so thoroughly enjoyed a confer- ence with a man. I visited him again at Hawarden, but my last visit to him was at Lord Randall's at Cannes the winter of 1897 when he was suffering keenly. He 330 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE had still the old charm and was especially attentive to my sister-in-law, Lucy, who saw him then for the first time and was deeply impressed. As we drove oflF, she murmured, "A sick eagle! A sick eagle!" Nothing could better describe this wan and worn leader of men as he appeared to me that day. He was not only a great, but a truly good man, stirred by the purest impulses, a high, imperious soul always looking upward. He had, indeed, earned the title: "Foremost Citizen of the World." In Britain, in 1881, I had entered into business re- lations with Samuel Storey, M.P., a very able man, a stern radical, and a genuine republican. We purchased several British newspapers and began a campaign of political progress upon radical lines. Passmore Edwards and some others joined us, but the result was not en- couraging. Harmony did not prevail among my British friends and finally I decided to withdraw, which I was fortunately able to do without loss.^ My third literary venture, "Triumphant Democ- racy," ^ had its origin in realizing how little the best- informed foreigner, or even Briton, knew of America, and how distorted that little was. It was prodigious what these eminent Englishmen did not then know about the Republic. My first talk with Mr. Gladstone in 1882 can never be forgotten. When I had occasion to say that the majority of the English-speaking race was now re- publican and it was a minority of monarchists who were upon the defensive, he said : ^ Mr. Carnegie acquired no less than eighteen British newspapers with the idea of promoting radical views. The political results were disappoint- ing, but with his genius for making money the pecuniary results were more than satisfactory. 2 Triumphant Democracy or Fifty Years' March of the Republic, London, 1886; New York, 1888. BRITISH IGNORANCE OF AMERICA 331 "Why, how is that?" "Well, Mr. Gladstone," I said, "the Republic holds sway over a larger number of English-speaking people than the population of Great Britain and all her colonies even if the English-speaking colonies were numbered twice over." "Ah! how is that? What is your population?" "Sixty-six millions, and yours is not much more than half." "Ah, yes, surprising!" With regard to the wealth of the nations, it was equally surprising for him to learn that the census of 1880 proved the hundred-year-old Republic could pur- chase Great Britain and Ireland and all their realized capital and investments and then pay off Britain's debt, and yet not exhaust her fortune. But the most startling statement of all was that which I was able to make when the question of Free Trade was touched upon. I pointed out that America was now the greatest manufactur- ing nation in the world. [At a later date I remember Lord Chancellor Haldane fell into the same error, call- ing Britain the greatest manufacturing country in the world, and thanked me for putting him right.] I quoted Mulhall's figures: British manufactures in 1880, eight hundred and sixteen millions sterling; American manu- factures eleven hundred and twenty-six millions ster- ling.^ His one word was: "Incredible!" Other startling statements followed and he asked : "Why does not some writer take up this subject and present the facts in a simple and direct form to the world?" ^ The estimated value of manufactures in Great Britain in 1900 was five billions of dollars as compared to thirteen billions for the United States. In 1914 the United States had gone to over twenty-four billions. S32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE I was then, as a matter of fact, gathering material for "Triumphant Democracy," in which I intended to perform the very service which he indicated, as I in- formed him. "Round the World" and the "American Four-in- Hand" gave me not the slightest effort but the prepara- tion of "Triumphant Democracy," which I began in 1882, was altogether another matter. It required steady, laborious work. Figures had to be examined and ar- ranged, but as I went forward the study became fasci- nating. For some months I seemed to have my head filled with statistics. The hours passed away unheeded. It was evening when I supposed it was midday. The second serious illness of my life dates from the strain brought upon me by this work, for I had to attend to business as well. I shall think twice before I trust myself again with anything so fascinating as figures. CHAPTER XXV HERBERT SPENCER AND HIS DISCIPLE HERBERT SPENCER, with his friend Mr. Lott and myself, were fellow travelers on the Servia from Liverpool to New York in 1882. I bore a note of introduction to him from Mr. Morley, but I had met the philosopher in London before that. I was one of his disciples. As an older traveler, I took Mr. Lott and him in charge. We sat at the same table during the voy- age. One day the conversation fell upon the impression made upon us by great men at first meeting. Did they, or did they not, prove to be as we had imagined them? Each gave his experience. Mine was that nothing could be more different than the being imagined and that being beheld in the flesh. "Oh!" said Mr. Spencer, "in my case, for instance, was this so?" "Yes," I replied, "you more than any. I had imag- ined my teacher, the great calm philosopher brooding, Buddha-like, over all things, unmoved ; never did I dream of seeing him excited over the question of Cheshire or Cheddar cheese." The day before he had peevishly pushed away the former when presented by the steward, exclaiming "Cheddar, Cheddar, not Cheshire; I said Cheddar'' There was a roar in which none joined more heartily than the sage himself. He refers to this incident of the voyage in his Autobiography.^ Spencer liked stories and was a good laugher. Ameri- can stories seemed to please him more than others, and ^ An Autobiography, by Herbert Spencer, vol. i, p. 424. New York, 1904. S34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE of those I was able to tell him not a few, which were usually followed by explosive laughter. He was anxious to learn about our Western Territories, which were then attracting attention in Europe, and a story I told him about Texas struck him as amusing. When a returning disappointed emigrant from that State was asked about the then barren country, he said: "Stranger, all that I have to say about Texas is that if I owned Texas and h — ^1, 1 would sell Texas." What a change from those early days ! Texas has now over four millions of population and is said to have the soil to produce more cotton than the whole world did in 1882. The walk up to the house, when I had the philosopher out at Pittsburgh, reminded me of another American story of the visitor who started to come up the garden walk. When he opened the gate a big dog from the house rushed down upon him. He retreated and closed the garden gate just in time, the host calling out: "He won't touch you, you know barking dogs never bite." "Yes," exclaimed the visitor, tremblingly, "I know that and you know it, but does the dog know it?" One day my eldest nephew was seen to open the door quietly and peep in where we were seated. His mother afterwards asked him why he had done so and the boy of eleven replied: "Mamma, I wanted to see the man who wrote in a book that there was no use studying grammar." Spencer was greatly pleased when he heard the story and often referred to it. He had faith in that nephew. Speaking to him one day about his having signed a remonstrance against a tunnel between Calais and Dover as having surprised me, he explained that for 9. i^^^\^B :^ 1^ HERBERT SPENCER AT SEVENTY-EIGHT HERBERT SPENCER AND MILITARISM 335 himself he was as anxious to have the tunnel as any- one and that he did not beheve in any of the objections raised against it, but signed the remonstrance because he knew his countrymen were such fools that the military and naval element in Britain could stampede the masses, frighten them, and stimulate militarism. An increased army and navy would then be demanded. He referred to a scare which had once arisen and involved the out- lay of many millions in fortifications which had proved useless. One day we were sitting in our rooms in the Grand Hotel looking out over Trafalgar Square. The Life Guards passed and the following took place: "Mr. Spencer, I never see men dressed up like Merry Andrews without being saddened and indignant that in the nineteenth century the most civilized race, as we consider ourselves, still finds men willing to adopt as a profession — until lately the only profession for gentle- men — the study of the surest means of killing other men." Mr. Spencer said: "I feel just so myself, but I will tell you how I curb my indignation. Whenever I feel it rising I am calmed by this story of Emerson's: He had been hooted and hustled from the platform in Faneuil Hall for daring to speak against slavery. He describes himself walking home in violent anger, until opening his garden gate and looking up through the branches of the tall elms that grew between the gate and his modest home, he saw the stars shining through. They said to him: ^What, so hot, my little sir?'" I laughed and he laughed, and I thanked him for that story. Not seldom I have to repeat to myseK, " What, so hot, my little sir?" and it suffices. Mr. Spencer's visit to America had its climax in the 336 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE banquet given for him at Delmonico's. I drove him to it and saw the great man there in a funk. He could think of nothing but the address he was to deliver.^ I believe he had rarely before spoken in public. His great fear was that he should be unable to say anything that would be of advantage to the American people, who had been the first to appreciate his works. He may have attended many banquets, but never one comprised of more dis- tinguished people than this one. It was a remarkable gathering. The tributes paid Spencer by the ablest men were unique. The climax was reached when Henry Ward Beecher, concluding his address, turned round and addressed Mr. Spencer in these words: "To my father and my mother I owe my physical being; to you, sir, I owe my intellectual being. At a criti- cal moment you provided the safe paths through the bogs and morasses; you were my teacher." These words were spoken in slow, solemn tones. I do not remember ever having noticed more depth of feeling; evidently they came from a grateful debtor. Mr. Spencer was touched by the words. They gave rise to con- siderable remark, and shortly afterwards Mr. Beecher preached a course of sermons, giving his views upon ^ "An occasion, on which more, perhaps, than any other in my life, I ought to have been in good condition, bodily and mentally, came when I was in a condition worse than I had been for six and twenty years. * Wretched night; no sleep at all; kept in my room all day' says my diary, and I entertained 'great fear I should collapse.' When the hour came for making my appearance at Delmonico's, where the dinner was given, I got my friends to secrete me in an anteroom until the last moment, so that I might avoid all excitements of introductions and congratulations; and as Mr. Evarts, who presided, handed me on the dais, I begged him to limit his conversation with me as much as possible, and to expect very meagre responses. The event proved that, trying though the tax was, there did not result the disaster I feared; and when Mr. Evarts had duly uttered the compliments of the occasion, I was able to get through my prepared speech without diflficulty, though not with much effect." (Spencer's Autobiography, vol. II, p. 478.) SPENCER AND BEECHER 337 Evolution. The conclusion of the series was anxiously looked for, because his acknowledgment of debt to Spencer as his teacher had created alarm in church circles. In the concluding article, as in his speech, if I remember rightly, Mr. Beecher said that, although he believed in evolution (Darwinism) up to a certain point, yet when man had reached his highest human level his Creator then invested him (and man alone of all living things) with the Holy Spirit, thereby bring- ing him into the circle of the godlike. Thus he answered his critics. Mr. Spencer took intense interest in mechanical de- vices. When he visited our works with me the new ap- pliances impressed him, and in after years he sometimes referred to these and said his estimate of American invention and push had been fully realized. He was naturally pleased with the deference and attention paid him in America. I seldom if ever visited England without going to see him, even after he had removed to Brighton that he might live looking out upon the sea, which appealed to and soothed him. I never met a man who seemed to weigh so carefully every action, every word — even the pettiest — and so completely to find guidance through his own conscience. He was no scoffer in religious mat- ters. In the domain of theology, however, he had little regard for decorum. It was to him a very faulty system hindering true growth, and the idea of rewards and pun- ishments struck him as an appeal to very low natures indeed. Still he never went to such lengths as Tennyson did upon an occasion when some of the old ideas were under discussion. Knowles ^ told me that Tennyson lost control of himself. Knowles said he was greatly dis- ^ James Knowles, founder of the Nineteerdh Century, 338 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE appointed with the son*s life of the poet as giving no true picture of his father in his revolt against stern theology. Spencer was always the calm philosopher. I believe that from childhood to old age — when the race was run — he never was guilty of an immoral act or did an injustice to any human being. He was certainly one of the most conscientious men in all his doings that ever was born. Few men have wished to know another man more strongly than I to know Herbert Spencer, for seldom has one been more deeply indebted than I to him and to Darwin. Reaction against the theology of past days comes to many who have been surrounded in youth by church people entirely satisfied that the truth and faith indis- pensable to future happiness were derived only through strictest Calvinistic creeds. The thoughtful youth is naturally carried along and disposed to concur in this. He cannot but think, up to a certain period of develop- ment, that what is believed by the best and the highest educated around him — those to whom he looks for example and instruction — must be true. He resists doubt as inspired by the Evil One seeking his soul, and sure to get it unless faith comes to the rescue. Unfortu- nately he soon finds that faith is not exactly at his beck and call. Original sin he thinks must be at the root of this inability to see as he wishes to see, to believe as he wishes to believe. It seems clear to him that already he is little better than one of the lost. Of the elect he surely cannot be, for these must be ministers, elders, and strictly orthodox men. The young man is soon in chronic rebellion, trying to assume godliness with the others, acquiescing outwardly in the creed and all its teachings, and yet at heart totally SPENCER'S PHILOSOPHY 339 unable to reconcile his outward accordance with his in- ward doubt. If there be intellect and virtue in the man but one result is possible; that is, Carlyle's position after his terrible struggle when after weeks of torment he came forth: "If it be incredible, in God's name, then, let it be discredited," With that the load of doubt and fear fell from him forever. When I, along with three or four of my boon com- panions, was in this stage of doubt about theology, in- cluding the supernatural element, and indeed the whole scheme of salvation through vicarious atonement and all the fabric built upon it, 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 dele- terious, 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 con- ceivable end to his march to perfection. His face is turned to the light; he stands in the sun and looks up- ward. Humanity is an organism, inherently rejecting all that is deleterious, that is, wrong, and absorbing after trial what is beneficial, that is, right. If so disposed, the Architect of the Universe, we must assume, might have made the world and man perfect, free from evil and from pain, as angels in heaven are thought to be; but although this was not done, man has been given the 340 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE power of advancement rather than of retrogression. The Old and New Testaments remain, hke other sacred writings of other lands, of value as records of the past and for such good lessons as they inculcate. Like the ancient writers of the Bible our thoughts should rest upon this life and our duties here. "To perform the duties of this world well, troubling not about another, is the prime wisdom," says Confucius, great sage and teacher. The next world and its duties we shall consider when we are placed in it. I am as a speck of dust in the sun, and not even so much, in this solemn, mysterious, unknowable universe. I shrink back. One truth I see. Franklin was right. "The highest worship of God is service to Man." All this, however, does not prevent everlasting hope of immortal- ity. It would be no greater miracle to be born to a future life than to have been born to live in this present life. The one has been created, why not the other? Therefore there is reason to hope for immortality. Let us hope.^ * "A. C. is really a tremendous personality — dramatic, wilful, generous, whimsical, at times almost cruel in pressing his own conviction upon others, and then again tender, affectionate, emotional, always imaginative, unusual and wide-visioned in his views. He is well worth Boswellizing, but I am urging him to be 'his own Boswell.' , . . He is inconsistent in many ways, but with a passion for lofty views; the brotherhood of man, peace among nations, religious purity — I mean the purification of religion from gross superstition — the substitution for a Westminster-Catechism God, of a Righteous, a Just God." {Letters of Richard Watson GUder, p. 375.) CHAPTER XXVI BLAINE AND HARRISON WHILE one is known by the company he keeps, it is equally true that one is known by the stories he tells. Mr, Blaine was one of the best story-tellers I ever met. His was a bright sunny nature with a witty, pointed story for every occasion. Mr. Blaine's address at Yorktown (I had accom- panied him there) was greatly admired. It directed special attention to the cordial friendship which had grown up between the two branches of the English- speaking race, and ended with the hope that the pre- vailing peace and good-will between the two nations would exist for many centuries to come. When he read this to me, I remember that the word "many" jarred, and I said: "Mr. Secretary, might I suggest the change of one word? I don't like 'many'; why not *all' the centuries to come?" "Good, that is perfect!" And so it was given in the address: "for all the cen- turies to come." We had a beautiful night returning from Yorktown, and, sitting in the stern of the ship in the moonlight, the military band playing forward, we spoke of the effect of music. Mr. Blaine said that his favorite just then was the "Sweet By and By," which he had heard played last by the same band at President Garfield's funeral, and he thought upon that occasion he was more deeply moved by sweet sounds than he had ever been in his life. He requested that it should be the last piece played 342 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE that night. Both he and Gladstone were fond of simple music. They could enjoy Beethoven and the classic masters, but Wagner was as yet a sealed book to them. In answer to my inquiry as to the most successful speech he ever heard in Congress, he repKed it was that of the German, ex-Governor Hitter of Pennsyl- vania. The first bill appropriating money for inland fresh waters was under consideration. The house was divided. Strict constructionists held this to be uncon- stitutional; only harbors upon the salt sea were under the Federal Government. The contest was keen and the result doubtful, when to the astonishment of the House, Governor Ritter slowly arose for the first time. Silence at once reigned. What was the old German ex-Gov- ernor going to say — he who had never said anything at all? Only this: "Mr. Speaker, I don't know much particulars about de constitution, but I know dis; I would n't gif a d — d cent for a constitution dat did n't wash in fresh water as well as in salt." The House burst into an uproar of uncontrollable laughter, and the bill passed. So came about this new departure and one of the most beneficent ways of spending government money, and of employing army and navy engineers. Little of the money spent by the Government yields so great a re- turn. So expands our flexible constitution to meet the new wants of an expanding population. Let who will make the constitution if we of to-day are permitted to interpret it. Mr. Blaine^s best story, if one can be selected from so many that were excellent, I think was the following: In the days of slavery and the underground railroads, there lived on the banks of the Ohio River near Galli- polis, a noted Democrat named Judge French, who said ^ ^*^ Photograph from Underwood if Underwood, N.T. JAMES G. BLAINE BLAINE'S BEST STORY 843 to some anti-slavery friends that he should like them to bring to his office the first runaway negro that crossed the river, bound northward by the underground. He could n't understand why they wished to run away. This was done, and the following conversation took place : Judge: "So you have run away from Kentucky. Bad master, I suppose?" Slave: "Oh, no, Judge; very good, kind massa." Judge: "He worked you too hard?" Slave: "No, sah, never overworked myself all my life." Judge, hesitatingly: "He did not give you enough to eat?" Slave: "Not enough to eat down in Kaintuck? Oh, Lor', plenty to eat." Judge: "He did not clothe you well?" Slave: "Good enough clothes for me. Judge." Judge: "You had n't a comfortable home?" Slave: "Oh, Lor', makes me cry to think of my pretty little cabin down dar in old Kaintuck." Judge, after a pause: "You had a good, kind master, you were not overworked, plenty to eat, good clothes, fine home. I don't see why the devil you wished to run away." Slave: "Well, Judge, I lef de situation down dar open. You kin go rite down and git it." The Judge had seen a great light. "Freedom has a thousand charms to show. That slaves, howe'er contented, never know." That the colored people in such numbers risked all for liberty is the best possible proof that they will steadily approach and finally reach the full stature of citizen- ship in the Republic. S44 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE I never saw Mr. Blaine so happy as while with us at Cluny. He was a boy again and we were a rollicking party together. He had never fished with a fly. I took him out on Loch Laggan and he began awkwardly, as all do, but he soon caught the swing. I shall never forget his first capture: "My friend, you have taught me a new pleasure in life. There are a hundred fishing lochs in Maine, and I '11 spend my holidays in future upon them trout-fishing." At Cluny there is no night in June and we danced on the lawn in the bright twilight until late. Mrs. Blaine, Miss Dodge, Mr. Blaine, and other guests were trying to do the Scotch reel, and "whooping" like Highlanders. We were gay revelers during those two weeks. One night afterwards, at a dinner in our home in New York, chiefly made up of our Cluny visitors, Mr. Blaine told the company that he had discovered at Cluny what a real holiday was. "It is when the merest trifles become the most serious events of life." President Harrison's nomination for the presidency in 1888 came to Mr. Blaine while on a coaching trip with us. Mr. and Mrs. Blaine, Miss Margaret Blaine, Senator and Mrs. Hale, Miss Dodge, and Walter Dam- rosch were on the coach with us from London to Cluny Castle. In approaching Linlithgow from Edinburgh, we found the provost and magistrates in their gorgeous robes at the hotel to receive us. I was with them when Mr. Blaine came into the room with a cablegram in his hand which he showed to me, asking what it meant. It read: "Use cipher." It was from Senator Elkins at the Chicago Convention. Mr. Blaine had cabled the previ- ous day, declining to accept the nomination for the presi- dency unless Secretary Sherman of Ohio agreed, and Senator Elkins no doubt wished to be certain that he HARRISON NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT 345 was in correspondence with Mr. Blaine and not with some interloper. I said to Mr. Blaine that the Senator had called to see me before sailing, and suggested we should have cipher words for the prominent candidates. I gave him a few and kept a copy upon a slip, which I put in my pocket- book. I looked and fortunately found it. Blaine was *' Victor"; Harrison, "Trump"; Phelps of New Jersey, "Star"; and so on, I wired "Trump" and "Star." ^ This was in the evening. We retired for the night, and next day the whole party was paraded by the city authorities in their robes up the main street to the palace grounds which were finely decorated with flags. Speeches of welcome were made and replied to. Mr. Blaine was called upon by the people, and responded in a short address. Just then a cablegram was handed to him: "Harrison and Morton nominated." Phelps had declined. So passed forever Mr. Blaine's chance of holding the highest of all political offices — the elected of the majority of the English- speaking race. But he was once fairly elected to the presidency and done out of New York State, as was at last clearly proven, the perpetrators having been pun- ished for an attempted repetition of the same fraud at a subsequent election. Mr. Blaine, as Secretary of State in Harrison's Cab- inet, was a decided success and the Pan-American Con- gress his most brilliant triumph. My only political ap- ^ "A code had been agreed upon between his friends in the United States and himself, and when a deadlock or a long contest seemed inevit- able, the following dispatch was sent from Mr. Carnegie's estate in Scot- land, where Blaine was staying, to a prominent Republican leader: " * June 25. Too late victor immovable take trump and star.' Whip. Interpreted, it reads: *Too late. Blaine immovable. Take Harrison and Phelps. Carnegie.*" (James G. Blaine, by Edward Stanwood, p. 308. Boston, 1905.) 346 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE pointment came at this time and was that of a United States delegate to the Congress. It gave me a most inter- esting view of the South American Republics and their various problems. We sat down together, representa- tives of all the republics but Brazil. One morning the announcement was made that a new constitution had been ratified. Brazil had become a member of the sister- hood, making seventeen republics in all — now twenty- one. There was great applause and cordial greeting of the representatives of Brazil thus suddenly elevated. I found the South American representatives rather sus- picious of their big brother's intentions. A sensitive spirit of independence was manifest, which it became our duty to recognize. In this I think we succeeded, but it will behoove subsequent governments to scrupulously respect the national feeling of our Southern neighbors. It is not control, but friendly cooperation upon terms of perfect equality we should seek. I sat next to Manuel Quintana who afterwards be- came President of Argentina. He took a deep interest in the proceedings, and one day became rather critical upon a trifling issue, which led to an excited colloquy between him and Chairman Blaine. I believe it had its origin in a false translation from one language to another. I rose, slipped behind the chairman on the platform, whispering to him as I passed that if an adjournment was moved I was certain the dififerences could be ad- justed. He nodded assent. I returned to my seat and moved adjournment, and during the interval all was satisfactorily arranged. Passing the delegates, as we were about to leave the hall, an incident occurred which comes back to me as I write. A delegate threw one arm around me and with the other hand patting me on the breast, exclaimed: "Mr. Carnegie, you have more here HARRISON AT PITTSBURGH 847 than here" — pointing to his pocket. Our Southern brethren are so lovingly demonstrative. Warm climes and warm hearts. In 1891 President Harrison went with me from Wash- ington to Pittsburgh, as I have already stated, to open the Carnegie Hall andJLibrary, which I had presented to Allegheny City. We traveled over the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad by daylight, and enjoyed the trip, the president being especially pleased with the scenery. Reaching Pittsburgh at dark, the flaming coke ovens and dense pillars of smoke and fire amazed him. The well-known description of Pittsburgh, seen from the hill- tops, as "H — 1 with the lid off," seemed to him most appropriate. He was the first President who ever visited Pittsburgh. President Harrison, his grandfather, had, however, passed from steamboat to canal-boat there, on his way to Washington after election. The opening ceremony was largely attended owing to the presence of the President and all passed off well. Next morning the President wished to see our steel works, and he was escorted there, receiving a cordial welcome from the workmen. I called up each successive manager of department as we passed and presented him. Finally, when Mr. Schwab was presented, the President turned to me and said, "How is this, Mr- Carnegie? You present only boys to me." "Yes, Mr. President, but do you notice what kind of boys they are?" "Yes, hustlers, every one of them," was his comment. He was right. No such young men could have been found for such work elsewhere in this world. They had been promoted to partnership without cost or risk. If the profits did not pay for their shares, no responsibility 348 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE remained upon the young men. A giving thus to "part- ners" is very different from paying wages to "em- ployees" in corporations. The President's visit, not to Pittsburgh, but to Alle- gheny over the river, had one beneficial result. Mem- bers of the City Council of Pittsburgh reminded me that I had first oflfered Pittsburgh money for a library and hall, which it declined, and that then Allegheny City had asked if I would give them to her, which I did. The President visiting Allegheny to open the library and hall there, and the ignoring of Pittsburgh, was too much. Her authorities came to me again the morning after the Allegheny City opening, asking if I would renew my oflFer to Pittsburgh. If so, the city would accept and agree to expend upon maintenance a larger percentage than I had previously asked. I was only too happy to do this and, instead of two hundred and fifty thousand, I offered a million dollars. My ideas had expanded. Thus was started the Carnegie Institute. Pittsburgh's leading citizens are spending freely upon artistic things. This center of manufacturing has had its permanent orchestra for some years — Boston and Chicago being the only other cities in America that can boast of one. A naturalist club and a school of painting have sprung up. The success of Library, Art Gallery, Museum, and Music Hall — a noble quartet in an im- mense building — is one of the chief satisfactions of my life. This is my monument, because here I lived my early life and made my start, and I am to-day in heart a devoted son of dear old smoky Pittsburgh. Herbert Spencer heard, while with us in Pittsburgh, some account of the rejection of my first offer of a li- brary to Pittsburgh. When the second offer was made, he wrote me that he did not understand how I could THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE 349 renew it; he never could have done so; they did not de- serve it. I wrote the philosopher that if I had made the first offer to Pittsburgh that I might receive her thanks and gratitude, I deserved the personal arrows shot at me and the accusations made that only my own glorifica- tion and a monument to my memory were sought. I should then probably have felt as he did. But, as it was the good of the people of Pittsburgh I had in view, among whom I had made my fortune, the unfounded suspicions of some natures only quickened my desire to work their good by planting in their midst a potent in- fluence for higher things. This the Institute, thank the kind fates, has done. Pittsburgh has played her part nobly. CHAPTER XXVII WASHINGTON DIPLOMACY PRESIDENT HARRISON had been a soldier and as President was a little disposed to fight. His atti- tude gave some of his friends concern. He was opposed to arbitrating the Behring Sea question when Lord Salis- bury, at the dictation of Canada, had to repudiate the Blaine agreement for its settlement, and was disposed to proceed to extreme measures. But calmer counsels prevailed. He was determined also to uphold the Force Bill against the South. When the quarrel arose with Chili, there was a time when it seemed almost impossible to keep the President from taking action which would have resulted in war. He had great personal provocation because the Chilian authorities had been most indiscreet in their statements in regard to his action. I went to Washington to see whether I could not do something toward reconciling the belligerents, because, having been a member of the first Pan-American Conference, I had become acquainted with the representatives from our southern sister- republics and was on good terms with them. As luck would have it, I was just entering the Shore- ham Hotel when I saw Senator Henderson of Missouri, who had been my fellow-delegate to the Conference. He stopped and greeted me, and looking across the street he said: "There's the President beckoning to you." I crossed the street. "Hello, Carnegie, when did you arrive?" HARRISON AND WAR WITH CHILI 351 * * Just arrived, Mr. President ; I was entering the hotel." "What are you here for?" "To have a talk with you." "Well, come along and talk as we walk." The President took my arm and we promenaded the streets of Washington in the dusk for more than an hour, during which time the discussion was lively. I told him that he had appointed me a delegate to the Pan-Ameri- can Conference, that he had assured the South-Ameri- can delegates when they parted that he had given a military review in their honor to show them, not that we had an army, but rather that we had none and needed none, that we were the big brother in the family of republics, and that all disputes, if any arose, would be settled by peaceful arbitration. I was therefore sur- prised and grieved to find that he was now apparently taking a different course, threatening to resort to war in a paltry dispute with little Chili. "You're a New Yorker and think of nothing but business and dollars. That is the way with New York- ers; they care nothing for the dignity and honor of the Republic," said his Excellency. "Mr. President, I am one of the men in the United States who would profit most by war; it might throw millions into my pockets as the largest manufacturer of steel." "Well, that is probably true in your case; I had for- gotten." "Mr. President, if I were going to fight, I would take some one of my size." "Well, would you let any nation insult and dishonor you because of its size?" "Mr. President, no man can dishonor me except my- self. Honor wounds must be self-inflicted." 352 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE "You see our sailors were attacked on shore and two of them killed, and you would stand that?" he asked. "Mr. President, I do not think the United States dis- honored every time a row among drunken sailors takes place; besides, these were not American sailors at all; they were foreigners, as you see by their names. I would be disposed to cashier the captain of that ship for allow- ing the sailors to go on shore when there was rioting in the town and the public peace had been already dis- turbed." The discussion continued until we had finally reached the door of the White House in the dark. The President told me he had an engagement to dine out that night, but invited me to dine with him the next evening, when, as he said, there would be only the family and we could talk. "I am greatly honored and shall be with you to-mor- row evening," I said. And so we parted. The next morning I went over to see Mr. Blaine, then Secretary of State. He rose from his seat and held out both hands. "Oh, why weren't you dining with us last night? When the President told Mrs. Blaine that you were in town, she said: *Just think, Mr. Carnegie is in town and I had a vacant seat here he could have occupied.'" "Well, Mr. Blaine, I think it is rather fortunate that I have not seen you," I replied; and I then told him what had occurred with the President. "Yes," he said, "it really was fortunate. The^Presi- dent might have thought you and I were in collusion." Senator Elkins, of West Virginia, a bosom friend of Mr. Blaine, and also a very good friend of the President, happened to come in, and he said he had seen the Presi- dent, who told him that he had had a talk with me upon BLAINE'S PEACE POLICY 353 the Chilian affair last evening and that I had come down hot upon the subject. "Well, Mr. President/' said Senator Elkins, "it is not probable that Mr. Carnegie would speak as plainly to you as he would to me. He feels very keenly, but he would naturally be somewhat reserved in talking to you." The President replied: "I didn't see the slightest indication of reserve, I assure you." The matter was adjusted, thanks to the peace policy characteristic of Mr. Blaine. More than once he kept the United States out of foreign trouble as I personally knew. The reputation that he had of being an aggressive American really enabled that great man to make con- cessions which, made by another, might not have been readily accepted by the people. I had a long and friendly talk with the President that evening at dinner, but he was not looking at all well. I ventured to say to him he needed a rest. By all means he should get away. He said he had intended going off on a revenue cutter for a few days, but Judge Bradley of the Supreme Court had died and he must find a worthy successor. I said there was one I could not recommend because we had fished together and were such intimate friends that we could not judge each other disinterest- edly, but he might inquire about him — Mr. Shiras, of Pittsburgh. He did so and appointed him. Mr. Shiras received the strong support of the best elements every- where. Neither my recommendation, nor that of any one else, would have weighed with President Harrison one particle in making the ^appointment if he had not found Mr. Shiras thcLvery man he wanted. In the Behring Sea dispute the President was incensed at Lord Salisbury's repudiation of the stipulations for set- 354 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE tling the question which had been agreed to. The Presi- dent had determined to reject the counter-proposition to submit it to arbitration. Mr. Blaine was with the Presi- dent in this and naturally indignant that his plan, which Salisbury had extolled through his Ambassador, had been discarded. I found both of them in no compro- mising mood. The President was much the more excited of the two, however. Talking it over with Mr. Blaine alone, I explained to him that Salisbury was powerless. Against Canada's protest he could not force acceptance of the stipulations to which he had hastily agreed. There was another element. He had a dispute with Newfound- land on hand, which the latter was insisting must be settled to her advantage. No Government in Britain could add Canadian dissatisfaction to that of Newfound- land. Salisbury had done the best he could. After a while Blaine was convinced of this and succeeded in bringing the President into line. The Behring Sea troubles brought about some rather amusing situations. One day Sir John Macdonald, Ca- nadian Premier, and his party reached Washington and asked Mr. Blaine to arrange an interview with the Presi- dent upon this subject. Mr. Blaine replied that he would see the President and inform Sir John the next morn- ing. "Of course," said Mr. Blaine, telling me the story in Washington just after the incident occurred, "I knew very well that the President could not meet Sir John and his friends oflScially, and when they called I told them so." Sir John said that Canada was independent, "as sovereign as the State of New York was in the Union." Mr. Blaine replied he was afraid that if he ever obtained an interview as Premier of Canada with the State authorities of New York he would soon hear some- ; THE BEHRING SEA TROUBLES 355 thing on the subject from Washington; and so would the New York State authorities. It was because the President and Mr, Blaine were con- vinced that the British Government at home could not fulfill the stipulations agreed upon that they accepted Salisbury's proposal for arbitration, believing he had done his best. That was a very sore disappointment to Mr. Blaine. He had suggested that Britain and America should each place two small vessels on Behring Sea with equal rights to board or arrest fishing vessels under either flag — in fact, a joint police force. To give Salis- bury due credit, he cabled the British Ambassador, Sir Julian Pavmcefote, to congratulate Mr. Blaine upon this "brilliant suggestion." It would have given equal rights to each and under either or both flags for the first time in history — a just and brotherly compact. Sir Julian had shown this cable to Mr. Blaine. I mention this here to suggest that able and willing statesmen, anx- ious to cooperate, are sometimes unable to do so. Mr. Blaine was indeed a great statesman, a man of wide views, sound judgment, and always for peace. Upon war with Chili, upon the Force Bill, and the Behring Sea question, he was calm, wise, and peace-pursuing. Especially was he favorable to drawing closer and closer to our own English-speaking race. For France he had gratitude unbounded for the part she had played in our Revolutionary War, but this did not cause him to lose his head. One night at dinner in London Mr, Blaine was at close quarters for a moment. The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty came up. A leading statesman present said that the impression they had was that Mr. Blaine had always been inimical to the Mother country. Mr, Blaine dis- claimed this, and justly so, as far as I knew his senti- 356 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE ments. His correspondence upon the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was instanced. Mr. Blaine replied: "When I became Secretary of State and had to take up that subject I was surprised to find that your Sec- retary for Foreign Affairs was always informing us what Her Majesty * expected/ while our Secretary of State was telling you what our President * ventured to hope/ When I received a dispatch telling us what Her Maj- esty expected, I replied, telling you what our President * expected.'" "Well, you admit you changed the character of the correspondence?" was shot at him. Quick as a flash came the response: "Not more than conditions had changed. The United States had passed the stage of 'venturing to hope' with any power that * expects.' I only followed your example, and should ever Her Majesty 'venture to hope,' the President will always be found doing the same. I am afraid that as long as you 'expect' the United States will also 'expect' in return." One night there was a dinner, where Mr. Joseph Cham- berlain and Sir Charles Tennant, President of the Scot- land Steel Company, were guests. During the evening the former said that his friend Carnegie was a good fel- low and they all delighted to see him succeeding, but he did n't know why the United States should give him protection worth a million sterling per year or more, for condescending to manufacture steel rails. "Well," said Mr. Blaine, "we don't look at it in that light. I am interested in railroads, and we formerly used to pay you for steel rails ninety dollars per ton for every ton we got — nothing less. Now, just before I sailed from home our people made a large contract with our friend Carnegie at thirty dollars per ton. I am some- BLAINE'S DIPLOMACY 357 what under the impression that if Carnegie and others had not risked their capital in developing their manu- facture on our side of the Atlantic, we would still be paying you ninety dollars per ton to-day." Here Sir Charles broke in: "You may be sure you would. Ninety dollars was our agreed-upon price for you foreigners/* Mr. Blaine smilingly remarked: "Mr. Chamberlain, I don't think you have made a very good case against our friend Carnegie." "No," he replied; "how could I, with Sir Charles giving me away like that?" — and there was general laughter. Blaine was a rare raconteur and his talk had this great merit: never did I hear him tell a story or speak a word unsuitable for any, even the most fastidious com- pany to hear. He was as quick as a steel trap, a delight- ful companion, and he would have made an excellent and yet safe President. I found him truly conservative, and strong for peace upon all international questions. CHAPTER XXVIII HAY AND McKINLEY JOHN HAY was our frequent guest in England and Scotland, and was on the eve of coming to us at Skibo in 1898 when called home by President McKinley to become Secretary of State. Few have made such a record in that office. He inspired men with absolute con- fidence in his sincerity, and his aspirations were always high. War he detested, and meant what he said when he pronounced it "the most ferocious and yet the most futile folly of man." The Philippines annexation was a burning question when I met him and Henry White (Secretary of Lega- tion and later Ambassador to France) in London, on my way to New York. It gratified me to find our views were similar upon that proposed serious departure from our traditional policy of avoiding distant and discon- nected possessions and keeping our empire within the continent, especially keeping it out of the vortex of militarism. Hay, White, and I clasped hands together in Hay's office in London, and agreed upon this. Before that he had written me the following note: London^ August 22, 1898 My dear Carnegiei: I thank you for the Skibo grouse and also for your kind letter. It is a solemn and absorbing thing to hear so many kind and unmerited words as I have heard and read this last week. It seems to me another man they are talking about, while I am expected to do the work. I wish a little of the kind- ness could be saved till I leave office finally. I have read with the keenest interest your article in the JOHN HAY AND THE PANAMA CANAL 359 "North American." ^ I am not allowed to say in my present fix how much I agree with you. The only question on my mind is how far it is now possible for us to withdraw from the Philippines. I am rather thankful it is not given to me to solve that momentous question. ^ It was a strange fate that placed upon him the very task he had congratulated himself was never to be his. He stood alone at first as friendly to China in the Boxer troubles and succeeded in securing for her fair terms of peace. His regard for Britain, as part of our own race, was deep, and here the President was thor- oughly with him, and grateful beyond measure to Brit- ain for standing against other European powers dis- posed to favor Spain in the Cuban War. The Hay-Pauncef ote Treaty concerning the Panama Canal seemed to many of us unsatisfactory. Senator Elkins told me my objections, given in the "New York Tribune," reached him the day he was to speak upon it, and were useful. Visiting Washington soon after the ar- ticle appeared, I went with Senator Hanna to the White House early in the morning and found the President much exercised over the Senate's amendment to the treaty. I had no doubt of Britain's prompt acquiescence in the Senate's requirements, and said so. Anything in reason she would give, since it was we who had to furnish the funds for the work from which she would be, next to ourselves, the greatest gainer. Senator Hanna asked if I had seen "John," as he and President McKinley always called Mr. Hay. I said 1 had not. Then he asked me to go over and cheer him up, 1 The reference is to an article by Mr. Carnegie in the North American Review, August, 1898, entitled: "Distant Possessions — The Parting of the Ways." 2 Published in Thayer, Life and Letters of John Hay, vol. n, p. 175. Boston and New York, 1915, 360 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE for he was disconsolate about the amendments. I did so. I pointed out to Mr. Hay that the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty had been amended by the Senate and scarcely any one knew this now and no one cared. The Hay- Pauncefote Treaty would be executed as amended and no one would care a fig whether it was in its original form or not. He doubted this and thought Britain would be indisposed to recede. A short time after this, dining with him, he said I had proved a true prophet and all was well. Of course it was. Britain had practically told us she wished the canal built and would act in any way desired. The canal is now as it should be — that is, all American, with no international complications possible. It was per- haps not worth building at that time, but it was better to spend three or four hundred millions upon it than in building sea monsters of destruction to fight imaginary foes. One may be a loss and there an end; the other might be a source of war, for "Oft the sight of means to do ill deeds Make deeds ill done." Mr. Hay's bete noire was the Senate. Upon this, and this only, was he disregardful of the proprieties. When it presumed to alter one word, substituting "treaty" for "agreement," which occurred in one place only in the proposed Arbitration Treaty of 1905, he became unduly excited. I believe this was owing in great degree to poor health, for it was clear by that time to intimate friends that his health was seriously impaired. The last time I saw him was at lunch at his house, when the Arbitration Treaty, as amended by the Senate, was under the consideration of President Roosevelt. The arbitrationists, headed by ex-Secretary of State Foster, JOHN HAY AND THE SENATE 361 urged the President's acceptance of the amended treaty. We thought he was favorable to this, but from my sub- sequent talk with Secretary Hay, I saw that the Presi- dent's agreeing would be keenly felt. I should not be surprised if Roosevelt's rejection of the treaty was re- solved upon chiefly to soothe his dear friend John Hay in his ilhiess. I am sure I felt that I could be brought to do, only with the greatest difficulty, anything that would annoy that noble soul. But upon this point Hay was ob- durate; no surrender to the Senate. Leaving his house I said to Mrs. Carnegie that I doubted if ever we should meet our friend again. We never did. The Carnegie Institution of Washington, of which Hay was the chairman and a trustee from the start, received his endorsement and close attention, and much were we indebted to him for wise counsel. As a states- man he made his reputation in shorter time and with a surer touch than any one I know of. And it may be doubted if any public man ever had more deeply at- tached friends. One of his notes I have long kept. It would have been the most flattering of any to my liter- ary vanity but for my knowledge of his most lovable nature and undue warmth for his friends. The world is poorer to me to-day as I write, since he has left it. The Spanish War was the result of a wave of passion started by the reports of the horrors of the Cuban Rev- olution. President McKinley tried hard to avoid it. When the Spanish Minister left Washington, the French Ambassador became Spain's agent, and peaceful negotia- tions were continued. Spain offered autonomy for Cuba. The President replied that he did not know exactly what " autonomy " meant. What he wished for Cuba was the rights that Canada possessed. He understood these. A cable was shown to the President by the French Min- 362 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE ister stating that Spain granted this and he, dear man, supposed all was settled. So it was, apparently. Speaker Reed usually came to see me Sunday morn- ings when in New York, and it was immediately after my return from Europe that year that he called and said he had never lost control of the House before. For one moment he thought of leaving the chair and going on the floor to address the House and try to quiet it. In vain it was explained that the President had received from Spain the guarantee of self-government for Cuba. Alas! it was too late, too late! *^What is Spain doing over here, anyhow?" was the imperious inquiry of Congress. A suflScient number of Republicans had agreed to vote with the Democrats in Congress for war. A whirlwind of passion swept over the House, intensified, no doubt, by the unfortunate explosion of the warship Maine in Havana Harbor, supposed by some to be Spanish work. The supposition gave Spain far too much credit for skill and activity. War was declared — the Senate being shocked by Senator Proctor's statement of the concentration camps he had seen in Cuba. The country responded to the cry, "What is Spain doing over here anyhow?" President McKinley and his peace policy were left high and dry, and nothing remained for him but to go with the country. The Government then announced that war was not undertaken for territorial aggrandizement, and Cuba was promised independence — a promise faithfully kept. We should not fail to remember this, for it is the one cheering feature of the war. The possession of the Philippines left a stain. They were not only territorial acquisition; they were dragged from reluctant Spain and twenty million dollars paid for them. The Filipinos had been our allies in fighting THE PHILIPPINE QUESTION 363 Spain. The Cabinet, under the lead of the President, had agreed that only a coaling station in the Philippines should be asked for, and it is said such were the instruc- tions given by cable at first to the Peace Commissioners at Paris. President McKinley then made a tour through the West and, of course, was cheered when he spoke of the flag and Dewey's victory. He returned, impressed with the idea that withdrawal would be unpopular, and reversed his former policy. I was told by one of his Cabi- net that every member was opposed to the reversal. A senator told me Judge Day, one of the Peace Com- missioners, wrote a remonstrance from Paris, which if ever published, would rank next to Washington's Fare- well Address, so fine was it. At this stage an important member of the Cabinet, my friend Cornelius N. Bliss, called and asked me to visit Washington and see the President on the subject. He said: "You have influence with him. None of us have been able to move him since he returned from the West." I went to Washington and had an interview with him. But he was obdurate. Withdrawal would create a revo- lution at home, he said. Finally, by persuading his sec- retaries that he had to bend to the blast, and always holding that it would be only a temporary occupation and that a way out would be found, the Cabinet yielded. He sent for President Schurman, of Cornell Univer- sity, who had opposed annexation and made him chair- man of the committee to visit the Filipinos; and later for Judge Taft, who had been prominent against such a violation of American policy, to go as Governor. When the Judge stated that it seemed; strange to send for one, who had publicly denounced annexation, the President said that was the very reason why he wished him for 364 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE the place. This was all very well, but to refrain from an- nexing and to relinquish territory once purchased are different propositions. This was soon seen. Mr. Bryan had it in his power at one time to defeat in the Senate this feature of the Treaty of Peace with Spain, I went to Washington to try to eflFect this, and remained there until the vote was taken. I was told that when Mr. Bryan was in Washington he had advised his friends that it would be good party policy to allow the treaty to pass. This would discredit the Repub- lican Party before the people; that "paying twenty mil- lions for a revolution" would defeat any party. There were seven staunch Bryan men anxious to vote against Philippine annexation. Mr. Bryan had called to see me in New York upon the subject, because my opposition to the purchase had been so pronounced, and I now wired him at Omaha ex- plaining the situation and begging him to wire me that his friends could use their own judgment. His reply was what I have stated — better have the Republicans ^pass it and let it then go before the people. I thought it unworthy of him to subordinate such an issue, fraught with deplorable consequences, to mere party politics. It required the casting vote of the Speaker to carry the measure. One word from Mr. Bryan would have saved the country from the disaster. I could not be cordial to him for years afterwards. He had seemed to me a man who was willing to sacrifice his coimtry and his personal convictions for party advantage. When I called upon President McKinley immediately after the vote, I condoled with him upon being depend- ent for support upon his leading opponent. I explained just how his victory had been won and suggested that he should send his grateful acknowledgments to Mr. THE PHILIPPINE QUESTION 885 Bryan. A Colonial possession thousands of miles away was a novel problem to President McKinley, and indeed to all American statesmen. Nothing did they know of the troubles and dangers it would involve. Here the Re- public made its first grievous international mistake — a mistake which dragged it into the vortex of inter- national militarism and a great navy. What a change has come over statesmen since! At supper with President Roosevelt at the White House a few weeks ago (1907), he said: "If you wish to see the two men in the United States who are the most anxious to get out of the Philippines, here they are," pointing to Secretary Taft and himself. "Then why don't you?'' I responded. "The American people would be glad indeed." But both the President and Judge Taft believed our duty required us to prepare the Islands for self-govern- ment first. This is the policy of "Don't go into the water until you learn to swim." But the plunge has to be and will be taken some day. It was urged that if we did not occupy the Philip- pines, Germany would. It never occurred to the urgers that this would mean Britain agreeing that Germany should establish a naval base at Macao, a short sail from Britain's naval base in the East. Britain would as soon permit her to establish a base at Kingston, Ireland, eighty miles from Liverpool. I was surprised to hear men — men like Judge Taft, although he was opposed at first to the annexation — give this reason when we were discussing the question after the fatal step had fbeen taken. But we know little of foreign relations. I We have hitherto been a consolidated country. It will I be a sad day if we ever become anything otherwise. CHAPTER XXIX MEETING THE GERMAN EMPEROR MY first Rectorial Address to the students of St. Andrews University attracted the attention of the German Emperor, who sent word to me in New York by Herr BaUin that he had read every word of it. He also sent me by him a copy of his address upon his eldest son's consecration. Invitations to meet him fol- lowed; but it was not imtil June, 1907, that I could leave, owing to other engagements. Mrs. Carnegie and I went to Kiel. Mr. Tower, our American Ambassador to Germany, and Mrs. Tower met us there and were very kind in their attentions. Through them we met many of the distinguished pubhc men during our three days* stay there. The first morning, Mr. Tower took me to register on the Emperor's yacht. I had no expectation of seeing the Emperor, but he happened to come on deck, and seeing Mr. Tower he asked what had brought him on the yacht so early. Mr. Tower explained he had brought me over to register, and that Mr. Carnegie was on board. He asked : "Why not present him now? I wish to see him." I was talking to the admirals who were assembling for a conference, and did not see Mr. Tower and the Em- peror approaching from behind. A touch on my shoulder and I turned around. ^ "Mr. Carnegie, the Emperor." It was a moment before I realized that the Emperor was before me. I raised both hands and exclaimed: "This has happened just as I could have wished. TALK WITH THE KAISER 367 with no ceremony, and the Man of Destiny dropped from the clouds." Then I continued: ''Your Majesty, I have traveled two nights to accept your generous invitation, and never did so before to meet a crowned head." Then the Emperor, smiling — and such a captivating smile: "Oh! yes, yes, I have read your books. You do not like kings." "No, Your Majesty, I do not like kings, but I do like a man behind a king when I find him." "Ah! there is one king you like, I know, a Scottish king, Robert the Bruce. He was my hero in my youth. I was brought up on him." "Yes, Your Majesty, so was I, and he lies buried in Dunfermline Abbey, in my native town. When a boy, I used to walk often around the towering square monu- ment on the Abbey — one word on each block in big stone letters 'King Robert the Bruce' — with all the fervor of a Catholic counting his beads. But Bruce was much more than a king. Your Majesty, he was the leader of his people. And not the first; Wallace the man of the people comes first. Your Majesty, I now own King Malcolm's tower in Dunfermline * — he from whom you derive your precious heritage of Scottish blood. Perhaps you know the fine old ballad, 'Sir Patrick Spens.' " * The King sits in Dunfermline tower Drinking the bluid red wine.' I should like to escort you some day to the tower of ^ In the deed of trust conveying Pittencrieflf Park and Glen to Dun- fermline an unspecified reservation of property was made. The "with cer- tain exceptions " related to King Malcolm's Tower. For reasons best known to himself Mr. Carnegie retained the ownership of this relic of the past. 368 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE your Scottish ancestor, that you may do homage to his memory." He exclaimed: "That would be very fine- The Scotch are much quicker and cleverer than the Germans. The Germans are too slow." "Your Majesty, where anything Scotch is concerned, I must decline to accept you as an impartial judge." He laughed and waved adieu, calling out: "You are to dine with me this evening" — and ex- cusing himself went to greet the arriving admirals. About sixty were present at the dinner and we had a pleasant time, indeed. His Majesty, opposite whom I sat, was good enough to raise his glass and invite me to drink with him. After he had done so with Mr. Tower, our Ambassador, who sat at his right, he asked across the table — heard by those near — whether I had told Prince von Bulow, next whom I sat, that his (the Em- peror's) hero, Bruce, rested in my native town of Dun- fermline, and his ancestor's tower in Pittencrieff Glen, was in my possession. "No," I replied; "with Your Majesty I am led into such frivolities, but my intercourse with your Lord High Chancellor, I assure you, will always be of a seri- ous import." We dined with Mrs. Goelet upon her yacht, one evening, and His Majesty being present, I told him President Roosevelt had said recently to me that he wished custom permitted him to leave the country so he could run over and see him (the Emperor). He thought a substantial talk would result in something good being accomplished. I believed that also. The Emperor agreed and said he wished greatly to see him and hoped he would some day come to Germany. I suggested that he (the Emperor) was free from con- THE KAISER ON ROOSEVELT 369 stitutional barriers and could sail over and see the President. "Ah, but my country needs me here! How can I leave?" I replied : "Before leaving home one year, when I went to our mills to bid the officials good-bye and expressed regret at leaving them all hard at work, sweltering in the hot sun, but that I found I had now every year to rest and yet no matter how tired I might be one half -hour on the bow of the steamer, cutting the Atlantic waves, gave me perfect relief, my clever manager. Captain Jones, retorted: 'And, oh. Lord! think of tie reUef we all get/ It might be the same with your people. Your Majesty." He laughed heartily over and over again. It opened a new train of thought. He repeated his desire to meet President Roosevelt, and I said: "Well, Your Majesty, when you two do get together, I think I shall have to be with you. You and he, I fear, might get into mischief." He laughed and said : "Oh, I see! You wish to drive us together. Well, I agree if you make Roosevelt first horse, I shall follow." "Ah, no. Your Majesty, I know horse-flesh better than to attempt to drive two such gay colts tandem. You never get proper purchase on the first horse, I must yoke you both in the shafts, neck and neck, so I can hold you in." I never met a man who enjoyed stories more keenly than the Emperor. He is fine company, and I believe an earnest man, anxious for the peace and progress of the world. Suffice it to say he insists that he is, and always has been, for peace. [1907.] He cherishes the fact that he has reigned for twenty-four years and has 370 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE never shed human blood. He considers that the German navy is too small to affect the British and was never in- tended to be a rival. Nevertheless, it is in my opinion very unwise, because unnecessary, to enlarge it. Prince von Biilow holds these sentiments and I believe the peace of the world has little to fear from Germany. Her in- terests are all favorable to peace, industrial develop- ment being her aim; and in this desirable field she is certainly making great strides. I sent the Emperor by his Ambassador, Baron von Sternberg, the book, "The Roosevelt Policy," ^ to which I had written an introduction that pleased the Presi- dent, and I rejoice in having received from him a fine bronze of himself with a valued letter. He is not only an Emperor, but something much higher — a man anxious to improve existing conditions, untiring in his efforts to promote temperance, prevent dueling, and, I believe, to secure International Peace. I have for some time been haunted with the feeling that the Emperor was indeed a Man of Destiny. My interviews with him have strengthened that feeling. I have great hopes of him in the future doing something really great and good. He may yet have a part to play that will give him a place among the immortals. He has ruled Germany in peace for twenty-seven years, but something beyond even this record is due from one who has the power to establish peace among civilized nations through positive action. Maintaining peace in his own land is not suflBcient from one whose invitation to other leading civilized nations to combine and establish arbi- tration of all international disputes would be gladly re- sponded to. Whether he is to pass into history as only * The Roosevelt Policy : Speeches, Letters and State Papers relativg to Cor- porate Wealth and closely Allied Topics. New York, 1908. ANDREW CARNEGIE AT SKIBO (1914) THE KAISER AND WORLD PEACE 371 the preserver of internal peace at home or is to rise to his appointed mission as the Apostle of Peace among leading civilized nations, the future has still to reveal. The year before last (1912) I stood before him in the grand palace in Berlin and presented the American address of congratulation upon his peaceful reign of twenty-five years, his hand unstained by human blood. As I approached to hand to him the casket containing the address, he recognized me and with outstretched arms, exclaimed: "Carnegie, twenty-five years of peace, and we hope for many more," I could not help responding: "And in this noblest of all missions you are our chief ally." He had hitherto sat silent and motionless, taking the successive addresses from one oflBcer and handing them to another to be placed upon the table. The chief sub- ject under discussion had been World Peace, which he could have, and in my opinion, would have secured, had he not been surrounded by the military caste which inevitably gathers about one born to the throne — a caste which usually becomes as permanent as the po- tentate himself, and which has so far in Germany proved its power of control whenever the war issue has been presented. Until militarism is subordinated, there can be no World Peace. As I read this to-day [1914], what a change! The world convulsed by war as never before! Men slaying each other like wild beasts! I dare not relinquish all hope. In recent days I see another ruler coming for- ward upon the world stage, who may prove himself the immortal one. The man who vindicated his country's 372 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE honor in the Panama Canal toll dispute is now Presi- dent. He has the indomitable will of genius, and true hope which we are told, "Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings." Nothing is impossible to genius! Watch President Wil- son! He has Scotch blood in his veins. [Here the manuscript ends abruptly.] BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INDEX BIBLIOGRAPHY Mr, Carnegie's chief publications are as follows: An American Four-in-Hand in Britain, New York, 1884. Round the World. New York, 1884. Triumphant Democracy, or Fifty Years^ March of the Republic. New York, 1886. The Gospel of Wealth and Other Timely Essays. New York, 1900. The Empire of Business, New York, 1903. James Watt. New York, 1905. Problems of To-day. Wealth — Labor — Socialism. New York, 1908. He was a contributor to English and American magazines and newspapers, and many of the articles as well as many of his speeches have been published in pamphlet form. Among the latter are the addresses on Edwin M. Stanton, Ezra Cornell, William Chambers, his pleas for international peace, his numerous dedi- catory and founders day addresses. A fuller list of these publica- tions is given in Margaret Barclay Wilson's A Carnegie Anthology, privately printed in New York, 1915. A great many articles have been written about Mr. Carnegie, but the chief sources of information are : Alderson (Bernard) . Andrew Carnegie. The Man and His ' Work. New York, 1905. Berglund (Abraham). The United States Steel Corporation. New York, 1907. Carnegie (Andrew). How I served My Apprenticeship as a Busi- ness Man. Reprint from Youth's Companion. April 23, 1896, Cotter (Arundel). Authentic History of the United States Steel Corporation. New York, 1916. Hubbard (Elbert). Andrew Carnegie. New York, 1909, (Amusing, but inaccurate.) Mackie (J. B.). Andrew Carnegie. His Dunfermline Ties and Bene- factions. Dunfermline, n. d. Manual of the Public Benefactions of Andrew Carnegie. Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Wash- ington, 1919. 376 BIBLIOGRAPHY Memorial Addresses on ike Life and Work of Andrew Carnegie, New York, 1920. Memorial Service in Honor of Andrew Carnegie on his Birthday, Tuesday, November 25, 1919. Carnegie Music Hall, Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania. Pittencrieff Glen: Its Antiquities, History and Legends. Dunferm- line, 1903. PoYNTON (John A.). A Millionaire's Mail Bag. New York, 1915, (Mr. Poynton was Mr. Carnegie's secretary.) Pritchett (Henry S.) . Andrew Carnegie. Anniversary Address before Carnegie Institute, November 24, 1915. Schwab (Charles M.) . Andrew Carnegie. His Methods with His Men. Address at Memorial Service, Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, November 25, 1919. Wilson (Margaret Barclay). A Carnegie Anthology, Privately printed. New York, 1915. INDEX Abbey, Edwin A., 298. Abbott, Rev. Lyman, 285. Abbott, William L., becomes partner of Mr. Carnegie, 201. Accounting system, importance of, 135. 136, 204. Acton. Lord, library bought by Mr. Carnegie, 325. Adams, Edwin, tragedian, 49. Adams Express Company, investment in, 79. Addison, Leila, friend and critic of young Carnegie, 97. Aitken, Aimt, 8, 22, 30. 50, 51, 77, 78. Alderson, Barnard, Andrew Carnegie^ quoted, 282 n. Allegheny City, the Carnegies in, 30, 31, 34; public library and hall. 259. Allegheny Valley Railway, bonds mar- keted by Mr. Carnegie, 167-71. Allison, Senator W. B., 124. 125. Altoona, beginnings of, 66. American Four-in-Hand in Britain^ Auy Mr. Carnegie's first book. 6; quoted, 27, 318 n.\ published, 212. 322. Anderson, Col, James, and his library, 45-47. Arnold, Edwin, gives Mr. Carnegie the MS. of The Light of Asia, 207. Arnold, Matthew, quoted, 206, 207. 302; visits Mr. Carnegie. 216, 299, 301; a charming man. 298; seriously religious, 299; as a lecturer.' 299, 300; and Henry Ward Beecher, 300; on Shakespeare, 302; and Josh Billings, 303-05; in Chicago, 305, 306; me- morial to, 308. Baldwin, William H., 277. Balfour, Prime Minister, 269-71; as a philosopher, 323, 324. Balfour of Burleigh, Lord, and Trust for the Universities of Scotland, 269, 270. 272. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Mr. Car- negie's relations with, 125-29. Baring Brother, dealings with. 168, 169. Barryman. Robert, an ideal Tom Bow- ling, 28, 29. Bates. David Homer, quoted, 45, 46, 100. Beeoher, Henry Ward, and Matthew Arnold. 300; and Robert G. Ingersoll, 800. 301; on Herbert Spencer. 336, 337. Behring Sea question. 350, 353-55. Bessemer steel process, revolutionized steel manufacture, 184. 185, 229. Billings, Dr. J. S.. of the New York Public Libraries, 259; director of the Carnegie Institution. 260. Billings, Josh, 295; and Matthew Ar- nold, 303-05; anecdotes, 304, 305.^ Bismarck, Prince, disturbs the financial world, 169. Black, William, 298. ^ Blaine, James G.. visits Mr. Carnegie, 216; and Mr. Gladstone, 320, 321, 328; a good story-teller, 341-43, 357; his Yorktown address, 341 ; at Cluny Castle, 344; misses the Presidency, 345; as Secretary of State, 345, 352- 56; at the Pan-American Congress, 346. Bliss, Cornelius N.. 363. Borntraeger, William, 136; put in charge of the Union Iron Mills, 198; anec- dotes of. 199-201. Botta, Professor and Madame, 150. Braddock's Cooperative Society, 250. Bridge-building, of iron, 1 15-29 ; at Steubenville. 116, 117; at Keokuk, Iowa. 154; at St. Louis, 155. Bright, John, 11; and George Peabody, 282. British Iron and Steel Institute, 178, 180. Brooks, David, manager of the Pitts- burgh telegraph office, 36-38, 57-59. Brown University, John Hay Library at, 275. Bruce, King Robert, 18, 367. Bryan, William J., and the treaty with Spain, 364. Bull Run, battle of, 100. Btllow, Prince von, 368, 370. Bums. Robert, quoted, 3. 13. 33, 307. 313; Dean Stanley on, 271; rules of conduct, 271, 272. Burroughs. John, and Ernest Thompson Seton. 293. Butler, Gen. B. P., 99. Cable. George W., 295. Calvinism, revolt from, 22, 23, 74, 75. Carabria Iron Company, 186. 378 INDEX Cameron, Simon, in Lincoln's Cabinet, 102, 103; a man of sentiment, 104; anecdote of, 104, 105. Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 313; and Trust for the Universities of Scot- land, 269,271; Prime Minister, 312, 313. Carnegie, Andrew, grandfather of A. C, 2, 3. Carnegie, Andrew, birth, 2; ancestry, 2- 6; fortmiate in his birthplace, 6-8; childhood in Dunfermline, 7-18; a vio- lent young republican, 10-12; goes to school, 13-15, 21; early usefulness to his parents, 14; learns history from his Uncle Lauder, 15, 16; intensely Scot- tish, 16, 18; trained in recitation, 20; power to memorize, 21; animal pets, 23; early evidence of organizing power, 24, 43; leaves Dunfermline, 25; sails for America, 28; on the Erie Canal, 29, 30; in Allegheny City, 30; becomes a bobbin boy, 34; works in a bobbin factory, 35, 36; telegraph mes- senger, 37-44; first real start in life, 38, 39; first communication to the press, 45; cultivates taste for litera- ture, 46, 47; love for Shakespeare stimulated, 48, 49; Swedenborgian infiuen'?^, '^O; t^ste for music aroused, 51; first wage raise, 55; learns to tele- graph, 57, 68, 61; becomes a telegraph operator, 59. Railroad experience: Clerk and operator for Thomas A. Scott, division superintendent of Pennsylvania Rail- road, 63; loses pay-rolls, 67; an anti- slavery partisan, 68, 9Q; employs wo- men as telegraph operators, 69 ; takes unauthorized responsibility, 71, 72; in temporary charge of division, 73; theological discussions, 74-76; first in- vestment, 79; transferred to Altoona, 84; invests in building of sleeping- cars, 87; made division superintendent on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 91; re- turns to Pittsburgh, 92; gets a house at Homewood, 94; Civil War service, 9^109; gift to Kenyon College, 106; first serious illness, 109; first return to Scotland, 110-13; organizes rail- making and locomotive works, 115; also a company to build iron bridges, 116-18; bridge-building, 119-29; be- gins making iron, 130-34; introduces cost accounting system, 135, 136, 204; becomes interested in oil wells, 136- 39; mistaken for a, noted exhorter, 140; leaves the railroad company, 140, 141. Period of acquisition: Travels ex- tensively in Europe, 142, 143; deepen- ing appreciation of art and music, 143; builds coke works, 144, 145; attitude toward protective tariff, 146-48; opens an office in New York, 149; joins the Nineteenth Century Club, 150; opposed to speculation, 151-54; builds bridge at Keokuk, 154; and another at St. Louis, 155-57; dealings with the Morgans, 155-57, 169-73; gives public baths to Dunfermline, 157; his ambitions at thirty-three, 157, 158; rivalry with Pullman, 159; proposes forming Pullman Palace Car Company, 160; helps the Union Pacific Railway through a crisis, 162, 163; becomes a director of that com- pany, 164; but is forced out, 165; fric- tion with Mr. Scott, 165, 174; floats bonds of the Allegheny Valley Rail- way, 167-71 ; negotiations with Baring Brothers, 168, 169; some business rules, 172-75, 194, 224, 231; concen- trates on manufacturing, 176, 177; president of the British Iron and Steel Institute, 178; begins making pig iron, 178, 179; proves the value of chemistry at a blast fiu-nace, 181-83; making steel ra^Is, 184-89; in the panic of 1873, 189-93; parts with Mr. Kloman, 194-97; some of his partners, 198-203; goes around the world, 204- 09; his philosophy of life, 206, 207; Dunfermline confers the freedom of the town, 210; coaching in Great Britain, 211, 212; dangerously ill, 212, 213; death of his mother and brother, 212, 213; courtship, 213, 214; mar- riage, 215; presented with the freedom of Edinburgh, 215; birth of his daugh- ter, 217; buys Skibo Castle, 217; man- ufactures Spiegel and ferro-manga- nese, 220, 221 ; buys mines, 221-23; ac- quires the Prick Coke Company, 222; buys the Homestead steel mills, 225; progress between 1888 and 1897, 226; the Homestead strike, 228-33; suc- ceeds Mark Hanna on executive com- mittee of the National Civic Federa- tion, 234; incident of Burgomaster McLuckie, 235-39; some labor dis- putes, 240-54; dealing with a mill com- mittee, 241, 242; breaking a strike, 243-46; a sliding scale of wages, 244- 47; beating a bully, 248; settling dif- ferences by conference, 249, 250, 252; workmen's savings, 251. Period of distribution: Carnegie Steel Company sells out to United INDEX 379 States Steel Corporation. 255, 256; Andrew Carnegie Relief Fund estab- lished for men in the mills, 256, 257, 281; libraries built, 259; Carnegie In- stitution founded, 259-61; hero funds established for several countries, 262- 67; pension fund for aged professors, 268-71; trustee of Cornell University. 268; Lord Rector of St. Andrews, 271- 73; aid to American colleges, 274, 275, 277 n.; connection with Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes, 276, 277; gives organs to many churches, 278. 279; private pension fund, 279, 280; Railroad Pension Fund, 280; early in- terested in peace movements, 282, 283; on a League of Nations, 284 n.; provides funds for Temple of Peace at The Hague, 284, 285; president of the Peace Society of New York, 285, 286; decorated by several governments, 286; buys Pittencrieff Glen and gives it to Dunfermline, 286-90; friendship with Earl Grey, 290; other trusts es- tablished, 290 n.; dinners of the Car- negie Veteran Association, 291, 292; the Literary Dmner, 292, 293; rela- tions with Mark Twain, 294-97; with Matthew Arnold, 298-308; with Josh Billings, 302-05; first meets Mr. Glad- stone, 309, 330, 331; estimate of Lord Rosebery, 309-11; his own name often misspelled, 310; attachment to Har- court and Campbell-Bannerman, 312; and the Earl of Elgin, 313, 314; his Freedom-getting career, 314, 316; opinion on British municipal govern- ment, 314-17; visits Mr. Gladstone at Hawarden, 318, 319, 328, 329; inci- dent of the Queen's Jubilee, 320, 321; relations with J. G. Blame, 320, 321, 328, 341-46; friendship with John Morley, 322-28; estimate of Elihu Root, 324; buys Lord Acton's library, 325; on Irish Home Rule, 327; at- tempts newspaper campaign of politi- cal progress, 330; writes Triumphant Democracy, 330-32; a disciple of Her- bert Spencer, 333-40; delegate to the Pan-American Congress, 346, 350 , entertains President Harrison, 347, 348 ; founds Carnegie Institute at Pittsburgh, 348; influence in the Chil- ian quarrel, 350-52; suggests Mr. Shiras for the Supreme Court, 353; on the Behring Sea dispute, 354, 355; opinion of Mr. Blaine, 355, 357; rela- tions with John Hay, 358-61; and with President McKinley, 359, 363; on annexation of the Philippines, 362- 65; criticism of W. J. Bryan, 364; im- pressions of the German emperor, 366-71; hopeful of President Wilson, 371, 372. Carnegie, Louise Whitfield, wife of A. C, 215-19; charmed by Scotland, 215; her enjoyment of the pipers, 216; the Peace-Maker, 218; honored with freedom of Dunfermline, 271; first honorary member of Carnegie Vet- eran Association, 292. Carnegie, Margaret Morrison, mother of A. C, 6, 12; reticent on religious sub- jects, 22, 50; a wonderful woman, 31, 32, 38, 88-90; gives bust of Sir Walter Scott to Stirling, 157; lays corner stone of Carnegie Library in Dunferm- line, 211; death of, 212, 213; advice to Matthew Arnold, 299. Carnegie, Margaret, daughter of A. C, born, 217. Carnegie, Thomas Morrison, brother of A. C, 25; a favorite of Col. Piper, 118, 119; interested in iron-making, 130; friendship with Henry Phipps, 1 32 ; marries Lucy Coleman, 149 ; death of, 212, 213. Carnegie, William, father of A. C, 2; a damask weaver, 8, 12, 13, 25, 30; a radical republicanjl;jil?graljui theol- ogy, 22, 23; worliis m'a^cotton factory in Allegheny City, 84; one of the founders of a library in Dunfermline, 48; a sweet singer, 52; shy and re- served, 62; one of the most lovable of men, 63; death of, 63, 77. "Carnegie," the wood-and-bronze yacht, 260, 261. Carnegie Brothers & Co., 129, 225, 226. Carnegie Corporation of New York, 290 n. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 286 n. Carnegie Endowment for the Advance- ment of Learning, 268. Carnegie Hero Fund, 262-66. Carnegie Institute at Pittsburgh, 269, 348. Carnegie Institution, 259, 260. Carnegie, EZoman & Co., 196, 197. Carnegie, McCandless & Co., 201. Carnegie, Phipps & Co., 226. Carnegie ^Relief Fund, for Carnegie workmen, 266. Carnegie Steel Company, 256. Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, trustees of, 269; duties of, 270, 271. Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, 290 n. Carnegie Veteran Association, 291, 292. 380 INDEX "Cavendish" (Henry Jones), anecdote of, 315. Central Transportation Company, 159, 161. Chamberlain, Joseph, 326, 327, 356, Chemistry, value of, in iron manxifac- ture, 181, 182, 223. Chicago, "dizzy on cult," 305, 306. Chili, quarrel with, 350-53. Chisholm, Mr., Cleveland iron manu- facturer, 184, Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 355, 356, 360. Clemens, Samuel L., see Twain, Mark. Cleveland, Frances, Library at Wellesley College, 275. ^ Cleveland, President, 283; and tariff re- vision, 147. Cluny Castle, Scotland, 217; Mr. Blaine at, 344. Coal-washing, introduced into America by George Lauder, 144. Cobbett, William, 4. Coke, manufactxire of, 144, 145, 221. Coleman, Lucy, afterwards Mrs. Thomad Carnegie, 149. Coleman, William, interested in oil wells, 136-40; and in coke, 144; manu- facturer of steel rails, 186; anecdote of, 192; sells out to Mr. Carnegie, 202. Columbia University, 274 n. Confucius, quoted, 50, 52, 340. Constant, Baron d'Estoumelles de, 286. Conway, Moncure D., Autobiography quoted, 274. Cooperative store, 250. Corn Law agitation, the, 8, Cornell University, salaries of profes- sors, 268. Cowley, William, 46. Cremer, William Randall, receives Nobel Prize for promotion of peace, 283, 284 n. Cresson Springs, Mr. Carnegie's summer home in the AUeghanies, 213, 307, Cromwell, Oliver, 15. Crystal Palace, London, 143. Curry, Henry M., 181; becomes a part- ner of Mr. Carnegie, 201. Cyclops MUls, 133, 134. Damask trade in Scotland, 2, 8, 12, 13. Dawes, Anna L., How we are Oovernedt 327 Dennis, Prof. F. S., 213, 214. Dickinson College, Conway Hall at, 274. Disestablishment of the English Church, 329. Dodds process, the, for carbonizing the heads of iron rails, 186. Dodge, William E., 260. Donaldson, Principal, of St. Andrews University, 273, Douglas, Euphemia (Mrs. Sloane), 29. Drexel, Anthony, 175, 205. Dunfermline, birthplace of Mr. Car- negie, 2, 6; a radical town, 10; libraries in, 48; revisited, 110-12, 157; gives Mr. Carnegie the freedom of the town, 210; Carnegie Library in, 211; confers freedom of the town on Mrs. Carne- gie, 271. Dunfermline Abbey, 6, 7, 17, 18, 26, 27, 111. Durrant, President, of the Union Pacific Railway, 159, Eads, Capt. James B., 119, 120. Edgar Thomson Steel Company, 188, 189, 201, 202. Education, compulsorv, 34. Edwards, "Billy." 249, 250. Edwards, Passmore, 330. Elgin, Earl of, and Trust for the Univer- sities of Scotland. 269-72. 313, 314. Elkins, Sen. Stephen B., and Mr. Blaine, 344, 345, 352, 359. Emerson, Ralph Waldo, anecdote of, 335. Endorsing notes, 173, 174. Erie Canal, the, 29, 30. Escanaba Iron Company, 194-97, 220. Evans, Captain ("Fighting Bob"), as government inspector, 199. Evarts, William M., 336 n. Fahnestock, Mr., Pittsburgh financier, 41. Farmer, President, of Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Co., 5. Ferguson, Ella (Mrs. Henderson), 25. Ferro-manganese, manufactiu'e of, 220. Fleming, Marjory, 20. Flower, Governor Roswell P., and the tariff, 147, 148. Forbes, Gen. John, Laird of Pittencrieff, 188. Pranciscus, Mr., freight agent at Pitts- burgh, 72. Franciscus, Mrs., 80. Franklin, Benjamin, and St. Andrews University, 272; quoted, 340. Frick, Henry C, 222. Frick Coke Company, 222, 226. Fricke, Dr., chemist at the Lucy Fiur- nace, 182. Frissell, HoUis B., of Hampton Institute, 277. Garrett, John W., President of the Balti- more and Ohio Railroad, 125-29. General Education Board, 274. INDEX 381 Germany, and the Philippines, 365; Emperor William, 366-71. Gilder, Richard Watson, poem by, 262, 263; manager of the Literary Dinner, 292, 293; on Mr. Carnegie, 293 n., 340 n. Gilman, Daniel C, first president of the Carnegie Institution, 260. Gladstone, W. E., letter from, 233; and Matthew Arnold, 298; Mr. Carnegie and, 309, 327-31; his library, 318; devout and sincere, 319; anecdote of, 320; and J. G. Blaine, 321; and John Morley, 325, Glass, John P., 54, 55. God, each stage of civilization creates its own, 75. Gorman, Senator Arthur P., and the tariff, 147, 148. Oospel of Wealth, The, published, 255. Gould, Jay, 152. Grant, Gen. TJ, S., and Secretary Stan- ton, 106; some characteristics of, 107; unjustly suspected, 108. Greeley, Horace, 68, 81. Grey, Earl, trustee of Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, 290 and n. Hague Conference, 283, 284. Haldane, Lord Chancellor, error as to British manufactures, 331. Hale, Eugene, visits Mr. Carnegie, 216. Hale, Prof. George E.. of the Mount Wilson Observatory, 261. Halkett, Sir Arthur, killed at Braddock's defeat, 187. 188. Hamilton College, Elihu Root Founda- tion at, 275. Hampton Institute, 276. Hanna, Senator Mark, 233, 234, 359; Chair in Western Reserve University named for, 275. Harcourt, Sir William Vernon. 312. Harris, Joel Chandler, 295. Harrison, President Benjamin, opens Carnegie Hall at Allegheny City, 259, 347; his nomination, 344, 345; dispute with Chili, 350-53; the Behrmg Sea question, 350, 353-55. Hartman Steel Works, 226. Hawk. Mr., of the Windsor Hotel, New York, 150. Hay, Secretary John, comment on Lin- coln, 101, 102; visits Mr. Carnegie, 216; chairman of directors of Car- negie Institution, 260; Library, at Brown University, 275; as Secretary of State, 358; the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, 359; the Senate his bete noire, 360, 361. Hay, John, of Allegheny City, 34-37. Head-ication versus Hand-ication, 4. Henderson, Ebenezer, 5. Henderson, Ella Ferguson, 25, 55. Hero Fund, 262-66. Hewitt, Abram S., 260. Higginson, Maj. F. L., 260. Higginson, Col. Thomas Wentworth, 150. Hill, David Jayne, on the German Hero Fund. 263, 264. Hogan, Maria, 70. Hogan, Uncle. 36, 77. Holls. G. F. W., and the Hague Con- ference, 284. Holmes, Oliver Wendell, and the Mat- thew Arnold memorial, 307, 303. Homestead Steel Mills, consolidated with Carnegie Brothers & Co., 225, 226; strike at, 228-39; address of workmen to Mr. Carnegie, 257. Hughes. Courtney, 58. Huntington, Collis P., 205. Ignorance, the main root of industrial trouble, 240. In the Time of Peace, by Richard Watson Gilder. 262. 263. Ingersoll, Col. Robert G., 210, 300. Integrity, importance of, in business, 172. Ireland, Mr. Carnegie's freedom tour in, 314 71., 316. Irish Home Rule, 327. Irwin, Agnes, receives doctor's degree from St. Andrews University, 272, 273. Isle of Wight, 215. Jackson, Andrew, and Simon Cameron, 104, 105. Jewett, Thomas L., President of the Panhandle Railroad, 117. Jones, Henry ("Cavendish"), anecdote of. 31^. Jones, ("The Captam"), 202, 204, 241, 242, 369; prefers large salary to partnership, 203. Just by the Way, poem on Mr. Carnegie, 238. Kaiser Wilhelm, and Mr. Carnegie, 36&-71. Katte, Walter, 123. Keble, Bishop, godfather of Matthew Arnold, 298. Kelly. Mr., chairman of blast-furnaces committee, 241-43. Kennedy, Julian, 220. Kenyon College, gift to, 106; Stanton Chair of Economics, 275. 382 INDEX Keokuk, Iowa, 154. Keystone Bridge Works, 116, 122-28, 176. Keystone Iron Works, 130. Kilgraston, Scotland, 215, 216. Kind action never lost, 85, 86. King Edward VII, letter from, 264, 265, 326. Kloman, Andrew, partner with Mr. Carnegie, 130, 178, 179; a great me- chanic, 131, 134; in bankruptcy, 194- 96. Knowledge, sure to prove useful, 60. Knowles, James, on Tennyson, 337, 338. Koethen, Mr., choir leader, 51. Labor, some problems of, 240-54, Lang, Principal, 272. Lauder, George, imcle of A. C, 12, 28, 113, 287; teaches him history, 15-17; and recitation, 20. Lauder, George, cousin of A. C, 8, 17; develops coal-washing machinery, 144, 223. Lauder Technical College, 9, 15. Lehigh University, Mr. Carnegie gives Taylor Hall, 266. Lewis, Enoch, 91. Libraries, founded by Mr, Carnegie, 47, 48, 259. Library, public, usefulness of, 47. Lincoln, Abraham, some characteristics of, 101; second nomination sought, 104, 105. Linville, H. J., partner of Mr. Carnegie, 116, 120. Literatiore, value of a taste for, 46. Lloyd, Mr., banker at Altoona, 87. Lombaert, Mr., general superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 63, 66, 67, 73. Lucy Furnace, the, erected, 178; in charge of Henry Phipps, 181; en- larged, 183; gift from the workmen in, 257. 258. Lynch, Rev. Frederick, 285. Mabie, Hamilton Wright, quoted, 113. McAneny, George, 277. McCandless, David, 78, 186. McCargo, David, 42, 49, 69. McCullough, J. N., 173, 175. Macintosh, Mr., Scottish furniture man- ufacturer, 24. McKinley, President William, 358; and the Panama Canal, 359; and the Span- ish War, 361-65. McLuckie, Burgomaster, and Mr. Car- negie, 235-37. McMillan, Rev. Mr., Presbyterian min- ister, 74-76. Macdonald, Sir John, and the Behring Sea troubles, 354, 355. Mackie, J. B., quoted, 3, 9, Macy. V. Everit, 277. Martin, Robert, Mr. Carnegie's only schoolmaster, 13-15, 21. Mason and Slidell, 102. Mellon, Judge, of Pittsburgh, 1. Memorizing, benefit of, 21, 39. Mill, John Stuart, as rector of St. An- drews, 272. Miller, Thomas N., 45, 46, 110; on the doctrine of predestination, 75; part- ner with Mr. Carnegie, 115, 130, 133; death of, 130; sells his interest, 133, 134 Mills, D. O., 260. Mitchell, Dr. S. Wen-, 260. Morgan, J. Pierpont, 171, 172, 256. Morgan, Junius S., 155, 156, 170. Morgan, J. S., & Co., negotiations with, 169-72. Morland, W. C, 42. Morley, John, and Mr. Carnegie, 21, 22, 293; address at Carnegie Institute, 188; on Lord Rosebery, 311; on the Earl of Elgin, 314; on Mr. Carnegie, 322 n.; pessimistic, 322, 323; visits America, 324, 325; and Elihu Root, 324; and Theodore Roosevelt, 325; and Lord Acton's library, 325; and Joseph Chamberlain, 326, 327. Morley, R. F., 100 n. Morris, Leander, cousin of Mr. Car- negie, 51. Morrison, Bailie, uncle of Mr. Car- negie, 4-6, 9, 11, 210, 287, 312. Morrison, Margaret, see Carnegie, Mar- garet. Morrison, Thomas, maternal grand- father of Mr. Carnegie, 4-6, 287. Morrison, Thomas, second cousin of Mr. Carnegie, 145. Morton, Levi P., 165. Mount Wilson Observatory, 261, 262. Mimicipal government, British and American, 314-16. "Naig," Mr. Carnegie's nickname, 17. National Civic Federation, 234. National Trust Company, Pittsburgh, 224. Naugle, J, A., 237. New York, first impressions of, 28; busi- ness headquarters of America, 149. Nineteenth Century Club, New York, 150. Ocean surveys, 261. Ogden, Robert C, 277. INDEX 383 Oil wells. 136-39. Oliver, Hon. H. W., 42, 49. Omaha Bridge, 164, 165. Optimism, 3, 162; optimist and pessi- mist, 323. Organs, in churches, 278, 279. Our Coaching Trip, quoted. 48, 110; privately published, 212. Palmer, Courtlandt, 150. Panama Canal, 359, 360. 372. Pan-American Congress. 345, 346. Panic of 1873. the. 171. 172, 189-93. Park, James, pioneer steel-maker of Pittsburgh, 199, 200. Parliament, membership and meetings, 315. Partnership better than corporation, 221. Patiemuir College, 2. Pauncefote, Sir Julian, and Mr. Blaine, 355; the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. 359, 360. Peabody. George, his body brought home on the warship Monarch, 282. Peabody, George Foster, 277. Peace, Mr. Carnegie's work for, 282-86; Palace, at The Hague, 284. 285. Peace Society of New York, 285, 286. Peacock, Alexander R., partner of Mr. Carnegie, 203. Pennsylvania Railroad Company, builds first iron bridge, 115-17; aids Union Pacific Railway, 163, 164; aids Al- legheny Valley Railway, 167-71; aids Pennsylvania Steel Works, 185. See also Carnegie, Andrew, Railroad ex- perience. Pennsylvania Steel Works, the, 185. Pessimist and optimist, story of, 323. Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, 167-70. Philippines, the, annexation of, 358, 362 -65. Phillips, Col. William, 167, 168, 169. Phipps, Henry, 31, 130; advertises for work, 131, 132; crony and partner of Thomas Carnegie, 132; controversy over opening conservatories on Sun- day, 132, 133; European tour, 142; in charge of the Lucy Furnace, 181, 182; statement about Mr. Carnegie and his partners, 196, 197; goes into the steel business, 201. •Phipps, John, 46; killed, 76. Pig iron, manufacture of, 178, 179; im- portance of chemistry in, 181-84. Pilot Knob mine, 183. Piper, Col. John L., partner of Mr. Car- negie, 116, 117; had a craze for horses, 118, 121; attachment to Thomas Car- I negie, 118, 119; relations with James B. Eads. 120. Pitcairn, Robert, division superintend- ent, Pennsylvania Railroad, 42, 44, 49. 66. 189. Pittencrieff Glen, bought and given to Dunfermline, 286-89, 291. Pittsburgh, in 1850. 39-41 ; some of its leading men, 41; in 1860, 93; later de- velopment, 348. Pittsburgh, Bank of, 194. Pittsburgh Locomotive Works. 115. Pittsburgh Theater, 46, 48, 49. Political corruption, 109. Predestination, doctrine of, 75, Principals* Week, 272. Pritchett, Dr. Henry S., president of the Carnegie Endowment for the Advancement of Learning, 268. Private pension fund, 279, 280. Problems of To-day, quoted, 40, 217, Protective tariffs, 146-48. Prousser, Mr., chemist, 222. Public speaking, 210. Pullman, George M., 157, 159; forms Pullman Palace Car Company, 160, 161; anecdote of, 162; becomes a director of the Union Pacific, 164. Quality, the most important factor in success, 115, 122, 123. Queen's Jubilee, the (June, 1887), 320, 321. Quintana, Manuel, President of Argen- tina. 346. Railroad Pension Fund, 280. Rawlins, Gen. John A., and General Grant, 107, 108. Recitation, value of, in education, 20. Reed, Speaker Thomas B., 362. Reid, James D., and Mr. Carnegie, 59 and n. Reid, General, of Keokuk, 154. Republican Party, first national meet- ing, 68. Riddle, Robert M., 81. Ritchie, David, 139, 140. Ritter, Governor, of Pennsylvania, anecdote of, 342. Robinson, General, first white child born west of the Ohio River, 40. Rockefeller. John D., 274. Rogers, Henry H.. 296. Rolland School. 13. Roosevelt, Theodore, 260; and Elihu Root, 275; John Morley on, 325; re- jects the Arbitration Treaty, 360, 361; and the Philippines, 365. Root, Elihu, 260, 286 n.; fund named 384 INDEX fdr, at Hamilton College, 275; "ablest of all Our Secretaries of State," 275; on Mr. Carnegie, 276 ; and John Morley, 324. Rosebery, Lord, presents Mr. Carnegie with the freedom of Edinburgh. 215; relations with, 309, 310; handicapped by being born a peer, 310, 311. Ross, Dr. John, 269, 271 ; aids in buying Pittencrieff Glen, 288, 289; receives freedom of Dunfermline, 313, Round the W