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Andrew Carnegie Essay

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Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was born in Dumferline, Scotland, in November of 1935. His parents were Will and Margaret Carnegie. He also had a brother, Tom. The main income for the geographic location where he grew up was weaving linen. The people who engaged in this type of employment considered this an art since it had relatively unchanged since medieval times. Andrew's father was one of those craftsmen. Since there had been so little change in this type of work, they were really caught off guard when machine production came around. For some, this industrialization was good. The Carnegies were lead to believe that this was the way they should be headed. At first the returns were good for them, but prices and demand fell, and …show more content…

He hired Carnegie to be his personal telegrapher and to assist him in dispatching trains over the western division's mountainous main line. Here Andrew was able to really maximize the opportunity set before him. He did public relations work, observations into how shipments were made and received, and mastered the controlling of the division's operations. In 1859, Scott was promoted to vice-president and appointed Carnegie superintendent of the western division. This was Andrew's big break. His knowledge of operations and innovative thinking pushed him to the top of his field. From the years1859-1865, Carnegie expanded the road and increased traffic to an all time high. By doing this, cost per ton-mile fell. This process was his calling. The ability to lower costs. From there Carnegie learned how to make money without lifting a finger: investing. He also learned that it didn't matter whose money was being used for the transactions as long as the return exceeded the cost. It was this type of mentality that led him into investing in sleeping cars, oil companies, and bridge companies at that time. All of these business adventures were not all successes, though. The bottom line for him at this time was to invest no matter what. Carnegie also learned that he could make money off of selling bonds and shares of stock. He had an amazing ability to understand the working structures of the business world. Nothing could escape him. All of this knowledge seemed to be

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