LAD #21: Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth Summary

Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth
1889
Summary:

Andrew Carnegie was an extremely successful businessman through the wealth he obtained with the railroad industry, but as a person felt that this fortune was better spent on socially beneficial projects, and his idea became known as the "gospel of wealth."

Carnegie's main concern was how the wealth was administered throughout the country, responding with the notion that the rich and poor ought to bind together and benefit as one. He noted that not only had the conditions of their lives changed, but had actually 'revolutionized,' creating a vast contrast between the social classes. However, he stated that this change could be beneficial for the human race as a whole.

The wealthy businessman believed that wealth ought to have been shared among people and could be most readily shared through families leaving their money to their descendants, spent on public projects, or simply administered during the lives of the wealthy themselves. He felt that the rich had only made their money because of other people, and in the end ought to reimburse them and the public rather than squandering away their fortune. By using this method, in the end the wealth or property of one would become the wealth of many, and the sharing of this money would better society and perhaps civilization.

Andrew Carnegie concluded that it was the job of the wealthy man to set an example of living and spending for his descendants in order for their wisdom and experience to be passed down and to do what they could not.