Carnegie Left Behind a Legacy

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Andrew Carnegie once said: “Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community”. Carnegie believed that money is not good unless it was spread to everyone else. Maybe he believed this because he knew what it was like to be poor himself. At a young age, he started working in the local textile mill. The job paid very little, and it was not enough to pay for the small attic space he lived in, in Scotland. However, he demonstrated unique talents, so he was able to progress his way up to a Supervisor of the Penny’s Western Division and made himself $1,500 a year. He then further built his wealth from building steel mills, adding fields, railroads, ships and much more. Now, he can afford castles and mansions. He turned his life into a success in business and showed us a perfect example that even if we started off with nothing, if we work hard, we too can be successful. So, was Andrew Carnegie a hero or a villain? Andrew Carnegie is a hero because it shows how intelligent he was when it came to business, owned many businesses that opened up thousands of jobs for workers and gave millions of dollars to charity before he died. The first reason Andrew Carnegie is a hero was he was intelligent when it came to business. Andrew Carnegie takes something negative and turns it into a positive when he states that it is: “Not evil, but good, has come to the race from the accumulation of wealth by those who have the ability and energy to produce it” (Doc. 2). He shows his intelligence when he asserts that it is not wrong for someone to be extremely rich and others who are poor and big manufacturers are good because the prices are low, and we wouldn’t have to make the materials. It, however, is awful for the workers because they’re doing menial work for low pay. This reason is important because Carnegie is shown
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