In the United States, there is also a "king of steel" along with the names of big chaebols such as Ford, the king of automobiles, and Rockefeller, the king of oil. Carnegie Iron & Steel Company gained an advantage by building a large-scale steel joint venture from scratch, and maintained its position as the world's largest steel plant for decades, almost monopolizing the American steel market. Carnegie, together with Rockefeller and Morgan, was one of the three giants in American economic circles at that time. From a penniless immigrant to the world's richest man, the "King of Steel", and after his success, he donated almost all his wealth to society. The amount of his donation before his death was huge enough to be comparable to that of Nobel, a Swedish scientist and industrialist who set up the Nobel Prize after his death, thus becoming a hero and a model of personal struggle in the eyes of Americans.

In the United States, the name of Carnegie, the "King of Steel", is legendary and puzzling. Like Ford, the "automobile king" and Rockefeller, the "oil king", he once influenced the financial situation of the whole United States. But to the surprise of the world, at the peak of his career, he gave up everything, pursued another free and unrestrained life, and made great contributions to charity. He donated money to build the famous Carnegie Hall in new york, the Carnegie University in Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Library all over the world. This is Carnegie. For him, wealth is not the first. Enjoying life and making contributions to society are the true meaning of his life.

On November 25th, 1835, andrew carnegie was born in Danfermline, an ancient Scottish capital. Father Will Carnegie made a living by hand weaving linen plaid, while mother Maggie sewed shoes as a sideline. Although their parents are poor, they are honest and always full of enterprising spirit. This is a family that has inherited the glorious tradition of pride, self-reliance and self-esteem.

little Carnegie's grandfather was a cheerful, witty and humorous man with indomitable spirit. As the eldest grandson, Carnegie Jr. was named after his grandfather, andrew carnegie. He was proud to have such a grandfather since he was a child, and he was also proud to have his name all his life. His grandfather was a natural orator, an intelligent politician and an active local political leader. Perhaps it is the function of ancestors' genes. Carnegie was optimistic and eloquent since he was a child, which had a great influence on his life.

At the age of 13, with longing for the United States, Carnegie and his family came to new york Port on the east coast of the United States, and then moved to Pittsburgh. The life of immigrants is very hard. Little Carnegie worked as a child laborer during the day and went to night school at night, which was very hard. At the age of 14, he came to work as a messenger for the David Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh. Although he was not familiar with the road at that time, he made a promise to the company that he could memorize the routes of the whole city in a week. The manager of the company was moved by Carnegie's perseverance and left him. Carnegie also fulfilled his promise and became a skilled worker in the company.

Pittsburgh was not only the transportation hub of the United States, but also the material distribution center and industrial center. As an advanced communication tool, telegraph plays an extremely important role in this city where businessmen gather. Carnegie, who walks the streets and sends telegrams every day, is like entering a "business school." He is familiar with the name and characteristics of each company and understands the economic relations and business dealings between companies. Over time, he familiarized himself with this intangible "business encyclopedia", which benefited him a lot in his future career. Therefore, when Carnegie reviewed this period, he called it "the first step to climb the ladder of life."

in 1853, Scott, director of the western district of Pennsylvania Railway Company, took a fancy to Carnegie, who had superb telegraph technology, and hired him as a private telegraph operator and secretary with a monthly salary of $35. At that time, Carnegie was already an 18-year-old boy, and he entered the wider world with strong ambition.

During more than 1 years in Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Carnegie was promoted to the director of the company's western district at the age of 24 with an annual salary of $1,5, and gradually mastered the management skills of modern large enterprises. This skill was essential when he later organized a huge steel enterprise.

At the same time, Carnegie also seized the opportunity, tried his hand at first, participated in the investment, and succeeded frequently, and gradually accumulated small wealth, which laid a certain economic foundation for him to start a steel enterprise in the future.

in April 1865, the civil war ended, which created a lot of opportunities. Carnegie, at the age of 29, has achieved a little, but he is not satisfied. He wants to seize this critical stage of his life journey, start his own business and set up another portal. So he submitted his resignation to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

Before he resigned, Carnegie took people to repair bridges and roads, and he often thought about whether iron bridges could be used instead of wooden bridges. Although there were many steel factories in Pittsburgh at that time, it was still in its infancy. In 1862, he founded a company to build iron bridges with several friends. On July 4, 1863, both sides of the Civil War began to use warships to confront Carnegie, warning him that the era of sailing had passed and the era of steel was coming. So, after resigning, he traveled to Europe, visited the steel research institute in London, decisively bought a steel patent invented by the Dodds brothers, and also bought a patent for coke washing and reduction. He believed that these two patents would bring endless wealth.

Back in Carnegie, USA, I started to work hard. He gathered the scattered funds together and merged the two companies he had previously invested in to form a joint iron making company. At that time, the iron and steel production and operation in the United States was extremely scattered, from mining and ironmaking to finally making finished products such as rails and iron plates, which had to go through many manufacturers. In addition, middlemen increase the price in each production and sales link, which leads to the high cost of the final product. Carnegie is well aware of these disadvantages of traditional steel enterprises, and he is determined to build a brand-new modern steel company that integrates supply, production and sales throughout the production process.

Carnegie's ideal is slowly coming true, and his work is getting busier and busier. While he is running around the clock for the company, he suddenly receives an urgent telegram from his old boss and benefactor, Scott. When he hurried to Scott's office, he found that Morgan, a famous investor, was there. It turned out that Scott's loan to Morgan expired and needed $25,, waiting for Carnegie's help. In the face of arrogant Morgan and anxious Scott, Carnegie was very unhappy. If Scott hadn't been promoted at the beginning, he would still be a poor boy, not to mention that he had given so much help at the beginning of his career, but if he gave this $25,, his steel company would be ruined!

Carnegie finally refused to help. This is just the beginning. With the great economic panic in 1873, more and more people were doomed to bankruptcy. At the beginning, the partners, the Coleman brothers and my brother's father-in-law, all had to sell their shares to Carnegie. Finally, in 189, Carnegie changed the name of the company to Carnegie Steel Company, and the capital increased to 25 million US dollars. He held more than half of the shares in the company.

Although some people called him "despicable Carnegie" at that time, there is no denying Carnegie's contribution to the steel industry and his unique vision. When he took the first step into the steel industry, he began to boldly introduce the most advanced production technology and talents, drastically improve production management, constantly improve steel production technology, reduce costs, and make himself successful again and again.

By the end of 19th century and the beginning of 2th century, Carnegie Steel Company had become the largest steel enterprise in the world. It has more than 2, employees and the most advanced equipment in the world. Its annual output exceeds the national steel production in Britain, and its annual income reaches 4 million US dollars. Carnegie is the largest shareholder of the company, but he doesn't hold the position of chairman or general manager. His success depends to a great extent on his appointment of a group of talents who understand technology and management. Today, people often quote his famous saying: "If all the equipment and materials in my factory are burned down, but as long as I keep my whole class, I will still be a king of steel in a few years."

As early as one day at the end of December 1866, Carnegie wrote such a memo: "Life must have an aim, and making money is the worst goal. There is no idol worship worse than the worship of wealth. " But later, he has been immersed in the business sea. This thing has long been thrown away.

But just 2 years later, many unfortunate things happened, which made Carnegie's life begin to change greatly. In October 1886, my younger brother Tom, who grew up and struggled together with Carnegie, died. Immediately after that, my mother could not bear such a blow and then left the world. Carnegie, who was very filial since he was a child, couldn't accept such a blow. He had a high fever for six weeks in a row, and his living relatives left him one by one. He felt so lonely for the first time, so in 1887, Carnegie, who was not married for more than half a century, and his fiancee who had been engaged for many years walked into the church. But the tragedy didn't end there. In 1889, director Jones, Carnegie's right-hand man, died because of the blast furnace explosion, which was another heavy blow. Although, before this, Carnegie believed in the oriental tradition and studied Confucius' works and Buddhist scriptures, he never put it into action. This time, he began to really face the cruel facts and became sober.

For several days, he has been thinking about the road he has traveled: from a small messenger, a descendant of a poor immigrant to a millionaire and multimillionaire today. What's the use of holding so much wealth in my hand? My childhood dreams have all been realized, but why can't I be happy in my heart? Now that my relatives have left one by one, my friends who have abandoned me will never come back. What is the purpose of making money? Finally, he came to such a conclusion: "If the rich can't use his talent of accumulating wealth and donate his wealth for the benefit of society before his death, then it is disgraceful to die."

In 19, he announced in his book The Gospel of Wealth: "I no longer try to earn more wealth." So, he resolutely retired from his booming steel industry and sold Carnegie Steel Company to Morgan, the financial magnate, for $5 million. Then, he began to implement his great plan of dedicating wealth to society.

From then on, until Carnegie died on August 11th, 1919, Carnegie's life changed greatly in the past 2 years. In 191, the first year after he retired, he first set up a relief and pension fund for steelworkers with $5 million to thank the employees who helped him succeed in his career. Then, in order to help young people who were ambitious and then poor, he donated money to set up 68 libraries in new york. The construction of this library lasted for 16 years, and he donated 12 million dollars to set up 3,5 libraries.

The following year, Carnegie founded Carnegie University in Pittsburgh, his second hometown. Later, various schools and educational institutions were founded in the United States and Britain. Such donations for the construction of educational facilities amount to as much as $9 million.

In the following years, Carnegie established several more funds. He donated $5 million to set up a "fund for saving others" and $39 million to set up a "retirement fund for university professors" to protect educators' old age. He also set up "Presidential Retirement Fund" and "Writers Fund" to provide financial support to American presidents or writers in their later years. In addition, he provided the "Carnegie Celebrity Fund" to 11 countries, and set up the "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace" with 1 million US dollars to support people who have made contributions to world peace.

In 1911, the elderly Carnegie couple were deeply exhausted because they had been directly involved in the donation work for 1 years. Therefore, Carnegie decided to set up the "Carnegie Company" with only the remaining $15 million, and let the company staff represent their donation work.

For young people who want to start a business, Carnegie once said, "Don't think that children of rich families have a good fate. Most dude, as slaves of wealth, can't resist any temptation, so that they fall into depravity. You know, children who are used to pleasure are no match for those who are born in poverty. Some poor children, even those who have no chance to study, have made great achievements as adults. " Therefore, "the richest legacy a young man can inherit is nothing more than being born into a poor family."