Andrew Carnegie was an American industrialist who made a great fortune in the late 1800s and later gave away most of it. Many American cities still have a Carnegie library donated by this philanthropist. When he died in 1919, he had given away millions of dollars. He had long held that it was a shame to die rich.

However, Carnegie did not start out rich. He came to America as a poor little immigrant from Scotland. His family lived in poverty, first in Scotland and then in Pittsburgh. As a child, he had to drop out of school and work long hours six days a week to help support his family.

 

Over time, he managed to get out of poverty and became a billionaire. In his later years he wrote several essays and books. Among them was his Gospel of Wealth. In this essay he opined that a man had a duty to earn as much money as he reasonably could. Then he had the duty of taking care of his family and dependents. Ultimately, he had a duty to responsibly hand over all his wealth before he died, and that is what he actually did.

 

Among these various writings, Carnegie wrote one called The Advantages of Poverty in 1898. In this essay he repeats much of his Gospel of Wealth, but in particular makes it clear that, in his experience, a poor child has the advantage of having than to get out of poverty. . A child born into poverty takes nothing for granted and does not expect anything that he does not earn. Learn discipline and the value of work. Learn to accumulate wealth because you must or you will be condemned to remain in poverty. For Carnegie, poverty was the great teacher.

He wrote that while it was right to give alms to alleviate the most terrible suffering and deprivation of the poorest, it was a disservice to give them too much. He firmly believed that it was far more useful and even more morally defensible to help others help themselves than to simply help them.

 

Carnegie’s philosophy on wealth and poverty was informed by social Darwinists of the late 19th century. It was common among men of that thought to believe that men who got rich had evolved to do so and that the poor had equally evolved to that state. However, Carnegie had more compassion and understanding than many of the wealthy of his time.

 

In fact, having been both very poor and very rich, he may have been specially equipped to preach the truth about wealth and poverty. Whether or not you agree with the entire Carnegie gospel, there is a lot of wisdom in what he said. Poverty can be a good teacher in many cases.

 

You can find Carnegie’s essay on the advantages of poverty in the little book of that title, which also includes his writings on How to Die Rich and The Greatest Gift. The complete little book is just 49 pages long. It can be read in an hour, but it will give you instructions for much longer.

 

Advantages of poverty

Andrew Carnegie

© 2004 Executive Books

Rating: Above all, this is a good and very interesting book. I recommend it.