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RESPONSIBILITY OF THE RICH AS BROUGHT OUT BY ‘‘THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH’’ BY ANDREW CARNEGIE
Prashmita Bhattarai
Beth Kovacs
History 122
11/20/2019
Final Research Essay
Bibliography
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Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1848) The Communist Manifesto (1848).
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Cohen, D. K. (2000). Andrew Carnegie and academic library philanthropy: the case of Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida. Libraries & Culture, 35(3), 389-413.
Carnegie, A. (1889). The Gospel of Wealth. Retrieved from: http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Publications/PDF
Andrew Carnegie built Carnegie Hall and founded the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Carnegie Mellon University, among other educational and cultural institutions. Chloe Sorvino, The Gilded Age Family That Gave It All Away: The Carnegies, FORBES (July 8, 2014), https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2014/07/08/whats-become-of-them-thecarnegie-family/#2b230f37b550 [https://perma.cc/BFP4-C8H9];
Lenkowsky, L. (2011). The Carnegie Corporation Turns 100: What would its founder think of it to-day? Philanthropy Roundtable. Vol. XXV, No. 1, p. 19-29
Wall, J.F. (1970). Andrew Carnegie. New York: Oxford University Press
Harvey, C., Maclean, M. Gordon, J., & Shaw, E. (2011). Andrew Carnegie and the foundations of contemporary entrepreneurial philanthropy. Business History, 53(3), 425-450. doi:10.1080/00076791.2011.565516
Famously known by his quote; “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced” [footnoteRef:1] Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish- American industrialist of 19th century. Carnegie is widely known for his achievement in the steel industry. Other noticeable business captains of his time included John D. Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt. However, Carnegie established himself and stood out among other entrepreneurs. He gained popularity for his unique ideology; distributing away surplus money for the beterness of greater good.[footnoteRef:2] He believed that the rich and influential individuals have a moral responsibility of spending their wealth to benefit the greater good. He documented his ideology in his work ‘‘The Gospel of Wealth’’ published in 1889. [1: See Andrew Carnegie Biography, BIOGRAPHY.COM (Nov. 22, 2016), http://www.biography.com/people/andrew-carnegie-9238756 [https://perma.cc/H8YXMQDG] [hereinafter Andrew Carnegie Biography]. ] [2: Darren Walker, Why Giving Back Isn’t Enough, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 17, 2015, at A39.]
Throughout the work, he argues that the rich and influential people are tasked by nature with a responsibility of being philanthropic. Andrew Carnegie meant that the rich should be determined to use their wealth to give back to the society while they are still alive. Carnegie lived to his words. By the time of his death, he had established over 3000 libraries and gave 90% of his wealth to the poor and other community projects. He funded research and established a university and most importantly laid a foundation for philanthropy. ‘‘The Gospel of Wealth’’ impacted and continues to impact contemporary American's thinking of societal inequality and the need of philanthropy as a way of creating an equal society. The subsequent sections of the paper examine the arguments presented in the book, what inspired the writing of the book and reflect on the impact it has had on the contemporary American society.
‘‘The Gospel of Wealth’’ is about the dispersion of wealth as a responsibility of those who have it. “The Gospel of Wealth” presents several arguments among them the author’s perspective of capitalism, consequences of passage of wealth to heirs. As mentioned in the foregoing, all the arguments presented in ‘‘the gospel of wealth’’ are tailored towards informing the rich that they have an obligation to distribute their wealth to the poor in order to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich.
Through capitalism, property ownership and wealth were owned by few individuals and companies who had control over means of production; there was no government involvement. [footnoteRef:3]Capitalism was believed, at least by many, to ignore social benefits hence being the idea behind the increasing societal inequality: gap between the rich and the poor. Indeed, capitalism could and was increasing the gap between the rich and the poor by favouring the rich (capitalist) while discriminating the poor (labourers). Manifesto's analysis of capitalist economic development in historical perspective. However, ‘‘The Gospel of Wealth’’ is a sharp contrast of popular perception of capitalism. The author argues that capitalism can actually reduce the gap between the rich and the poor if the rich will acknowledges and play their role well. “The Gospel of Wealth argues that socialism and other movements that oppose capitalism/ individualism are opposing the entire human civilization by challenging “the legal right of the labourer to his hundred dollars in the savings bank just as it challenges the legal right of the millionaire to his millions”. In “The Gospel of Wealth” Andrew Carnegie sings the praises of Capitalist system. “The Gospel of Wealth” also argues that, someone that has initiative, works hard and has ability should be [3: Karl, Markx, and Frierich, Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1848), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992, Originally published (1848), P. 5 ]
able to overcome poverty. Since, Capitalism was a crisis-ridden system, it was to be expected that the world economy would ever more intensively be hit by crises that originated in the United States. The book further points that by challenging the capitalist (highest existing type of man) means challenging best result of human experience. The hopes placed in socialism have been shaken and the recent financial and economic crisis has revitalized a deep discontent with capitalism. However, there are many forms of socialism and capitalism, economic regimes can be quite varied, and the old problem of the “good society” has been made more relevant than ever by recent economic, social, and environmental trends.
The text therefore argues that the question to be addressed is what the best way of is, administering wealth now that nature has bestowed it in the hands of a few. Poverty among other social problems could in fact be solved with the help of wealthy businessmen who should be ready to contribute to the welfare of the society. [footnoteRef:4] It is evident that ‘‘The Gospel of Wealth’’ was not against capitalism neither was it criticizing the laissez-faire capitalism system. Although the author recognized the inequality associated with the system, the book argues that companies should be permitted to act as they wish without any governmental interventions. [4: Putman, D. (2010). Was Andrew Car-negie generous?. Think, 9, pp 91-98. doi:10.1017/S1477175610000163]
Ultimately, the book argues that capitalism was a fair system which was lifting all classes. “The Gospel of Wealth” suggested that, although the gap between rich and poor was wide, the situation was not as it was before, at least to some extent, the poor were better than they were. Therefore, the answer was not to turn to other systems like Communism to re-distribute wealth. [footnoteRef:5] Instead, the answer would come from men like him. In order to cope with the imbalance, it was suggested by the author that the responsibility should be taken by wealthy entrepreneurs instead of the government. In this way, ‘‘The gospel of wealth’’ is Carnegie’s attempt to show people a way to reach an accommodation between capitalism and fairness. [5: Cohen, D. K. (2000). Andrew Carnegie and academic library philanthro- py: the case of Rollins Col-lege, Winter Park, Florida. Libraries & Culture, 35(3), 389-413.]
The gospel of wealth’s suggestion of distribution of wealth
‘‘The gospel of wealth’’ informs the rich of the best way to distribute their wealth after their death to ensure that this wealth benefits the society. This work identifies three ways that rich business owners can use to dispose their surplus wealth; it can be left to the family descendants, it can be bequeathed for public purposes; or, finally, it can be administered for public benefit when the owners are still alive. The work argues that passing it down to their heirs and handling it for public purposes after death are inefficient use of money
One of the main ideas captured in the gospel of wealth is the consequences of passing down wealth to the next generation that are not able to manage this wealth. The book terms this as using wealth inefficiently. Heirs of fortunate families are not talented in using money. [footnoteRef:6] [6: Carnegie, A. (1889). The Gospel of Wealth. Retrieved from: http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Publications/PDF]
Most of heirs to fortunate families tend to use their inherited money in a foolish and inefficient manner. For instance, they prioritise enjoyments and luxurious life instead of investing money productively and wisely for the sake of public good.
Additionally, the text argues that leaving money in the hands of organizations and the public is not a guarantee that it would be used productively. He distinguishes between blindly throwing money at a charity, and carefully selecting a program that will utilize resources in the most overall beneficial way.
The article suggest that the best approach to distribute money for the benefit of the greater humanity is to give away wealth back to the society through important projects when one is still alive.
IMPACT AND CONTRIBUTION OF CARNEGIE’S THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH
Although the gospel of wealth’s ideas by Andrew Carnegie “The Gospel of Wealth” was highly acknowledged by the ruling authorities; his ideology did not accepted by many. However it can be seen that his ideas are gaining popularity in the contemporary society with the book serving as a revolutionary writing. The gospels of wealth become the foundation of America’s philanthropy. Carnegie’s educational and cultural institutions are well known even today. Contemporary millionaires have continued to preach the gospel of wealth as was proposed by Carnegie. Philanthropists like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and more recently Jeff Bezos, have followed in Andrew Carnegie’s footsteps. Indeed, in 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet founded the Giving Pledge; calling on the world’s wealthiest individuals to give away the majority of their wealth. Additionally, Jeff Bezos recently pledged to donate $33 million toward an educational scholarship program for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. [footnoteRef:7] Nowadays, the work of Carnegie is widely accepted as a revolutionary piece of writing filled with altruism, which is quite rare in the modern environment.[footnoteRef:8] [7: Andrew Carnegie built Carnegie Hall and founded the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Carnegie Mellon University, among other educational and cultural institutions. Chloe Sorvino, The Gilded Age Family That Gave It All Away: The Carnegies, FORBES (July 8, 2014), https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2014/07/08/whats-become-of-them-thecarnegie-family/#2b230f37b550 [https://perma.cc/BFP4-C8H9];] [8: Michael Stratford and Steven Overly, Amazon’s Bezos to give $33M for 1,000 Dreamer scholarships, POLITICO (Jan. 12, 2018), https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/1 2/bezos-dreamers-scholarships-337924 [https://perma.cc/R5ZU-8XJD]
Corporate philanthropists have shown interest in spending considerable amounts of their fortunes for the benefit of the greater good. Their contributions have targeted eradicating hunger in sub Saharan Africa among other areas. Philanthropists have also targeted a wide range of social issues including healthcare issues as well as criminal injustices.
Additionally, Philanthropists and socially conscious investors have recently praised an emerging social finance innovation as perhaps a step in the right direction toward this new gospel of wealth. [footnoteRef:9] [9: See Chelsea McGrath, The Government’s Role in Unleashing Impact Investing’s Full Potential, 44 PEPP. L. REV. 799, 803 (2017]
CONCLUSION
Although philanthropy is gaining popularity, it is nearly two centuries since Carnegie preached the gospel of wealth however the gap between the rich and the poor seems not yet fully solved. There is need for more envisioned economic frameworks that emphasizes on justice and democracy.
This paper is also keen to challenge the idea of the gospel of wealth pertaining to capitalism as a being a tool that creates equality and is beyond the power of man to alter. The paper advocates for improving systems upon which our society is grounded as per the words of Ford Foundation President Darren Walker in his work The gospel of wealth of the 21st century that “we are obligated to strengthen and improve the system of which we are part.” [footnoteRef:10] [10: See Burand, supra note 26, at 449 (“Governments have long used public/private partnerships to crowd private sector resources—both financial resources and know-how— into building large-scale infrastructure projects.”).]
