What could the wealthy do to mitigate the social unrest during this turbulent period?
Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist and one of the most influential figures, if not the most, in late 19th century America. Carnegie could have been the poster child for the “rags to riches” dream. He came to America from Scotland as a poor young boy before the Civil War, took his first job as a bobbin-boy in a cotton textile factory working 12 hours a day, but later caught a break and acquired a job as a telegraph messenger for Western Union. By the time he was in his early 20’s, Carnegie was a superintendent in Western Union’s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania office. He saved his money, invested it, and later built Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel Company, by which he amassed a great fortune. Carnegie, however, believed in using his wealth not just for personal aggrandizement or the accumulation of comforts, but for the benefit of society. He gave most of his wealth away, most notably to public libraries, and subsidized the building of Carnegie Hall, a concert venue, in New York City. Carnegie was an apostle of capitalism, a zealous advocate of the freedom to get rich, but also believed that the rich had a social responsibility to benefit others with their wealth. In his article “Wealth,” Carnegie discusses his philosophy of economics and outlines a prescription for the preservation of social harmony. Instructions1. Read chapter 16, 17-182. Read Andrew Carnegie’s article, Wealth.https://www.jstor.org/stable/25101798?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents3. After reading the article, provide one paragraph summary of the article’s contents and answer the following questions (each one in a separate paragraph and type the question first and then answer):a. How did Carnegie believe that the conflict between labor and capital could be solved? b. What could the wealthy do to mitigate the social unrest during this turbulent period? c. According to Carnegie, what were the benefits of capitalism over socialism?
