A student’s thoughts
“Gospel of Wealth” and Big Money
I understand that Andrew Carnegie rose from rags to riches, hence his sympathetic nature
towards the poor and those in need of financial assistance, but it confuses me that while he
believes that the law of competition/theory of Social Darwinism helps build material
development and is best for the overall race, it would become the cause of his worries in the
increasing gap between the rich and the poor. It is clear in Gospel of Wealth, that Carnegie firmly
believes in charity and the duties of a rich man, but I think it is fairly contradicting that he would
also therefore support the idea of social Darwinism which would in a sense separate the rich and
the poor even more instead of bringing them together to achieve improvement within society.
This is because the poor such as the “slothful, drunken, the unworthy,” is ever dependent on the
rich for support excluding the few that transcend from their origins, and therefore the process
does not contribute to society. Although Carnegie goes on to say that a man should only aid the
worthy, but how does one know who is worthy and will benefit the society from this charity?
I’d also like to point out that Andrew Carnegie fits perfectly in the description of a “Fred
Taylor,” or a “Henry Ford,” who are basically representatives of every man or the standard man
during the lost generation/beginning and duration of the depression. According to the biography
in the history textbook, Carnegie also rose from the “rags to riches” situation and faced hard
times in his early years, and worked hard to achieve wealth from his business and like Fred
Taylor and Henry Ford, drove competitors out of the market. This is a perfect example of Social
Darwinism because all these men rose to be the fittest of all in terms of wealth and financial
success. They are all connected through their achievement of “the American Plan”- “…the right
way means increased production, lower costs, higher wages, bigger profits…” Another similarity
between all these successful men is that they were all major public figures who wanted to share
their ideas with others. Carnegie preached about “the Gospel of Wealth” through books and
speeches, Fred Taylor “…wrote papers, lectured in colleges, appeared before a congressional
committee, everywhere preached the virtues of scientific management…”, and Henry Ford was
“…full of ideas” and deeply admired Thomas Edison who shared his knowledge and intelligence
with his discoveries. This desire to share ideas and achieve the American Plan can be related to
the need to give charity to those who are less unfortunate.