Andrew Carnegie

American industrial entrepreneur and philanthropist. Born to a poor Scottish weaver, he moved to the United States with his family in 1848. He started out as a spinner, and after several other jobs, he got a job at the Pennsylvania Railroad, where he rose to the position of manager. However, seeing how quickly railroad construction was progressing, he became more interested in supplying railroad construction materials than in managing the railroads, and used the profits from his previous investments to enter the steel industry. His main product was iron rails, but after meeting Bessemer, the inventor of steelmaking methods in England, he became convinced that "the age of iron is over. Steel is king." In the midst of the recession of the 1970s, he began building a steel mill. In the 1980s, he took control of several competing companies, and in the 1990s, he acquired ore deposits, coal mines, ships, and railroads around the Great Lakes. In 1999, he integrated these businesses and reorganized them into the Carnegie Steel Works, establishing an integrated production system from raw materials to finished products. However, he soon found himself in a difficult position as he competed for the steel products market with Wall Street financial groups that were expanding their network of control from railroads to steel, and in 1901 he sold his company to Morgan & Co. and retired from the business world. In the 18 years since, based on his belief that "wealth is entrusted to us by God," he established educational facilities that still stand today, such as the Hall, Foundation, and Carnegie Institute of Technology, and engaged in charitable work, while devoting himself to writing about the ideals of business and society, during the second half of his life.

[Kesaji Kobayashi]

"Autobiography of the Steel King Carnegie, translated by Shiho Sakanishi (Kadokawa Bunko)" ▽ "Wealth and the Gospel - Carnegie's Autobiography, translated by Shiho Sakanishi (included in Portraits of People around the World 5, 1961, Kadokawa Shoten)" ▽ "The Men Who Built American Industry, by J. Chamberlain, translated by Hiroji Uno (1965, Shiseido)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アメリカの産業企業家、慈善事業家。スコットランドの貧しい織工の家に生まれ、1848年一家とともに渡米。紡績工を振り出しに、いくつかの職業を経たのちペンシルベニア鉄道に職を得、管理者の地位に昇進した。しかし、鉄道建設が急速に進むありさまを目の当たりにみて、鉄道経営よりも鉄道建設資材の供給に関心をもち、それまでに得た投資による利益を元手に製鉄業に進出した。主力製品は鉄レールであったが、やがてイギリスで製鋼法の発明家ベッセマーと知り合ったのを機に「鉄の時代は去った。鋼鉄こそ王者だ」と確信するに至り、70年代の不況のさなかに製鋼所の建設に着手した。80年代にはいくつかの競争企業を支配下に収め、90年代には五大湖周辺の鉱床、炭鉱、船舶、鉄道を買収、99年にはこれらの事業を統合してカーネギー製鋼所に改組し、原料から完成品に至る一貫生産体制を確立した。しかしまもなく、鉄道から鉄鋼へと支配網を拡大しつつあったウォール街の金融集団との鋼製品市場をめぐる角逐で苦境にたち、1901年モルガン商会に企業を売却し、実業界より退いた。以来18年、「富は神より委託されたもの」との信念に基づき、今日に残るホール、財団、カーネギー工科大学などの教育施設などを設立し、慈善事業に携わるかたわら、事業と社会のあり方を説く著述活動に専念し、残された第二の人生を送った。

［小林袈裟治］

『坂西志保訳『鉄鋼王カーネギー自伝』（角川文庫）』▽『坂西志保訳『富と福音――カーネギー自伝』（『世界の人間像5』所収・1961・角川書店）』▽『J・チェンバレン著、宇野博二訳『アメリカ産業を築いた人びと』（1965・至誠堂）』

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