Document 1
Andrew Carnegie: Gospel of Wealth

During the Gilded era, there was much concern over the administration of wealth between the rich and the poor. One of the richest men of this time was the extremely successful Carnegie Steel owner, Andrew Carnegie. The less wealthy of society believed they deserved more of the riches the wealthy had earned. Granted that the majority of the wealth was held by few (the successful business owners such as himself), Carnegie proposed the idea of administering the wealth to benefit the community and the poorer people of the society, rather than to hand out money to the individual poor people. Carnegie recognized the stretch of differences between the rich and the poor. He held strong to his belief that the rich have worked hard on their education and business duties, therefore are in charge of the much less successful and much more incompetent, and will put forth the needed efforts to improve the lower end of society.

Through Andrew Carnegie’s interpretation, the rich are highly educated, goal oriented, driven, and waste no time to complete their intended actions. They have many responsibilities such as owning and running their own businesses, ordering, maintaining, and supervising the business, as well as hiring new employees to help make sure the set business runs smoothly and effectively. The rich have earned their money respectfully and hold their title high with honorable heads. The poor, on the other hand, are incompetent, uneducated, ignorant, and unknowledged at how the order of business really works.

Carnegie explains the Law of Competition which is a heavy cloud that hovers over the community. The Law of Competition creates friction from the employer and the employee, capital and labor, and the rich and the poor. Although the Law of Competition holds much hostility between the society, Carnegie holds strong that it is necessary in order to better the community. As Carnegie himself states, “The price which society pays for the law of competition, like the price it pays for cheap comforts and luxuries, is also great; but the advantages of this law are also greater still than its cost- for it is to this law that we owe our wonderful material development, which brings improved conditions in its train” (Carnegie, 53). Carnegie strongly thought that the ability to adapt to any situation that came about was imperative. With all the frustration that the poor felt towards the Law of Competition, Carnegie realized the poor had not even half the comprehension of the importance of this law.

The rich are entitled to parent the poor. The poor have no idea how to earn or save money. The poor are irresponsible, uneducated, and do not look towards the future. The very few that are rich hold the wealth of the community. They cannot simply give each individual poor civilian a chunk of change, fore they will merely waste it away on unneeded items. What the rich must do with the money is invest it towards improving the community and multiple ways to better the poor. Referring to this subject, Carnegie states, “The best means of benefiting the community is to place within its reach the ladders upon which