Andrew Carnegie The original “Man of Steel.”

The boom in the oil and steel industry after the Civil War turned the U.S. into a highly industrialized nation. Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-born American industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century.

Carnegie worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad and made some wise investments. By 1865, Carnegie was making $50,000 a year. During trips to Britain he met steel makers and foresaw the future demand for steel in the United States.

In the 1870s Carnegie built the first steel plants in the United States to use the new Bessemer steel making process, borrowed from Britain. First cheap method of making steel, invented by Henry Bessemer in England in 1856. It has since been superseded by more efficient steel-making processes, such as the basic-oyxgen process. In the Bessemer process compressed air is blown into the bottom of a converter, a furnace shaped like a cement mixer, containing molten pig iron. The excess carbon in the iron burns out, other impurities form a slag, and the furnace is emptied by tilting.

Cutting costs was at the heart of Carnegie’s business method. Cut workers wages as much as you can without them rebelling. Increase work hours. Incorporate new technologies.

Carnegie was known for reducing costs through vertical integration of the steel business. Vertical integration occurs when a business expands its control over other businesses that are part of its overall manufacturing process. For example, a steel business would be vertically integrated if it owned or controlled iron mines, coal mines, railroads, etc.

philanthropy – an active effort to promote human welfare. Andrew Carnegie was also one of the most important philanthropists of his era. philanthropy – an active effort to promote human welfare. 142 libraries were constructed in California through Carnegie grants. Carnegie Hall – New York City