Andrew Carnegie: Philanthropist or Tyrant?

As I was doing some research for the next book that I am writing, I stumbled across Andrew Carnegie's famous essay "The Gospel of Wealth".  In this essay, he describes the necessary elements of capitalism, but he goes one step further and expresses his desire for philanthropy.  He felt that it was his duty to build schools, concert halls, and libraries in order to help the poor improve themselves.  And while Carnegie is famous for his generous donations to the poor, he is also famous for owning the Steel Mill which had one of the most violent strikes in American History.  I was fascinated by this man who professed helping the lower class, but when push came to shove, supported the oppression of union workers.  So I did a little more research on the Homestead Strike of 1892 in order to find out just exactly where Andrew Carnegie's sympathies lay.

Wealthy steel manufacturer, Andrew Carnegie, was on his annual vacation to Europe when the strike at Homestead took place.  He had left his general manager, Henry C. Frick, in charge of the steel mill.  The steelworkers' three year contract was up for renewal and Frick decided to lower their wages.  Frick also announced that he would no longer deal with the union and would only talk to workers individually.  The union balked at the wage cut and tried to get in touch with Carnegie in Scotland.  They had hoped that Carnegie's earlier support of the workers' right to form unions would call him into action against Frick, but he remained silent against their pleas.  Carnegie did, however, keep in constant communication with Frick.  One message to Frick stated "We...approve of everything you do.  We are with you to the end."

Frick, apparently now with the full approval of Carnegie, built a 12 foot high fence around the steel mill and vowed to only admit strikebreakers into the plant.  In order to guard the fence, Frick hired hundreds of  Pinkerton detectives and made arrangements for them to travel on boats down the river to his mill.  The workers discovered the plan to bring in the detectives and waited by the banks of the river.  They warned the Pinkerton detectives not to step off the barge, but they did anyway.  An all-out gunfight commenced which lasted for several hours.  The workers threw dynamite at the boats and they even rolled a burning train car downhill toward the detectives.  The Pinkerton detectives retreated, leaving 3 of their own dead along with 7 strikers.

The workers did not celebrate for long because the governor of Pennsylvania sent troops to bring order to Homestead.  The National Gaurd was used to guard the fence around the mill and would only allow in strikebreakers.  The union tried to hold out, but in the end, many workers conceded and went back to work for less pay and for a longer workday.  The strike leaders were arrested and the union lost all their power in the steel industry.

All of these drastic changes happened while Carnegie was on vacation.  While he did nothing to stop it, Carnegie later declared that he regretted his inaction and support of Frick's strategies.  Years later, Carnegie built a library, concert hall, gymnasium and swimming pool in Homestead in order to help the poor.  But I highly doubt it got much use since the residents were so busy with their twelve-hours a day, seven-days a week work shifts.  Although, maybe they got to enjoy the new amenities on the one day off they got every month.