Andrew Carnegie, once the world's richest person, was born in 1835 to a weaver's family in Scotland. As a child, he was expected to follow his father's profession. But the industrial revolution destroyed the weavers' craft, and the family had to leave for new possibilities in America. In 1848, the Carnegies arrived in Pittsburgh, then the iron-manufacturing center of the country. Young Carnegie took odd jobs at a cotton factory and later worked as a messenger boy in the telegraph office. He was often asked to deliver messages to the city theater, where he would stay to watch plays by great playwrights. He also spent most of his spare time in a small library that a local sponsor made available to working boys. After the Civil War, Carnegie saw great potential in the iron industry. He devoted himself to the replacement of wooden bridges with stronger iron ones and earned a fortune. He further introduced a new technique to change iron into steel. By 1900, Carnegie Steel produced more of the metal than all of Great Britain. However, Carnegie often expressed his uneasiness with the businessman's life. Wishing to spend more time receiving instruction and reading systematically, he once wrote, "To continue much longer overwhelmed by business cares and with most of my thoughts wholly upon the way to make more money in the shortest time, must degrade me beyond hope of permanent recovery." The strong desire for getting knowledge led him to sell his company and retire at 64. Fond of saying that "He, who dies rich, dies disgraced," Carnegie then turned his attention to giving away his fortune. He opposed charity; instead, he used his money to help others help themselves. He established over 2,500 public libraries, and sponsored numerous cultural, educational and scientific institutions. By the time he died in 1919, he had given away 350 million dollars. How did Carnegie handle his fortune after his retirement?
He left it to his family and friends after he died. He gave it to poor people and charity organizations. He used it to support organizations of higher learning. He put it in developing new technology in producing steel.