"The Gospel of Wealth",
according to Andrew Carnegie. 1889

{ Andrew Carnegie (1835­1919) was a massively successful business man.  His enormous wealth was based on the provision of iron and steel to the railways. But he was also a man who at least at the end of his life recalled his radical roots in Scotland before his immigration to the United States.  To resolve what might seem to be contradictions between the creation of wealth, which he saw as proceeding from immutable social laws, and his social conscience, he came up with the notion of the "gospel of wealth".  He lived up to his word, and gave away his fortune to socially beneficial projects, most famously by funding libraries. His defense of the concept of estate taxes (which Republicans are now wont to call "death taxes") might surprise many billionaires of our time! }

        "The problem of our age is the administration (i.e. management) of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship.  The conditions of human life have not only been changed, but revolutionized, within the past few hundred years.  In former days there was little difference between the dwelling, dress, food, and environment of the chief and those of his retainers . . .  The contrast between the palace of the millionaire and the cottage of the laborer with us to­day measures the change which has come with civilization.
        This change, however, is not to be deplored, but welcomed as highly beneficial.  It is well, nay, essential for the progress of the race, that the houses of some should be homes for all that is highest and best in literature and the arts, and for all the refinements of civilization, rather than that none should be so.  Much better this great irregularity than universal squalor. Without wealth there can be no Maecenas [Note: a rich Roman patron of the arts].  The "good old times" were not good old times .  Neither master nor servant was as well situated then as to day. A relapse to old conditions would be disastrous to both - not the least so to him who serves - and would sweep away civilization with it.

. . .

        We start, then, with a condition of affairs under which the best interests of the race are promoted, but which inevitably gives wealth to the few.  Thus far, accepting conditions as they exist, the situation can be surveyed and pronounced good.  The question then arises - and, if the foregoing be correct, it is the only question with which we have to deal - What is the proper mode of administering wealth after the laws upon which civilization is founded have thrown it into the hands of the few? And it is of this great question that I believe I offer the true solution.  It will be understood that fortunes are here spoken of, not moderate sums saved by many years of effort, the returns from which are required for the comfortable maintenance and education of families.  This is not wealth, but only competence, which it should be the aim of all to acquire.
        There are but three modes in which surplus wealth can be disposed of.  (1)It can be left to the families of the decedents; or (2)it can be bequeathed for public purposes; or, finally, (3)it can be administered during their lives by its possessors.  Under the first and second modes most of the wealth of the world that has reached the few has hitherto been applied.  Let us in turn consider each of these modes.
{1)The first is the most injudicious.  In monarchial countries, the estates and the greatest portion of the wealth are left to the first son, that the vanity of the parent may be gratified by the thought that his name and title are to descend to succeeding generations unimpaired.  The condition of this class in Europe to­day teaches the futility of such hopes or ambitions.  The successors have become impoverished through their follies or from the fall in the value of land. . .   Why should men leave great fortunes to their children? If this is done from affection, is it not misguided affection? Observation teaches that, generally speaking, it is not well for the children that they should be so burdened.  Neither is it well for the state.  Beyond providing for the wife and daughters moderate sources of income, and very moderate allowances indeed, if any, for the sons, men may well hesitate, for it is no longer questionable that great sums bequeathed oftener work more for the injury than for the good of the recipients.  Wise men will soon conclude that, for the best interests of the members of their families and of the state, such bequests are an improper use of their means.

. . .

{2)As to the second mode, that of leaving wealth at death for public uses, it may be said that this is only a means for the disposal of wealth, provided a man is content to wait until he is dead before it becomes of much good in the world. . .   The cases are not few in which the real object sought by the testator is not attained, nor are they few in which his real wishes are thwarted. . .
        The growing disposition to tax more and more heavily large estates left at death is a cheering indication of the growth of a salutary change in public opinion. . .   Of all forms of taxation, this seems the wisest.  Men who continue hoarding great sums all their lives, the proper use of which for public ends would work good to the community, should be made to feel that the community, in the form of the state, cannot thus be deprived of its proper share.  By taxing estates heavily at death, the state marks its condemnation of the selfish millionaire's unworthy life.
. . . This policy would work powerfully to induce the rich man to attend to the administration of wealth during his life, which is the end that society should always have in view, as being that by far most fruitful for the people. . .

{3)There remains, then, only one mode of using great fortunes: but in this way we have the true antidote for the temporary unequal distribution of wealth, the reconciliation of the rich and the poor - a reign of harmony - another ideal, differing, indeed from that of the Communist in requiring only the further evolution of existing conditions, not the total overthrow of our civilization. It is founded upon the present most intense individualism, and the race is prepared to put it in practice by degrees whenever it pleases.  Under its sway we shall have an ideal state, in which the surplus wealth of the few will become, in the best sense, the property of the many, because administered for the common good, and this wealth, passing through the hands of the few, can be made a much more potent force for the elevation of our race than if it had been distributed in small sums to the people themselves. Even the poorest can be made to see this, and to agree that great sums gathered by some of their fellow­citizens and spent for public purposes, from which the masses reap the principal benefit, are more valuable to them than if scattered among them through the course of many years in trifling amounts.

. . .

        This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of Wealth: First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial result for the community - the man of wealth thus becoming the sole agent and trustee for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer - doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves."

Andrew Camegie, "Wealth," North American Review, 148, no. 391 (June 1889): 653, 657­62.
The above text is part of the Internet Modern History Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World history.

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(c)Paul Halsall Aug 1997
halsall@murray.fordham.edu

Paraphrase of "The Gospel of Wealth"
by Ray Dubuque

We are living in revolutionary times, where a great gap has developed between the very wealthy and the very poor, but this should be a benefit to the poor, because the standard of living of the poor is raised (relative to the past) as a result of that revolution. The challenge of these revolutionary times is for the very rich to managed their wealthy in such a way " so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship."  The conditions of human Carnegie says that there are (only) three choices for the wealthy:
  1. The super rich can do as they please with their wealth during their life, and then leave all their wealth to their heirs when they die.  (This he considers the worst option for all involved, i.e. , for society as a whole, for the rich themselves and for their heirs!)
  2. The super rich can do as they please with their wealth during their life and when they die, the community can take most of their wealth through estate taxes for the benefit of society, leaving only a modest portion to their heirs.  (This he considers preferable to the first option, but not as good as the 3rd.)
  3. The super rich can live modestly during their life time, use most of their wealth for the benefit of society themselves and leave only a modest portion to their heirs.
  4. Carnegie didn't consider the likelihood that at least some rich people who may be very good at making money, won't be very good at spending it wisely, or for the benefit of society.  Nor does he doubt that the richer a person is, the smarter they are.  So he doesn't consider the option of taxing the super rich both during their lives (through substantial Income taxes) and at their death (through substantial Estate taxes).  This has been the policy of the United States and other progressive countries for most of the 20th century, a period during which these nations have made tremendous strides towards widespread justice and well-being.
We have a great deal to say about the scriptural perspective on wealth at our
http://LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/about/godvsgreed.html and
http://LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/about/challenge.html

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