Dear Diary,
It has been 6 years since I’ve written a diary entry but I find it imperative to write about the person I met today. I think that today – is my lucky day. I won’t forget it and will remember all of my life. I am currently in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has been remade and reimagined. Think 24 miles of riverfront trails, beautiful parks and historic attractions. Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the second-most populous city in Pennsylvania, behind Philadelphia, and 68th-largest city in the U.S. Pittsburgh is known both as “the Steel City” for its more than 300 steel-related businesses and as the “City of Bridges” for its 446 bridges.
I had heard that Andrew Carnegie had just established a steel producing company here. Andrew Carnegie has accumulated a lot of wealth through his investments in railroads and seems to be dominating the steel industry. With this in mind, I decided to go check it out. Boy am I so glad I did!
I was surveying the perimeter of the mills (I couldn’t really go in) when I saw Andrew Carnegie himself outside! Knowing that talking to him would prove beneficial to my study, I mustered up all my gut and approached him. See, I didn’t know what to expect for I was just, you know, a plain white, Protestant American male and he, one of the richest people in the world (with the best story of growing from rags to riches). To my delight, he was very welcoming and open to talking to me. Whew what a lucky day!
Mr. Carnegie controls the most extensive integrated iron and steel operations. He has cheap and efficient mass production of steel and is the largest manufacturer of pig iron, steel rails, and coke in the world. He has also installed vastly improved systems of material-handling. He has done so much and has grown to be such a successful person yet he still stays very humble. I had applaud him for all of his hard work and he responded with, “No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.” What a guy!
However, there is one thing I do worry about. As his mills expand, the labor force will grow more rapidly, especially with less skilled workers. I fear that this may cause bitterness to grow between workers and that they may react with a strike. Mind you, it’s not the first time I have seen a strike like this happen, I even wrote about one in my last entry. Nonetheless, I am so fortunate to have spoken with Mr. Carnegie for I have nothing but respect for the man. Maybe he had considered it part of his charity work to have spoken to someone so low (me) but I will take it as a gift from the heavens. I wish that man the best and for continuous prosperity with his steel empire.
