What was a positive contribution of Andrew Carnegie?

Andrew Carnegie was a multimillionaire steel magnate and a remorseless competitor as a businessman, but he was also a philanthropist who believed that the very wealthy should use their wealth for the benefit of society as a whole. In what he called the "Gospel of Wealth," he argued that the wealthy should, during their lives, administer their wealth in such a way as to benefit society as a whole. Carnegie was self-educated and attributed much...

Andrew Carnegie was a multimillionaire steel magnate and a remorseless competitor as a businessman, but he was also a philanthropist who believed that the very wealthy should use their wealth for the benefit of society as a whole. In what he called the "Gospel of Wealth," he argued that the wealthy should, during their lives, administer their wealth in such a way as to benefit society as a whole. Carnegie was self-educated and attributed much of his success to the ability to borrow books from a benefactor in his youth. As a result, much of Carnegie's wealth went to establishing hundreds of public lending libraries around the nation. This, he thought, would allow ambitious, bright people of any social class to educate themselves as he had. Carnegie also donated millions to universities, organizations to promote world peace (he was an anti-imperialist), and financed the construction of Carnegie Hall, a world-renowned center for the performing arts in New York City. So his philanthropic efforts certainly qualify as a positive contribution to society.