Andrew Carnegie Turned His Fortune into a Library Legacy (2013)
npr.org
npr.org
From Wikipedia:
Nearly all of Carnegie's libraries were built according to "the Carnegie formula," which required financial commitments for maintenance and operation from the town that received the donation. Carnegie required public support rather than making endowments because, as he wrote:
“an endowed institution is liable to become the prey of a clique. The public ceases to take interest in it, or, rather, never acquires interest in it. The rule has been violated which requires the recipients to help themselves. Everything has been done for the community instead of its being only helped to help itself.”
Carnegie required the elected officials—the local government—to:
- demonstrate the need for a public library; - provide the building site; pay staff and maintain the library; - draw from public funds to run the library—not use only private donations; - annually provide ten percent of the cost of the library's construction to support its operation; and, - provide free service to all.
I think this was really the key to Carnegie libraries being as successful as they have been. Funds were only given when the recipients could be expected to fund continued maintenance.
On the other hand, it also sounds like the arguments used during welfare reform and an argument against direct cash assistance.
So... I don't know how I feel about it. One could argue that Carnegie's wealth was itself a failure of good governance and that these rules he made about giving away that wealth are paternalistic.
People rail against paternalism out of a misguided egalitarianism. You see this all the time in the context of the World Bank and IMF telling developing countries how to run their economies. You know what? That’s a good thing. Singapore became one of the wealthiest countries in the world by studiously copying the aspects of the British financial and legal system that worked. NGOs that just give money without helping countries learn how to use it effectively aren’t doing anyone any favors.
Did Singapore copy those aspects because they chose to do so, or were those aspects imposed on them? (sincere question, since if they chose of their own free will, that would seem to argue against "paternalism is good")
Does World Bank and IMF want to help developing countries to help others prosper or to grab resources and power from those building it?
I'm not sure there's a specifically compelling argument here. The man brought the Bessemer process to the US and basically invented the idea of vertical integration. That all made steel cheap enough for the US to rapidly industrialize. It seems like a set of accomplishments worth financial reward.
> and that these rules he made about giving away that wealth are paternalistic.
The culture of the wealthy at the turn of the last century was such that they believed their good fortune obligated them to help society and the poor. This was part and parcel with the late 19th century and early 20th century progressive movement.
Moreover Carnegie actively worked against some pretty nasty things the federal government was doing. At the time when Woodrow Wilson was re-segregating the federal government and showing Birth of a Nation in the White House, Carnegie was funding the Tuskegee Institute. At the end of the Spanish-American war, Carnegie butted heads with president McKinley and tried to secure the independence of the Philippines and joined the American Anti-Imperialist League.
Regarding your claim of a "policy failure", to what end would the government of 1900 have used Carnegie's money had they seized it? It likely would have fueled the occupation of the Philippines, Wilson's racist and messianic madness, or some other horrific endeavor. Yet, Carnegie used it to fight imperialism, build libraries, and aid the poor.
And this is great for the ultra-wealthy, but it would be even greater to allow John or Jane Q. Public to allocate a larger portion of their taxes to specific areas of interest. How many people would like to see more resources for community resources (parks, recreation, often simple maintenance). Assuming tax rates stayed unchanged, guaranteeing X% of incomes are specifically directed by the people would mean X% has little to no lobby influence.
Every taxpayer would. Which is why this idea is entirely untenable. Hmmm, would you like your taxes to go to a community park, or to the janitorial supplies budget for a municipal building annex?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/29/comment
It's short enough that I'm not going to try to except any of it here.
I'm making two points in general, it is not a policy failure to allow the market incentivize big bets on innovation and that the gilded age culture of philanthropy gave us lasting institutions that in many ways outshine the accomplishments of the progressive era government. I'm making something of a consequentialist claim here, merit is orthogonal.
The article did not "miss" what you mentioned, nor did it imply that Carnegie gave the money away to anyone who asked. From the article:
Andrew Carnegie gave $7,500 to Woodbine. That paid for the 1908 building itself. The towns had to raise money for books, salaries and maintenance.
Sometimes you should trust that the reader does not need paragraphs of context to get the point.
> Between 1883 and 1919, Andrew Carnegie funded the construction of more than 1,500 public libraries across the United States, reducing the costs of accessing knowledge for millions of people. We study the effect of these libraries on innovation using new data on city-level patenting and a novel control group: cities that qualified to receive a library grant and applied to be part of the program, but ultimately did not build a library. Patenting in recipient towns increased by 7-11 percent in the 20 years following library construction. We show that access to scientific knowledge and opportunities to interact with fellow patrons are possible mechanisms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Free_Library_of_Bradd...
The hollywood one was demolished twice, had arson, and moved.
I grew up in central Detroit a few miles from downtown. The neighborhood was rough and having been assaulted many times before, I was apprehensive about walking home from junior high school. Gangs of violent kids would form up after school and it made the journey perilous. However, close to the school there was a library; it was a big library, much bigger than one would expect from the neighborhood.
I would quickly make my way to the library and hide out until around dinner time and then, when the streets were clear, I would make my way home. I'd always been a curious kid, but for the first time I started reading science magazines. I quickly graduated to reading Scientific American. I read all of the years issues (1963) and then started reading the bound issues going back over 10 years. I was fascinated with Marin Gardner's columns and the Amateur Scientist columns that appeared in every issue. I also started reading Popular Electronics around that time. I also read every math and science book I could understand in that library.
I was learning very little in the public schools they weren't good. The thugs in my classes were disruptive and prevented the rest of us from being able to have good classes. My homework and science projects were stollen or destroyed out of spite, but it was always peaceful in the library where I kept reading.
My parents finally moved from that place and I finished the last two years of High School in a suburb where all of my friends were good students and all planning on applying for college. I was quickly promoted to the honors classes and ended up as the top math and science student in a very large school. None of this would have been possible if that library had not existed. I ended up at MIT and obtained degrees in Math and EE/CS. I've been very successful and I attribute that to my love books, especially technical books, fostered by my time at the McGregor Public Library.
Sadly, that library is now closed. There is now a locked fence around the building. [1]
[1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Highland+Park+Library/@42....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library#Lists_of_Carn...
[0]: https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/episode-179-from-budget-c...