The Gospel of Wealth

Carnegie proposed that the best way of dealing with the new phenomenon of wealth inequality was for the wealthy to utilize their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner (similar to the concept of noblesse oblige).

[6] Carnegie argued that surplus wealth is put to best use (i.e. produces the greatest net benefit to society) when it is administered carefully by the wealthy.

Carnegie based his philosophy on the observation that the heirs of large fortunes frequently squandered them in riotous living rather than nurturing and growing them.

"[2] Carnegie made it clear that the duty of the rich was to live modest lifestyles,[8] and that any surplus of money they had was best suited for re-circulation back into society where it could be used to support the greater good.

He shunned aristocratic chains of inheritance and argued that dependents should be supported by their work with major moderation, with the bulk of excess wealth to be spent on enriching the community.

The Homestead Strike ended in a showdown between 300 Pinkerton guards and a crowd of steel workers and supporters devolved into an exchange of gunfire.

He defended individualism, private property, and the accumulation of personal wealth on the grounds that they benefited the human race in the long run.

In an effort to convince his critics that he wasn't saying everyone should get free handouts from the upper class, he edited his original doctrine, so that it read "Help those who will help themselves, to provide part of the means by which those who desire to improve may do so."

Senator Jonathan Prentiss Dolliver wrote an article for the celebrity magazine Success, titled "Phoebe Apperson Hearst and the New Gospel of Wealth".

[10] The purpose of Dolliver's article was to explain Hearst's "Gospel of Wealth" and illustrate how she should be viewed as a complementary equal to men like Carnegie.

She declared that women who were wealthy had a sacred and moral duty to give away their fortunes to causes, especially progressive education and reform, to benefit their communities.