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There\u2019s been quite a bit in the press recently about the initiative launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage other billionaires to donate half their wealth. The reports claim that nothing like this has ever happened before. That\u2019s not quite true.
\nIt\u2019s worth taking a look back at history here. Almost 200 years ago, a weaver in Scotland joined forces with a few other men. They made the five (!!!) books they owned available to the general public and opened a lending library. When steam-powered looms came into use and the hand weavers were unable to compete, the family fell into poverty and emigrated to America.
\nHis son Andrew benefited from the fact that a wealthy Philadelphian had opened his private library to interested working-class boys \u2013 they were allowed to borrow one book a week. Andrew educated himself as best he could and had a knack for spotting trends. He realised that steel would soon replace cast iron. He bought a blast furnace. As steel was needed in the mid-19th century to build the railway that would open up the American West, he became the richest man of his time.
\nIn his essay \u201eThe Gospel of Wealth\u201c, he set out some of his beliefs. For him, belief in progress and the advancement of humanity was a driving force and source of motivation. He was convinced that talented people would play a decisive role in driving humanity\u2019s technical and economic progress. That they would also become wealthy in the process was, for him, a matter of course.
\nIt was just as obvious to him that they should not keep this wealth to themselves. He considered it a disgrace for a person to die rich.
\nThe usual options were out of the question for him.
\n\u2013 He regarded bequeathing money as a threat to the character of the heirs, who might not handle the wealth responsibly.
\n\u2013 He thought handing out money was pointless, as, in his view, many people would only use it for consumption rather than for personal development. That\u2019s understandable. When I was reading about the donations on the plane, the person sitting next to me said: \u201eThey should give me some of that money.\u201c When I asked him what he\u2019d do with the money, he replied, \u201eGo to the beach and party\u2026 and have a few drinks.\u201c I see.
\n\u2013 He considered it nonsensical to bequeath money to the state, as this would not guarantee that the assets would be used wisely and in accordance with the donor\u2019s wishes.
\nThat left him with only one option
\n\u2013 To invest money during one\u2019s lifetime in projects and causes that serve the welfare and progress of humanity.
\nAndrew Carnegie lived in accordance with his own convictions. Access to education was very important to him, and so, amongst other things, he funded the construction and furnishing of more than a thousand libraries. He also funded Carnegie Hall in New York. In total, during his lifetime, he donated more than 90 % of his enormous fortune to education and other charitable causes.
\nHe became a national icon and inspired many others to follow in his footsteps \u2013 not least Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. So the idea isn\u2019t all that new. It actually began with a weaver in Scotland who made all five of his books available for the common good and influenced a son who took up the cause and developed it further.<\/p>\n
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