I just found this in Robin Blackburn's very interesting look on pensions. I think it illustrates the difference between the right wing Yahoos and the more farsighted capitalists. Carnegie surely was not a great humanitarian. he also opposed American imperialism at the time of the Philippine war.
51: Andrew Carnegie had endowed the Carnegie Fund for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) in 1901 with the primary purpose of making the career of university teachers in secular institutions look more attractive: he was concerned to limit what he saw as the unfortunate influence of religion on education and research. He hoped that the prospect of a pension would encourage those with the best brains to devote themselves to the furtherance of secular knowledge. The affairs of the CFAT were directed by Henry S. Pritchet, president of MIT, who saw pension provision as being one way to mitigate the excesses of US individualism and extend broadly in society the advantages of an orderly capitalism: "The question is whether ... our country will not be compelled to find a means of safeguarding the freedom of the individual up to all reasonable limits and at the same time secure the advantages of the tremendous agencies which have been organized in the last fifty years, such ... as trusts and other industrial organizations. I apprehend that the organization of the centralised pension system is really only a small part of the larger question." quoted in Graebner, William. 1980. A History of Retirement: the Meaning and Function of an American Institution, 1885-1978 (New Haven, CT): p. 118. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
