Andrew Carnegie on Prosperity, Income Tax, and the Blessings of Poverty
by Marguerite Martyn
Andrew Carnegie — the Scottish-born steel millionaire and philanthropist, donor of countless public libraries throughout the nation, peace activist — agreed to speak at the third annual American Peace Congress in St. Louis in May 1913.
To get an interview with this reclusive do-gooder, Marguerite Martyn was clever. Starting out early in the morning, she traveled a hundred miles eastward by train to catch him. She got off at the Effingham station in Illinois, waited a while, then boarded the southwest-bound train he was on from New York City. I imagine the Post-Dispatch had reserved an entire compartment so she could have this wealthy man to herself. She handed in her card to his private compartment. He said he could not see her. |
She insisted. He came out and sat down to be interviewed and sketched.
She had won.
She had won.