There remains, then, only one mode of using great fortunes…Under its sway we shall have an ideal state, in which the surplus wealth of the few will become, in the best sense, the property of the many, because administered for the common good, and this wealth, passing through the hands of the few, can be made a much more potent force for the elevation of our race than if it had been distributed in small sums to the people themselves. Even the poorest can be made to see this, and to agree that great sums gathered by some of their fellow citizens and spent for public purposes, from which the masses reap the principal benefit, are more valuable to them than if scattered among them through the course of many years in trifling amounts.

Question

—Andrew Carnegie, 1889

Answer 1

Carnegie argues that great fortunes should be used for the common good, rather than being hoarded by the few. He believes that when wealth is administered for public purposes, it can have a greater impact in elevating society as a whole. He suggests that even the poorest members of society can benefit from this redistribution of wealth, as long as it is used for the greater good. This idea of using wealth for the benefit of the community aligns with the concept of philanthropy and social responsibility.