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FEBRUARY 15. 1907
The Commoner.
7
THE MAKING OF THE SOUL"
.7. Piorpont Morgan, the greatest trust organ
iser in the world's history, gave to Harvard Col
lege more than one million dollars. The announce
ment of this gift was cheered by the students and
the alumni of Harvard, and Mr. Morgan was Hie
recipient of many compliments given by the
newspapers of the country.
John D. Rockefeller, the leading spirit of the
most powerful trust in existence, recently gave to
education .$32,000,000; he has also given per
haps $40,000,000 to the University of Chicago
and to other funds. Upon the occasion of Mr.
Rockefeller's visit to the .university, which al-'
though it does not bear his name, is known as
his school, he was accorded a great ovation by
the students. Referring to the demonstration a
New York newspaper said:
"It is possible for a student to go through
the University of Chicago and know little
Latin and less Greek, but he will come away
with a very "clear comprehension b the fact
that a man who can build a trust and monopo
lize a gift of r-ature is worthy of all admira
tion and reverence, if he give a trivial part
of his gains to a college."
The donations made by Andrew Carnegie to
the libraries that bear his name, to the pension
fund for disabled teachers and to other institu
tions, are well known to the reading public. Sev
eral years ago Mf. Carnegie said that, "he who
dies rich dies disgraced," and he added that the
men of old had a habit of retiring, late in life,
from business and engaging in what they called,
"the making of the soul." The reading public
understood Mr. Carnegie to mean that in the dis
tribution of his great wealth he was "putting his
house in order." A New York citizen was so im
pressed with Mr. Carnegie's generosity that he
sent to a New York paper an article entitled,
"How to honor Carnegie." In that article this
New Yorker said:
"Naturally every human mind Is today
asking itself this question: What adequate
recognition can be given to 'Andrew Carnegie.
the great Scotch born American, for living up
so superhly to the life rule which he made for
himself and so boldly proclaimed, 'He who
dies rich, dies disgraced.' No set of resolu
' tions, no monuments, no possible political -
recognition for he is foreign born is ade
" quate. Is 'it possible to successfully answer
the question?"
In the first place it must be said that every
gift of money for a worthy purpose is deserving
of generous and intelligent recognition.
Charity is the greatest of all the graces. But
wherever it-happens that, in the view of an In
telligent public, charity is permitted to cover a
multitude of sins, public interests suffer and pri
vate interests do not obtain compensation ade
quate to the public injury.
We live in an age of money. One moment we
see a handful of men acquiring the wealth of the
v country, and the next moment wo hear of one of
v these men bestowing what to us seems a libera.l
sum upon a public library, a church, university or
a great college. Gratitude being an American
characteristic, we are prompted to give at once
not only the qredit due for these benefactions, but
to bestow that credit so lavishly that men close
their eyes to the methods whereby the wealth nas
been obtained and forget the evils the public ha9
suffered in the presence of what seems to be a
generous gift.
One need not be unmindful of generous acts
jwhen he requires himself to consider candidly and
intelligently the contributions now being made
by enormously wealthy men. One of the great
evils confronting the American people today is
presented in these enormous contributions made
by abnormally wealthy men. The evil rests in
the fact that we are so ready to pay tribute to
the 'giving of these gifts that w are apt to close
our eyes to the methods which make them possible.
Mr. Carnegie's, "he w-io dies rich dies dis
graced" has become famous. A more absurd
proposition wasncver presented by an intelligent
man. It, Is not a disgrace to be wealthy; it isiot
a disgrace to die wealthy, always provided the
wealth was acquired by taking just recompense
for the industry, intelligence and ingenuity of the
man. There is, however, a limit to wealth. No
man has ever lived, and no man will ever
live, who can with due regard for the rules of
honesty, with decent concern for the rights .f
others pile up the enormous fortunes accumulated
by the Carnegies, the Rockefellers and the Mor
gans. There have always been men and there
always will be men, who, partly because of greater
ingenuity, partly of more .skill, are able to acquire
more than their neighorbs. But the wealth that
may be honestly acquired will be estimated m
relation to the manner In which the great marts
of people live. If every man who is willing to
work can obtain the opportunity to work, and for
that work can obtain sufficient recompense with
which to rear and educate ills family, then the
general conditions would make it possible that the
men who naturally incline to wealth, and to whom
wealth seems naturally to Incline, may obtain
reasonable fortunes. Under these conditions there
is no law made wealth. The fortunes of the Car
negies, the Rockefellers and the Morgans were
made possible by special privileges uraler the law
privileges which these men of millions enjoy to
the disadvantage of the great masses of their
countrymen.
The man who dies wealthy does not die dis
graced if in the first place he has "lived honestly,
hurt nobody and given to everyone his due." He
has not lived honestly If he has paid out his money
for the ejection of congressmen and public officials
who will give hlin special privileges. He has not
avoided hurting anybody if he has been the ben
eficiary of a law which glvc3 to the few enormous
advantages at the expense of the many. He has
not given everyone his duo if he has taken un'der
a law, made for his special benefit, privileges that
operate to the disadvantage of his countrymen.
If this "making of the soul" phrase means any
thing then it means that Mr. Carnegie or Mr.
Rockefeller feels the necessity of restitution. If
he is making restitution then it is not necessary
ithat we should build him a monument. It Is not
proper that we sLould go into ecstacies over any
or all of his acts of restitution.
Until recently Omaha, Nebraska, .counted
among among its distinguished citizens, a man
who died rich but he did not die disgraced. Ills
name was John A. Creighton and his life was so
devoted to good deeds, that it might almost oe
said of him:
"Even children follow'd with endearing wile,
And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's
smile."
He did not seem to concern himself as to "the
making of the soul;" but for years to come the
memory of John A. Oreigliton will go marching
on through the hearts of the men, women and
children who were the beneficiaries of his loving
kindness. Some of his wealth this good man in
herited; much of it has been due to successful in
vestment on legitimate lines; none of It was ac
quired through any laws enacted for his special
benefit. It seemed that he could not give away
his money fast enough to keep pace with the
accumulations that came through honest business
ventures gold dropping into the hands of one
well able to handle it" for the benefit of society.
One of tlie greatest of western universities has
been the beneficiary of his generous impulses; one.
of the greatest of western medical colleges stands
as a monument to his enterprise and liberality;
one of the greatest hospitals in the world is a mon
ument to his great heart; a great law school, well
equipped with permanent dwelling place and
magnlficient library, will serve as a reminder of
this gentle man. Recently Mr. CroighCbn cele
brated his seventy-fifth birthday by giving one
million dollars to the charitable and educational
institutions, which already owed so much to him.
These gifts, known to the public, are, how
ever, but a small part of the benefactions of this
man. Hundreds and hundreds of men, women
and children have been aided and helped and comforted-
by Mr. Creighton's generosity. The world
has never known of his gifts except where the
character of those gifts were such as to make
secrecy impossible. As a rich man he did not rank
.among the Carnegies, the Rockefellers or the Mor
gans, and yet his gifts amount to several
millions. None heard John A. Creighton worrying
lest he should die rich and thus die "disgraced.'.'
Whatever wealth he possessed, whatever wealth
he acquired his conscience was clear. He knew
that none of that wealth was made possible by
the purchase of public officials, by the employment
of congressmen as his agents, by the acquirement
of special privileges at the expense of the masses
of the people. Of that wealth he has given nobly
and abundantly in many practical ways.
Souls are not made by the restitution of ill
gotten gains in a manner that wins the plaudits
of the worId. A hundred libraries towering to
the skies will be as ineffective in the righting of
grievous wrongs as was the tower of -Babel in
providing xi thoroughfare by which a sinful world
could reach heaven.
Restitution is a good thing, but in itself It
should be complete and effectual, and even then
is purely an experiment in the "making of the
soul." Benefactions prompted by the generous
impulses of men who delight in giving for the
sake of giving by men whose conscience does
not smite them for wrongs committed against a
people, but whose intelligence and goodness Uids
them to scatter seeds of kindness these are the
tilings that aid In iho preservation of the soul.
The man who discharges this duty, although
ho may die rich, will not die disgraced. His mem
ory will be enshrined in Iho hearts of his country
men and his future will he secure In the hands oC
his God. RICHARD L. MI3TUALIPR.
oooo ;
"ONE OF THE BOYS"
He is 'way beyond fifty, his hair's turning gray,
But still ao can laugh In the jolliost way;
Ho hasn't forgotten the fun in a jest;
He tells the old stories with heartiest zest,
He knows all the new ones; ho likes lota " of
noise
Somehow lie has managed to stay with tho boys.
Why, he can get up In the gray of the dawn
And bo out on the-road ere the othors have gone.
With his pole and his Hue and he laughs long
and deep
At the ones who eay morning's tho bSst time to
sleep.
He is out with the boys, and not one of thorn
peers
At the wrinkles and crow's feet that tell of his
years.
He Is ready to romp, or to hunt, or to ride
He has never sat silent and moody, and sighed
Oyer vanishing youth or the days of his past,
For he says that tho days of the boytlme can last
Just as long as we will, that we never need part
With the wonderful thrill that they give to J.ho
heart.
He will He on his back In the shade of the trees
And 'leclare that he knows what Is sung by tho
bees,
And lie mimics the whistles and calls of tho
birds,
Which, he says, if he liked, he could put Into
words.
Ho would-rather spend hours on tlie banks of tho
brook
Where the berries are red, than be reading a
book
He is 'way beyond fifty, and folks tnlnk lie ought
To devote lots of time to more serious thought
But they wonder at him, and they envy him, too,
For he's living today all the days they once knew;
He has never lost touch with the chiefest of joys,
He has kept a young heart he is .one of tho
boys.
'Wilbur D. Nesbit in the Chicago Evening Post.
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