Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-07
TERMS OF THE DISPATCH.
P1TTsBURG. FRIDAY. FEB. :, 1890
THE GREAT GIFT TO PITTsBURG.

The opening of the Carnegie Library in
Allegheny next week, and the extemporan-
eous consideration of the details for Mr..
Carnegie's great gift for Pittsburg, mark a
new era in the advancement of this COM
munity. Heretofore our people have been
mostly occupied by those enterprises
through which the material interests OF the
place have been built up. In that respect
the progress has been wonderful. But now
the public mind is directed to the necessity
and wisdom of making the twin cities as at
tractive from other points of view as they
have always been famous for their material
industries. The magnificent gifts of Mr..
Carnegie, of Mrs. Schenley and of the late
Mr.. Shoenberger mark splendidly the be-
ginning of the new dispensation.
We think every Pittsburger will feel
thrill of pride on reading the announcement
d in The DISPATCH this morning that Mr..
Carnegie's offering to the city with which
his success has been identified covers an ex-
penditure of $1,000 for the diffusion of
knowledge and the promotion of art, litera-
ture and the sciences. This is, indeed,
noble tender; and it is not Pittsburg alone
that will feel the better for it; but wherever
the right uses Of wealth obtain mems con-
sideration, the act will receive unstinted ap-
plause. Coming, as it does, fast upon the
heels of those articles by Mr.. Carnegie on
the opportunities and the duties OF the rich,
which have excited such keen interest on
both sides of the Atlantic, it shows that
there is at least one millionaire who is
bigger than his millions. andsswho can prac-
tice philanthropy on as large scale as he
breaches it. 1t is a piece of great good for
tune for a man to have the opportunity and
the means to raise such shining and last
ing testimonial of his public spirit upon the
field of his labors. But the greater good
fortune, and the thing most to be proud of,
is that the community has the man for the
occasion.
Until the plans for the central library. the
art gallery, the scientific association quarters
and the district libraries are fully weighed,
the public will not adequately realize the
variety of useful influences which this mag
nifcent donation will promote. 1t is enough
to say for the present that a new stimulus
will be given to the mental activities of the
two cities; that the enterprise will not merely
end in architectural adornment, but will in
spire vast deal of worthy purpose on the
part of all classes of citizens to turn the new
opportunities to the most advantage Mr..
Carnegie himselfis is authority for the fact
that much of what be has accomplished in
life is due to the access he had when a boy
to a small collection of books in Allegheny.
There will be countless boys in the future,
we trust, to remember gratefully the thought
fuluess which is now about providing for
them similar opportunities, but of a more
varied sort and on a scale so much vaster.
Finally, 1t is one of the most gratifying
features Of Mr.. Carnegie's princely PROPOSE
tion, that the study which he has given to
the possibilities of the public institution
which he proposes to found, the careful con-
sultations which he has held with those
whose advice he has called in, and his de-
termination that it shall be the property of
the whole people, are not less prominent
than the magnitude of the monetary gift.
He does not alone donate a fortune; but he
accompanies the donation with the most
careful and intelligent planning to secure
for his gift the widest and most lasting pub
lie benefit. The practical philanthropist
rules the policy of the lavish millionaire.