Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1893-01-03

ahs az fiaets va ssalfss n f,taatast
isa His tsHses a he nia
tat tiUhia w his nftat estate 70 his
children ~ ihlehl frasobsiiy have been
etbettpl ~ blm when hieh stcenu
laie rbney mneh " little u 4 na'nfai
ihet thsy shbhld bsnd II down 70 their
children. n Niey have them. snd sehef
slt the public sentiment coninends
them fof A. doing The feeling that =
man should fightfniiy look first after
bis owu honsehoid bttvniis among the
people
when the estate is as vas, ~ Mr.
tioulda. however. sofne newspapers utter
ercamations of surprise and protest "
some ~ u "a not beuueathed fyt public
purposes m for organized charities They
seem 10 proceed on The assumption that
the man IL bound 10 take away from his
children money which he himself would
not give up during hts life IN other
words, they would require him 10 force
his children 10 make benefactions which
he himself had not made
n y moral obligation 10 give away his
money thus rests on = man, II rests on |
him personally and during his own life |
He docs not discharge II by Keeping the
tnoner while he lives and compelling his
children 10 give II away for him after
his death n his money or any part Of
II bolOngs 60 the public Of right. u be-
longs to them during the life Of the man.
not merely at his death. He il respon.
sible for the stewardship and is account
able for It's performance, and he cannot
transfer 20 others the obligation.
Really It cannot be called noble gen.
erosity, high altruism. for man TO give
away his money only after he is dead
and he has no more use for IL. He should
be his own almoner during his own life.
If the methods by which he obtained his
fortune were culpable in his own estima-
ion and he wishes TO make atonement
'or them in departing from this life. he
IAN do 1t only by returning to the indi
,iduals the money which he took from I
bem wrongfully. He does not whiten
lis offense by giving 1t to somebody else
I 1t belongs rightfully to others besides
Iimself, it belongs to those from whom ]
e got it by unjust means. t
1t was made evident during Mr.. |
iould's life that he had no such consci- /
ntious scruples as to the meaDs by {
'hich he accumulated his great estate d
)eath did not come to him unexpected. /
7. For years past he must have been
orewarned that his life was approach. il
ig its end. The consciousness that his q
me on earth was likely to be short &
robably induced him to pay special at b
'ntion to his religious obligations as he
them. He became a diligent
'tendant upon a Presbyterian church.
ld he gave his open adherence to its So
're doctrines of future accountability 81
II his conduct in this life. He was not II
] infidel. He was an orthodox believer. te
Q must have died thinking that his for al
ne was rightfully his own and had 81
zen obtained by means consistent with In
Q obligations Of religion. He could not ia
I'VE felt that he was under the moral IN
mpulsion of making restitution to any. re
'dy. nt
In leaving his fortune to his children W
put upon each of them the burden Of W
: own moral responsibility to use his Or
)ney. He made each of them his own ag
noner, with power to use his own in Jo
me in his own wy. as he himself had
ne and insisted on doing. That is all. II
New York Sun. Nv