The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-06-06
Tie Right DISPOSITION of Wealth.

the Helen GoulG type of American
young woman.
Tie Right Disposition of Wealth.
They held at Yale the other day n
debate upon the question, what would
be the best disposition of Andrew Car
ncgbe's great wealth." and the most
sensible opinion offered came from Pro-
fessc'r J. e. Schwab of the department
Of political economy, who said: Prob
ably the best thing that Mr.. Carnegie
could do with his money would be to
employ it actively in business; that is,
he should build factories and railroads
and employ his money productivity. If
that is out of the question, let him do
as he, has been doing, establish libra
ries a nd similar institutions. The least
advantageous way for the disposition
of the Carnegie millions would be to es-
tablish so-called charitable institu-
tions"
Professor Schwab's last sentence may
need explanation. 1t is not supposable
that the professor is hostile to char
tiles; but as a sensible economist he
doubtless. realizes that prevention of
the conditions which necessitate char
tiles is preferable to indiscriminate be-
stowal of aims. His thought, we as
sumo, was that the best charity is the
busy factory, mill or railroad, or the
well endowed school or public library,
not because it is a charity but because
it largely does away with the need for
charities. In other words, opportunity
rather than gratuity is the proper pre-
scription for men or women who are
in misfortune.
1t is the fashion of a school Of public
agitators-demagogu we might say
to throw odium upon men of means; to
incite against them the envy of the ex-
citable poor and to cause it to appear
that wealth is necessarily a menace to
the working classes. These false econ
omists do not discriminate between the
use and the abuse of wealth; they do
not explain that without wealth ready
to take the initiative in works OF pro-
duction or distribution our great in
dustries would languish and a halt
would come to the whole progress of
American development; they simply
fan the flame of class prejudice and
try to make their living out Of the
trouble which they can create.
In the case of Andrew Carnegie-to
continue the concrete illustration be-
gun at Yale university-it is very little,
indeed, that Mr.. Carnegie personally
nf mil IL
more food than his employees at Home
stead; wears not many more, though
perhaps more expensive, clothes, and
has shelter which, if more costly in its
first cost, is likewise a greater means
of putting money in continual circu-
lation than the less expensive cottage
of the mill hand whom the Carnegie
investments supply with employment.
When Mr.. Carnegie dies he will take
with him, out of circulation, only the
value of the coffin that encloses his
remains; and in course of time even
THAI will probably be restored to civil
ization. The rest of his vast estate
will remain as an asset of society at
large-doing both good and harm, no
doubt, yet doing, upon the whole, more
good than harm, and sure, in the long
run, to get back into the hands Of the
people.
If Carnegie owns 500, 900, 900, which
for sake of illustration we will assume
that he does, and spends on himself
and his personal needs 100000 a year
it is only tenth of one per cent. taken
| from the moneys interest or dividend
| earning power Few men now in poor
| circumstances would consider one mill on
the dollar yeara heavy price to pay for
an equally efficient management of their
| affairs. Our city government costs in
| the neighborhood of twenty-five times
| as much: and our county and state
governments in proportion. The diff
| ference between what Carnegie spends
personally and what his estate earns
| each year-let us estimate this in
round numbers at $4,000, ,OOO--is what, in
some way, sooner or later the COM
munity is bound to save by having q
manager like Carnegie instead of man.
ayers like those who are managing the
| government of Scranton.
Undoubtedly the best disposition OF
wealth is to keep it wisely invested In
enterprises which bring returns to a
| large number of people.
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