The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-03-21
The Gospel OF Wealth.

The uninterrupted formation OF the
United States Steel Company, Of whose
securities Mr.. Carnegie is likely to receive
more than par for the elghty-SlH mllilon
dollars of stock and one hundred million
dollars of bonds he now holds in the
Carnegie Steel Company, lends new inter-
est to the collection Of Mr. Carnegie
essays which the Century Company has
recently published under the title The
Gospel of Wealth. Inasmuch as the au-
thors income far exceeds that of the
King of England, and his private fortune
exceeds that of the whole people in many
principalitcs, it is doubtful if any moral
list since Marcus Aurelius has welded
greater material power: and the fact that
in this case the preacher talks, not or
the duties which he would lay upon 9TH
ers, but of those which he lays upon
himself lends to his preaching a unique
interest.
The gospel of wealth which Mr.. Car
negie breaches differs singularly little
from the original Gospel. Instead Of
explaining away, for example. what
Christ said about the difficulty OF a rich
man entering the kingdom Of heaven,
Mr. Carnegie affirns it's justice. and him
self puts the same teaching in secular
form by declaring that he who dies rich
dies disgraccd." 1t is still the. duty of
the rich man. he urges. to sell all that
he has and give it in, the highest and
best form to the poor by administering
his estate himself for the good Of his
fellows before he is called upon to lie
down and rest upon the Bosom Of Mother
Earth
This quotation contains the core OF Mr..
Carnesies teachings. There are, he says,
three ways in which a very rich man
may dispose of his riches. The first is to
found a family; the second, to bequeath
to the public after his death; the third,
to give to the public while he is still
living Against the first of these methods
Mr.. Carnegie speaks with singular con-
vincing force When men have provided
''for their wives and daughters moderate
sources of income, and very moderate al
lowances, if any, for their sons, they
may, he declares. we'll hesitate in be-
Queathing them more, for it is no longer
questionable that great sums bequeathed
often work more for the injury than for
the good OF the recipients"
AS to the leaving of money for public
uses after ones death, Mr.. Carnegie re-
marks that this is only a means for
the disposal of wealth. provided a man is
content to wait until he is dead before he
becomes of much good to the world.
knowledge of the results of legacies be-
queathed is not calculated to inspire the
brightest hopes OF much good being ac-
complished by them. Men who leave large
sums in this way may fairly be thought
to be men who would not have left it at
all had they been able to take it with
them. The memories CT such cannot be
held in grateful remembrance, for there
is no grace in their gifts"
The growing disposition in all highly
civilized countries to tax more and more
heavily large estates left at death is, he
thinks. "a cheering indication of the
growth of a salutary change in public
opinion. OF all forms of taxation
this seems the wisest. Men who continue
boarding great sums all their lives, the
proper use of which for public ends would
work good to the community from which
it chiefly came, should be made to feel
that the community, in the form Of the
State, cannot thus be deprived of its
| proper share. By taxing estates heavily
a death, the State marks it's condemna-
ton Of the selfish millionaire's unworthy
| life" He would have the Inheritance
tax rapidly progressive, beginning at
| nothing upon small holdings needed for
| the comfort and education OF the chill
| dren, and increasing rapidly as the
I amounts swell, until of the million
! aires hoard, as of Shylock's at least
! the other half
| Comes to the privy Golfer of the State"
! The other method of dsposns OF
wealth, the giving it for public ends dur
| ing life, is, in Mr.. Carnegie's view, 1.-The
! true antidote for the temporary unequal
| distribution of wealth, the reconciliation
| Of rho rich and the pOOr',& The amount