Evening star., 1902-01-13
Mr.. CARNEGIE PLAN
Educational Scheme to 60 on With
out Congressional Action.
DISCUSSED BY CARROLL I. WRIGHT
Donor of Fund to Attend Meet
ing of Board of Trustees.
SCOPE OF THE ENTERPRISE

Colonel Carroll D. Wright, commissioner
Of labor, one of the trustees of the re-
Gently incorporated Carnegie institution.
said to am Evening Star reporter today
that there would be congressional or
governmental action in connection with the
proposed educational scheme Mr.. Car
negie's plan was at first" said the COM
missioner, ito put the institution under gov
ernmental control. Later this was changed
and the institution, as 1t is Incorporated to-
day, Is like any other private corporation.
II do not know how Mr.. Carnegie intends
to make his gift-whether In cash or securi-
ties. That matter will undoubtedly develop
at the first meeting of the board Of trus-
tees in this city the 29th instant.
Il rather expect that Mr.. Carnegie will
be present at the meeting to make known
his plans and purposes. He has, so to
speak, brought a new educational baby
into the world, and 1 surmise that he will
be present at the christening.
AT this meeting the trustees will un-
doubtedly adopt bylaws and elect officers
whose duty it will be to carry out Mr.. Car
negie's scheme.
Il understand that when this educational
bark is once launched upon the sea of in.
struction, continued Col. Wright, that
Mr.. Carnegie will keep hands off and leave
it's conduct and management to the board
of trustees or such officers as they may
designate at their meeting.
His purpose in so doing Is most wise
Many institution has been hampered and
it's progress and development seriously i'm
peded by the interference of it's founder.
Mr.. Carnegie has outlined broad scheme,
and if carried out it will work for the bene-
fl. Of future generations as well as for the
present. number of people who have in
the past endowed Institutions, have SEEM
iv,trl oIo
change with them.' and for this reason their
original purposes have been seriously inter-
rupted, if not entirely thwarted."
An Instance Cited.
II remember" said the Commissioner,
being once called upon, in conjunction
with Edward Everett Hale and Chas. H
Kidder, to decide a very interesting point
along this line. An eminent Unitarian ad-
vocate had endowed small Massachusetts
parish, where that faith was to be pro-
mulgated, with 5000
zone of the provisions of the will was
that the endowment was to be used for the
benefit of the church so long as Unitarian
doctrines were taught its parishoners,
otherwise the legacy was to cease, and the
endowment fund revert to branch of the
legatee'S family.
Time went on, and finally a wave of dis
cord made its appearance when the rela-
tiVeS under the VIII VINO We're TO directly
benefit under it's provisions if they were
not properly carried out by the church,
made the claim that the minister was not
carrying out the giver's idea as to the man.
ner in which the doctrines he advocated
We're being taught.
"Of course, the relatives wanted to get the
money, and, on the other hand. the church
wanted to retain the legacy as we'll as it's
minister. So committee of arbitration.
composed of those l have named, was ap-
pointed tos settle the dispute We were
furnished with copies of six sermons de-
llvered by the Unitarian minister as evil
dence. you might say, of 'heresy' The,
committee carefully read over the sermons
and then held a meeting to discuss their
bearing in the light of the endowment as
originally intended by the testator.
I'VE unanimously decided that the minis
ter, who is a young man, was not living up
either have to preach sermons of differ
ent character or'the church would lose its
legacy.
The minister. who. was a most estimable
man, promptly resigned from his pastor
ate He did not mean wrong, but was only
preaching Unitarianism as he understood
it in this advanced age. The man who en-
doWed the institute made a mistake as he
did not at the time he made the beauest
appreciate that ideas change with the lapse
or time. as We must suit our actions and
teachings 10 the conditions that confront
Mr.. Carnegie has, l am glad to saw"
concluded the commissioner. taken time
Dy the forelock: so to speak, and by de-
termination not to mix up in the affairs
of the institution after it has been in
augurated has demonstrated that he pos
sesses storehouse of Judgment as well as
of wealth and philanthropic Deeds"