Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-02-01


Gently printed an editorial written by
Henry Watterson entitled ITO Rich
Man, Greeting" in which Mr. Waiter
son touches upon the proposed home
for aged newspaper men and of Mr..
Andrew Carnegie's connection there
with. Mr. Watterson says:
| Puck has a cartoon which Mr.. An
drew Carnegie should seriously con-
slider, and, by way of helping him
along to consideration on tangible
lines, The COurier-J Journal ventures to
supplement the pencil of its hebdoma-
daI coworker i'll the search for truth
with written word or two of still fur
ther suggestion.
Puck's cartoon depicts the world IA
nous philanthrOpist seated at Il table
presumably in the new home he has
but just completed - inspecting plans
for various public libraries which lie
before him. To his left. upon the back
ground of an open fireplace and above
the rising flames, appears the vision OF
model library, n niche, as it were,
from the facade of the Congressional
library. Upon the wall behind him and
over a bas-relief of the Goddess of
Plenty may be seen a heroic picture
of the good Samaritan, and away off
to his right. standing upon the thresh-
old of an open door, through which the
snow flies, an old man and an old wO-
man-weak and wan and wretched-ill
clad-nay. but thinly enveloped by I'M
manly and unwomanly rags-the old
Wife clinging to Il crutch-await in
tragic, mute appeal.
mol fTrCr frnrr Of 10 nj r.afS
sleeve TO divert his attention from the
maps to the mortals and is saying, as
Mr. Carnegie seems to listen. not in
APPLY: Books are already so cheap and
libraries so abundant that even the
poorest man has all the literature he
wants. Now, why not provide respect
able homes for the people who are too
old to work and who were never able
to save anything from their scanty
wages, and to keep them from beg
gary, starvation or suicide?" May Mr..
Carnegie see and heed the admoni-
ton. But whether he does or not, God
bless the boy that nurSed the conceit
and drew the picture. BY delightful
coincidence it is Keppler the younger.
Mr.. WattersOn, then addressing Mr..
Carnegie in the second person, says:
If you are surprised by the reading
Of these lines, be assured that those in
whose interest they are delivered will
be yet more surprised, for they are 4
sturdy, devil may care set, proud rs
Lucifer and may perchance at first
blush be disposed to resent them. We
speak in the name of those soldiers of
the day and night whose life from the
cradle to the grave is one long epic
one great, heroic strugGle-with des-
tiny; that destiny whose handspring is
glory; that destiny which, begun in
the love of letters and adventure, is to
end only in victory or the poorhOuse;
that destiny which, for all its pitfalls
Of one sort or another. of drink too
often, of the perils of the town in ev-
cry shape, has vOuchsafed some Of
them glimpse of the nobility of truth |
for truths sake, along with n little |
fleeing taste of fame, for many Of
them the sublime, ali satisfying emo |
ton of duty bravely done, for all of |
them the travail of the subaltern; that |
destiny which, unlike the service of the |
army and the navy, carries little pro- |
motion and no pension; in a word, the |
working boys on the force, the silent |
singers of the press, who. beginning at |
to be no longer efficient at fifty, |
unless along the route they have Sc
cured some safe retreat.
This, then, Mr.. Carnegie, is our speech |
to you. Divert some of those millions
from books to men. Already Il plot of
ground has been purchased within easy
reach of New York and Philadelphia
and some progress made toward the
raising of a fund to establish a home
for disabled and superannuated news
paper men. There ought to be one of
them for every geographical subdivi-
sion of the Union.
You, Mr.. Carnegie, can make this
possible. And you owe something TO
the press, do you not?
God bless you. Andrew Carnegie, but
that God may bless you the more while
you are here to enjoy the blessing and
to see the good of it, do this thing.
Make it the signal, the signet, of your
own house warming. Don't send us n
check; come yourself. This is no child
work, and, having given us the bread
for Gods sake, put some butter on it
for Christ's sake.
And the dark shall be light.
Ard the wrong be made -$ght,
And Bertram's right and Bertram's might
Shall meet on Ellengowan's height!