The Indianapolis journal., 1903-02-22
MRS. RoosEvELT's HANDKERCHIEF.
People Who Beg for Gifts Should BE
Thankful for What They Get.
Brooklyn Ea gle.

Brooklyn Eagle.
The women of the Dallas free kindergar-
ten asked to take advice. They pro-
pose TO snub Mrs. Roosevelt, the wife of the
President, by sending back TO her a hand
kerchief which she gave, by request, to
their fair They are urged to reconsider.
They say that the handkerchief cost 10
cents, whereas ii should have been of lace
and cost So or $40. There may be a trihe
of Southern feeling behind this action; that
is, the women may have taken their cue
from the men of the neighborhood, though
doubt it, for men seldom do such small
and insulting things. 1t is merely a result
of not thinking
Mrs. Roosevelt probably receives a hun
dred requests a day to contribute to fairs
Every church, hospital, school, club, char
ity society and social organization that
needs money writes to her and begs for
some object that can be sold for a price,
and ii instances unusual courtesy on her
part that she sends anything whatever. The
expenses of the White House are heavy.
Despite the allowances for service and en-
tertainments. there is great outlay for
diplomatic dinners and other functions
things that, in view of his position, no
President can escape, though ne can min
imize them Mr.. Hayes did by treating
his guests to Potomas water with ice in it,
Add the normal cost of maintaining fam
lily in a capital like Washington. and how
much is left for strangers, representing in
terests TO which the family CT the President
must be Indifferent?
The incident, slight as it is in itself,
country, and believed to be worse here than
IL is in any other, namely-the constant
begging in which people, often better bred
than the women of Dallas, will engage.
They go to clergymen, statesmen, editors,
college presidents, lawyers and ask them to
talk for the entertainment of little clubs
and societies and Sunday schools that these
men have never heard of; they ask them to
give money for schemes in which they can
have no possible interest: they seem to
think that the pockets of the rich are bot
tOmleSS. they
ished when Mr.. Rockefeller or Mr. Carnegie
declines to give thousand or two for the
Borioboolagha Psychological Laboratory:
indeed. their one object i'm life seems 70 be
to extract money and services from unwill-
ing people.
Charity is a cardinal virtue and the free
dom of giving in this country is no little
of its glory; but it ought to be remembered
that most of the givers have their own cir
Gle of acquaintance and their own elee-
mosynary activities. 1t is simply impossi-
BILE for any one, even had he the riches of
a Croesus, to give to all applicants or at
least to give articles of intrinsic conse-
quence. If the churlish manner in which
Mrs. Roosevelt'S gift to a company of
strangers has been received results in a
rule to heed these importunings no further,
il will not be without its beneficial effect
The fact is, people have no right to start
enterprises unless they are willing to carry
them through. 1t is fatally easy for them
to open a charity bureau, a school, a work.
room or a lodging house and then rush
around TO uninterested victims and demand
money to carry it on. What would we think
of men who started any other business in
the belief that enough could be begged
every year to keep them from bankruptcy?
And the worst is that in almost a ma jority
of instances, these religious and missionary
enterprises. which are thus dumped upon
the charitiese of the business world are
founded and fostered by people able to
carry them on without these constant ap-
peals for help. That help is generally given
with grudging at best, and many of these
enterprises fail because their managers act
on the supposition that the public can be