Evening star., 1903-09-08
GOOD USES FOR MONEY
HOW THE I-AILLIONAIREs
MIGHT HELP HUMANITY.
Difficulties and Dangers Which Beset
Philanthropists - Evil In
Unwise Giving.

From the London Spectator.
correspondent of the Daily Mail has
been exercising himself about "a new
perip'-the man who has more money than
he can conveniently spend. or. as he has
been called the multi millionaire When. 1t
| may be asked by the way, was that word
| coined? 1t was not very long ago that a
millionaire was looked upon as something
| of a rarity; today the possessor Of a mere
million goes almost unnotfced. But the
| man with million to spend every year can
| not go unnoticed If he spends it. so huge are
the gifts which he is compelled to make If
he is to get rid Of his money and not to die
disgraced," as Mr.. Carnegie is supposed to
have put 1t. 1t is. indeed, the sheer diff
Guilty he finds in spending instead of accu-
mulating his wealth that compels the atten-
ton and publicity which just possibly he
might like to avoid.
A year or two ago, If we remember right
ly, there was published a novel of which
the ingenious plot was woven round the
| difficulty the hero had II getting rid of
million pounds In twelve months. He had
to spend the million pounds, and account
for 1t, in order to come into possession of
a much larger sum. There were limitations
imposed, of course; for example, he was
not allowed to give away any money; ne
built, the building had to be finished within
| the year. There were other things he might
not do. but what they were does not much
matter; at all events, the writer OF the
story made out a very good case Inc man
with the million discovered all sorts OF
pitfalls. When he betted or gambled, for
instance, he invariably won large sums of
| money, which distracted him; but of course
his greatest difficulty was that he might not
give anything away. He had to buy In
the ordinary markets, and he found 1t
only just possible to spend the money IN
the time.
Diseourages Energy.
But II the disability to give is removed
from the path of the multi-millionaire anx-
ious to benefit permanently the community
to which he belongs. in what way would
he spend 1t to the best advantage? One
haunting danger he must be alw ays guard
ing againstZthe danger Of pauperizing
those to whom he gives money. II he
makes community less anxious to acquire
by its own effort something which 1t de-
sires. he discourages local energy and tai
ent: and of course those are precisely what
he wishes to develop anu encourage. In
certain directions. however. he would seem
to be on safe ground. 1t Is difficult to see
how a community can be harmed by being
provided with increased facilities for the
education Of it's members. If, therefore,
like Mr.. Carnegie. the multi-millionaire de-
cides to present free Libraries to towns
which do not already possess them. so that
no embryo Gibbon or Edison shall be pre-
vented from writing. or inventing, by lack
of means to buy books: If he decides,
like Mr. Rockefeller, to present huge sums
to educational establishments he can hard
ly do harm. and he may do immense good.
But 1t is when he leaves the attempt to
improve the mental well-being of thousands
of men and women. and tackles the much
more attractive and much more dangerous
problem of improving their physical we'll
Of mil nf
pounds finds deep difficulty before him.
There to begin with. is the problem, never
yet solved of the hospitals.
The hospitals want more and more money
every year: now and then there comes a
year, as has happened twice quite recently,
when the rich men and the public have been
asked to make. and have made, great
effort to set the hospitals on their legs once
and for all. 1t is. seemingly. hopeless to
expect that this will be- done under
present conditions. and with ~ discover
les and new methods of treatment being
| adopted year by year-or perhaps not
adopted for lack of capital.
Cure for Lupus.
To take one instance only of a new dis
covery. the benefits of which cannot be dis
tributed as widely as they might be If there
were more money to spend, there Is the
Finsen lamp cure for lupus. 1t costs f1O-
600 to establish and endow a Finsen lamp,
and the cure. up to certain stage of the
disease is practically certain. With suf-
ficient number of Finsen lamps at their dis
posal the doctors could burn lupus out of
every afflicted man. woman and child at
present suffering from that hideous disease;
but there are not enough Finsen lamps,
and the sufferers have to wait their turn
for months and years. knowing that each
day brings nearer the stage when the dis
ease cannot be cured. That is ghastly
enough idea; especially CHASTITY, of course,
because the cure for the disease has been
discovered. whereas the doctors
cropping in half-darkness for certain cures
for such diseases as cancer and consump-
ton.
Could not, then, the multi-mtllionaire step
in here and make himself, so to speak, the
physician of the nation; could he not en-
dow great colleges of medicine devoted to
research and experiment in the case Of dis
eases Of which the cure Is still unknown?
He could do 50, certainly; but would he he
doing good? 1t is at least questionable
whether 1t would be satisfactory state of
affairs II everybody could be doctored free.
Even as things are today, 1t Is doubtful
whether certain proportion of the money
subscribed by the public for the upkeep of
hospitals does not find its way into wrong
channels-that is. 1t Is not an unknown
thing for persons to take advantage Of free
treatment at the hospitals when they can
perfectly well afford to pay doctors fees.
1t would do no good in the end if such a
state of things became the rule instead of
the exception. And, again. the multi-mil-
lonaire thinking of endowing great schools
of research might ask himself, In view of
the discoveries of the past, whether there
might not come time when those schools
having fulfilled the object for which they
were founded-say the discovery of the
cause and the cure of cancer-wouId turn
their energies to research in what he might
consider wrong directions They might
make work for themselves-one of the most
pernicious forms Of extravaganza.
The Worthy Poor.
4. There is at least one other channel into
which man anxious to spend money we'll
might be tempted TO pour the stream Of
wealth, and that Is private charity. Every
man of wealth and position receives beg
glng letters, and knows, too. that OCCASION
ally they are the outcome of genuine want
and distress. Every one. again, is familiar
with those cases of poverty in which lust
little more money-the very rich man
would perhaps hardly believe how little it