The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-12-11
COUNTLESS MILLIONS FOR
AMERICAS GOOD WORKS
An Antdote to the Craft Stories-America
Not MaterlalIstIc and Corrupt Nation,''
as European Critics Claim.

is being spent at present in America
to create new libraries and improve
old ones. The cost of maintaining
Americas libraries is nearly $12,000,-
600 annually.
Ranks With Royal Library.
America has not yet got the finest
library in the world, but it will be sur
prising if she does not have it within a
generation. Already the Congressional
Library at Washington ties with the
Royal Library at Berlin for fourth
place among the libraries of the world
in number of volumes. The Bibli-
otheque National, the British Museum
and the Imperial Library at ST. Pc
terSburg surpass it. Harvard Univer-
sity comes fifth on the list, having
more volumes than any other univer-
sity in the world. The famous Bod
leian at Oxford has only $4,000 to
Harvard's 10000. Four great libraries
New York Public Library, the
New York City Library, Columbia
University Library and the Mercantile
Library. Together they have over l.
100000 volumes-a total exceeded only
by the Bibliotheque National and the
British Museum.
The Worlds Finest Hospital.
If America has not yet got the best
library in the world, she can lay claim
to the best hospital That is the ver-
dict of Sir Felix Semon. who is one
of the best authorities on the subject.
He has worked and studied in the best
hospitals in London, Berlin, Vienna and
Paris, but when he inspected the
Mount Sinai Hospital, in New York
h yseytA -
he said
That is unquestionably the finest
hospital in the world. There is none
to equal it in London, which brides it
self on its hospitals above everything
else. The buildings are better adapt
ed for hospital purposes than any that
have seen, and the equipment is
magnificent. You give to the poor pa
TENTS luxuries and medical comforts
which the rich cannot purchase in
London. 1t is all magnificent-wonder-
full! There is nothing like it any
where"
Relief for Human Suffering.
Foreign visitors to America some
times say that the struggle for sue
cess is keener and more cruel here
than anywhere else-that life is
strenuous race with leach man for
himself, and the devil take the hind
most" But there is no country on
earth where the man who is down
and OUT is more carefully and kindly
looked after. Paupers dependent upon
the municipalities are far better treat
ed in America than in any European
country, and their cost to the tax
payers per head is much higher They
have all the comforts they need to
make life endurable. and they are
even given good many luxuries that
would make the Old World BUNDLES
lift up their hands in horror. Yet the
number of paupers in the United
States is comparatively small when
compared with that of European
countries. According to the last re-
turns. they numbered 73,O45. of whom
58.44 per cent. were of foreign ex-
traction. Great Britain, with not much
more than half the population, has
considerably over 100000 paupers.
Great Systems of Charity.
European cities have built up great
systems of public and private philan-
thropy but they cannot compare in
the number and variety of their char
liable institutions with New York,
Chicago, Philadelphia and other great
centers of population in this country.
The directory of the New York Char
ity Organization Society lists no
fewer than 3,171 of slch institutions
working in Greater New York alone.
There is hardly a form of human
suffering which is not covered by one
or other of these beneficent agencies.
There are destitute persons in Ameri-
can cities, of course; occasionally the
newspapers even record a death from
starvation or a suicide from the utter
despair of poverty. But such cases
can occur only from ignorance of
where to apply for relief or from
pride that refuses to take it when it
is freely offered.
Will Soon Lead in Art.
'Materialistic'' America bids fair to
lead the world pretty soon in institu
lions devoted to science and art. The
Smithsonian is one of the finest mu-
seums in the world, and the American
Museum of National History is al
ready the largest natural history mu-
scum in existence, and is to be made
four times larger than it is at present.
The Metropolitan Museum Of Art
cannot yet compare with the best
galleries of Europe, but it may do
so when the late Jacob s. Rogers be-
quest of 100000 has been wisely
expended.
Eyes, you can buy objects of art,
for you have the money; but you can
not produce Them the disgruntled
European MAY say. Such is not, how
ever, the opinion of a famous Euro
pean sculptor who has done great
work in America, Fernando Miranda.
Speaking of the growth of taste in
art in recent years in this country, he
said recently:
1.-THE time is coming when America
will lead in art of all sorts as well as
in it's vast material achievements.
And when American art shall be de-
veloped, 1t will be broad, virile, as
piring in greater degree than the art