The Saint Paul globe., 1904-04-17
A PRICE LIsT oE SOULS.

by Mr.. Andrew Carnegie of a hero
fund is a magnificent tribute to hu-
manity and an encouragement to the
development and exaltation of it's no
blest traits. "Where'er a noble deed
is wrought" there the medal is to be
struck and there the annuity paid.
Widows and children of these who
have deserved we'll of their kind are
not to be left unregarded or consigned
TO the coldness of charity. The men
themselves in whom these fine quail
ties have sprung into sudden and
vivid flower are to have honers and
emoluments and revenues in case of
need. Mr.. Carnegie makes himself a sort
of Improvement upon Providence, who
is so often apparently neglectful of
the material fortunes of the good and
brave. And there is a chorus of ap-
proval from the sentimentalists.
= Seriously speaking, we think that
there has never been made any propo-
sHion. stalking in the guise of philan-
thropy, so utterly demoralizing and so
destructive of ideals as this. Speak
of commercialism! Is this not one OF
its, supreme and most debasing ex-
hibitions; just because it breaches the
doctrine Of those who would save the
body at the expense of the soul. If
it means anything at all, it must mean
that those valorous and gedlike quail
ities which we have reverehced from
the beginning of the world, whose pur-
suit has been the most elevating pas
sion of mankind, and whose peculiar
ordinance it is that they shall be sought
through travail and sacrifice and suf-
fering, shall now be submitted to the
appraisers hand and stand forth duly
ticlIeted on the price list.
So much for courage, gentlemen.
Five dollars are offered for the rescue
Of a woman from a burning building
Ten dollars will be secured, in Steel
company bonds, to the rescuer Of &
child that has fallen into the water
Here is the bureau of spiritual infor-
nation and the check room OF spiritual
properties, where you may have your
soul valued and entered and be sure
that you can get it when you call
for it. Step up, gentlemen, step up.
BE heroes, all, not because it is fine
to be heroic, not because the eternal
riers of pain and loss and uplifts you,
on its swell, above the serenest
heights of heaven, but because you
know that you will be protected, in the
worst event, from money loss, will get
medal and place on the pension
list and much glory and comfort in the
habitatiOns of men. Could anything
be more infinitely detestable, more de-
PRAYED and depraving?
The system as it stands is also log
icaly incomplete; and as Mr.. Carnegie
has still at his disposal unreckoned
millions, the possession whereof at his
dying hour he has said would disgrace
those solemn moments, we may look to
see him fashion properly the reverse
side Of his own medals. Perhaps the
greatest of all heroic deeds are mega
tive, and therefore have no place upon
the record. 1t is not the direct achieve
ment of virtue so much as resistance
to alluring vice that creates the very
fiber of high moral character. The hero
is the tempted, who resists; and from
the furnaces where manhood and wom-
anhood grow into forms Of ineffable
beauty, it is he who has cast the
tempter behind him rather than he
who has captured divine virtue in open
warfare and chained her to his chariot
wheel that comes forth as gold therein
refined.
This cannot be ignored by Mr.. Carne-
gle. His endowments for heroes will
be ridiculously, cruelty criminaIIy in
complete without due provision for
those other tried souls that have sent
the devil skulking away with his tail
between his heels. Medals and prizes
and pensions We must have for the
passive brave. Such and such financial
support for the man who has never
coveted his neighbor's wife. Give
place and pelf to the victor over the
impulse to appropriate another's prom
erty. Let US have proper annuity for
the man who has declined bIasphemy
and sacrilege, and the hero whose long
life has been free from suspicion of
arson or Of parricide.
Saints and prophets and poets and
philosophers, widely as they vary in
their outlook on life and conduct. agree
at least in this; that the treasure and
the hope of the Rsorld, its one achieve
ment wrested froi.l the past. its one
bow of beauty ano of promise hung