The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-11-09
9ndrew Carnegie Unique Hmons Mutmllionafres;
Che Man Nbo Deems 1t Reproacb Die Rio

mans own peculiar hand, which he de-
lights to exhibit. Curious as it may
seem, many of these precious misslyes
are written on postal cards in text SO
small as to be undecipherable without q
glass. Those who have kept track OF
the steel kings political attitude for the
past thirty years win have no difficulty
in recalling the fact that he was once
an ardent advocate of a high protective
tariff. More recently however, he has
been inclined to favor some of the
theories involved in free trade. His
enemies have been quick to point out
that he has abandoned the doctrine OF
the protective tariff because he no
longer has use for it, but his friends
maintain that his intimacy with Mr.
Gladstone, who was an enthusiast for
free trade, worked the change in his
sentiments.
He has a full measure of the Scotch
love of augmentation and rarely ac-
cepts any statement without consider
ing it thoroughly It matters little what
the subject may chance to be, he is
quite prepared to give it a proper sift-
ing. He likes to be the central figure at
a dinner party, and on those occasions
he is apt to discourse rather ponder
ously. He holds peculiar ideas III
theological matters, and if there hap
pens to be a clergyman present he is
very greatly inclined to air them. Quite
recently he was put alongside an emf
nent divine at college dinner and al
once began to enunciate his religious
views in a manner so highly character
istic that the dismayed ecclesiastie
withdrew in horror, greatly to this
amusement Of the steel magnate and
the distress of his aniable wife.
Mr.. Carnegie does not commit him
self unreservedly to the so called good
things of life" The chief value OF
riches to the individual, he maintains,
is not to be found in the increased ca
pacity for personal comfort. He is ex-
ceedingly abstemious in his daily life
so markedly so, indeed, that he has
been charged with penuriousness. It is
not that, but the inherited influence of d
/ Scottish ancestry spendthrift never,
| prudent always. One luxury, however.
| he has permitted himself since he
moved into the great Fifth avenue PAL
ace. Every morning as he crosses the
stately hall of the great mansion on his
way to the dining room an orgauist be
gins to play on the fine instrument
which has been built at the farther end.
It is the Organist's duty to furnish a
recital lasting an hour, and the re-
| tired steel manufacturer always re-
mains until it is over. He is very fond
\ of good music and is an intelligent lis
I tener and critic.
Even If Mr.. Carnegie should succeed
in relieving himself of the reproach OF
dying rich it is probable that he will
provide literally for the future of his
daughter, Margaret, now in her early
teens. Her father is devoted to her
He has decided the great New YORK.
mansion to her and seems to be as
anxious to shield her from publicity Il
he is willing to permit the details OF
his giving to be published to the whole
\ world Pictures of his castle and pal
ace, both from without and Within are
to be had for the asking. and neither
Mrs. Carnegie nor himself is annoyed by
seeing them reproduced in the papers,
but applications for a picture of Mar
garet are met with a prompt refusal
That the young girl is being taught the
value of money is scarcely a Fremont
tory symptom that her father is 50
enamored of poverty that he means To
remove the burden Of wealth from her
pathway. There is a story current that
Mr.. Carnegie no longer bothers to write
out stubs for his personal checks. Once
his wife asked him to teach her how
to make her check stubs agree with her
bank book balance. He replied that IL
was hardly worth while to learn.
Il never write out stubs at ALL" he
said. q just write the check and get
the money. I'm not afraid of overdraw-
ing my balance"
Nor is there any one who believes that
his balance. JAMES R. BENTLEY.
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