Los Angeles herald., 1905-06-25

lieVe in dividing up equally al tne
money.
"It would be ruinous. Supposing Mr..
Carnegie's three hundred million dol
lars were divided up all over the world,
that would be only dollar apiece for
three hundred million people. What
possible good could that do? None at
all to anybody, and you can readily
see what great harm it would do, be-
cause it would rob Mr.. Carnegie Of the
great power for good which his ac-
All Want the Earth
"Do you think the vast accumula-
ton of wealth is good thing?"
"That, of course, is a question. Just
where the line should be drawn I am
not prepared to say, but it does seem
that the modern tendency and modern
conditions allow wealth to run to an
extreme. 1t isn't the money SO much
that these men are after who have
made great fortunes as it is the power
that great wealth gives them. That is
what they seek-power. The general
tendency now is for each man to do
unto his neighbor as his neighbor would
do unto him, only he tries to do it
first.
1.-The meek shall inherit the earth
but we are all so anxious for the earth
that there is little chance for the
meek In the future meekness will no
I<,1 1,A xytrf,, I,,,f fIA y1,ir, air1a
that might makes right will prevail.
"Up to the present time most men
have accepted the general content of
ethics, but now the philosophers are
carping at the principles of the valid
ity of ethics, and in future the moral
standard is destined to be lowered.
eff any one should ask me which 1
would rather do, sit at that desk there
and evolve and write ethical problems
and work out perfect system for
them, which would be glorious and high
minded and absolutely commendable,
or go out and practice them, I would
take the job of sitting there at the desk
and writing 1t would be fifty tinrss
as easy. When read these deep, care
fully prepared essays that people have
written on how man should live and
treat his fellows, before 1 try to follow
them l want to find out what sort of
life the man who wrote them leads.
It's great deal easier to tell person
how to be good than to be good your
self.
Christian Skinflints
"Benevolence is a much misused
| word. When a beggar comes to man
and asks for help and the man says:
"'Oh, no! never give anything that
way. subscribe yearly to the Charity
Organization society. Go to them. They
will help you'-that man may think
that he is benevolent and that he has
done all that falls upon him to do. But
he is greatly mistaken. I don't care
for that kind of benevolence. In fact,
1 don't think very much of referring
people to organized charity, anyway.
It's habit that a man can easily get
into. and it is a habit that is sure to
dwarf his heart and his better i'm
pulses"
"Do you believe that benevolence and
Christianity go hand in hand-that the
Christian man is always a benevolent
man?"
"By no means. 1 know lots of al
legged Christians who are skinfints. AS
a matter of fact, they are not Chris
tians at all.
"The man that I particularly object
to is the cold blooded, right living ras-
cal who grinds the face of the poor
under the cloak of the law and by the
sanction of custom accumulates great
fortune and in doing it goes just as
near to the prison gates as he dares.
He skates to the very edge of the ice
in legal as well as personal morality
and gloats over his achievements
yes, even glories in them openly. That
the dangerous man in the community.
His example can work great harm to
thousands of ready and willing imita-
tors. The law allows a man such lat
itude in his business dealings that 1t
is almost a temptation to do wrong.
"And if by chance that man should
! teach Sunday school. What then?
Would it mitigate his offense any?
81 certainly do not intend to dis
courage any one from teaching Sum
day school or going to church. Sun
day school never hurt any one. no mat
ter how rich he was.
"But when the rich man comes to
die, what then? During his life we
know what his neighbors say about
him and he knows what they say about
him. But when he dies the minister
will discourse on his domestic virtues
The minister will tell how, in an un-
usually busy and arduous life. the de-