Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-14
Favorite Charities Of the Wealthy
Take Wide Range idener
Home for Crippled Children the
Greatest Of Recent Benefactions-
The Sehiff Nurses Settlement
Mr.. Phipps' Consumption Santa
rium-Boys' Clubs Appeal to Mr..
Hartman.

Some miliionaires give promiscuously for
all kinds of deserving objects. Others con-
fine their benefaetions to a rather Ii..rrow
range Of charities, of which the public
hears little. But there is scarcely mil
iionaire philanthropist who does not have
favorite form of Going good with his
wealth. Not that he docs not recognize
that there are many ways OF distributing
his efforts, all Of them effective He sim
ply feels more strongly uron one subject
than upon another. To some the develop
ment of education appeals. Others are in
tenscly Interested in uplifting the poor,
and making their lives SUMMER Still others
devote much of their wealth to helping the
sick and crippled. orms of philanthropy
are as numerous as the needs of the poor.
Apart hom the well-known benefaciions
of our millionaires there are yet others
little known to the public. These philan-
tnfoples are carried on uEobtrusiveiy.
Usually they are the particular pride of
their benefactors The men whose money
has been freely given to found and sustain
them look upon them with a paterral
care.
}. Pie-pont Morgan has, it is needless to
say. vast interests and his phllaathroples
are many sided. Now he is presenting the
American Museum of Art with some al
most priceless collection Of art, AMI anon
ae Is contributing to some want of the
church. But the one silent philanthropy
upon which he concentra ses most of his At
tention Is the Lyfng-in Hospital This in
stitution has an old record. The society
which CONTROLS it was founded In 1873 and
among its earlier directors were Alexander
Hamilton and De Witt Clinton.
Until a few years ago the hospital build
Ing was a modest and inadequate one on
I'd avenue New York city. Mr.. Morgan
quietly offered to build new quarters and
asked the society to accept gift of
S1.OOc,000 for the purpose. The governors
OF the hospital were both delighted and en-
barrassed The gift was such 4 princely
for the maintenance of such great build
ing was to come from. AT frs. they were
disinci1ned to accept Mr.. Mo:yans gift.
The society had no endowment whatever
and they did not feel that they ought to
take the risk of building a larger hos
pital without having an assured endow-
ment.
Mr.. Morgan. however. promptly guaran-
teed that he would make good any deficits.
The result was the erection at I'd avenue
and 18th street of magnificent hospital
which ranks as the most perfect of its kind
in the world. Every year it cares for al
most 5000 women. Since the new building
was opened Mr. Morgans donations have
been the mainstay of the hospital. He reg
uiarly visits 1t and keeps himself as much
In touch with its affairs as he does with the
transactions of his Office No important
move is undertaken without his approval.
Caring for crippled children is the philan-
thropy which pre-eminently interests P. A.
B. Widener. the street railway magnate of
Philadelphia, New York and other cities.
The sad state of crippled children strongly
appeals to Mr.. Widener. and he Is doing all
that he can to mitigate their condition.
A
ed in Philadelphia spacious and handsome
series of buildings, called the Widener Home
for Crippled Children. This will provide
home care hospital treatment and manual
training. The main building Is 265 feet long
by 95 feet wide, and on the north and south
sides there are subsidiary buildings all SO
connected that the children will not be ex-
posed to the weather in passing from one
building to another. The architecture is
particularly impressive and gives the build
ings noble aspect. 1t is of the Georgian
period of the English Renaissance The
home is surrounded by thfrty-fiye acres of
land, which will be ornately laid out.
Mr.. Widener's purpose Is threefold He
intends to give crippled children mother
care; to give them medical and surgical
treatment, and to teach them trades so that
when they discharged from the institu-
ton they will be fitted for self-support The
home will be under the general direction of
a house mother" who will have assistant
matrons. The trades taught will be thosa
adapted to the cripples' limitations, such as
truck farming, market gardening, poultry
raising and the culture of flowers. All Grip
pies between the ages of six and sixteen are
eligible for admittance to the Widener
Home. That great thought has been given
to the welfare of these unfortunates is
shown by the fact that the buildings are
net only equipped with passenger elevators
but also in many places with inclined planes
SO as to make movement easier for the
inmates.
James Speyer's extensive banking and
railroad interests are a heavy drain upon
his time and energy, but not so much that
he is not able to give considerable atten-
ton to the University Settlement on Riv-
ington street, New York city. Mr. Speyer
is enthusiastic about the work carried on
here. The University Settlement was
started in 1887 in small and modest rooms
on Forsyth street. Now. largely owing to
Mr.. Speyer'S backing, 1t has a capacfous
building at the corner of Rivington and
Eldridge streets.
to afford moral. social intellectual and
esthetic opportunities for the poor of the
east side. The settlement is in the heart
of neighborhood which swarms with the
desperately poor, living in the stretch
after stretch of forbidding tenement
houses In each of many of these tene-
ments from one hundred to two hundred
persons live. The rooms of the average
tenement are small and mean and depress-
ing beyond conception. Their homes are
to the street for amusement and are apt
to associate with bad companions and wit
ness scenes calculated to pervert their
finer sensibilities and start them on tho
downward path.
The University Settlement has intro
duced into this congested district per-