Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1905-07-07
WHAT I WOULD DO WITH a MIL
. Il !. il 5,ts i b LION OI.LARS.

WHAT I WOULD: DO WITH u MIL.
NJ !: 5...!. LION DOLLARS. I'D.
Herbert 8. Bigelow 81 Cincinnati
thus commented On DR.. Warrington
GLADDEN.: & plan Of spending . million
dollars. He ssid inspart: DR.. Wash
ington GLADDEN. says that if he had a
million dollars he would spend it on
a church, bath houses, free concerts,
a sanitarium for coneumptives. and
model tenement houses for the poor
He rules out charity. yet these
things are after all charities, though
less harmful than mere aims giving
Is DR.. Gladden's advice the bes.
that can be given to the man with
milltons9 It may be, but it does not
seem so to me. That use of money
does not. seem to me to be the high.
est. There lie, believe, another way
by which man with q million might
become great benefactor.
Beneath all these proposed charities
lies the problem of poverty: I would
spend my million teaching the people
the political canses of poverty and
helping them to organize politically
for the. eradication of those causes.
What kind Of a eocial order is this.
that it should seem a beautiful or q
good thing for one man to provide fol
another q church or bath. or con
cert or a hospital or q model tene.
ment? DR.. GLADDEN. and I want tt
maintain our own church; we want q
bath in our home; we want to pay
for what we get whether 1t be con.
cert or hospital service: and we dc
not want. to live even In a mode
tenement.
Last week I received letter from 8
Brooklyn preacher which contained
this sentence: II am....growing to bt
less interested in docrorine the symp
toms Of social ills and more Interested
In going to the roots of the trouble
To get people interested In politica
activity Is clearly to me q more econo
mical use Of ones energies
I agree with. that preacher. Tn.
problem IL, how to spend our million
dollars, or our talents, or the workinf
years that are ahead of us 10 40 mos
speedily and surely to bring the peopl.
into that condition In which they vii
not have any need Of charity, not ever
the charity of::..bath houses and mode
tenements and free concerts.
I would begin drst Of all by sending
out crusaders who, by. pen and voice
and organization. would teach people
to get the initiative and Referendum
that IL, the constitutional rights, i,
city, county. or state by . petition o
reasonable number Of the voters, Il
compel the submission to tho people
Of any law. and the enactment O
any law. which receives the supper
OF the majority.
I'm Portland, Oregon, the other day
. company asked for telephone fran
ohise. The council. protecting tho in
tsrests- of the old. company, refused
the request. The people straightwa,
demanded popular vote on the ques
tion, and by vote Of about eigh
thousand to four hundred, they re-
versed the action Of their supposed
representatives.:
-.Whenever the people have that pow
or which they now enjoy In the stat,
Of Oregon: they:can..get public baths
II they wish them, and free. concert
and hospitals, - =. supporting them b,
public money. And when they hav'
the.intelligence to meet che expense o
these.public services. not by q tax Of
labor products, but--by taking, through
taxation. the unearned increment O
land.value, they. will be In AFFAIR va,
to help themselves =.
once headed in. this direction, the,
will be able to work out their socia
salvation without any mans charity.