The Caucasian., 1909-06-20
THE PRICE OF A SOUL
Life of the Late II. Fl. Rogers and the
Wealth He Left

The Commoner: The papers are now
giving us sketches of and incidents in
The life of the late H. H. Rogers; they
are also estimating the wealth which he
left, That he was a man of mental
strength and business ability goes with
out saying His wealth is variously
stated at from fifty to one hundred mil
lion dollars--let us average it at sew
enty-hve millions Giving him fifty
working years, he has collected on an
average million and half a year, in
addition to what he has expected A
million and half year This is an
enormous income, and if honestly
earned, it measures an extraordinary
service to society. Will the friends of
Mr. Rogers point out just what he did,
SO that the public may judge as to
whether his income exceeded his earn
ings? The president receives seventy
FIVE thousand dollars year, and as the
chief executive, presides over a govern
ment under which more than eighty mil
lions of people live. The average in
come of Mr.. Rogers for more than fifty
years has been twenty times as great as
the income enjoyed by the President of
the United States. Did he perform a
work twenty times as important, or rem
der a service twenty times as valuable?
Opinions differ as to Mr.. Rogers
ideals. His friends emphasize his chari-
ties, while his opponents call attention
to his business methods The opinions
expressed seemed to be largely colored
by the sympathies of those who have
spoken--those who speak from the
standpoint of the monopolist see in him
a great representative of industry; those
who regard private monopoly as inde
fens1ble and intolerable, cite him as an
of the manner in which
hab1tual wrongdoing will scar the con-
science and distort the vision. Amid
such variety of witnesses it is not
strange that the readers should be CON
fused by the conflicting testimony, but
there is one witness whose evidence
ought to be accepted without question,
and that is H. H. Rogers himself. His
will doubtless revealed the inner Rog-
ers. and gives us the real measure of
his soul. He leaves practically all of his
immense wealth to his family. He
makes gift to the town of his birth,
but beyond that there is nothing, or
next to nothing, to indicate that, he re-
the claims of the public. His
did not go out to hospitals
and institutions of mercy; his spiritual
life was not such as to link him with
the interests of the church in the
spread of the gospel or in the extension
Of missions, domestic or foreign. He
to be little interested in philan-
thropic enterprises.
But possibly it is just as we'll that his
selhshness manifested itself in the dis
position of his goods. If he had been
generous and large-hearted in his be-
quests, his will would have been used
70 give halfway justification to the
which he employed in the ac-
of his money; but as it is
lis will presents an Indictment not only
against him, but against that peculiar
ype of business life which he represent
,d-a life in which the soul is shriveled
md the better impulses stihed by busi-
1ess practices which deaden the con-
science and rob life of that which makes
t worth living. What shall it profit a
nan if he gain the whole world and lose
lis own soul?"