New-York tribune., 1910-01-05
MR.. MILLs'S PHILANTHROPY.
Systematic Work for Amelioration of
Human Conditions.
From The BROOKLYN Eagle

From The Brooklyn Eagle.
He and his friends regarded This WEALTH.
as Of less account than two facts which
went with that large wealth The first is
that il was acquired honestly and without
injustice or injury TO any, as well as by
foresight and patience which amounted to
genius. The second fact is that 1t was
used for the systematic ameliorauon OF
human conditions. No newspaper sketch
and no newspaper comment can do justice
to the work of this man for his kind JUS
tice to it will probably be nowhere done.
save at the final assiZe The business
philanthrOpists, such as John Stewart Ken
nedy and Darius ogden Mills, do not 90
good for 1t to be known or talked ABOUT.
They are content TO do it, and TO proVloe
for the continuance OF ii among men after
Simplicity and concfseness marked the
speaking and writing of this man like
simplicity of manner and intercourse
marked him Economy, as well as pre-
cision of expression, was also his charac-
/ teristic. He did not express himself I'LL
he had heard the minds of others, but his
own conclusion then was based on wisdom
and informed with light The greatest Nv
ing American tInancier often said: Let US
learn what d. O. Mills thinks of this, and
then we will know best what should be
done" This will illustrate the respect in
which he was held by the maSnates and
the business of his time.
He was born in Salem, Westchester
County, on September %, 1929 on farm
which he owned when he died. His parents
were quiet, cultivated, reserved folk, Illus
trating and conserving both moral and
material values. When twenty-five years
old he became cashier of a bank in Buff
faro clear across the state, but two years
afterward he went to California across the
isthmus, and organized forces of solvency
and development there, one of the results
of which is the University of California, OF
which he was a founder and in which he
established the department IF moral and
intellectual philosophy.
When he first reached the fsthmus the
vessel in which he was to proceed on the
Pacific to San Francisco broke down. He
chartered another from nearby South
=
reached San Francisco. There his most
earnest lifework began These plo-
neers We're more than dsCoverers. They
were state builders. They were more than
adventurers They laid the foundations of
civilization and builded on them enterprises
and institutions for all the future and tor
all it's people.
1t was not gold out of the soil, the noun
tain or the stream that D. o. Mills and his
kind sought. 1t was not the caravan of ad-
venturers nor the horde of spectators that
he melted or led. The farmer rather than
the miner, the merchant rather than the
speculator, the settler rather than the no
mad, he would attract to California, TO Ne
vada, to Oregon and to Washington, and
him he would keep there to tickle the
ground until ii laughed with harVeStS and
70 pat the waters III Iney ,oIosSoIilSq win
ships. And all the while he and MS col
leagues were articulating Eastern educa-
ton, Eastern laws, Eastern respect for life,
for labor, for opportunity ana for educaLloh
with Far Western conditions Calm, far
seeing, optimistic, prophetic, ever sane
were these men Admirable were their
Indestructible should be the honor in which
they are held. And it was given to them
to divide their sunset years between the
institutions they established there and those
from which they issued. and which they
lowered and bettered here.
Everything d. =. Mills organized or aided
on the Pacific or the Atlantic side of the
Union is the better for his identification
with it. His spirit was constructive. His
policy was preserving. His foresight was
unerring His quiet vision swept the uni
verse of duty and the realm of uplift with
unerrng realization. The simplest of men
was among the best of men. The truest of
men was among the quietest of men. The
least boastful and least proud of men
one of the great friends of religion, of
morals, of learning and of the evolution of
character in the race and of opportunity
for it, in the easement of conditions in the
world
BENEFACTOR OF THE POOR.
From The Brooklyn Citizen.
1t may be assumed that the benefaction
represented by the several Mills Hotels es-
tablshed in New York City by millionaire
D. o. Mills who died yesterday in his Cali
fornia home will be continued as designed
by him. They constitute a form of philan-
thropy for which great credit is due TO
their founder; and. unless report Is wrong,
they are self-suStaining institutions, profit
enough 10 make them so being derived from
the very moderate room rent and prices
charged for meals. laundry work, etc.
They have been a great help 70 many poor
man who could live well in them al very
small outlay without feeling that he was
an object of charity.