The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-02-05

periments. Still others claimed that
the great Investigator had sold OUT
for a mere pittance, and that his use-
fulness to mankind was now destroyed
Naturally all Of these things which
appeared in print disturbed the great
man, for IL seems he is a bit sensi-
tive. so he saw fit to answer his crit
les and to explain the nature of the
monetary transaction, and to tell some
thing of what he is doing.
In the first place the institute did
not "endow' Mr.. Burbank The ten
thousand dollars year is to enable
him to devote a good deal of his time
to the preparation of series of bool
showing his experiments i'm vege
ton The money is given to him 10
enable him to he free from the cd 8
Of having to making living in Nv
other way and to assist him in sec
Ing the services of others to help hi
in the work.
In recent letter to the editor Oh
the Nautilus Magazine, i'm which pret-
ty good sight into the life of Burbank
Is given, he says upon the subject of
money matters:
81 am not financially obliged to do
anything | do not wish to do. as my
tastes are extremely simple. could
make ten thousand dollars month
lecturing. if I were willing to leave
ny present work, which 1 think not
best to leave at present. as 1t is Just
eliminating i'm trees, fruits. plants and
flowers, which will be of tremendous
and far reaching value to the human
race. Money considerations are moth
ing whatever to me at the present
time. All that ] desire is to wiggle out
of all of the work | possibly can in
order TO do more important work ;and
do great deal of wiggling | assure
you, fr which | have from ten to
thirty helpers to help me wiggle"
As regards the acceptance of tho
money from the Carnegie Institute,
Mr.. Burbank writes:
"1t was not my desire to receive
this fund hut some of my friends who
know the value of my work here in
California and Washington. u. c., OBJ
tanned the grant for me and I accept.
ed it with many misgivings, and real
ly. at the present time, | feel that II
own personal happiness If / had never
had anything to do with il. for it has
my line of operating quite
considerably aud made me thousands
Of envious persons among horticultur-
lists and florists. who, II they knew
the facts, would send me blessings
rather than cursings, which they
seem disposed to do"
1t is extremely refreshing at this
time, when so much Is seen of the
struggle for grain. to find one man to
whom money does not appeal, a man
who can not be tempted by even so
great an amount as ten thousand dol |
lars n month to give up his chosen |
work. And it is all the more inspir- |
ing when IL Is known that the work In |
which this man is engaged is not To
.edound TO the benefit of only his own
immediate family but to mankind in
general.
one gets an erroneous idea Of the
human race by reading too much con-
,erning the money matters. He Is like
Y 10 come to the conclusion that there
are precious few Luther Burban<s IN
this old Sorld-men who are not con-
cerned with the struggle for gain. But |
the truth is that while Luther Bur-
bank is one Of the most conspicuous |
examples of the unselfish, self-sacri-
fcing man, there are lesser examples
If him IN every community. II is not
true that every man has his price
II Is not true that money VIII tempt
very man. There are any number of
persons in every city who can not be
swayed from their righteous purpose
by the glitter Of gold, even If they are
not doing so valuable work for man.
kind as Luther Burbank.
AS for he Importance Of the work
being done by Burbank, there Is no
way to estimate It, He is literally
adding millions of dollars of value to
the storehouses of the world. lie is
feeding unborn gnerations. He Is pro-
vIding for countless thousands of the
earth's population for all times to
come. He Is enlarging the size of the
earth, I'm that he is increasing It's pro-
luctlvity of useful foods and fabrics
Not only is he making two blades OF
grass grow where only one grew be-
fore. but he Is improving the quality |
of both of the blades. He Is giving
food to the famishing and creating a
out of the waste places OF
the earth. He is rendering life more
pleasant, the rays of the sun less OPP
the rains more copious. with
cut any exception he is today probably
the most valuable citizen the world
possesses, and a narrow-minded man
indeed il must he, and mean one
who would envy him the pittance
which n great institute has seen fit
TO bestow upon him that his hours
may be prolonged on earth and his
services become all the more produc-
tive. e.-Sprlngheld (O) News.