Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-10-20
.LAUDS CARNEGIE s
SYSTEM Of GIFTS
WhiteIaw Reid Pays Tribute to
the Public Spirit of the IRON
master,

/ LUTON, England, Oct. 1.-The free
public library which Andrew Carnegie
presented to the municipal borough
of Luton was opened today in the
presence of Mr.. Carnegie and White
law Reid, American ambassador, both
of whom made, addresses.
The ironmaster was presented with
the freedom of the city and the am
bassador, in delivering the formal
opening address, made reference to
this, saying:
The day certainly deserves at your
hands the recognition you are giving
it, for it is a. day on which you gain
notable public building and nota-
BILE new citizen"
Mr. Reid's address was a tribute
to the public spirit and generosity
of Mr.. Carnegie and a defense Of the
direction his philanthropy has taken.
With some humor the ambassador
told of overhearing a Hyde Park ora
tor describe Mr.. Canergie as a pIund-
erer of honest toll who, after amass-
ing fortune out of profits that right
fully belonged tothe workingmen, dol
ed out little Of it in useless ways
to gain a cheap reputation for phil
anthropy.
HAS GIVEN AWAY $3.50, 900.
To date, Mr.. Reid said this reputa-
ton had cost the "pIunderer" $780,
100000. He then described the aid
that had been given to education,
medical research, the worlds peace
movement, and to labor thru benefit
funds and continued:
Thirty millions Of pounds given
away, painstakingly, discriminating
ly, on carefully studied systems and
only after laborious investigation by
one man working almost as hard at
giving away his money as he did in
making it-given mainly for the bene
fit of those as poor as he once was,
to strengthen them by knowledge, to-
help them in distress, to prCIlote
peace in the world, and to elevate
our common humanity.
Il am not here to eulogize the
man or his work. You can put your
own estimate upon both. l may only
say that never before in this cen
tury has the world seen anything like
it. Perhaps the official representatiy
of his country may be permitted al
50 to say that America is the land
still of opportunities and that even
Mr.. Carnegie does not stand alone
There are others.
UNUSUAL THINGS ALL CRITICIZE
every unusual and extraordinary
thing in the world is criticised now
a-days and even gifts like this spaci-
GUS and handsome library which Luton
receives do not escape fauItfinding
They impose a burden on the com
munity' we are. told. For me, [ rta
joice that they do. A wise providenc
helps those who help themselves and
cb JuuICIOuS Opyi td1IllOL LUZ
low a sounder or safer rule. Under
Mr.. Carnegie's plan, to get help
community must cooperate with him
and help itself-gets nothing without
at least valuing it enough to sustain
it."
To the complaint that free libra
ries feed an appetite for cheap and
sensational fiction the speaker re-
piled:
Cali modern fiction is not cheap
and sensational; furthermore, there
seems reason to doubt whether feed
ing a taste for it is, after all, the
main thing these libraries do.
CURE IN THEIR OWN HANDS.
where it is, the. cure is plainly
in the hands of your own authorities.
If you don't furnish the fiction it will
not go out of your library to pro
duce a flabby condition of intellectual
anemia of which We hear"