Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1911-07-21
NEW MEMS OF YESTERDAY
Grover CIeVeIand'S Gospel
of Wealth Accumulation
BY Holland.

After Thomas r. Ryan, at the time
Of the famous life insurance investiga-
ton of several years ago. bought ma
jority Of the stock of the Equitable
Life Assurance Society, ffty-two
shares of the par value Of fifty-two
thousand dollars, for nearly three mil
lion dollars. he created trusteeship
over il. The three trustees were ex-
President Grover Cleveland, George
Westinghouse and Chief Justice Nor
gan j. O'Brien of the New York State
Supreme Court.
One Of the duties of the trustees was
20 secure from the policy-holders rec
concentrations upon which might be
based the selection of men to fill such
vacancies as might occur in the So
cietys board of directors. The object
of this was to secure for the policy
holders representation i'm the direction
OF the affairs of the society Every
recommendation that was made to the
trustees Mr.. Cleveland personally care
fully examined. II was a prodigious
task, but he was as faithful I'm the per-
Torrance of il as he had been i'm his
oversight Of every detail which came
TO his attention when he was Presi-
dent of the United States and which
called for official action or judgment
ON his part.
In response TO the trustees request
for recommendations to ill certain
vacancy in the board Of directors a
Tennessee policy-holder forwarded a
lettor recommending a fellow Tennos-
seean. The policy-holder, after mar
rating the good qualities of his caudi-
date and vouching for his integrity Of
character and ability. continued:
This man hogan with nothing His
family was left penniless by the war.
He went TO work and worked for some
years with his hands in the fields He
saved money. He bought a little land.
He cultivated his farm He was pa
tient and frugal At last he began 20
accumulate and he is now worth about
one hundred thousand dollars every
penny of IT. earned by honorable toll -
There Is as fine a recommendation
of candidate as any policy-holder has
ever made, so far as / recOllect." de-
clared Mr. Cleveland TO his fellow
trustees.
But said Mr.. Westinghouse, III
you are gauging the mans ability by
the fact that he is worth a hundred
thousand dollars, don't think the test
amounts TO very much"
Mr. Cleveland looked up quickly. II
seemed to him that Mr.. Westinghouse
measured ability possibly by the mill
lions rather than the thousands, all
though this was not Mr. Westins-
houses point at all.
The ex-President brought his hand
firmly down upon the table. He was
very much in earnest.
'Mr. Westinghouse" he said, IF a
man in the South found himself in pow
erty at the close of the war, if he went
to work. laboring with his hands, If by
frugality and industry he began to ac-
emulate, and If with his accumula-
tons he enlarged his farm and thirty
years after the war finds that he is
worth one hundred thousand dollars, It
seems TO me that that one hundred
thousand counts for more than mill
lions Of inherited money OF billion
made in speculation i'm Wall street.
other things being equal, I favor the
election of this man as a director of
the company
And IN that brief statement is 20
be discovered the entire gospel of
wealth accumulation in which Grover
Cleveland believed.
/ Copyright, 1911. by y. J. Edwards. All
rights reserved)
r. l.. Al -