New-York tribune., 1911-01-29
Anglo-AmeriCan Memories
CIV.
ANDREW CARNEGIE AND F. MoRLEY-rHg LATE KING .7
~ sKBo-A PITTseURe STORY
Copyright 1910, by George w. sn,u.v


likely in German; besides odds and
ends" "-'0
MI carnegie, as we all know. has
Ieau much and written much excel
iently weu' but until quite recently the
world knew him, since his retirement
Iron business, as a creator OF libraries.
or at least. Of library buildings.
asked him that morning how manv he
mad given away during that month.
which was nearing its end. He rang for
his secretary. who said: Il will get the
list sir which presently he laid before
US. There We're twenty-saven.
There are, Of course. men-both schol-
ars and men Of the worldwide doubt
whether Mr.. Carnegie has made the best
use of his money in scattering library
buildings about which can serve only
local uses. Even If you put the fiction
question aside. is It worth while to form
collections Of books in separate towns
which can never have any real impor
tance as libraries? Is anything gained
by multiplying copies of Hume and
Gibbon and Aacaulay and other classics
which no gentleman's library should be
without? Mr.. Carnegie. / know, was
urged 70 make a different use Of his
money:
We have in America no Bodleian
Library no British Museum. We have
no library TO which a specializing stu
/ dent can go with the certainty Of finding
the books he needs 10 carry on his
studies 70 the end. If you would found
| such a library at Yale or Harvard or
| Columbia, or take the New York Public
| Library. or the Congressional Library at
Washington. and complete them. or one
of them. YOU would serve American
scholarship as it can be served in no
other way"
But Mr. Carnegie is a Democrat and
applies the principles and dogmas Of his
political faith to his schemes for the i'm
/ provement Of mankind, and he went his
own way. as I suppose he always will.
And yet il is not too late 70 try the
other way. There is a sense IN which
the greatest happiness Of the greatest
number is the happiness Of number one.
In other words raise the standard ct
the top and you lift a whole people with
It. But Mr. Carnegie has a faith not
only IN Democracy bur in himself. which
accounts for many Of his splendid sue
/ cesses. ana perhaps now and then for a
/ failure
| II was in this Acton Carnegie library
( that Mr.. Carnegie had lately received
King Edward. who had been staying at
Dunrobin and had motored over for
I luncheon. It was here that Mr Carnegie
welcomed the King by reciting TO him
! the poem which Mr. Joaquin Miller had
composed on the occasion Of Mr.. Car
negie's birthday. I was shown the poem,
erblazoned in colors on stamped card
board. All about the countryside the
story Of this poem had been told. or sew
eral stories had been told. The King 1t
was said. did not like Mr.. Joaquin NIL
! ler's effusion In truth, these verses Of
the Poet Of the Serras were not con
ceived IN a courtierlike spirit. They be-
ga. with invocations TO the German En-
peror. 70 President Roosevelt. 20 the
King. Hail fat Edward" That's you,
sir" said Mr. Carnegie 10 the King
and then swept aside all these great per
/ sonages with Mr.. Joaquin MIlers per
sonaI assurance that he had rather shake
! Mr.. Carnegie's strong hand than all the
others. ~ II they were all outsretched
10 him. which thew do not appear to have
/ been
/ Il is true the late King was fat which
| did not prevent him from carrying him
( self with 4 distinction that proved how
little mere physique has 70 do with dig
nifty and personal charm. His mother
/ had proved II before him. But il is not
| the custom TO dwell on these matters
! with royalty. There is a story Of q man
( in a shooting party who said 70 the King
| as he missed two or three pheasants fly
/ ing high over his head: "Sir, you are
| too fat 10 shoot rocketers" But he was
| never again asked 10 shoot with the
King. nor perhaps would Mr.. Joaquin
| Miller have been.
I heard. both at Skibo and at Dun
robin. that Mr.. Carnegie was a good
landlord and goo9. neighbor. The Duke
: OF Sutherland is reported 70 have said Of
him.
yes. indeed. Carnegie has been a good
neighbor 10 me. He bought a good deal
NJ nv land which I wanted 70 sell, and
raid me a good price. and I never heard
that any OF the tenants were the worse
+or +la change. They and all the people
about are. indeed. better off than # the
land had remained mine, for Carnegie
has spent more money on the property
than 7 could, and spent 1t wisely and
kindly"
AS the duke owns something like
million ard a half Of acres. his testi-
monv is TO the point; the more so, as
he IS himself a good and liberal land
/ lord.
In what used 10 be Mr.. Carnegie's
proper environment, Pittsburg, I heard
q similar account Of his relations to those
abo,,t him and under him. His men
knew him as a Just master; generous
withal. and abounding in human sympa-
+hies. II their faith was ever shaken
for a moment, it may have been at the
time Of the great Homestead strike. for
which a firm hand was needed and
found. but not Mr.. Carnegie's. He was
away IN Scotland. When he returned
order had been restored. He is reported
~ have said TO some Of the men:
.,,, an, carry all this has hap