The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-09-02

without thought of personal return,
to parks, or Fairgrounds, or museums,
or seaside nurseries, or hospitals, or
social settlement work, or to any one
Of the numerous similar causes, when
their sympathfes are aroused for a
movement like ours these men are
eager II, contribute toward IL with "a
ike generosity, and with no thought
OF personal reward / welcome their
contributions, when made in such a
spirit; am honored by their support.
and receive it as freely and gladly as
1t is given; and / am proud of the
fact that there are at least a few
| men or wealth who possess the far
slghtedness and the generous under
standing of the needs of the times
"hich make them powerful champions
OF the cause OF the American people.
| Contributors Should he Free.
AS long as the expense Of running
! primaries and selections Is lery to ha
ooTne by private individuals instea
OF by the government, and as long
DIS tnere is no limit to the total fund
! which can be raised, then each con-
| trlputor should be left free to con-
| tribute according to his ability ~
his motive Is proper and is prem
erly understood Ten thousand dol
iafs would be wholly improper con-
tribution for most men, and a, rea-
soha'bie. or even very small, eontribu-
tion from certain other men, and any
contribution IL made or received in
an improper spirit Is itself Improper
During the last four weeks a mum
Nr of contributions have been sent
to me personally. Among them were
ten dollars sent to me by n woman
VINO is bookkeeper, five dollars from
II work1ngman, an italian by birth.
who told me that they represented
two days wages: twenty-five dollars
from deep sea fisherman, who wrote
I me 1t represented his profit on one
trip. and later he would send me the
profit on another trip: one dollar from
an old veteran I'm soldiers home
and two dollars and fifty cents from
a Scotch carpenter. who wrota me
that he had not been long enough
In the country to vote, but that he
wished to help all he. could in the pro-
gressiye movement; ten dollars from
| q brakeman. about forty Ave doIlars
from a commercial traveller who told
me II represented s per cent on his
collections for certain period; five
hundred dollars from the mother of
| a family which in this case, as 7
happened to know, meant using last
Y falls dresses again this fall; one
thousand dollars from a business man
in Chicago whom I did not person
ally know ten dollars from a writer
who had sold q poem on our move
| ment for that amount, and. most
touching OF all. ten dollars from n
mother whose ten-year- old boy had
just died. because the boy had always
! admired ME and rad about me- These
asss ossly eSssrn fsfef, ssEssang hundreds Of
others, of the same kind Now I very
profoundly appreciate all of these
| gifts; / know that the men who give
large sums will not mind my saying
that 1T Is some of these smaller gifts
which have touched me most; and In
stead OF feeling like refusing the big
amounts given me by the few friends
who can afford To give these big
amounts, / have felt much more like
returning these little amounts which
/ know mean so much of real self
1feniai TO the struggling men and wo-
'men who send them. / shall make
precisely the same return to all who
| contributed. and that return is to
serve the whole people, by striving
for social and industrial justice As
strength Is given me, whether in or
out of Office. i shall do my best to
| help all our people by trying to con-
cert into living reaipicS the pr1ncf-
pies enunciated in the platform of the
| progressive party and In my own
speeches I shall make exactly the
! va rne -retura-te- tAe- honest man whe-
1 out OF his abundance contributes
much, and TO the other honest man
who out of his small means con-
| tributes the little that he can: and
In each case the return will take the
form, not OF special service to the
man himself. but of service to the
cause OF all the people. by living up
to the letter and spirit OF every
promise l have made and every prom
Use that In contained In the plat
from on which ! stand. The men
and, women who. without. hope OF In.
divldual reward. contribute TO our
cause, whether money, effort. judy
ment. labor speech, according to their
several abilities-are idealists who
feel that they are engaged In a great
crusade; j honor the man OF wealth
whose feahy to an ideal makes him
freely spend hts wealth to aid the
cause OF Justice no more and no leas
shan I honar his brotit,r who has no
wealth and gives what he can in its
place: my gratitude is AZ great to the
one az to the other. and the only,
way can, or shall try to show my
| gratitude toward either II by the