New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-15
New York, December /

festo 1t is always a pleasure and
profit to read him. Except the Papal
Encyclicals, and the wayside ha-
rangues of the German Emperor, and
the profoundly philosophical discourses
Of Colonel Roosevelt, there are no pub
lie utterances for which l wait with
more impatient expectation Of spiritual
nourishment than Mr.. Carnegie's. The
fact that this latest is birthday de-
liverance makes it still more impress
sive
For suppose Mr.. Carnegie had never
had a birthday? That is an awful hy-
pothesis on which prefer not to dwell.
l suggest it only TO bring home to my
readers the true significance OF his
message. We all read it, not so much
for what there is in il as because it IS
his. The imagination shrinks from the
conception of world without Mr.. Car
negic. No Pittsburgh, of which l sup
pose him 10 be the real author; no
Steel Trust, since the steel Trust would
never have come into existence had It
not been necessary to check Mr.. Car
negie's devastating career and elimi-
nate him as a factor in the steel in
dustry; no Carnegie libraries; no Skibo;
no Hero Fund: no Pensions for ex-
Presidents; and, in short, nobody 10
tell the world on all occasions what il
fcyh 20 htt,lr do n
insure to the universe the Invaluable
blessings OF uninterrupted peace in Eu-
rope. Asia, Africa and America. Think
what q Chamber of Horrors this would
beneficent Providence decreed that
there should be a Carnegie, and Car
negie there is, and it is thanks to him
that during the last fifty years or 50
there have been no wars nor rumors Of
wars; but simplified spelling instead.
/ cannot do better than quote from
The Tribune itself the beginning Of its
account of the Carnegie Birthday Love
Feast:
Andrew Carnegie. his round face
alive with smiles, and his bright eyes
tWinkling continuously. devoted nearly
an hour of his seventy seventh BIRTH
day in his big library yesterday after
noon to telling newspaper men his
opinions on national and international
questions, and just why he was so
happy and in such good health"
TO- I of
ent at this celebration, and l can there
fore give you no first hand testimony,
but 1 have read all the reports with
pious attention, and so / hope not 10
fall into any serious error in what I
shall have to say. 1t thrills me to hear
that "the little man whose friendship
has been sought by Emperors and
Kings -. sat modestly. quite bash
fully, in a very large and comfortable
chair" I have read nothing to equal
this except the Bermuda telegram
which described President Wilson at
the Governors tea party az dressed
like a simple American citizen--just
one of the plain people and a beautiful
example Of pure republican simplicity.
1t is not Mr.. Carnegie's large and COM
Portable chair which surprises me. He
has sat in large and comfortable chairs
for the greater part Of his long and
well spent life. 1t is the bashful Car
negie who is new to me. Why should
he be bashful? When did he begin?
Did he wait for his seventy-seventh
birthday to strike this new attitude?
How can a man who knows himself TO
he the benefaCtor Of mankind be BASH
full? He had received that very day
"such wonderful kilograms, letters and
compliments" as might have stirred IN
him a just sense of his own merits had
he not been the meek and lowly spirit
he is. But now, as ever, he was con-
scious of the superiorities OF other peo-
pie. He told "the boys" about him
that he had such high opinion Of peo-
pie because he had met so many who
had attained almost angelic heights.
Is he not himself one OF them? Is he
not a little lower than the angels-ever
so little? Did he ever make a mistake?
Is there one debited TO him by the re-
cording angel-any act or word which
that heavenly bookkeeper has had 20
blot with a tear? l am sure there is
none.
And yet to err is human, and though
l do not think Mr.. Carnegie, however
human, ought to be regarded as a mere
mortal, I have found elsewhere-1 mean
not in The Tribune-a quotation by
the great Ironmaster from Lord Nor
ley which might perhaps be queried.
Homer, we have 1t on high authority.
sometimes mods. and why not Car
negie? This is the quotation:
"Once Lord Morley-I call him John
Morley-told me that six lines from
Burns had done more to establish the
moral, social and political institutions
Of man than any editorials that had
ever been written. But John Morley
didn't have to tell me what lines they
were, for he admitted that 1 knew
more of Robert Burns than he would
ever know"
/ presume that Mr.. Carnegie takes
what he calls editorials-which GER
tainly was not Lord Morleys word
as representing the highest form Of
T. 4x11