The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-08-09
WORK OF THE
HERO FUND
Corps Of Ten Investigators
Determines Who Shall
Be Rewarded.
WWYHEN is a hero not hero ?

WV WHEN is a hero not hero?
EyS What is the difference be-
tween an 80 per cent hero
and hero 100 per cent pure?
To decide these and many similar ques-
tions, says Hnrpers Weekly is the
sole occupation of selected. well paid
group of men who 40 up and down the
land seeking whom they may reward
for bravery and determining when they
have found them just what percentage
Of heroism they have shown.
These hero hunters are the agents of
the Carnegie hero fund commission.
Yearly they investigate thousand
claims Of heroism. 1t is their business
TO sift the evidence, for In the eyes
of hero hunter no man is hero until
he is proved so.
How Thoroughly he does his winnow-
ing may be judged from the fact that
out of 1851 claims investigated only
5S3 claimants--about one in thirteen
have been adjudged sufficiently heroic
to merit a reward. OF this number only
thirteen were awarded the gold medal
for simon pure heroism. Nearly half
of the 5S3 received silver medals and
the rest bronze. With these medals in
many cases went awards of money.
BY no means, however, is this dis
tinctiOn to be taken as casting any
doubt upon the heroic qualities of the
deeds rewarded. 1t simply means that
those deeds that were rewarded by
silver or bronze medals did not con-
form fully TO the hero fund commits
sions understanding Of full fledged
hero, for in attempting to reward hero
ism the commission had first to define
heroism.
A Hero Defined.
According to the standards Of the
Carnegie commission, a hero is one
who actually jeopardizes his life to
save another and who does 1t regard
less of the consequences to himself.
Many rescues are made that involve
little danger to the reScuer. Such a
reScuer in the eyes of the commission
is not a hero Some men attempt res
cues in the face Of what appears to be
certain death. Such men are heroes.
But to be hero man must risk his
life voluntarily professional heroes"
are barred from recognition. If a man
does something heroic in the course of
his duty he is not according to the
Carnegie standard, hero at all. Thus
policemen, flremen, life guards and
others who are employed to safeguard
life are never heroes if they save life
when pursuing their regular vocation,
but If one Of them saves a life 'On the
side" as It were, when It is not in the
line Of his duty, he may or may not be
a hero.
For instance, a fireman who rescues
a person from n burning building Is
never a hero, no matter how brave he
may have been. He has merely done
his duty But a fireman who plunges
overheard and saves a drowning per
son may or may not be hero. 1t de
pends upon the degree of danger en-
countered and the amount of risk in
Cured. And 1t is to determine these
fine points that the hero fund com
mission maintains its staff Of hero
hunters.
Notices Pour In.
Notices of heroic deeds pour in 10
the commission by the thousand Some
times disinterested spectators who wit
ness a brave deed write about 1t, more
frequently friends Of the hero send in
the news, and sometimes, alas, the
hero himself forwards information Of
his prowess Newspaper editors, school
teachers and clergymen are among the
most frequent of the commissions In
formants. Seldom indeed does any
piece Of bravery go unreported.
For news of such items the commits
sion depends upon the services Of
newspaper clipping bureau, so that II
Is a rare occurrence when the com
mission fails to learn Of q daring deed.
Two classes Of recommendations are
always looked upon with suspicion
first, recommendations accompanied by
afiidavits, which indicate that the
would be hero or his friends are try
ing to bolster up weak case, and,
second, cases reported by clergymen,
because clergymen are given TO over
estimating courageous acts.
To every person who reports a case
the commission sends a blank TO be
filed out and returned. This blank
asks for minute details, names Of wit
nesses, etc Often these blanks are
not returned, and thus many undeserv-
ing cases are ut once eliminated. In
every case in which the blanks are
returned properly filed out the matter
is followed up. Often many letters
are written 10 make sure that the case
is Of sufficient Importance 10 warrant
detailing an investigator to 1t. When
the clerical force at the Pittsburgh Of
fee has thus sifted the claims as far
as possible the documents in the case
are turned over to the investigators