New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-15
MIR. Carnegie's Birthday
WITH ESTIMATES Mr.. CARNEGIE Mr.. CARNEGIE AND
Copyright. 1912. by G. W. smaIley.)

his own:
'Nl is we'll since all grows better"
! And he asked the boys" not to put
any quotation marks about these last
because they were his own. This is
ever the spirit Of true greatness. And
so is this:
| Honestly, to hear me talk you would
think I had stolen a sermon from
Henry van Dyke, who happens to be
my guest for a few days. and with
whom I had long talk this morning
But tell you it is my own sermon and
not DR.. van Dykes"
What DR.. van Dyke thought about II
the reporter omits to explain. Even a
reporter cannot record everything.
Nor is there anybody to give us Lord
| Morleys version of his remark to Mr..
I Carnegie. AS there Is not, 1t is
just possible that the Ironmaster's en-
thusiasm has added a little color, or
perhaps a superlative, to Morleys SEN
! tence. For Lord Morley is one Of the
! first men of letters of his time. He
| thinks with sobriety. He measures his
words. 1t is not his way to generalize
rsshly or to lay down sweeping propo-
| sitions not we'll supported by evidence
| or by a train Of reasoning. In word,
| he thinks things out, and in that re-
spect it would be possible TO draw a
| contrast between him and Mr.. Carne-
| gle or between him and Colonel Roose-
! Welt, who perhaps never thought any
thing out The Carnegie Roosevelt
| type are but too apt TO mistake I'M
| pulses for convictions and sentiment
for logic. Lord Morley is not prone 10
| believe that he can express the Uni
verse in a formula or solve great So
cial problems by an emotional phrase.
Mr.. Carnegie has long been Lord
Morley's friend or. If he prefers. John
| Morley's friend; and Lord Morley or
John Morley has been Mr.. Carnegie
friend, and l suppose still Is. IheE
have certain things in common; sucl
a
the welfare Of mankind, and an apo
stolic spirit. What they have not IN
common is the habit Of patient reiiec-
ton. the judicial mind, a due sense
Of the value of evidence and due re-
spect for the teachings OF experience.
One of them has. I leave II TO those
who know both 10 say which.
81 wish" said Lord Melbourne, 1
was as cocksure Of anything as Tom
Macaulay is Of everything" II Is pos
sible TO imagine Lord Morley saying
much the same thing with reference 10
his friend Mr.. Carnegie. Nay II Is
possible to imagine the American pup
lie making some such remark we
have grown so used to being lectured
by Mr.. Carnegie that we don't mind II.
We long since discovered that Tor
every emergency OF life he has an opin-
ion ready made; and IL always ready
to announce II. He never doubts that
he ia right, He never can understand
why anybody else should doubt IL.
George Meredith in one Of his recently
published letters, writes TO his corre-
spondent that in the view he takes-l
forget on which subject, and it does
not matter-he stands alone, and adds:
THAT is what delights me, for ii Is
only when l AIN alone that know l
am right"
And Ruskin once said:
"When people begin 10 come round TO
my side begin to doubt whether ] am
right"
Not so, think, Mr.. Carnegie. SO
kindly Is his nature that he does not
care for a monopoly nor insist on being
O. minority of one. He does not reject
converts. He expects them. In the
interests Of truth he desires that the
rest Of the world should renounce It's
unbeliefs and accept the gospel he con-
tinuously breaches; or perhaps should
say the gospels, since they are not al
WAYS the same. His mantle of charity
is large enough to envelop greater
number of disciples than those who in
fact seek shelter In its folds. He may
we'll enough regard himself as the
founder Of a new Church Of Humanity;
on the pediment of which, as on each
one of his innumerable gift-library
buildings, his name Is 10 be carved In
the solid stone in letters legible afar
off
There is perhaps something pathetic
I'm his belief I'm himself and in his new
religion. It has survived innumerable
d'sappointments, and what to other
men would have been disillusions. His
is still the voice OF one crying in the
wilderness. His is, it may well enough
be, the persuasion Of many other men
successful in business. He cannot see
why the talents which brought him
riches should not have brought him in
fallibllity: or in what the capacity to
make steel and great fortune differs
from the capacity which goes 10 the
making Of statesman.
II cannot" said Themistocles. play
the flute. but | know how to make
small state great" Upon that sentence
II would do Mr. Carnegie no great harm
TO ponder. The probability Is that the
very gifts and qualities which were
Invaluable to the Ironmaster are per-
nicious 10 the philanthropist the re-
former. the missionary. the social rev.
oI,tionist. which Mr.. Carnegie Is or de-
sires to be. He has never taken ac-
n