Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-08-14

turning over ones hand. have APP
preached half billion by the time
Carnegie could call himself an octo-
| gcnarian on November %, 1915.
To give this stupendous sum away,
| in about half the time he had taken
to gather it, was a purpose Carnegie
had fairly well fulfilled when death
overlook him to-day. He had distrih-
uted about $500, 1000, 900. 1t was giving
money away at the rate of over $40,
100000 year, or more than 100000
! day.
| FINDS DISTRIBUTION DIFFICULT
He declared. when he gave up gathering
| wealth and announced an era of distiihu-
ton, that he expected to find it more
difficult to give his millions away than
it had been to acquire them. How would
you give $500 1000 away" became such
Ia popular query that an English advertiser
who employed it, received no less than
/ 5000 suggestions as to how Carnegie
could rid himself of mis- wealth Twelve
/ thousand persons solved the problem in
| part by asking for some of the money
| for themselves.
| The answers which Carnegie himself
! gave and backed up with his millions
nave made him the most original if not
! the greatest of philanthropists.
Before he sailed for Scotland in 1901
he left letters announcing gifts of
S.oOon0. His first Zig gift was the set
| ting aside of 100000 to supply pensions
and relief for the injured and aged en-
ployccs of his steel plants--"an acknowl-
edgmcnt of the deep debt which | owe
to the workmcn who have contributed
SO greatly to my success" He added an
extra million for the support of libraries
for his workmcn. and look up his library
hobby in a wholesale way by giving So
100000 to New York city for the erection
Of siXtY-hvc branch libraries in the
metropolis. Another million he gave for
a library in st. Louis.
81 have just begun to give money
away" he said in announcement of these
gifts. He kept II up as fast as he could
with discrimination. on libraries alone
he spent upwards of $53,O0O,OQ0 He gave
them to some two thousand English
speaking communities throughout the
world. one of his libraries is in the Fiji
Islands
PITTSBURG BIG BENEFICIARY
He remembered Pittsburg. the scene
of his steel-making triumphs, by estab-
fishing there a great institute, including
the largest of his libraries, a museum,
a magnificent concert hall and the Car
negie archaeological schools, with a total
endowment Of Sl6m0ON0.
He built a great national institution
in Washington, which should he the foun-
tain head Of advanced work in "inves-
tigation. research and discovery" and
placed in the hands of its trustees Il
total endowment of some S20,OOO,c0o
To his native Scotland his largest single
.g,n
cation in Scottish universities
He carried out his pet idea of n hero
commission. endowed in 1905 with S5.OCO.Ooo
by which hundreds of men, women ana
children have been rewarded with Car
negie medals or pensions for acts of
herosm in the rescue of impcrilled per
sons. He later extended similar bencfac-
tionS to several foreign countries
He established the Carnegie Founda-
ton for the Advancement of Teaching.
with a total fund Of $15OOo,0oo which has
taken up efficiency surveys OF educational
work. aided many institutions, and pro-
vided pensions for college professors. In
1911 he capitalized his educational bcnevo-
lence, so that his gifts to libraries, col
oCes and other institutions should live
after him. by establishing the Carnegie
corporation with a fund of $25,00ocNo.
WAS LOVER or MUSIC
One of his latest and greatest ideals
was the abolition of war. hope that
he cherished in the face of international
conflicts. lie gave $l0,00Oo00 toward an
international peace fund, and built the
peace palace at The Hague, which was
dedicated in 1913. He gave $4,000 for
the bureau of American republics at
Washington.
His love of music moved him to equip
hundreds of churches and institutions
with pipe organs. lie never gave directly
any large sum to religious purposes. OF
his organ gifts he said he would hold
himself responsible for what the organ
pealcd forth on the Sabbath, but not for
what might be said in the pulpit. one
of his very earliest gifts. as far back as
1891 was the Carnegie Music hall in
New York, at a cost of $2000e0, and as
president of the New York Philharmonic
society he spent his money literally in
furthering its ideals. He also literally
backed the Pittsburg orchestra
To the allied engineers societies he gave
S2,0O0,Co0 His small gifts to colleges
amounted to some $2oOOo,0o0 No man
left at his death such an unique and such
scattered series of monuments to per-
petuate his memory.
III the background of these Is wears of
philanthropy there is the familiar story ,
of Scotch thrift, a little mck. and steel. /
which made such generosity rossible.
Among the larger gifts of the late
steel magnate are $GO.3G4,S sos for the
establishment of ISL free public Ii
braries; $20,3S3,Ol0 to colleges for H. .
brary and other buildings endowments
and other purposes; $29.250,OO0 to the