The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1919-12-18
SHALL WE SEE MORE BIG FOR.
TUNES?

The small fortune disposed by the
late Mr.. Carnegie's will-''small"
for multimiIlionaire of Mr.. Car
negies class-justifies the assertion
by his lawyers that he substantially
fulfilled his promise of many years
during his lifetime for the benefit
of mankind 1t is a unique distinc-
ton to have at ones death but
25,000,O00, after having given
away $3.50, 100000.
1t is not necessary, however, to in
sist that Mr.. Carnegie died poor
man. for that would be a species of
tain sardonic humor inherent in the
situation. DO the best he could to
die poor, Mr.. Carnegie miserably
failed. Unless this is so, the end of
the Carnegie chapter establishes a
new social standard in the world,
to-wit, that of dying poor" for men
of his wealth, ms means leaving no
If this sort of comment seems a
bit of fooling, it is because of the
reduction and absurdum involved in
Mr.. Carnegie's effort to divest him
self almost entirely Of his vast
fortune during his own life. 1t was
too big to dispose of by simple pro-
cess of giving away. Long before he
sistence for one of his acquired
tastes and social and public position,
the process broke down. The obi
cations he had assumed in SO many
directions, his long private pension
list, his several households on both
sides of the ocean, had brought him
to the virtual limit of his philan-
his disposal. There is an atmosphere
of the unnatural, of the abnormal,
about it all which becomes the more
noteworthy as one reflects upon the
accumulat ton and the final distri-
button Of the Carnegie estate. 1t
seems impossible that the time
should ever come when great indi-
that solid block of wealth of the
dimensions of Mr.. Carnegie's would
fail to impress the ordinary human
imagination as something myster-
ious enough to suggest one of two
explanations in accounting for it's
origin-magic or -punder That one
g maR eoH snm eysr sEt%a9 e9 the
human mind will refuse to believe,
probably, to the end. of time. One
might legally accumulate it. but how
could one actually earn it?
Private fortunes of the highest
magnitude, such as America has at
fOrded exceptional opportunities TOT
accommodating. will probably dis
appear entirely in generation or
two, possibly never again to be
known to mankind Mr. Carnegie
in reality has testified, by his sin
cere if somewhat humorous effort
to "die poor to his own inner con-
seriousness of the sharp challenge
which society as whole directs
and must always direct, to such
boards of private wealth.. They fail
to ;"work.' pragmatically speaking
multitndes Of the poor ard under
mine the established social order;
thus thew are revolutionary in
their effect despite the campaigns
of philanthropy organized by their
possessors on tremendous scale.
The Carnegie fortune is finally
scattered Its founder and distri-
butor with kindness of heart. a
benevolence of purpose and a shrewd
instinct for the good will of his con-
temporaries never surpassed. per-
haps bv a great business mind has
done his utmost to vindicate the
Croesus age; vet it is no exaoger-
alton to say the existence of these /,
huge private stores of wealth has
nlaved an CONTINUOUSLY large part in
industrial discomfort of the time:
and coneenuertlv. they stand not ap-
proved by their consequences. but !
everywhere questioned and increas- !!
ing]y Observation-Disclosures, !
(Mass.) Republican.