Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-11-17
ALMIGHTY DOLLAR PUT
IN HARNESS FOR IDEAliSM
America Has Hundreds of Millions to
Spend for Religion. Educa-
ton and Art

thing but the almighty dollar that those
among US who accept our opinions ready
made have been inclined to plead guilty
for their fellow countrymen.
The charge, however, has never been
sustained by convincing evidence. 1t
would have been much cheaper for our
ancestors to have pocketed their indig
nation at the stamp act than to have
started a revolution. The republic is
founded on an ideal, to establish which
men pledged their lives, their fortunes
and their sacred honor
Much has been said about the pledge
of lives and honor, but those who have
sought to produce the impression that
this was materiaistc nation have for
gotten or ignored the pledge of the for
tunes.
1t will not do to say that the early
generation of idealsts has been succeeded
by later generations of Sordd money
grubbers.
The Civil War was fought for an ideal.
The preservation of the Union. to es-
tablish which men risked their fortunes,
was regarded as worth all that it might
cost, because with its ruin would go some
Of the ideals on which it rested.
And we entered the war against Ger
many not in order to make money but
in order to do our part again in estab-
fishing the doctrine that justice is sacred
and must prevail We know that there
are men who have called it a capitalistic
war and have charged that if it had not
been for the desire of Wall street and
the munition manufacturers to make
money the United States would have
remained neutral. Every one but few
loose thinkers knows that this is not so.
So many great fortunes have been ac-
cumulated in so short time and so
many men have been so busy accumu-
lating the fortunes that the rest of the
world has wrongly concluded that money
is the only thing we think of. 1t has
only to examine the evidence to discover
its error.
Our milionaires have made great COL
lections of paintings and china and books
and ivory carvings. The collectors of the
Old World who have been outbid in the
auctions have spoken with contempt of
these millionares and have said that
they bought art treasures because they
did not know what else to do with their
money They have discovered, however,
many time, that the millionaire knew
as much about art as they did. He may
have been ignorant in his youth, but a
desire for the re6nements of life was
born in him and when he was able to
crafty that desire he set about it.
When he discovered what association
with the masterpieces of great painters
could do for him he has bequeathed his
collections to public museums that the
public at large might come under their
influence.
No group of people and no nation has
a monopoly of taste. The fact that some
of the greatest painters and poets have
sprung from humble parentage should
prove this to the most obdurate snob.
To hold otherwise is provincial when not
parochal.
If there is any lingering shadow Of
doubt in the mind of any one that this
nation as a whole is loyal to the finer
things, what is going on before our eyes
at the present time should remove it.
The rich and the poor had apparently
invested in the Liberty Bonds issued
during the war all the money they could
raise. One would have said that it was
foolish to attempt to raise any consider
able sums for any purpose until new
surplus had been accumulated.
The friends of religion and education
- al
are now conducting campaigns, or have
just completed them, to raise more than
$2O0,000,000 for these idealistic purposes.
Harvard University, which asked for
S15,250,000 few weeks ago, has already
secured two-thirds of this amount.
Princeton is seeking $14OOO,00O and will
get it. Cornell is asking for $10,O0O,O 900,
and no one doubts that the sum will be
raised. 1t has been announced that the
University of Pennsylvania needs $780,
100000. No movement has yet been
started to secure it, but the money is
in existence and the men who have it
will undoubtedly make their subscriptions
when the need of it is presented to them.
Btyn Mawr College has within a few
days announced that it will try to raise
81 100000. A similar sum has been sub
scribed to the endowment fund of the
Philadelphia Orchestra by men and
women who believe in the refining power
of music and are anxious that an oppor-
tunity ito hear it should be afforded to
the largest possible number.
The churches are seeking funds to
carry on their work and to guarantee
to the clergymen living salary. The
Methodists have set their mark at $685.
100000. The Hpiscopalians want $15,-
100000. The Baptists have already
raised $6,OOO,O00 or thereabouts. And
the Presbyterians are accumulating a
fund of several millions. The Young
Women's Christian Association has re-
Gently started to raise $4,000, 900 in order
that it may do more effectively that for
which it was organized.