(8)Ernest Benzon, commonly known as the "Jubilee plunger," was an English rogue of the fin-de-siecle variety. His career apparently came to grief on the Riviera when he was brought into court for forgery or obtaining money under false pretenses.

"Thou shalt not steal." It is no argument against a gospel that it is not lived up to; indeed, it is an argument in its favor, for a gospel must be higher than the prevailing standard. It is no argument against a law that it is broken: in that disobedience lies the reason for making and maintaining of the law; the law which is never to be broken is never required.

(9) Lloyd Stephens Bryce (1851-1917) was owner and editor of the North American Review beginning in 1889. He combined the diverse talents of man of wealth, bon vivant, merchant, and member of Congress.

30. The purpose of this paper is to present some of the best methods of performing this duty of administering surplus wealth for the good of the people. The first requisite for a really good use of wealth by the millionaire who has accepted the gospel which proclaims him only a trustee of the surplus that come to him, is to take care that the purposes for which he spends it shall not have a degrading, pauperizing tendency upon its recipients, but that his trust shall be so administered as to stimulate the best and most aspiring poor of the community to further efforts for their own improvement. It is not the irreclaimably destitute, shiftless and worthless which it is truly beneficial or truly benevolent for the individual to attempt to reach and improve. For these there exists the refuge provided by the city or the State, where they can be sheltered, fed, clothed, and kept in comfortable existence, and -most important of all - where they can be isolated from the well-doing and, industrious poor, who are liable to be demoralized by contact with these unfortunates. One man or women who succeeds in living comfortably by begging is more dangerous to society, and a greater obstacle to the progress of humanity, than a score of wordy Socialists. The individual administrator of surplus wealth has as his charge the industrious and ambitious; not those who need everything done for them, but those who, being most anxious and able to help themselves, deserve and will be benefited by help from others and by the extension of their opportunities by the aid of the philanthropic rich.

(10) Charles Alien Thorndike Rice (1851-1889), publisher of the North American Review, 1886-1889.

bestowed to-day upon so-called charity had better be thrown into the sea. As far as my experience of the wealthy extends, it is unnecessary to urge them to give of their superabundance in charity so called. Greater good for the race is to be achieved by inducing them to cease impulsive and injurious giving. As a rule, the sins of millionaires in this respect are not those of omission, but of commission, because they do not take time to think, and chiefly because it is much easier to give than to refuse. Those who have surplus wealth give millions every year which produce more evil than good, and really retard the progress of the people, because most of the forms in vogue to-day for benefiting mankind only tend to spread among the poor a spirit of dependence upon alms, when what is essential for progress is that they should be inspired to depend upon their own exertions. The miser millionaire who hoards his wealth does less injury to society than the careless millionaire who squanders his unwisely, even if he does so under cover of the mantle of sacred charity. The man who gives to the individual beggar commits a grave offense, but there are many societies and institutions soliciting alms, to aid which is none the less injurious to the community. These are as corrupting as individual beggars. Plutarch's "Morals" contains this lesson: "A beggar asking an alms of a Lacedaemonian, he said: 'Well, should I give thee anything, thou wilt be the greater beggar, for he that first gave thee money made thee idle, and is the cause of this base and dishonorable way of living." As I know them, there are few millionaires, very few indeed, who are clear of the sin of having made beggars.

given by an individual for any purpose is the gift of Senator Stanford, who undertakes to establish a complete university upon the Pacific coast, where he amassed his enormous fortune, which is said to involve the expenditure of ten millions of dollars, and upon which he may be expected to bestow twenty millions of his surplus. He is to be envied. A thousand years hence some orator, speaking his praise upon the then crowded shores of the Pacific, may thus adapt Griffith's eulogy of Wolsey:

In bestowing, madam,

He was most princely. Ever witness for him
This seat of learning,...

though unfinished, yet so famous.

So excellent in art, and still so rising,
That Christendom shall ever speak his virtue.

(12)In the founding of universities by private wealth in the post-Civil War era, the names of institutions perpetuate the donations and other assistance of Johns Hopkins (1795-1873), a Baltimore philanthropist, and Ezra Cornell (1807-1874), an upstate New Yorker who built a fortune from the telegraph. Asa Packer (1805-1879), a New England youth who emigrated to Pennsylvania, acquired his fortune from transporting and mining coal in the anthracite region. He was a judge and a politician. After the Civil War Packer donated money and land to a new institution, Lehigh University. He originally had in mind a technical institution, but when the school was opened in 1885 its scheme was more traditional. The total of Packer's donations in his lifetime gifts and bequests was over $3,800,000.

(13)James Lick (1796-1876), an eccentric who made a fortune from investments in San Francisco real estate and California land, was with difficulty guided by careful advisers to give $700,000 for a telescope "superior to and more powerful than any telescope ever made." Previous to this decision he had never seen a telescope or looked through one and had not even an amateur's acquaintance with astronomy. Eventually the managers of the gift located the Lick observatory on Mt. Hamilton, a wilderness peak in Santa Clam County, and contracted for a 36-inch lens, the largest feasible under the technology of the eighties. The regents of the University of California became the trustees of the Lick observatory.

If any millionaire be interested in the ennobling study of astronomy,-and there should be and would be such if they but gave the subject the slightest attention, -here is an example which could well be followed, for the progress made in astronomical instruments and appliances is so great and continuous that every few years a new telescope might be judiciously given to one of the observatories upon this continent, the last being always the largest and the best, and certain to carry further and further the knowledge of the universe and of our relation to it here upon the earth. As one among many of the good deeds of the late Mr. Thaw of Pittsburg, his constant support of the observatory there may be mentioned. This observatory enabled Professor Langley to make his wonderful discoveries. He is now at the head of the Smithsonian Institution, a worthy successor to Professor Henry. Connected with him was Mr. Braeshier of Pittsburg, whose instruments are in most of the principal observatories of the world. He was a common millwright, but Mr. Thaw recognized his genius and was his main support through trying days. This common workman has been made a professor by one of the foremost scientific bodies of the world. In applying part of his surplus in aiding these two now famous men, the millionaire Thaw did a noble work. Their joint labors have brought great credit, and are destined to bring still greater credit, upon their country in every scientific center throughout the world.

(14) Pittsburgh immediately after the Civil War became a center of astronomical activity and scholarship. A popular subscription had raised funds to build in 1860 the old Allegheny observatory, and five years later it was transferred to the Western University of Pennsylvania (since 1908 the University of Pittsburgh). In 1867 Samuel P. Langley (1834-1906), a man of immense erudition and scientific originality, became director of the observatory and professor of physics and astronomy. Twenty years later Langley became the third secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Meanwhile, John Alfred Brashear (1840-1920) -- one of many variant spellings --a Pittsburgh machinist who in his youth had been inspired by a maternal grandfather with a love of the stars, had built his own telescope and had attracted the attention of Langley. William Thaw, who had acquired wealth as a freight forwarder and Pennsylvania Railroad official and investor, was a director of Western University. He financed Langley's researches--the observatory incidentally provided correct time for the railroad -- and enabled Brashear to set up in business as a maker of precision instruments and telescopes. Carnegie later selected him as one of three men to draw up plans for the Carnegie Institute of Technology founded in 1905.

In brief, man through the possession of this ideal endowment of scientific investigation is the most noble product of creation, the governor of nature. He takes the sword from nature's hand and uses it upon nature's head. According to natural law night is a period of darkness and obscurity, but man by utilizing the power of electricity, by wielding this electric sword overcomes the darkness and dispels the gloom. Man is superior to nature and makes nature do his bidding. Man is a sensitive being; nature is without sensation. Man has memory and reason; nature lacks them. Man is nobler than nature. There are powers within him of which nature is devoid. It may be claimed that these powers are from nature itself and that man is a part of nature. In answer to this statement we will say that if nature is the whole and man is a part of that whole, how could it be possible for a part to possess qualities and virtues which are absent in the whole? Undoubtedly the part must be endowed with the same qualities and properties as the whole. For example, the hair is a part of the human anatomy. It cannot contain elements which are not found in other parts of the body, for in all cases the component elements of the body are the same. Therefore, it is manifest and evident that man, although in body a part of nature, nevertheless in spirit possesses a power transcending nature; for if he were simply a part of nature and limited to material laws, he could possess only the things which nature embodies. God has conferred upon and added to man a distinctive power - the faculty of intellectual investigation into the secrets of creation, the acquisition of higher knowledge - the greatest virtue of which is scientific enlightenment. This endowment is the most praiseworthy power of man, for through its employment and exercise the betterment of the human race is accomplished, the development of the virtues of mankind is made possible and the spirit and mysteries of God become manifest. Therefore, I am greatly pleased with my visit to this university. Praise be to God that this country abounds in such institutions of learning where the knowledge of sciences and arts may readily be acquired. As material and physical sciences are taught here and are constantly unfolding in wider vistas of attainment, I am hopeful that spiritual development may also follow and keep pace with these outer advantages. As material knowledge is illuminating those within the walls of this great temple of learning, so also may the light of the spirit, the inner and divine light of the real philosophy glorify this institution. The most important principle of divine philosophy is the oneness of the world of humanity, the unity of mankind, the bond conjoining East and West, the tie of love which blends human hearts. (`Abdu'l-Baha: Promulgation of Universal Peace, Pages: 30-31)

36. It is reserved for very few to found universities, and, indeed, the use for many, or perhaps, any, new universities does not exist. More good is henceforth to be accomplished by adding to and extending those in existence. But in this department a wide field remains for the millionaire as distinguished from the Croesus among millionaires. The gifts to Yale University have been many, but there is plenty of room for others. The School of Fine Arts, founded by Mr. Street, the Sheffield Scientific School, endowed by Mr. Sheffield, and Professor Loomis's fund for the observatory, are fine examples. Mrs. C. J. Osborne's building for reading and recitation is to be regarded with especial pleasure as being the wise gift of a woman.

(15) A series of gifts enlarged the physical facilities and instructional offerings of Yale College. Just before the Civil War Joseph E. Sheffield (1793-1882), a Connecticut man who had made a fortune as a railroad contractor in the West and, out of personal and civic pride, spent some of it financing a needless New England railroad, gave the first of his donations to the Yale Scientific School, renamed the Sheffield Scientific School in 1861. After the War, Augustus R. Street (1791-1866), a New Haven-born Yale graduate, and his wife, a woman of wealth, financed a building for the Yale School of Fine Arts and endowed instruction in a number of areas at Yale. In the late eighties Elias Loomis (1811-1889), who had made a fortune as author of books in the field of natural science, bequeathed $300,000 to Yale. Mrs. Miriam A. (C.J.) Osborn gave in the eighties a sum for a building for history. Its construction "resulted in the removal of the Fence."

(16)Mr. Carnegie's stroll through Harvard produced some inaccurate observations. George Peabody (1795-1869), an American banker in London, donated in 1866, at the suggestion of a Yale nephew, $150,000 for a "Museum and professorship of American Archaeology and Ethnology." But there is not and never was a Wells Hall. This is a mistake for Weld Hall, given in 1872 by W. F. Weld, a Boston financier, in memory of his brother. Like Weld, the other "halls" were dormitories. Matthews Hall was the gift in 1872 of Nathan Matthews (1854-1927), a Boston merchant; Thayer Hall, of Nathanial Thayer (1808-1883), a member of a Boston investment banking house, in memory of his brother. Colonel James W. Sever, a shoeman in southeastern Massachusetts, bequeathed $100,000 for a hall to be named for the family. Sever Hall is a classroom building.

The Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tennessee, may be mentioned as a true product of the gospel of wealth. It was established by the members of the Vanderbilt family

(17) The first Vanderbilt gift to the Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the South at Nashville came from Cornelius ("The Commodore") Vanderbilt (1794-1877), veteran steamship tycoon and virtually a synonym for the New York Central Railroad. Since the Commodore became Vanderbilt's benefactor in a decidedly offhand manner, Carnegie's note of admiration is surprising. In time the Commodore's descendants generously supplemented his original benefaction.

can ever know the intense longing with which the arrival of Saturday was awaited, that a new book might be had. My brother and Mr. Phipps,

(18)Thomas M. Carnegie (1843-1886), a younger brother of Andrew, followed a somewhat similar career. Henry Phipps, Jr. (1839-1930), was a boyhood neighbor and chum of Andrew. Tom Carnegie and Phipps early entered the iron business. Tom died in 1886; Phipps stayed with the Carnegie firm until its acquisition by United States Steel in 1901. His money supported a wide variety of philanthropic undertakings from public baths to psychiatric institutes.

Whatever may have been done in these four years, it is my pleasure to acknowledge that much, very much, is due to the earnest interest, the wise counsels, and the practical suggestions of Mr. Pratt. He never seemed to feel that the mere donation of great wealth for the benefit of his fellow-citizens was all that would be asked of him, but he wisely labored to make its application as comprehensive and effective as possible. Thus he constantly lightened burdens that were, at times, very heavy, brought good cheer and bright sunshine when clouds flitted across the sky, and made every officer and employee feel that good work was appreciated, and loyal devotion to duty would receive hearty commendation.

to the city of Baltimore, with the balance of cash handed over; the total cost was one million dollars, upon which he required the city to pay five per cent, per annum, fifty thousand dollars per year, to trustees for the maintenance and development of the library and its branches. During 1888 430,217 books were distributed; 37,196 people of Baltimore are registered upon the books as readers. And it is safe to say that 37,000 frequenters of the Pratt Library are of more value to Baltimore, to the State, and to the country, than all the inert, lazy, and hopelessly poor in the whole nation. And it may further be safely said that, by placing books within the reach of 37,000 aspiring people which they were anxious to obtain, Mr. Pratt has done more for the genuine progress of the people than has been done by all the contributions of all the millionaires and rich people to help those who cannot or will not help themselves. The one wise administrator of his surplus has poured a fertilizing stream upon soil that was ready to receive it and return a hundred-fold. The many squanderers have not only poured their streams into sieves which can never be filled - they have done worse; they have poured them into stagnant sewers that breed the diseases which most afflict the body politic. And this is not all. The million dollars of which Mr. Pratt has made so grand a use are something, but there is something greater still. When the fifth branch library was opened in Baltimore, the speaker said:

40. This is the finest picture I have ever seen of any of the millionaire class. As here depicted, Mr. Pratt is the ideal disciple of the gospel of wealth. We need have no fear that the mass of toilers will fail to recognize in such as he their best leaders and their most invaluable allies; for the problem of poverty and wealth, of employer and employed, will be practically solved whenever the time of the few is given, and their wealth is administered during their lives, for the best good of that portion of the community which has not been burdened with the responsibilities which attend the possession of wealth. We shall have no antagonism between classes when that day comes, for the high and the low, the rich and the poor, shall then indeed be brothers.

(19) The noted British liberal statesman, reformer, and orator (1811-1889), who believed strongly in self-education.

home will give or bequeath to it of their treasures. In this way collections will grow until our cities will ultimately be able to boast of permanent exhibitions from which their own citizens will derive incalculable benefit, and which they will be proud to show to visitors. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York we have made an excellent beginning. Here is another avenue for the proper use of surplus wealth.

(20) Gifts from the Vanderbilts enabled Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons in the eighties to move to a new location and plant on West 59th Street. W. H. Vanderbilt (1821-1885), the son of the Commodore and an exceedingly able business man in his own right, was for the moment the chief of the Vanderbilt givers.

without its laboratory. As with universities, so with medical colleges: it is not new institutions that are required, but additional means for the more thorough equipment of those that exist. The forms that benefactions to these may wisely take are numerous, but probably none is more useful than that adopted by Mr. Osborne when he built a school for training female nurses at Bellevue College.

(21) William Henry Osborn (1820-1894), reorganizer and financial savior of the Illinois Central Railroad, after his retirement in 1882 became interested in aiding medical institutions, among which was the Bellevue Training School for Nurses in New York City.

(22) Pittsburgh advocates of parks induced Mrs. Mary E. Schenley to donate 300 acres for a park and the city purchased for $200,000 an additional acreage. In addition to facilities for sports and beauty, Schenlev Park was the site of the Phipps conservatories, the first Carnegie Pittsburgh Library, and the Carnegie Institute.

A noble use this of great wealth by one who thus becomes her own administrator. If a park be already provided, there is still room for many judicious gifts in connection with it. Mr. Phipps of Allegheny has given conservatories to the park there, which are visited by many every day of the week, and crowded by thousands of working-people every Sunday; for, with rare wisdom, he has stipulated. as a condition of the gift that the conservatories shall be open on Sundays. The result of his experiment has been so gratifying that he finds himself justified in adding to them from his surplus, as he is doing largely this year. To lovers of flowers among the wealthy I commend a study of what is possible for them to do in the line of Mr. Phipps's example; and may they please note that Mr. Phipps is a wise as well as a liberal giver, for he requires the city to maintain these conservatories, and thus secures for them forever the public ownership, the public interest, and the public criticism of their management. Had he undertaken to manage and maintain them, it is probable that popular interest in the gift would never have been awakened.

beautifying it. An art committee decides, from time to time, what new artistic feature is to be introduced, or what hideous feature is to be changed, and as the revenues accrue, they are expended in this direction. Thus, through the gift of this patriotic newspaper proprietor his native city of Dresden is fast becoming one of the most artistic places of residence in the whole world. A work having been completed, it devolves upon the city to maintain it forever. May I be excused if I commend to our millionaire newspaper proprietors the example of their colleague in the capital of Saxony?

Popular subscriptions have accomplished this result in the case referred to (the Washington Monument), and two other memorial arches have been designed and are to be erected here. -- ED. [Note in original edition.]

of the people and their needs are concerned. As with libraries and museums, so with these more distinctively artistic works: they perform their great use when they reach the best of the masses of the people. It is better to reach and touch the sentiment for beauty in the naturally bright minds of this class than to pander to those incapable of being so touched. For what the improver of the race must endeavor is to reach those who have the divine spark ever so feebly developed, that it may be strengthened and grow. For my part, I think Mr. Phipps put his money to better use in giving the working-men of Allegheny conservatories filled with beautiful flowers, orchids, and aquatic plants, which they, with their wives and children, can enjoy in their spare hours, and upon which they can feed their love for the beautiful, than if he had given his surplus money to furnish them with bread; for those in health who cannot earn their bread are scarcely worth considering by the individual giver, the care of such being the duty of the State. The man who erects in a city a conservatory or a truly artistic arch, statue, or fountain, makes a wise use of his surplus. "Man does not live by bread alone."

(23) Reuben R. Springer (1800-1884), a successful investor in real estate and railroads, gave the major share of the money for the erection of the Cincinnati Music Hall. Opened in 1878, this red brick, semi-Gothic building housed the Cincinnati Music Festival and later the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Perhaps inspired by this example, Andrew Carnegie in 1892 built the New York Music Hall on 57th Street. Since the latter name repelled European artists, who associated it with vaudeville, it was changed to Carnegie Hall.

excellent use for surplus wealth for the good of a community. The reason why the people have only one instructive and elevating, or even amusing, entertainment when a dozen would be highly beneficial, is that the rent of a hall, even when a suitable hall exists, which is rare, is so great as to prevent managers from running the risk of financial failure. If every city in our land owned a hall which could be given or rented for a small sum for such gatherings as a committee or the mayor of the city judged advantageous, the people could be furnished with proper lectures, amusements, and concerts at an exceedingly small cost. The town halls of European cities, many of which have organs, are of inestimable value to the people, utilized as they are in the manner suggested. Let no one underrate the influence of entertainments of an elevating or even of an amusing character, for these do much to make the lives of the people happier and their natures better. If any millionaire born in a small village which has now become a great city is prompted in the day of his success to do something for his birthplace with part of his surplus, his grateful remembrance cannot take a form more useful than that of a public hall with an organ, provided the city agrees to maintain and use it.

at fixed hours upon certain days; different hours being fixed for the boys and the girls to use the great swimming-baths, hours or days being also fixed for the use of these baths by women. In addition to the highly beneficial effect of these institutions upon the public health in inland cities, the young of both sexes are thus taught to swim. Swimming clubs are organized, and matches are frequent, at which medals and prizes are given. The reports published by the various swimming-bath establishments throughout Great Britain are filled with instances of lives saved because those who fortunately escaped shipwreck had been taught to swim in the baths; and not a few instances are given in which the pupils of certain bathing establishments have saved the lives of others. If any disciple of the gospel of wealth gives his favorite city large swimming and private baths, provided the municipality undertakes their management as a city affair, he will never be called to account for an improper use of the funds intrusted to him.

If he has the money, it should be made a gem, for the educating influence of a pure and noble specimen of architecture, built, as the pyramids were built, to stand for ages, is not to be measured by dollars. Every farmer's home, heart, and mind in the district will be influenced by the beauty and grandeur of the church; and many a bright boy, gazing enraptured upon its richly colored windows and entranced by the celestial voice of the organ, will there receive his first message from and in spirit be carried away to the beautiful and enchanting realm which lies far from the material and prosaic conditions which surround him in this workaday world - a real world, this new realm, vague and undefined though its boundaries be. Once within its magic circle, its denizens live there an inner life more precious than the external, and all their days and all their ways, their triumphs and their trials, and all they see, and all they hear, and all they think, and all they do, are hallowed by the radiance which shines from afar upon this inner life, glorifying everything, and keeping all right within. But having given the building, the donor should stop there; the support of the church should be upon its own people. There is not much genuine religion in the congregation or much good to come from the church which is not supported at home.

wealth. For different men and different localities there are different uses. What commends itself most highly to the judgment of the administrator is the best use for him, for his heart should be in the work. It is as important in administering wealth as it is in any other branch of a man's work that he should be enthusiastically devoted to it and feel that in the field selected his work lies.

evident, reformers were against the wealthy. It is none the less evident that we are fast recurring to that position to-day; and there will be nothing to surprise the student of sociological development if society should soon approve the text which has caused so much anxiety: "It is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." Even if the needle were the small casement at the gates, the words betoken serious difficulty for the rich. It will be but a step for the theologian from the doctrine that he who dies rich dies disgraced, to that which brings upon the man punishment or deprivation hereafter.