Philanthropic Russell Sage

1895

A Generous Deed Mixed Up a Little With Some Call Loans.

A well known Wall street man told this story at the Windsor hotel:

"Russell Sage summers at Lawrence, N. Y. He goes down every afternoon and returns to New York in the morning. Not far from his home lives a family only about well to do. One summer an aged relative visited this family. She was in poor health, and Mr. Sage had known the family a long time, and when the sick woman came he believed that a daily drive in the cool of the day would benefit her. He purchased a fine victoria and a big bay and sent them to the aged lady with his compliments. It was a gift outright, but the poor soul was too far gone, and she died after a single drive in the fine equipage. Mr. Sage then insisted that the family accept the equipage. Along late in the fall, while members of the family were out for a drive, their victoria was smashed by collision with the carriage of a wealthy resident, and the horse was killed. The family waited a reasonable time to hear from the wealthy resident. No word came. The head of the household then wrote to the wealthy resident, who, by the way, is a man of affairs in New York, and in the letter requested remuneration for the big bay and the victoria. There was no response. As a last resort the family complained to Mr. Sage.

"'Let me handle the case,' said Mr. Sage.

"A few days later the wealthy Lawrence resident came to the head of the household, was profuse in his apologies and ascertained the value of the smashed up rig. Within 48 hours a rig similar in value was sent around. The head of the household, meeting Mr. Sage, asked him how he brought the wealthy resident to terms with such alacrity.

"'Oh, easy enough, easy enough,' repeated Mr. Sage. 'He banks in my bank, the Importers and Traders', and I had his loans called.'" — New York Sun.

A Modest Eleemosynarian, But What Benefactions!

1895

It will be noticed that James Lick gave nothing for mere charity. He did not believe in relieving any human being able to work from the necessity of earning his bread. Lick gave to science and educational improvement, to public necessity and to art. He did not seek to set up a rival to any existing state institution. He did not duplicate anything. What he sought were new avenues by which mankind might be benefited without injury to themselves or posterity. The only eleemosynary institution which he founded was the Home For Old Ladies. For that blessings will be showered on his name through the long centuries.

His great telescope on Mount Hamilton has already made the retiring miller of the early days a name and fame as wide as the civilized world. The human sentiment appeared in honor of his liberal endowment of the pioneers. The Academy of Natural Sciences early attracted his attention as an institution from which great things might be expected, and it shared liberally in his benefactions. No man could have given more liberally, for he gave all that he had. The deep love of humanity which is apparent in all secures for him a place among the benefactors of mankind second to none. — San Francisco Bulletin.

Gifts Before Death

1895

THE PHILANTHROPIST SHOULD BE HIS OWN EXECUTOR.

The Beautiful Picture of Benevolent Peter Cooper Moving Among the People He Loved — Does the Man Who Dies Rich Die Disgraced?

Perhaps it may be too much to say with Andrew Carnegie that a man who dies rich dies disgraced, though we remember that that admirable philanthropist, Lewis Tappan, published a pamphlet to prove the same thing. Yet it is evident beyond question that that man is wisest and that man gets the most comfort out of life who during his lifetime sees that his money goes to the important objects for which he destines it, and who can behold with his own eyes the good done by it. A rich man narrows and belittles himself if he devotes his entire thought to the increase of his estate. He should devote thought to its wisest expenditure. Therein he acquires a largeness and breadth of soul which will be the chief comfort of his life. He will prove that he is a genuine philanthropist, not one who transfers his wealth to charity on his deathbed, as if he were then about to make his peace with God and the world, but that he has lived for his fellow men and not simply for himself.

The rich man whose only ambition is to be rich is not the friend of humanity and can hardly be anything else than its enemy. In any conflict against capital he can claim no sympathy, nothing more than the coldest justice. He has cast no anchor to the windward; he has sent forth no roots or tendrils which gathered about the hearts of the people. His mammon of unrighteousness has made him no warm friends; his belated benefactions may do good to the world, and they seem to be a sort of atonement for his shortcomings. They fail to prove that he possessed a soul that went out lovingly toward God or his fellow men.

Perhaps the most beautiful sight which this generation has seen was that of Peter Cooper building his own monument, not in the masonry of the Cooper Union, but in the hearts of its pupils and of the people of New York. Peter Cooper, the manufacturer of glue, would have been forgotten, but Peter Cooper, the patron of all aspiring youth, their friend and teacher, walking about with his benevolent face and his long white hair among the classes of young people for which his bounty made provision and reaping constantly the harvest of their admiration and love, was an exquisite witness not to the pride of wealth, but to the beauty of goodness. We are glad of a long list of wealthy men who have founded colleges and universities in their lifetime, honored for their large hearts, who give their hearts if not their names to their charities.

Of course it is a great deal better for a man to give money for benevolent purposes by will than not to give it at all. We would not say a word in disparagement of the usefulness of great gifts that have been made in that way. We know very well that there are men who have the faculty of making money, and who do not feel that they are competent to decide for themselves wisely how their wealth should be disposed of or how its expenditure for benevolent objects should be managed. But the time will come when they must give up their money, and some one's advice or decision must be followed. That advice they can obtain during life, and they can themselves make their gifts safely. It is as easy to do it now as it is to select executors or trustees to do it after death, except in so far as a man cannot bring himself to loosen the grasp by which he holds his wealth until death compels him to do so. We would have such people consider, however, the great danger there is that their wishes will not be carried out. The repeated cases in which wills have been declared void and the purposes of the testator have been annulled ought to make every one who has money to give consider whether he cannot, without in jury to his own interests and those of his family, give at least a part of it during his lifetime.

But whether he does it or not this at least is true — that every man who has acquired wealth from the public should consider it a privilege. if not a duty, to give back to the public some portion of what he has received. They say that in Boston it is not respectable to die without leaving a bequest to Harvard college. It ought not to be respectable for any man of wealth to die without a bequest to some college or benevolent society or hospital or museum or park or public institution. Of course one should provide for his household, and charity should begin at home. But that is not charity which ends at home. It is cold blooded, hard hearted selfishness. To give to the public in this way is something more than a duty. It is a privilege. It is a privilege to be connected in any way with the amelioration of the evil of the world, with the increase of truth and righteousness, with the development of Christian civilization in any land on the face of the earth, and the man who gives his possessions to such an object as this is therein a partner with our great Exemplar who went about doing good. — New York Independent.

Rob Roy, the Philanthropist

1895

During more than 40 years John MacGregor (Rob Roy) was a great exemplar of the best sort of philanthropy. There was some narrowness, perhaps bigotry, in his religious creed, but none whatever in his practice. He was a man of considerable attainments in literature, science, art and music. Above all, he was a born adventurer, as his voyages in his "Rob Roy" canoe testify, and all the profits that he obtained from his books and lectures were handed over to the charities — charities of the best sort — in which he was interested.

By lecturing alone he earned and thus applied £10,000, and having set himself to collect that sum he persevered in the work during several years, and after his health had begun to fail, until the total had been reached. Dying in 1892, at the age of 67, he left a record of steady heroism and of real service to his fellow men which is almost unique. — Academy.

Temptation

1895

"I shall never," says a New York woman active in philanthropic work, "carry my pocketbook in my hands in the street again. A recent experience has showed me its danger to others besides myself. I have been interested lately in a young man, a typical growth of the tenements, and have been trying to encourage him to lead a better life, with, I hope, some degree of success.

"A few days ago I met him on the street and stopped to ask how he was prospering. In my hand at the time I was holding my pocketbook, and from the moment that we met I saw his eyes fastened on that with a wolfish look that made me tremble. I did not dare put it in my pocket lest he should discover my distrust, and yet I felt that it was cruel to stand there with it flaunted in the face of his desperation.

"The interview was most trying. I asked him a few questions, to which he scarcely replied, so fascinated was he with the sight of the purse, and as soon as I could with ease I bade him good-by and walked on. As I did so he raised his eyes to mine with a conscious, hunted, yet baffled look, that told me as plainly as if he had said it that were I not I the result would have been different.

"When I turned the corner and was out of his sight, I stopped, weak and faint, to recover myself, and put that purse in my pocket with the vow that it or any other in my hands should never again offer temptation to a fellow creature." — New York Times.

John D's Fortune $1,000,000,000

1916

Information of the existence of a balance sheet compiled at Cleveland ten days ago on the occasion of John D. Rockefeller's 77th birthday, showing that his private fortune, exclusive of endowment funds and other benefactions, exceeds a billion dollars, is said to be in possession of the authorities of Cuyahoga county.

The existence of the balance sheet, indicating that Mr. Rockefeller's fortune exceeds that of any man in the world, was discovered in the search for evidence to present in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in a forthcoming attempt of Cuyahoga county to force Mr. Rockefeller to pay taxes on holdings of more than three hundred million dollars. Mr. Rockefeller obtained an injunction in the United States District court in Cleveland, preventing the enforcement of tax collection on the holdings in October, 1915, and in December of the same year Cuyahoga county filed an appeal in the United States Circuit court.

Since the county authorities have been endeavoring to obtain evidence that Mr. Rockefeller was a legal resident of Cleveland. He is now at his home in Cleveland, and on July 9 celebrated his 77th birthday. It was about that time, it is understood, that a balance sheet containing the extent and the varied amounts of his holdings was presented to him. The balance sheet, according to authentic information, indicated that the Rockefeller fortune had exceeded $1,000,000,000 and steadily was mounting upward; so rapidly, in fact, that, with all of his enormous benefactions, Mr. Rockefeller was unable to dispose of the income.

Of the enormous total nearly $500,000,000 represents Mr. Rockefeller's holdings in the various Standard Oil companies and their subsidiaries. He holds approximately 247,962 shares out of a total of 883,383 shares issued in all of the companies. The stock is now quoted around $1700, about three times what it was before the federal courts issued the order dissolving the great corporation into independent companies.

The balance of Mr. Rockefeller's fortune, it is understood, is shown to be in enormous holdings in various railway and banking corporations, the United States Steel corporation, and in National, Municipal, State and in foreign bond issues. Among his holdings it is recorded, there are $10,000,000 of Anglo-French war bonds, floated here last year by the Allied commission.

Naturally, with such amazing accumulation of wealth, the variations of the stock market day by day increase or decrease the fortune by a million or more dollars. Since the compilation of the schedule in June, immediately succeeding the announcement that the half year's gifts of the Rockefeller Foundation, merely one of his projects, were more than three million dollars, the fortune is said to have shown a great increase. That is because of the steadily upward trend of various stocks because of the enlivened commerce of the country.

Neither Mr. Rockefeller nor his son, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., are engaged actively in business. Since 1910, when their joint benefactions first began to loom large in the generosities of the world, eclipsing those of Andrew Carnegie, it is estimated that the Rockefellers have given a way approximately $200,000,000.

The most conspicuous of the benefactors have been the General Education Board, which has received about $60,000,000; University of Chicago to which has been given $25,000,000; Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, $10,000,000; Rush Medical College, $6,000,000; missions of the Baptist church at home and abroad, $8,000,000; to various colleges and universities in the United States, including Yale, Harvard, Barnard, Union Theological Seminary of New York, the Baptist and the Southern Education Fund, about $30,000,000; the Young Men's Christian Association, $4,000,000; to various hospitals and medical colleges, $20,000,000; for juvenile reform work, $3,000,000; and to Cleveland for betterment purposes, $3,000,000.

Since the war in Europe, the Rockefeller Foundation has given about $10,000,000 for relief work for a wide and varied character, but despite the great demands, the income accruing from the endowment fund, it is said, is not entirely used up. To the Rockefeller foundation, organized in the words of Mr. Rockefeller "for the good of mankind," will probably be the disburser of this greatest of existing fortunes. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., is the chief administrator of the great fund. The organization which will use the wealth has the following for its avowed purpose:—

"To make this vast force a living organism, which will have the freedom of a live thing, to give aid swiftly and largely when aid is most needed, not a mere accident of death that may set the money free for certain limited uses. No man can foresee the needs of ten, twenty or fifty years from now. The Foundation is limited only by the field of human civilization and human need. It will be a great clearing house for humanitarian effort all over the world."

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 1.

$100,000,000

1920

Rockefeller Makes Largest Christmas Donation in History

NEW YORK, N. Y., Jan. 1. — With his Christmas donation of $100,000,000 to public purposes, John D. Rockefeller brought the total sum which he had given to social, religious, welfare and educational institutions up to approximately $500,000,000. The Yuletide gift was the largest single philanthropic endowment from an individual in the history of the world.

Half of the $100,000,000 goes to the general education board, itself a Rockefeller creation, to be disbursed, both principal and interest, in co-operating with institutions of higher learning in increasing the salaries of their teaching staffs.

The other $50,000,000 goes to the Rockefeller Foundation, chartered "to promote the well being of mankind thruout the world." Of this sum $5,000,000, in deference to a special request of the donor, is to be expended for the development and improvement of the leading medical schools of Canada, which are to be required to raise additional sums from other sources.

Mr. Rockefeller's benefactions to date may be tabulated as follows:

To the general education board $70,000,000
To the Rockefeller Foundation $82,000,000
To the Rockefeller Institute $10,000,000
The son's estimate in 1915 $250,000,000
Religious and other unannounced benefactions, estimated on excellent authority $88,000,000
Total $500,000,000

Boyhood Chum of Andy Carnegie Passes Away

1915

"Thirty" Comes to "Dode" Moreland, Veteran Telegrapher, Once Captured by Mosby.

PITTSBURGH, Pa., Dec. 16. — Theodore ("Dode") Moreland, aged 72, a patriarch among telegraphers here, and a boyhood friend and fellow-worker of Andrew Carnegie, the multi-millionaire, died in a hospital here as the result of an accident which occurred several weeks ago.

Mr. Moreland, like Carnegie, became an operator for the Western Union Telegraph Company and it was while following this work that the two renewed their boyhood friendship. Later they served as members of the Signal Corps during the Civil War.

At one time during the hostilities Mr. Moreland was captured by Mosby, the famous Confederate guerrilla leader. Mr. Moreland's mount was a better horse than that of Mosby, but the telegrapher was surrounded by rebels. Mosby, after detaining Mr. Moreland for some time, contented himself by "swapping" horses with the Northerner and then permitted him to ride his inferior mount back to the Federal lines.

After the war, Mr. Moreland and Mr. Carnegie drifted apart, Mr. Moreland continuing to make dots and dashes, while Mr. Carnegie made millions.

Several years ago, however, when Mr. Carnegie chanced to hear again of his erstwhile fellow-worker, he ordered that a pension of $50 a month be paid him. This was done for some time, tho the pension for some unknown reason ceased two years ago.

Mr. Moreland continued his work at the key until he had reached the maximum age of 70 years, when pensioned by the Western Union Company, being one of the first operators in Pittsburgh to be retired.