The Sunday Oregonian., July 19, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 4, Image 48

THE SUNDAY OREGOXTAN, PORTLAND, JULY 19, 1903.
MIIMISTOA'
mDANIEL'COlT 6ILMAN
EASILY .AT THE HEAD OF
FAMOUcT MEN WHO HAVE
TttUX .XERVED THEIRo
BT ;OHX S. HARWOOD.
TIME was and not so many years
ago, either when this country could
boast of only two famous philan
thropic trusts of mlllion-dollar-and-over
dimensions the famous Stephen Girard
trust, now Increased by Investment to
bout J30.000.000 from 15.260.000, and devot
ed to the education of male orphans, and
the Peabody Education Fund of J2.120.000,
founded to spread education In the South
ern States. Today Uncle Sam can point
with pride to a formidable list of great
philanthropic trusts, representing In the
aggregate millions on millions of dollars
being used day In and day out for the ad
vancement of his nephews and nieces
mentally, morally and physically. Indeed,
Uncle Sam, were he given to boasting,
could tell the world In all truthfulness
that the philanthropic trusts In his do
mains exceed in resources'and helpfulness
those of any other two or three nations
of the globe.
There Is the General Education Board.
Its purpose Is to promote education along
all lines In the United States, and to this
end John D. Rockefeller first gave J25.000,
000. the largest single benefaction made to
date. Already scores of colleges and other
educational Institutions have received
help from this great fund.
There Is the Southern Educational
Board, which Is striving to Increase the
educational facilities in that particular
portion of the country. The Carnegie
Foundation, with its Jlo.OOO.OOO, looks
after the worldly comforts of teachers
"Who have grown gray imparting knowl
edge to generations of young people. The
recently created Sage Foundation (510,
000.000) has for Its object "the improve
ment of social and living conditions in
the United States."
The Carnegie Institution, which started
out six years ago with an Income from
$10,000,000, Is now deep in Its appointed
task of encouraging "investigation, re
search and discovery In the broadest and
most liberal manner" and in showing "the
application of knowledge to the improve
ment of mankind." With an Income
from JS, 000.000 at Its disposal, the Carnegie
Hero Fund endeavors to bring home to
the average man the Importance of every
day heroism. The John F. Slater Fund,
a million dollars In 1882, when it was
founded, now a half million greater by
judicious handling, is devoted solely to
the uplift of the negro through education
and otherwise.
Not to run through the entire list, here
are nine of the country's great philan
thropic trusts. Who and what manner of
citizens are engaged in handling these
millions for the benefit of us all, their
fellow-citizens?
Briefly, the answer is, men who first
made high marks in other serious work
and who now are foremost among the
leaders in their respective walks of life
such persons as President Roosevelt,
Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, J. Pier
pont Morgan, former Secretary of State
Richard OIney, Joseph H. C'hoate, Daniel
C. Gilman, Carroll D. Wright, Seth Low,
Cleveland H. Dodge, Robert C. Ogden,
Ellhu Root, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, William
H. Taft, Helen Gould, former President
Andrew D. White of Cornell, Henry L.
Hlgglnaon, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Gen
eral Louis Wagner, Lyman J. Gage, D. O.
Mills. George Foster Peabody, Henry S.
Prltchett. John S. Billings. Robert De
Forest, and many others who have made
National and International names for
themselves In finance, business, politics,
education, government, philanthropy. In
other words, the trusts are being admin
istered by the men and women best fitted
for this well-nigh sacred work that has
helped to make and keep the country
great and wealthy, and so make possible
these very trusts themselves.
The name that appears most frequently
on the governing boards of the greatest
philanthropic trusts is that of Daniel Colt
Gilman. He is a member of the Executive
Committee of the Carnegie Institution.
He is second vice-president of the Pea
body trustees. He is president of the
Slater Fund organization. He is one of
the trustees of the Sage Foundation, and
In the distribution of the Income of the
General Education Board his again Is a
potent voice.
Seventy-seven on the 6th of this month,
Dr. Gilman has spent 33 of his 62 working
years in directing philanthropic work,
counting from the day in 1875 when he be
came the first president of Johns Hopkins
University following Its foundation with
half the seven millions left by Johns Hop
kins to education. It was as president of
Johns Hopkins that Dr. Gilman speedily
made a name for himself as an able ad
ministrator, as well as an educator of re
markably successful ideas, and, as most
of the great philanthropic trusts are more
or less educational in their nature. Dr.
Oilman naturally has been called upon
from time to time to help administer
them.
When Andrew Carnegie endowed the
Carnegie Institution he expressed a pref
erence for Dr. Gilman as its organizer.
The latter resigned the presidency of his
first educational offspring and. prepara
tory to establishing the institution, trav
eled all over Europe consulting the lead
ing educators of the world. As in the
case of the institution, he practically or
ganized single-handed Johns Hopkins
University. And though he did not be
come president of the University of Cali
fornia until four years after It threw
open Its doors, he Is looked upon on the
Coast as one of that institution's fathers,
for "he found the university a weakling
and In three years transformed It into &
lusty educational youngster. Today Cali
fornia is being run along many of the
lines laid down by Dr. Gilman. Organizer
of the country's two greatest Institutions
devoted exclusively to post-graduate
study and research and practically a
founder of a great state university. Dr.
Gllman's is beyond question a unique
record In the educational history of the
country.
His educational record is unique also In
another Important respect. Old followers
of education In this country may recall
the astonishment that was closely akin to
horror which the entire educational world
showed in the '70s when, as president of
Johns Hopkins. Dr. Gilman began to
revolutionize the widespread college edu
cational methods that had come to us
from colonial days. He saw to It that his
professors were worthy, in part at least
of their hirs and so speedily secured the
call on the country's best teaching tal
ent.' He admitted SO students without
collecting a cent In fees from them, and.
starting with ten, he finally actually paid
;0 students J500 a year each for pursu
ing work at the university. He did not
consider the possession of a gray beard
a qualification to Instruct, and so filled
his faculty with young men. Today these
end other of Dr. Oilman's Innovations are
considered bedrock essentials of higher
education In America.
Though Dr. Oilman was an active col
lege president Ions before the advent at
COUNTRY
I f J -v - - a (
I ' I
. , ... j -; i mi i ii i ii
:LENKY -SV PEHCHETT.
the new stvle, business president of to
day, probably none of the latter class has
a better business reputation. There came
a time in his career as president of Johns
Hopkins when the securities back of it
began to depreciate alarmingly. The man
who tackled the serious financial prob
lem that straightway followed was Daniel
Colt Gilman. It was Daniel Colt Gilman
who brought the university safely
through the "dry" years, and It was he
who as an educator saw to It that neither
the classroom work nor the reputation
of the universitv fell below par during the
period of financial stress.
Though he is well on his way to four
score years. Dr. Oilman Is one of the
hardest working administrators of philan
thropic trusts that we have todav. He
believes that no man called to such work
should be content to take a passive in
terest in it. He insists on activity, for
himself at least, and so, because he is on
five of the country s greatest philanthrop
ic trusts, he is kept about as busy today
as the average man of half his age likes
to be busy. In addition to these trusts, as
president emeritus Dr. Gilman keeps a
father's eye on Johns Hopkins, and every
once in a while some magazine will have
an authoritative article on education from
his pen. And, oh yes. Dr. Gilman has
found time to make himself one of the
leading authorities on the Monroe Doc
trine. This little by-work of his once won
him a place on Cleveland's famous Vene
zuelan boundary dispute commission.
Taken by and large, to a layman it ap
pears that Dr. Gilman has accomplished
enough big things in the past for his
country's good to make noteworthy -reputations
for a half dozen men at Jeast. And
yet he Is still at it and as modestly as
ever.
Carroll D. Wright, who, as chairman of
the executive committee of the Carnegie
Institution, has Dr. Gilman for one of his
associates, enjoys the distinction of being
the country's greatest and fairest living
"figgerer." It was he who, through his
intimate knowledge of statistics and the
ways of statisticians, coined the famous
and often misquoted catch phrases: "Fig
ures do not lie, but liars figure." Among
educators he is looked upon as a sort
of educational curiosity: for, though he
has held responsible positions, ranging
from lecturer to president, with at least
half a dozen high class colleges and uni
versities, he himself is not a college
man, his school days coming to an end in
high school the year before the Civil War
began.
Wright, at 20. was teaching school and
studying law at night when the call to
arms came. He responded as a private,
and was a Colonel of New Hampshire
volunteers when the war ended. One of
his Interesting war experiences occurred
when Gettysburg was fought. He was offi
cer of the day in Washington, and he it
was who received the telegram sent from
the field to the National capital asking
that an ambulance be sent to the train to
carry the wounded General Daniel E.
Sickles to a hospital.
Born near the Franklin Pierce farm in
New Hampshire, and beginning with that
President, Wright has known every Presi
dent of the country since, with the excep
tion of Buchanan. He probably knows
Intimately more men in the country's eye
than any other man. President Roosevelt
excepted. During the two decades that he
was Federal Labor Commissioner it was
his good fortune to become acquainted
with almost every man of National repu
tation during this period.
As Commissioner of Labor. Mr. Wright
was one of the few high officials of the
Government who had nothing to fear
from changing administrations. The Bu
reau of Labor was established toward
the close of Arthur's Administration.
That gentleman wrote President-elect
Cleveland that he would not appoint Mr.
Wright Commissioner would simply
delegate him to organize the bureau and
leave the place open for Mr. Cleveland
to AIL Cleveland, who knew of Wright's
labor statistical work in Massachusetts,
requested that Arthur appoint him Com
missioner; and he saw to It that Wright
was Commissioner of Labor during both
his1 terms as head of the Nation. Har
rison was as great a friend of Wright
as was Cleveland. McKinley's private
door always was open to Wright. He
was (and is) one of President Roose
velt's closest advisers, and the latter
characteristically expressed his regret at
losing Wright when he decided to become
the executive-founder of Clark College,
where he now Is.
Not only has Mr. Wright appealed to
men of large deeds by his pleasing per
sonality: men of greatly varied pursuits
labor leaders like John Mitchell and
Samuel Gompers, and capitalists like
George F. Baer and James Van Cleave
also have conceived a liking for him be
cause of the admitted fairness of his
statistics. The respect In which labor
and capital hold him was strikingly
shown at the time President Roosevelt
was making up his anthracite coal strike
commission. When asked by telegraph if
Mr. Wright would be satisfactory to
them. President Baer. of the Reading,
chief spokesman of the coal roads, and
John Mitchell, chief spokesman of the
miners, immediately telegraphed back
not simply yes. but declared that not the
slightest objection could be raised against
him. President Wright Is rather a mod
est chap, but If you should happen to
mention this little Incident in his pres
ence he would probably look Just a
"leetle" bit proud and with good reason.
Whenever he talked of his old Labor
Commissioner. ex-President Cleveland
never tired -of recalling the Incident of
' I "- -i "i If v ! -I if x k s
' J . mr CARROLL, D. jW-RlGHT,.
. ' At b. Mi&:-'r-r :- ... ;..:: " :," : :r-.:: 1
CiJIEFdUSTICJ: i
Mr. Wright and the ex-convlct he In
advertently appointed to office. As soon
as the announcement was made the Ad
ministration was flooded with telegrams
and letters calling its attention to the
fact that the new man had "done time."
Secretary Lamar. greatly perturbed,
sought out Mr. Wright. That gentleman
naturally was much interested and en
lightened, not to say astonished and
shocked.
"Now," sa!4 Lamar, finally, "what are
you going to do about It?"
Wright hastily recalled the long list
of eminent Judges. State Legislators,
National Representatives and dignified
Senators who had so strongly Indorsed
the ex-convict's application.
"Why," he said, "I'm going to dismiss
him at once and then give out for pub
lication a list of the men who recom
mended him, to me."
For some reason, however, perhaps
second thought, the country was not thus
Interestingly Illuminated.
The intensely practical man, reviewing
Wright's career from the financial stand
point, probably would place him in the
"foolish class." Just before he became
the labor expert for Massachusetts
Wright had built up a law practice that
was bringing htm In J10.000 a year and
constantly growing: he had returned to
his law studies after laying aside hla
sword. Immediately he became a state
officer his Income suffered a really ter
rible reduction: he was so busy com
piling figures that he had no time to
give legal advice. When he first became
connected with the Federal Government
he received as compensation not J10.000,
but less than J5000. Today, what with
the presidency of Clark College and lec
turing and writing, he Is probablx. back
to his old ten-thousand-a-year plane.
Unlike most Investigators of Indus
trial and sociological conditions. Mr.
Wright has a strong aversion for the
panacea. "I always move to adjourn a
sociological meeting when the time comes
for suggesting panaceas for existing
evils," he said once, while his dignified
ecclesiastical audience smiled its delight.
He looks on himself as an Investigator
strictly; In no sense can he take him
self seriously when it comes to naming
remedies, Jn this especial line he has
been of great value to the Carnegie In
stitution. -
General Louts Wagner, for years the
most prominent of the conservators of
the Stephen Girard trust, the country's
first great philanthropic trust. Is, like
Mr. Wright, a veteran of the Civil War.
Like Wright, he rose in the volunteer
service because of his fighting quali
ties; he began as a Second Lieutenant
and was mustered out a brevet Brigadier-General.
And, again like Mr.
Wright, he Is a self-made man; he quit
his books about the time he was ready
for high school, was apprenticed to a
lithographer, jwid at 23. when the war
came, had managed to secure a business
of his own, which was dissipated when he
turned soldier.
Wounded at the second battle of Bull
Run so he has been compelled to walk
with the assistance of cum ever
slnoe, and by this wound forced to re
tire from active service after Chancel
lorsvllle, Wagner was given the Job of
training colored troops, and the first
.company of -black fighters sent to the
front by tbe North, was personally
TUJ.LER.
drilled by him. Before he resumed act
ive service as the head of a brigade
he had trained eeveral thousand col
ored soldiers.
As a soldier Wagner was as peppery
of tongue and as keenly resourceful
in bigrand little things as he is today,
and these are two of his most char
acteristic traits. One day he "spotted"
a negro Corporal who, he felt sure, had
belonged to another regiment under
another name and deserted. The negro,
of course, promptly denied the Gener
al's accusation. Wagner waited until
he saw the fellow absorbed in watch
ing the maneuvers of a company. Then
"Tommy Conrow!" he called with mili
tary sharpness. The negro about
faced, up shot his hands in salute
and the General walked away to for
get, for the fellow had a good record
in his second regiment.
Returning from war, Wagner and his
brother, also born in Germany, built
up an Insurance business. Then Louis
went into banking, got Interested in
politics, held various important offices,
and has been one of Philadelphia's
leading financiers and leading citizens
otherwise since the early '70s. Every
body nearly in the City of Brotherly
Love refers to him affectionately aa
"Old Louey Wagner," and his big and
broad form, partly hid behind a rather
luxuriant growth of white beard, is
one of the city's peripatetic landmarks.
Under his management the Stephen
Girard fund and the other trust funds
of the City of Philadelphia have been
Increased prodigiously, especially the
Stephen Girard fund. This was 15,260,
000 In the beginning. In 1899 it amount
ed to J26.925.000. Today it is around
the thirty-million mark. For 17 years
the General has been the head of the
board governing these funds, and,
while he has been known to delegate
some of his duties as bank president to
assistants, he never has been known
to delegate to any- one any of his work
as trust fund officer. His associates
on the board give him most of the
credit of making: the investments that
of recent years have so swelled the
Stephen Girard legacy, in spite of the
large expenditures made annually by
the board to carry out the purpose of
the trust.
John S. Billings, . chairman of the
Carnegie Institution board of trustees.
Is another Civil War veteran, and he
has the distinction of having; made a
National name for himself in such
widely dissimilar callings as Army SurJ
geon and librarian.
By librarians generally Mr, Billings Is
recognized as their peer; he la the head
of the great public library system of
New York City. In this connection It
is Interesting to note that he made a
librarian of himself while he was In
the Army following- the Civil War.
When stationed In the Surgeon-General's
office he undertook the task of
cataloguing, tor the use of the office,
every medical subject then to be found
In the Congressional Library. This In
dex fills 16 great quarto volumes, and
when Major Billings had completed his
truly monumental task be knew more
about libraries and correct library
methods than any other man In the
country, for while making the Index
he had studied the subject of libraries
from every possible viewpoint. His
THE STEPHEN. IRARDTRUT,
work on the Index landed him the po
sition of head of the New York City
library system a short time after his
retirement from the Army.
Lacking less than a twelvemonth of
being three score years and ten, Mr.
Billings is one of those enviable aging
men who can do a long day's work
without showing any great amount of
fatigue. And he has plenty to do
every working day of the year, what
with personally directing the workings
of the biggest municipal library sys
tem in America, giving much time to
the affairs of the Carnegie Institution,
advising librarians all over the coun
try, and writing numerous magazine
and periodical articles and books on
medical, hygienic and literary subjects.
George Foster Peabody, treasurer of
the general . education board, and - as
such the custodian of millions of mon
ey, got considerably in the political
limelight four years ago as treasurer
of the Democratic National "campaign
fund. Apropos of his connection with
Mr. Parker's effort to capture the Pres
idency, his friends tell the story of a
strange young man who confessed to
Mr. Peabody that he didn't know
whether to vote the Republican ticket,
and ended with the query, "Now, tell
me, do you think much of Parker?"
"Yes," replied Mr. Peabody, wearily,
"about 48 hours a day. I'm his cam
paign treasurer."
Mr. Peabody began to hustle for a
living when he was 13. following the
burning up of his father's store and
fortune down in Georgia, where he was
born. At the time George was In a
Northern school; he got a beginner's
position in a drygoods . house in New
York, and resumed his studies of even
ings in a Y. M. C. A. library. It was
in this library that he secured the
greater part of his education, and that
he has not forgotten this fact, is evi
denced by the several buildings, fully
equipped, that he has given the asso
ciation. After a decade and a half spent In
the wholesale dry goods district, Mr.
Peabody took a confidential position
In a Wall street banking house, and in
a short time began to coin money for
his employers and' himself. , Some of
his financial transactions read like In
cidents from the pages of a novel. He
bought a narrow gauge railroad in
Utah for J100.000. changed the gauge
to standard, opened up the coal fields
along the line, and eventually sold the
road for J13.000.000. Against the ad
vice of his friends he bought for a
mere song what looked like a Mexican
cactus patch. . Six years later the coal
and coke from the "patch" was netting;
Its owners J600.000 a year. When eleo
trlclty was being proposed for munici
pal lighting, Peabody saw further than
many of his fellow financiers, and as
a result he made a snug fortune in
helping to develop the Industry of elec
tric lighting In New York city.
In strictly personal matters and
-views Mr. Peabody Is quite as Inter
esting at times as he is In finance.
He does not beleve In armies and
navies. He generally makes all his
benefactions through philanthropic or
ganizations.' No man in the public
eye today probably makes more small
personal gifts to clergymen, educators
and other men and women engaged in
the work of uplifting humanity. And
he will not let any laborer In his im
mediate employ work more than eight
hours a day.
Mr. Peabody's Summer home is on
the banks of Lake George. He noticed
one day that the men began work at
what seemed to him an unearthly hour,
and this led him to think of the much
earlier hour that the laborers' wives
were compelled to begin the day that
their lords and masters might not go
breakfastless to work. A day or so
later Mr. Peabody notified his men
to come to work at a later hour, for
their wives' sake- Somewhat later Mr.
Peabody's neighbors reluctantly fol
lowed suit, for Mr. Peabody Is the
largest employer In his neck o' the
lake, and hence a sort of employer-dictator.
Mr. Peabody Is among the youngest
of the leading administrators of our
greatest philanthropic trusts; he is
stll four years this side of 60. Most
of his associates are in the 60 and 70
and over classes. Like Robert C. Og
den, of the General and Southern Edu
cation boards, he is Intensely religious.
Four years younger than Mr. Pea
body, Henry S. Prltchett, president of
the Carnegie Foundation, when he was
head of the Coast Geodetic Survey,
astonished Congress by asking for an
appropriation Just sufficient to meet
the needs of his bureau. Former heads
of the service had asked for appro
priations far too large or too small.
It was with a sigh of relief that Con
gress received Prltchett's report and
until he left the service to become
president of the Massachusetts Insti
tute of Technology In 1900 he experi
enced no trouble In getting his appro
priations through the National legis
lative body.
As president of Massachusetts "Tech,"
Dr. Prltchett "humanized" the courses
of study, thus Incidentally gaining the
notice and friendship of Andrew Car
negie. Later on Mr. Carnegie showed
his friendship in a marked degree by
naming Dr. Prltchett as one of the
trustees of the Carnegie Foundation
Fund, and the trustees, because they
realized Mr. Carnegie's liking for Dr.
Prltchett. named the latter as their
president. It was Dr. Prltchett, you
may remember, who promulgated
the scheme of uniting Massachusetts
"Tech." with Harvard. He was bitterly
disappointed when his trustees and
the alumni refused to consider the
proposition favorably, and It was this
adverse action that led him to give
up the presidency for his present posi
tion. Not long ago rumor had it that
he would one day give this up for
the headship of the Carnegie Institu
tion. Robert De Forest, chief director of
the Sage philanthropies, is the coun
try's recognized authority on the prob
lem of the tenements, and so is fitted
admirably to direct the work of such
an organization as the Sage Founda
tion. Before he became one of the men
in the forefront of the battle lor bet
ter living conditions In New York city,
Mr. De Forest had made a fortune out
of Jaw. Today he dvides his time be
tween his law office and consideration
of problems affecting "the improve
ment of social and living conditions in
WAGNER,., '
the United States," the avowed object
of the Sage Foundation.
It Is to Mr. De Forest that Mrs. Sage
turns for advice before she makes a
large philanthropic gift, and it Is to
this same man that many of New
York's moneyed men turn before dis
tributing a cent for philanthropy's
sake. His counsel led Mrs. Sage to
found the fund that bears her name.
(Copyright, 1908, by the Associated Lit
erary Press.)
Greatest Streets
Julius Chambers, in Brooklyn Eagle.
THE smallest and yet the greatest
street In this world Is a dark little
alley-like passage in the west of Lon
don, and No. 10 is the site of its most
important house. This building more
closely resembles a middle-class boarding
house, such as are usually kept by the
widows of army officers, than a place of
official importance. But 10 Downing street
is the official residence of the prime min
isters of the British Empire, and has been
since the time of Sir Robert Walpole, or
about 200 years.
Many Americans go out of their way
to gaze upon the dingy, almost repellant
exterior of this lodge of diplomacy and ,
national ambition, because Sir George
Powning, who laid out the street anil
built the house therein, was of Ameri
can ancestry, his mother belonging to the:
Winthrops, of Massachusetts Bay Colony,
and stands as the second graduate on
the roster of Harvard College.
After getting an American education,
he went to England and seizing oppor
tunity when it afforded, became Oliver'
Cromwell's ambassador at The Haguo.
He grew so rich that Charles IL did not
displace him. Those were the days in
which "graft" was expected of public of
ficials. He Invested his money in a strip
of land on the western side of Whitehall
and built the houses on two sides of the
short street that cuts through It.
One often reads in the letters of Amer
icans who are making their first visit to
London that the tall Nelson monument,
in Trafalgar Square, is the center of the
great British Empire. They mistake the
point from which all distances are calcu-;
lated for the strategical centes of the
English world. Were they to walk down
Whitehall, toward Westminster Abbey, a
few hundred yards, they would pass the'
entrance to Downing street, absolutely i
the most Important place in London.
IOvine a Liar.
Life.
Perhaps It's Just affinity.
Perhaps It's something higher.
But I for one am free to may
1 dearly love a Liar.
I love the Liar who declares
He buys my books by dozens
And sends them off as Xmu gifts
To all his country cousins.
I love the Liar who remarks:
"Wo mis'M'd you at the meeting;
Ko voice like yours to give a toast
Or speak the speech, of greeting.
I love the Liar when he swears
H knows a pretty woman
Who wantn to mept me very much,
"My pictures look so human."
I love my food. I love my drlnlc
I love my open lire.
But mfin! than all T oa.rly lov
A dash blnged blooming LIAR!