MR CARNEGIE'S WILL

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 16983, 15 November 1919, Page 13

MR CARNEGIE'S WILL

INTERESTING DOCUMENT, BEQUESTS TO PUBLIC MEN. The will of the late Mr Andrew Cardisposing of about £6,000,000', is a (iocujnent of extraordinary- public interest, writes a correspondent ■.New York,, and discloses the fact that .although the Laird of Skibo did! not ,aetually die poor, according to his aniiouncad intention, lie did during liis lifetime dispose of nine-tenths of Ins vast fortune, for-£7o,ooo,ooo,'.thus liv- ' i'ing 'up to his altraistio purposes: The real surprises in the will/Jire the [ annuities to men. who hare 'rendered [ public service on ftoth sides of -ilie At—. | lantic. : Names such as those"; of MiThomas Burt, Mr Lloyd Georgej Lordl | Morley, ex-President Taft, MrAValtei' Damroseh, and Mr John Burns, it is commented,- suggest the of Mr Carnegie's interests on both sides of they Sea. There is no suggestion that Mr i Carnegie lacked ordinary family feeling.in devoting the greater portion of his wealthy to general purposes. Whau more precious possession it isr asked, could' Mr Carnegie devise "his heirs than the fact that he really did divest himself ipf his great fortune for ihe benefitof mankind, as he said he would. The will comprises about 3000 words, and many paragraphs_ dealing with bequests to relatives, friends, and Lelpers are' written in later on in. Mr Carnegie' 3 own hand and in his own phrasing. The spelling is alsq bis own, being in ''simplified" forcn'; aitl incorrectsome of the names. Although drawn originally in 1911, and revised to February 19i2, none of:the maker's quaint ways of writing was changed, in the final draft. Every page of the document lias "Andrew Carnegie' 5 signed in full alt the bottom, and every alteration or correction is initialled "A.C." "With true Scottish precaution, one clause provides tha;t there is anything legally amiss with any bequest it shall go tcj Mrs Carnegie. . The late President Roosevelt's opposition to Mr 'Carnegie's plan to provide annuities for ex-Presidents of the 'United States did. not prevent Mr Carnegie from bequeathing an annuity of £'looo ti- '-Mrs Theodore Roosevelt, of Oyster Bay,", although no mention is made of Mr !Roosevelt himself. Aside from his landed! property, furniture, and other household property, which he leaves to Mrs Carnegie, the will makes no bequest to bis T\ite or daughter, Mrs Boswell Miller, ample .provision having been made for them, as the will states, during Mr Carnegie's lifetime.