ANDREW CARNEGIE’S CENTENARY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 277, 27 November 1935, Page 3

ANDREW CARNEGIE’S CENTENARY

On November 25, 26 and 27 the United States of America, Great Britain and the Dominions will join in celebrating the centenary of the birtn of one of the world’s most unique philanthropists, Andrew Carnegie. Born in Dunfermline, Scotland, on November 25, 1835, the son of a weaver, Carnegie and his family emigrated tu America in 1848 and settled in Titu-.-burgii. Here the boy grew up and in time became a steel master and successful business man amassing his incredible fortune of 45U,0U0,00U dollars. Carnegie divided a man's life into two periods—that of making money and that of distributing it. He disclaimed the word jihilanthropist in connection with his own vast benefactions and preferred to be described as a “distributor.” He held very strong views on the responsibilities and duties c-f a wealthy man towards society and believed that the bulk of a man s surplus money should be devoted to tne oetterment of his fellows. This somewhat startling theory was novel fiity years ago ana in 1889, when-Carnegie published an article in the North American Review • outlining a bold enunciation of his philosophy, many of his fellow millionaires were surprised and indignant that this should be expected of them. One of the first, however, to write and agree warmly with Carnegie was John*. D. Rockefeller and later tneir lead Was followed by countless other wealthy citizens. It was found on Carnegie’s death that he had reversed the Biblical injunction and kept for himself and his heirs only one-tenth of his wealth and had devoted to society nine-tenths. In ail he had given away by his seventy-fifth birthday, 300,900,1)09 dollars (three hundrel million dollars), a vasft sum devoted to the cultural betterment of mankind, let one hundred and fifty million dollars still remained and Carnegie made one final and magnificent gesture in 1911 by creating the Carnegie Corporation c-f New York with the endowment of one hundred and twenty-live million dollars. It was to use his fortune as a public trust, to dispense it “to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding among the people of the United States by aiding technical schools, institutes of higher learning, libraries, scientific research hero funds, useful publications and by other such agencies and means as shall from time to time be found appropriate therefor.” Subsequently the Charter was amended to extend the field of the Corporation to the British Domin.ons and Colonies. The gift conferred complete freedom on tiie trustees, alter the general lines of policy had been indicated. There was method and philosophy in Carnegie’s generosity—neither gran diose nor pretentious, there was a unifying puipose underlying all his benefactions; his philanthropies above all were designed to further the ends of knowledge and understanding. His was no haphazard endowment of orphanage, church or school; he worked c-n a general principle of belief m the possibility of elevating the common mind to higher things, of raising the general level of human intelligence so that crime, ignorance and superstititon should be wiped out by the enlightenment of mankind. It was a long-time programme he thus inaugurated, but he was not interested in seeing results before he died. He had perfect faith iu his optimism and knew that in time posterity would prove him right. Carnegie’s interest was focussed on what he termed the underprivileged not so much those materially underprivileged as those denied access to means of cultural elevation. In the opportunity for cultural advancement of the whole he saw the betterment for which all men strive. In boG-ks lay the avenue to knowledge and understanding- an avenue that had always been closed to the masses of men. He would throw it open to all who wished to go forward. To his vision and generosity the United States is indebted for its most distinctive and impressive cultural achievement —its system of free public libraries. Carnegie did not endow libraries and provide money for their administration; he regarded that as the duty of the community to attend to, but he did provide the building in which the library could be established aud sound ideas, accurate information and knowledge in all branches of human thought be dispersed. Enlightenment would destroy social evils, for e-s men grew to hate injustice, war and ignorance, then these things would gradually disappear. He regarded his library buildings as baits, then, to X mce citizens to do their duty. His huiaiy benefactions were really a carefully conceived campaign to indu& the State to establish free libraries as part of its education system alongside the public school. At the time of his death, Carnegie had spent morp than sixty million dollars on this work. His activities, however, as the world knows, were not confined to libraries alone. The keynote of all his adventures in giving was to provide the opportunity to each, at whatever point in the social scale, to realise to the full the potentialities within himself. Therefore his interest extended to all fields of human inquiry and cultural activity; to the development of medical science and research, to adult and juvenile education and the arts, to music and museums, to research m technical, natural and physical sciences, to the study of international peace—there was no branch of knowledge which. Carnegie neglected in his magnificent and intelligent campaign against ignorance. A truly great man and an internationalist above everything else Carnegie did not bestow on his adopted country the total benefits from his wealth. It was distributed throughout the English-speaking world and even in New Zealand the generosity with which the Carnegie Corporation of New York looks on all cultural strivings is staggering. It is a fitting time, on the occasion of this centenary, that New Zealanders should realise what has been done in their country by the corporation towards achieving a higher cultural level. Appropriations madp by the Carnegie Corporation of New York from 1911, the year of establishment, to 1935, include the following:— Dollars. Africa .. .. 1,388,998 Australia 624,309 New Zealand 414,876 Newfoundland 286,250 Canada 6,241,126 Various colonies .. .. 241,100 It wil] be seen that so far New Zealand has participated in Carnegie’s

bounty to the extent of about £BO,OOO. Libraries are, of course, one of the most important and valuable of all Carnegie’s interests. There are in New negie. In this country we are many years behind the rest of the world in library development and at the invitation of the Carnegie Corporation of New York thirteen New Zealand librarians have visited the United States and Great Britain to study methods and receive training in their profession to equip themselves for the task of reorganising the library service in the Dominion. In addition to this, the corporation sent an expert, Air. Ralph Alunn, director of the Carnegie Institute at Pittsburgh, to make a survey and report on the possibilities of library development in Australia and New Zealand. The corporation has also been active in the field of education and has set up a Council for Educational Research to investigate the backward condition c-f our educational methods, to set out the facts, and express au opinion so that future policy can be directed. The corporation has also assisted in the administration and organisation of museums and has helped support adult education for the Maoris. To return to the field of library work, offers have been made of 25,999 dollars to each of t»he four university colleges to be expended on books but so far only one college has been able to receive this benefit by complying with all the conditions. In addition art collections valued at £1259 have also been presented. Although so much has already b*een done to bring Carnegie’s plans to reality his dearest ambition remains to be fulfilled. All his life he had a passionate hatred and loathing of war, and much of his wealth has been spent in the study of international peace made by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. At the present time it seems that there is little possibility of destroying the causes leading to war. but -Carnegie believed implicitly that the time would come when men would realise the futility and waste of warfare and would resort to arbitration rather than force, in the settlement of their disputes. Ho worked all his life to this end and we must believe, with him, that the time will, come when men will regard war with Carnegie’s own hatred and distrust, and will use eveiA’ means in their power to preserve world peace.