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HowOOOO ■ ■'
Ffeople Mrs. Ife*
Harriman for 261000,000
The Remarkable Efforts of the Financier’s Widow s <
to Discover the Worthy Among Those Who
Asked Her For Three Tinies Her Entire Fortune— j
And the Surprising Things She Found Out FIND THEM
ruU will never miss It," is
y th.? favorite argument
■*■ of the begging letter
writer.
The fallacy of thia argument Is
apparent, iu the authorized state
ment that within two years after
the death of E. 11. Harriman, the
railway magnate, his widow re
ceived 6,000 begging letters asking
for nn aggregate of $267,000,000.
What is the conscientious, philan
throplcally inclined master or mis
tress of millions to do In such a
situation? Laboriously examine in
to the merits of each application for
nmioilal aid, submit to being im
poverished. or throw all the begging
letters into the waste basket?
Mrs. Harriman chose the course
first named. First, to the limit of
her time and strength, she read and
analyzed each of those 6,000 beg
ging letters. Then, convinced that
many of them contained legitimate
requests, she submitted the whole
correspondence for expert analysis
to William H. Allen, Director of the
Bureau of Municipal Research and
National Training School for Pub
lic Service. The extremely Inter
esting, and often surprising, result
is Mr. Alien's book, lately isseud by
Dodo. Mead fc Co., N. Y., and called
Modern Philanthropy; a Study of
Efficient Appealing and Giving"
In a foreword Mrs. Harriman
Writes:
"Gifts spiritual, gifts mental, and
gifts material are the three greatest
means of expressing human Inter
est. They have been unequally be
stowed upon men and unequally ob
tained by men.”
"Man’s Individual gifts must be
used systematically as well as sym
pathetically to be successful In
their mission of benefiting himself.
his country and his race."
With the aid of a card index sys
tem, Mr. Allen classified and anal
yzed those 6,000 begging letters sent
tc Mrs. Harriman. Two of his in
teresting conclusions are:
"Tim. those who give ‘without
missing it' are sure to miss it in
their giving.”
"That there is need for a corre
spondence school In the art of ap
pealing and the art of giving.”
For example as to the former, the
emotionally metaphorical woman
who wrote asking Mrs. Harriman
for "Just one drop from your over
flowing bucket for a sister in deep
waters.”
"Please do sit down nnd write a
check for one million dollars,"
wrote another woman. "It will look
so small that you will see you'll
never miss the sum and make me
famous and fortunate.”
A man writing from California
was so tactless as to convey a hint
about the Biblical camel and
needle's eye: "You could ■ never
miss $1,700, and when a man goes
t-» the home beyond he cannot take
his riches with him.”
Three thousand of these letters
'.ere from men. women and chll
’ren In the United States, asking
■_2.00u.000 for themselves; 1,400
■ersonal letters from Europe, Asia.
Africa and Australia asked for
132,000.000: ijoo benevolent agen
cies iu the United States wanted
—< . ♦
$207,000,000, while various Institu
tions in foreign countries asked for
$6,000,000. Yet, writes the expert:
"With few exceptions requests
are prefaced with the assurance
that writers want only what Mrs
Harriman would never miss.”
Two oat of three of these begging
letters were from women; less than
ten per cent asked aid for others--
the majority of these personal beg
gars had "troubles of their own.”
One letter in twenty-five. only, was
from a minor: but tbpse were near
ly always altruistic, often In the
interest of "mamma, who is sick
and worrying for the debts." Only
about one in ten of the personal
letters were from illiterate persons,
while 338 were apparently from
persons of far more than average
education.
“It is not merely thh slum-dwell
er,” writes Mr. Allen, “or the slum
worker In a great city who writes
to the rich men and women adver
tised in the press. On the con
trary. 3,500 different localities are
represented by these 6.000 appeals
For Mrs. Harriman’s office and ou
own we prepared two pin maps in
dicating the localities in the United
States after the first 3,000 letters
had come. Little black pins mean
individuals asking for themselves
and families. Large red pins are
used for colleges and universities,
little red ones for industrial schools,
etc.; white for churches, green for
hospitals, yellow for boys' clubs;
blue for homes and asylums, lav
ender for scientific and civic bodies.
In explaining why so much study
was given to these letters, Mr. Al
len, who seems to be speaking for
Mrs Harriman, says.
"The first twenty or fifty times
one reads: 'You will
_ _ _ ... i. ~
never miss such a trifle,
while to mt one thous
and dollars would look
like Heaven itself,' the
heart response is im
mediate. It seems im
perative to answer an
appeal to save a tuber
culosis fiance, rescue a
paralyzed baby, rebuild
a church that was
struck by lightening,
supply the last fifty
thousand toward a col
lege which will il
lumine a State,’ or give
an old couple the
longed-for trip back
home.
“What right have I
with an income of SSO
or SSOO a day to hesi
tate when I pass dis
tress, or when it comes
to me in my morning
mall?
"Is there any lesson
in these hundreds of
appeals for me, for
others who want to
give wisely, fo r tllo9e
who ask and for those
who are trying to un
derstand, Interpret and
direct social forces?"
So even personal let
ters were carefully an
alyzed that contained
excuses like these:
reo-T. <g) B-r
J Co N 'f
-W ’
* **
A few simple pretty clothe.-", for a
girl of 22. "Do you blame me for not
wanting to marry him when he is
wealthy unless I have them?”
"Merely the gift of an auto
mobile for my aged mother and
myself, which would be nothing In
your sight: S4OO in the Lord’s name."
for a minister whose present auto
mobile is worn out.
"A tombstone so expensive that i
am unable to do much, still it is a
sacred duty.”
Money to put an artificial leg on
the market.
Twenty-five dollars to pay for
copyright of a drama
Fifty dollars to carry out a plan
to keep a family of twelve children
from tormenting their neighbors.
To pay debts contracted without
hgr husband’s knowledge.
"This letter will reach you on
Saturday. Wil) you have the kind
ness to send tue an answer by spe
cial delivery, us on Sunday ordinary
mail is not circulated. My time in
limited in ,h in hotel."
"One of the freakiest letters.'
writes Mr. Allen, "fairly reeking with i
insincerity, was from a man who |
claimed to have spent ten years j
demonstrating from first-hand con- 1
ta<t that ‘it is worth while to
investigate the horrors, disgraces,
malevolent and ignorant outrages,
procedures intensely dangerous to
health and life itself, now borne with
equanimity and patience by all the
generous nnd trustful public
among ordinary cheap restaurants
where the majority of our Americans
are now getting their pot luck. ”
The tactlessness of many of these
mendicant letter writers was amaz
ing. A wife whose busband was "in
bad health and unable to work” ad-
ill
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1* Above Is Mary Harri-
man. Now Mrs. C. C.
Rumsey; Below Miss
Farol Harriman, Daugh
%. tors Whose Financial
Welfare the Late Mr.
'< Harriman Left in H.s
". Wife’s Hands Together
with Hi. Whole Fortune.
« X
i /
What They Asked For l
'BOO Wanted Cutright Gifts of $8,000,000.
617 Wanted
216 Wanted to Sell Objects for $8,000,000.
238 Wanted Employment and Investment Tips.
■?3 O Wanted Business Capital of $5,000,000.
500 Wanted $1,500,000 tc Buy Homes. ' jffljllMWr
206 Wanted $120,000 for Medical Care.
■IOO American Benevolent Agencies Asked $207,000,000.
Foreign Letters Asked for $32,000,000. ’ Z
150 Foreign Institutions Asked for $6,000 000 ~~ ''
-irs. Harriman's Entire Fortune Is Only $75,000,002.
- - —■
' V; \ A-~4-—,.,i I
1 v x. i ’I » ■ f "■v a- -X y
■ x \
-t lentl !J C at,t, Civic Bodied The Colors of k p- '
z- l he.r D stnbut.cn Can Be. The lllu.tr.lin ‘.’’V"” ann< ’‘ Be Seen on
,hr °py. ’ the Remarkable Book Det WiU;am H
... hat De,I “ ! » ‘he Harriman Begging
dressed Mrs. Harriman
. as "Dear Sis in Christ."
A business man In
need of more capita!
started bls letter to
Mrs. Harriman with
‘he inquiry, "is your
soul savedT’
fe, 3ft A woman who ndmltt-
ihut she was only
“the candlestick of
Heaven's light" wanted
the means of financing
' • tost art of letter writ-
A man with a record
of fifty-eight jail sen
fences in one year de
■P 1 ' sires the means of plac-
Ing on the market a
‘‘health remedy made
, of celery water."
A champion crank
WWI W ended his letter I
h BB "Yours for the Itntnedl-
HB ate restoration of truth.
justice and sexless pro
gre«s as the sound basic
principle of all things common iu
..... .as. uays." And signed,
"Mizpah."
Dread of the "waste basket”
cropped out in many of the letters.
This Is a favorite expression of that
dread: "In the name of humanity do
not throw this letter into the waste
basket until you have read it."
Hundreds “do protest too much" at
the start, ns: "This is not a begging
letter.” And, “If you knew how it
hurts me to write.” And. "1 am not
an impostor," and, "if you will ask
tny minister.” etc.
Many of the requests from charity
nnd other benevolent institutions con
tained phrases that were monuments
of imbecility, bad taste and insincer
ity. Here are a few examples:
"I have set tny alarm clock for 2
a m. Each time it rings I will rise
and ask God to ask you for $50,000.'
"God lovcth a cheerful giver."
“May the Holy Spirit do His work
in your heart and lead you to give
$1,500,000” (to a Western uulver-
‘ oJuJ ” We WOUlti a reply
over your own signature.”
! kJ 1 !. Was a Vely great P’ensure ro
f ' l , ,cp J 11 0"” »ud to know of
i God s kindly dealings with vou P S
‘ fJ7 m.i 3, T a ? 0Ve ’ ls not true ro
fact, but I trust you are to be a co-
Jaborer and so I send this with a
Photograph of myself."
It is recognized that begging let
■ ters must be examined carefully as a
basis for discriminate and helpful
giving, fn Pome cases a beg ? ina
letter furnishes evidence that the
writer should have other attention
at once that some one should
-Ing for an ambulance" For in
Heat That Makes Iron Boil Like Water
FOR some years past scientific
men have been striving to pro
duce heat fiercer than any tem
perature of which we have experi
ence in ordinary life. The greatest
heat ever developed by the agency of
man was obtained by Sir Andrew
Noble, who exploded cordite in
closed vessels, so that a pressure of
Huy tons to the square inch was
registered, and a degree of heat
never previously recorded.
The highest temperature reached
in fuel furnaces for practical pur
poses is between 1,700 and 1,800 de
grees centigrade, and at such a heat
fireclay and porcelain are melted
then we come to the flame fed with
hydrogen and oxygen, or oxygen
nda coal gas; by these means a
temperature of 2.000 degrees centi
grade may be obtained. ‘
A new industry solely dependent
upon the employment of great heat
is that of melting quartz. This min
eral. fused by the oxy - hvdrogen
flame, is converted into tubes and
flasks and other vessels for chemi
cal purposes. These vessels are ab
solutely inert, and may be heated
hundreds of degrees higher than is
possible with glass; they mav also
be plunged at such heat into cold
water without, injury.
" ■
[ ,1r«. Mary W. Harriman,
Widow f the Lata
Financier
Mrs. Harriman’s Ber
’ ging Map—the Most
Remarkable Map in tb*
World, as the Beggi.-S
Letters Came in tas
Places They Were Sent
f ron. Wer- Marked with
Pins —Little Black Pins
’ for Individuals, Largs
; Red Pins for Colleges
and Universities. Little
Rod Pins for Industrial
t Schools, etc., White for
Churches. Green for
Hospitals. Yellow for
Boys’ Clubs, Blue for
Homes. Lavender for
this Reproduction, but
Allen's "Modern Philan
, Letlei Research.
St '"A C man who leaves file wife
children in an institution and ■
rows money from hotel clerks '
which to buy newspaper and 11 ■-
quotations to further one of tne
greatest constructive schemes to
make $850,000,000' should be exam
ined for his sanity. Otherwise, in
stead of becoming one of the m >s’
‘helpful, progressive and useful men
of my time,' lie may easily become a
homicide.”
Accordingly—with Mrs. Harri
man's encouragement —Mr Alien's
bonk ends with a carefully thought
out “Magna Chartn for
It has been discovered that by
whirling a centrifugal wheel .t lii'tb
velocity in the combustion-chan,
of a furnace the nitrogen is cast to
one side, while the oxygen h: con
centrated, and in this way a brier'
er flame and greater heat . .? ■a
tained. A similar appliaii' ■ us 1
during the combustion of coal !u a
furnace enabled a firm of p
makers to save twenty-seven per
cent of theii co’al bill by the elimi
nation of the hydrogen gas formed
in combustion.
But most remarkable of a
phases of the utilization of extrer.n
heat is th .; discovery of the welding
material known as thermit. Ihe
inventor discovered that aluminium
is very much attached to oxygen,
and holds it closer than a brother
Therefore he mixed granulated a »•
minium with oxide of iron, forth»
lighter metal wants oxygen, and tin 1
oxide of iron has it to give. A small
quantity of magnesium filings was
placed on top of the mixture and a
storm-match applied, and itmned.
ately a mass of molten iron v. is
seen boiling at a temperature
3,000 degrees centigrade —m ■' 1
higher than any temperature in or
dinary use.