But a man can give his money away. Yes, and no one who has ever tried it
will deny that more pleasure is to be derived from the giving of money
to a cause in which one's heart is interested, than can be obtained from
the expenditure of the same amount in selfish indulgence. But if one
is going to give largely he must spend a great deal of time in
investigating and in comparing the merits of the different enterprises.
I am persuaded that there is a better life than the life led by those
who spend nearly all the time accumulating beyond their needs and then
employ the last few days in giving it away. What the world needs is not
a few men of great wealth, doling out their money in anticipation of
death--what the world needs is that these men link _themselves_ in
sympathetic interest with struggling humanity and help to solve problems
of to-day, instead of creating problems for the next generation to
solve.
But you say, a man can leave his money to his children? He can, if he
dares. A large fortune, in anticipation, has ruined more sons than it
has ever helped. If a young man has so much money coming to him that he
knows he will never have to work, the chances are that it will sap his
energy, even if it does not undermine his character, and leave him a
curse rather than a blessing to those who brought him into the world.
And it is scarcely safer to leave the money to a daughter. For, if a
young woman has a prospective inheritance so large that, when a young
man calls upon her, she cannot tell whether he is calling upon her
or her father, it is embarrassing--especially so if she finds after
marriage that he married the wrong member of the family. And, I may add,
that the daughters of the very rich are usually hedged about by a social
environment which prevents their making the acquaintance of the best
young men. The men who, twenty-five years from now, will be the leaders
in business, in society, in government, and in the Church, are not the
pampered sons of the rich, but the young men who, with good health and
good habits, with high ideals and strong ambition, are, under the spur
of necessity, laying the foundation for future achievements, and these
young men do not have a chance to become acquainted with the daughters
of the very rich. Even if they did know them they might hesitate to
enter upon the scale of expenditure to which these daughters are
accustomed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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