Of course, in the reality his opportunities will be small indeed. His limitations, through heredity, education and environment, are too narrow. But under our fanciful, even fantastic, “if,” there must be surely some way for a rich man to serve his fellow-men and demonstrate high qualities of mind and heart other than by these commonplace, more or less “cheap and nasty” schemes of so-called philanthropy. To all men in the past, and to the small man still--that is, to any man incapable of grasping the splendid and lofty idealism of Democracy--there could be nothing more captivating than playing the rôle of my Lord Bountiful. Not merely the paying of one’s just debts, not merely the doing of the commands of one’s own self-respect, but graciously condescending to part with one’s wealth for the gratification of one’s vanity and for the development of deference and humility in the recipients of the bounty. Philanthropy as it is practiced is more often than not a vice both in its origin and in its results. So, we will not make our imaginary young Rockefeller a philanthropist. We will not subject him to the temptation to make of himself a supercilious Pharisee and to make of others paupers and parasites and courtiers. He is free; he is young; he is fearless. He is absolute master of his colossal inheritance. He looks up at the vast structure his father built. He reads upon it the motto his father placed there--“I am a clamorer for dividends.” His face sobers as he reads, and out of his mind go his half-formed projects to endow missions and colleges and hospitals and libraries. “Perhaps I have not so much to give as I thought,” he says to himself. “I must first see. What are the sources of my income? Am I stealing from anybody? Should I be giving away that which is not rightfully mine to give?” And as a preliminary move he tears down the offensive “I am a clamorer for dividends,” and puts in its stead “I am a clamorer for justice.” “Let us first be just,” he says. “Perhaps we shall not be able to be generous. Perhaps we shall even, hat in hand, and upon our knees, be compelled to crave the generous forgiveness of our fellow-men.” All this time he has been standing at the rear or business end of the paternal structure. He now goes round to the front or philanthropic side of it. He closes the doors there with a sign, “Philanthropy suspended during the taking of the inventory.”