The Rich Man

In every community we find a small section of people who talk loudly against the owner of large possessions. It is wise to reserve one’s opinion of such wealthy citizens until we ascertain whether it is the good they do, or the evil they do, that lives after them. I have faith that most of them are normal and, in the natural course of their lives, will pass from the primitive stage of personal gain to the higher stage of generous giving for the benefit of future generations; the foundation for that faith was supplied during the recent campaign for funds to complete the Y.M.C.A. building in this City. If we have citizens who will contribute donations of $5000 and $10,000 for the moral and physical welfare of our young men, we have the right stamp of citizen to assist public institutions for the welfare of hundreds of thousands of boys and girls, men and women not only of our own generation but the generations to come. If we encourage our boys and girls to make a hobby of some branch of Nature Study, we do much to ensure the moral and physical health of our young men and women of the future; through the study of the works of nature we study the works of God, and acquire a fuller knowledge of the laws which govern the lives of all His Creatures, the man without a hobby is a menace to the community.

Donations of $5000 or $10,000 form a comparatively small part of a quarter of a million dollars, whereas similar donations to any of the public institutions referred to, would go a long way towards placing the favoured institution upon a more modern basis.