t guide or chart, through this
ever-widening field of philanthropic endeavour. There was then forced
upon me the necessity to organize and plan this department of our
daily tasks on as distinct lines of progress as we did our business
affairs; and I will try to describe the underlying principles we
arrived at, and have since followed out, and hope still greatly to
extend.

It may be beyond the pale of good taste to speak at all of such a
personal subject--I am not unmindful of this--but I can make these
observations with at least a little better grace because so much of
the hard work and hard thinking are done by my family and associates,
who devote their lives to it.

Every right-minded man has a philosophy of life, whether he knows it
or not. Hidden away in his mind are certain governing principles,
whether he formulates them in words or not, which govern his life.
Surely his ideal ought to be to contribute all that he can, however
little it may be, whether of money or service, to human progress.

Certainly one's ideal should be to use one's means, both in one's
investments and in benefactions, for the advancement of civilization.
But the question as to what civilization is and what are the great
laws which govern its advance have been seriously studied. Our
investments not less than gifts have been directed to such ends as we
have thought would tend to produce these results. If you were to go
into our office, and ask our committee on benevolence or our committee
on investment in what they consider civilization to consist, they
would say that they have found in their study that the most convenient
analysis of the elements which go to make up civilization runs about
as follows:

1st. Progress in the means of subsistence, that is to say, progress in
abundance and variety of food-supply, clothing, shelter, sanitation,
public health, commerce, manufacture, the growth of the public wealth,
etc.

2nd. Progress in government and law, that is to say, in the enactment
of laws securing justice and equity to every man, consistent with the
largest individual liberty, and the due and orderly enforcement of
the same upon all.

3rd. Progress in literature and language.

4th. Progress in science and philosophy.

5th. Progress in art and refinement.

6th. Progress in morality and religion.

If you were to ask them, as indeed they are very often asked, which of
these they regard as fundamental, they would reply that they