The Protestant Personality and Higher Education: American Philanthropy Beyond the "Progressive Era"

Abstract

Andrew Carnegie wrote, in his best known essay titled "The Gospel of Wealth" (1889), that "The problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship." He then instructed wealthy fellow Americans how to spend their wealth conscientiously: "First to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer."1 The concerns that Carnegie expressed in his essay reveal one of the fundamental challenges that most wealthy Americans had confronted at the turn of the century. He was not alone in reflecting upon these concerns during this period. John D. Rocke feller, a contemporary of Carnegie, appeared equally disturbed by the same questions. In Random Reminiscences, Rockefeller wrote: "As I study wealthy men, I can see but one way in which they can secure a real equivalent for money spent, and that is to cultivate a taste for giving where the money may produce an effect which will be a lasting gratification .... It would be the narrowest sort of view to take, and I think the meanest, to consider that good works consist chiefly in the outright giving of money."2 These words summed up some of the most dominant values of American society. Long before Carnegie and Rockefeller, early social reformers such as Cotton Mather (1663-1728) and Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), addressed these same issues in their well-attended sermons and numerous social commentaries.3 In 1698, in one of his famous sermons, Mather, a co-founder of Yale University, told the people of Boston: "Instead of exhorting you to augment your charity, I will rather utter an exhortation . . .that you may not abuse your charity by misapplying it."4 He