box00002_fld00017_bdl0001_doc0008_01000001.txt; Copy.
Carnegie Gifts versus City's Maintenance of Carnegie Institutions.
To the Editor Pittsburg Post,
Dear Sir:-
There is but one sure way of arriving at a just conclusion in this much discussed question, and that is to examine the records and ascertain the terms of agreement between Mr. Carnegie and the City when this variously combined Institution was founded. It is the firm belieft of at least one of your readers, that Mr. Carnegie set aside a fund which was to provide for any deficit in rentals of the Music Hall, Art Gallery, and Museum, while the City should maintain the Library itself. If so, it is pertinent to inquire why the City should have appropriated $158,000 last year for the Institution.
It is a well understood fact, that communities which accept these offers of libraries, in the end pay out many time the value of the original gift. Pittsburg, for example had already exceeded in its support the original cost to Mr. Carnegie of the Library here, and it is yet in its infancy. That there is waste in management is evident, and those who furnish the money, by taxation, have a right to know where it is. No business man, for instance, would pay off the roll of employees, as we are told has been done, year after year, by the Committee in charge, without taking the precaution to know wheter amounts and anmes on these rolls represent actual service rendered.
Taxpayer
January 20th.
Carnegie Mellon University - Andrew Carnegie Online Archives
