CARNEGIE'S LATEST BENEFACTION.
Alexander Dumas, the elder, the creator of the "Count of Monte Cristo," the modern synonym for Croesus, is said to have had the most exuberant imagination of his time. But even "Alexander the Great's" imagination would have been staggered if he had lived in these days when a simple citizen of this republic named Andrew; Carnegie up to date has given away j for educational and charitable pur-' poses $215,000,000, and the end is not;
yet. I
Mr. - Carnegie is in his seventy-sev- j enth year, and besides giving his j money, he has also given much of his! time to advancing the interest of j the many institutions that flourish; through his benefactions. He feels now that the burden should be placed on other shoulders, and for this purpose he organized with legislative sanction what might be termed a "Philanthropic Trust," to take charge and have the direction of the many beneficiaries of his philanthropy. By way of starting off the new corporation, Mr. Carnegie has handed over to the trustees a mere bagatelle, some $25,000,000.
Dumas really never told us how much his-fabulous "Count of Monte Cristo" was worth, but we venture to say that much as Alexander was accustomed to thinking in millions, fortune such as Carnegie's would have been incomprehensible to him. He knew, of course, of the estimates placed on the fortunes of the Fuggers, the Medicis, the Fouquets and the Rothschilds, but all these fortunes, great as they were, could not hold a candle beside the mountain of gold Mr. Carnegie transmuted out of steel.
The professors of alchemy, from Paracelsus to Balthasar Claes, vainly sought to ascertain the secret of making gold from baser metals, but it remained for the poor emigrant Scotch boy from Dunfermline to discover the secret of the "philosopher's stone" which had baffled humanity since the dawn of creation. And having discovered it and amassed a treasure greater than the fabled treasure of Monte Cristo, Mr. Carnegie is spending the balance of his life in trying to give it
away._____
THE STRIKE.
