Carnegie Hall

“ We managed, however, to take a wrong turn somewhere, and added some eight miles to our journey; so much the better—the longer the route the happier we were.
Every English hall seems to have some special features in which it surpasses all others. This is as it should be, for it permits every fortunate owner to love his home for acknowledged merits of its own. If one has the nobler terrace, another boasts a finer lawn; and if one has woods and a rookery, has not the other the winding Nith through its borders? One cannot have the best of everything, even upon an English estate ”

“ The reason why the people have only one instructive and elevating, or even amusing, entertainment when a dozen would be highly beneficial, is that the rent of a hall, even when a suitable hall exists (which is rare) , is so great as to prevent managers from running the risk of financial failure. If every city in our land owned a hall which could be given or rented for a small sum for such gatherings as a committee or the mayor of the city judged advantageous, the people could be furnished with proper lectures, amusements, and concerts at an exceedingly small cost. ”

“ He always insisted that the greatest patronage of music should come from a paying public rather than from private endowment. He built Carnegie Hall in order to give New York a proper home for its musical activities, but he did not look upon this as a philanthropy, and expected to have the hall support itself and give a fair return upon the capital invested.
In the spring of 1888 I again sailed for Europe with the Carnegies, and on arriving at the Metropole Hotel in London we found the rest of the coaching party already assembled—the Blaine family, Mr. ”

“ Every house was fashionable in my eyes that was upon any one of the principal streets, provided it had a hall entrance.
I had never spent a night in a strange house in my life until Mr. Stokes of Greensburg, chief counsel of the Pennsylvania Railroad, invited me to his beautiful home in the country to pass a Sunday. It was an odd thing for Mr. Stokes to do, for I could little interest a brilliant and educated man like him. The reason for my receiving such an honor was a communication I had written for the "Pittsburgh Journal." Even in my teens I was a scribbler for the press. ”

“ The offer was accepted and the building built, but at a cost of nearly one hundred thousand dollars more than was expected.
Yet Mr. Carnegie did not complain. To show that his heart was with the venture, he also presented a ten-thousand-dollar organ for the hall. It was a first attempt, but the "North Side Library" is a model of beauty and convenience today.
The way in which the people of Allegheny awakened, responded and availed themselves of the benefits to be obtained from the Carnegie Library at Allegheny was most gratifying. ”

“ He has given £30,000,000 for the erection of libraries and other institutions, but all of his gifts have been made after careful investigation, and in conformity with certain rules which he has laid down. When he opened the Windsor Street Library he stayed at Bromborough Hall, and we took him also to the opening of St. Deiniol's Library, at Hawarden. If Mr. Carnegie had not been a millionaire he would still have been a remarkable man. Endowed with [Pg 116] a keen power of observation, rapidity of judgment, and great courage, he has all the elements which make for success in any walk in life. ”

“ Much Sienna marble is used, the floor is mosaic, the walls are painted a deep rose-color, and the architecture proper in a soft ivory tone, with gilded ornamentation. Two free concerts, or organ recitals, are given each week through the [Pg 86] year, on the large modern concert organ, built expressly for this hall. Musical lectures are also given, free from technicalities, illustrated by choir, organ, and piano. This is certainly taking music, art, and science to the people as a free gift. To this noble work Mr. Carnegie has given $2,100,000. ”

“ It is not the smiling freshmen of the year, it is your own beardless and unwrinkled faces, that are looking from the windows of University Hall and of Hope College. Under the trees upon the hill it is yourselves whom you see walking, full of hopes and dreams, glowing with conscious power, and "nourishing a youth sublime;" and in this familiar temple, which surely has never echoed with eloquence so fervid and inspiring as that of your commencement orations, it is not yonder youths in the galleries who, as they fondly believe, are whispering to yonder maids ”

“ As it stands to-day, the entire institution is known as the Carnegie Library and Institute of Pittsburgh, and, except the Technical Schools, occupies the Central Library Building. This was completed in its present enlarged form and rededicated in April, 1907. There are the Library proper, which, with its outlying branches, is governed by a Board of Trustees of eighteen members and maintained by the city of Pittsburgh; the Music Hall, which is self-supporting ”

“ It is a rich and strong spirit, not only filling the room, but pouring out from the door and possessing the hall, redeeming an opposite dining-room from grossness, and a more distant drawing-room from frivolity, and even lending a goodly flavour to bedrooms on upper floors. ”

“ Free to the People. Bronze doors open into a handsome vaulted hall paneled with Tennessee marble, from which two broad staircases of the same material lead to the second floor. The effect of this entrance is dignified and harmonious. But more significant is the fact that the Library accomplishes its purpose; in a very real sense it is "free to the people." Entering the well-arranged Loan Department, the visitor is impressed with its homelike, cheerful atmosphere, and at once has a pleasant feeling of proprietorship. For everything is made comfortable, easy, accessible ”

“ His fellow-students seemed now a very honest set of men, as indeed they were, although a trifle limited in horizon, and he hoped that one of the "fruits" was "satisfied with his Sunday's work," which shows that as often as a man of twenty-one gets out of touch with reality, he ought straightway to sit down and write to his mother. Carmichael indeed told me one evening at the Cottage that he never had any mystical call to the ministry, but only had entered the Divinity Hall instead of going to Oxford because his mother had this for her heart's desire, and he loved her. ”

“ In the center of the arch, carved in the marble, was an open book with this inscription:
"He that cannot reason is a fool,
He that will not a bigot,
He that dare not a slave."
These noble words thrilled me. I said to myself, "Some day, some day, I'll have a library" (that was a look ahead) "and these words shall grace the mantel as here." And so they do in New York and Skibo to-day.
Another Sunday which I spent at his home after an interval of several years was also noteworthy. I had then become the superintendent of the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. ”

“ He built up his fortunes through successive grades until he became the dominating factor in the great iron industries, and paved the way for that colossal achievement, the Steel Trust. Whatever may be the tendencies of this corporation, there can be little doubt of the democratic ideals of Mr. Carnegie himself. With lavish hand he has strewn millions through the United States for the promotion of libraries. The effect of this library movement in perpetuating the democracy that comes from an intelligent and self-respecting people can hardly be measured. ”

“ And do not fail to note that this library, like all others in Britain organized under the Libraries act, does not pauperize a people. It is no man's library, but the library of the people—their own, maintained and paid for by public taxation to which all contribute. An endowed library is just like an endowed church, at best half and generally wholly asleep. It is a great mistake to withdraw from such an institution the healthy breeze of public criticism; besides this, people never appreciate what is wholly given to them so highly as that to which they themselves contribute. ”

“ The public spirit and enthusiasm for the good of humanity, which have inspired an American citizen, Mr. Andrew Carnegie, in his administration of a great fortune, have led him to devote the adequate and ample sum of three-quarters of a million dollars to the construction of the building. ”

“ Carnegie says that a man who has accumulated a great fortune ought to share it with the people. Among the objects which he considers most worthy the aid of men of wealth, he names universities, free libraries, hospitals, public parks, swimming baths, public halls, and church buildings. His own favorite charity is the aid of public libraries to which he has given millions of dollars. In 1902 he gave ten million dollars to found Carnegie Institution in Washington “for promotion of study and research.” ”

“ The following day I made the acquaintance of the Reception Committee at a luncheon given by Mrs. Carnegie in her beautiful home still filled with memories of her husband, Andrew Carnegie, whose philanthropic achievements are well known in France. The following day we went for a visit of a few days to Smith College, and Vassar College, a few hours from New York. Later I also visited the colleges of Bryn Mawr and Wellesley, and I saw some others on my way.
These colleges, or universities for women, are very characteristic of American life and culture. ”

“ I asked the superintendent to call together the three committees which governed the works—not only the blast-furnace committee that was alone involved, but the mill and the converting works committees as well. They appeared and, of course, were received by me with great courtesy, not because it was good policy to be courteous, but because I have always enjoyed meeting our men. I am bound to say that the more I know of working-men the higher I rate their virtues. But it is with them as Barrie says with women: "Dootless the Lord made a' things weel, but he left some michty queer kinks in women." ”

“ At an early age I became a strong anti-slavery partisan and hailed with enthusiasm the first national meeting of the Republican Party in Pittsburgh, February 22, 1856, although too young to vote. I watched the prominent men as they walked the streets, lost in admiration for Senators Wilson, Hale, and others. Some time before I had organized among the railroad men a club of a hundred for the "New York Weekly Tribune," and ventured occasionally upon short notes to the great editor, Horace Greeley, who did so much to arouse the people to action upon this vital question. ”

“ To have done well and then live up to your record is a serious matter. Responsibility is ballast. A town that has taken on a Carnegie Library is one big committee intent on making the thing a success. There is furniture needed, pictures to secure, statuary to select, books to buy. A Carnegie Library is usually an annex to the High School.
O most clever, cunning and canny Carnegie! did you know how great and wise was your scheme? Not at all, any more than when you were a bobbin-boy you could have guessed that one day you would own two hundred fifty million dollars in five-per-cent bonds. ”

“ No one in trade was considered good enough for the provostship. We have remnants of this aristocratic notion throughout Britain to-day. There is scarcely any life assurance or railway company, or in some cases manufacturing company but must have at its head, to enjoy the honors of the presidency, some titled person totally ignorant of the duties of the position. So it was that Sir Arthur Halkett, as a gentleman, was Provost of Dunfermline, but by calling he followed the profession of arms and was killed on this spot. ”

“ One of its chief benefits has been to show the people of America that such a building will pay. For one thing, it gave certain Western capitalists heart to erect the Fine Arts Building in Chicago. And now in a dozen cities of the United States there are great auditoriums where big events, musical and oratorical, bring the people together in a way that enlarges their spiritual horizon. Andrew Carnegie has ever had a passion for music. ”

“ There is a stir among several servants who have lain the whole night long at his door, to be in readiness, and the moaning reply comes, "S-a-h-i-b," and he is surrounded by those who minister to his slightest wish all day, leaving him again at night only to repeat the performance on the morrow. When he drives his gig to town one servant stands at his back to wait upon him, and Madame appears in the afternoon upon the Mall in her grand equipage, two on the box and two standing behind, as if she were a duchess. As a European walks the streets he is salaamed by every native he chances to look at. ”

“ The box of Carnegie's chariot became the ‘seats of the mighty.’ And so a politico-social campaign went on hand in hand with the rail, bridge, armor-plate, and structural-steel business, through seasons of opera, concerts, lecturings, and book-publishings, until the name of Carnegie was written in bright letters across the sky of two hemispheres, and people forgot that there were any other steel works in the world. Meanwhile in Pittsburgh the partners worked steadily on, building dollar by dollar the great golden pyramid by which their majority stockholder was to be immortalized. ”