I am sure it is a mistake to assume that the possession of money in great abundance necessarily brings happiness.  The very rich are just like all the rest of us; and if they get pleasure from the possession of money, it comes from their ability to do things which give satisfaction to someone besides themselves.

LIMITATIONS OF THE RICH

The mere expenditure of money for things, so I am told by those who profess to know, soon palls upon one.  The novelty of being able to purchase anything one wants soon passes, because what people most seek cannot be bought with money.  These rich men we read about in the newspapers cannot get personal returns beyond a well-defined limit for their expenditure.  They cannot gratify the pleasures of the palate beyond very moderate bounds, since they cannot purchase a good digestion; they cannot lavish very much money on fine raiment for themselves or their families without suffering from public ridicule; and in their homes they cannot go much beyond the comforts of the less wealthy without involving them in more pain than pleasure.  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.

A man of business may often most properly consider that he does his share in building up a property which gives steady work for few or many people; and his contribution consists in giving to his employees good working conditions, new opportunities, and a strong stimulus to good work.  Just so long as he has the welfare of his employees in his mind and follows his convictions, no one can help honouring such a man.  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.

THE BEST PHILANTHROPY

The best philanthropy, the help that does the most good and the least harm, the help that nourishes civilization at its very root, that most widely disseminates health, righteousness, and happiness, is not what is usually called charity.  It is, in my judgment, the investment of effort or time or money, carefully considered with relation to the power of employing people at a remunerative wage, to expand and develop the resources at hand, and to give opportunity for progress and healthful labour where it did not exist before.  No mere money-giving is comparable to this in its lasting and beneficial results.

If, as I am accustomed to think, this statement is a correct one, how vast indeed is the philanthropic field!  It may be urged that the daily vocation of life is one thing, and the work of philanthropy quite another.  I have no sympathy with this notion.  The man who plans to do all his giving on Sunday is a poor prop for the institutions of the country.