2 GROWTH OF PLANTS 



While the Colonel's biggest philanthropies were the financing of Boyoe 

 Thompson Institute and numerous big gifts to Phillips Exeter Academy, 

 other sizable philanthropies could be named by the score: Belgian relief, 

 Roosevelt Memorial, financing the Red Cross Commission to Russia, 1917, 

 very large relief gifts to Russia during the sojourn of the Red Cross Commis- 

 sion there, and many contributions to worthy charities during and after 

 World War I. 



One of the very interesting things about Colonel Thompson was his 

 friendships. His close personal friends ranged from ditch diggers to able 

 scientists, statesmen, businessmen, and rulers. These friendships were 

 generally determined by positive worthy characteristics of the friend, 

 especially insight, integrity, and sincerity. The friendship with Doby Tom, 

 a Slovak ex-sailor, working in Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum, 

 was a matter of mutual entertainment. Tom had definite ideas about his 

 own rights and began answering fanciful criticism of the Colonel. Later 

 their arguments often took on the appearance of bitter personal quarrels, 

 to the great amusement of the Colonel as well as of Tom. The friendship 

 with Johnny Schaller, a stone-mason, was unique. Jolmny was for nineteen 

 years, up to his death, superintendent of "Alders," Colonel Thompson's 

 estate at Yonkers, N. Y. The friendship and the employment of Johnny 

 as superintendent was an outgrowth of the Colonel's admiration of Johnny's 

 excellence as an artisan and approval of sincere and sturdy German charac- 

 ter in Avhich realism far outweighed imagination. 



The Colonel's friendship with Dr. Robert Kennedy Duncan, organizer 

 and first Director of Mellon Institute, started with the reading of Duncan's 

 books, "New Knowledge" (1905) and "The Chemistry of Commerce" 

 (1907), which gave a preview of the coming importance of chemistry in the 

 industries. This friendship was deepened by frequent visits while the 

 Colonel was having research done with Duncan on leaching and flotation 

 of copper ore and on certain sulfur problems. These copper researches aided 

 in making Inspiration and Magma efficient and profitable mines, and the 

 research on sulfur assisted in building up a fine technical organization under 

 Walter Aid ridge that made Texas Gulf Sulphur technically so nearly perfect 

 and financially so highly profitable. 



Dr. Duncan's books were not only excellent expositions of the subjects 

 discussed, but they were simple, direct, and highly inspirational. Such 

 passages as: "the romance of untrodden ways, the romance of unguessed 

 to-morrow" and "man can really live only when he has the chance to live. 

 There is but one way of lifting man to a higher moral and spiritual plane, 

 and that is by lifting to a higher plane the condition of his material sur- 

 roundings" evidently impressed the Colonel. The effect of association with 

 Duncan through his books and personally was to convince Colonel Thomp- 

 son of the great contribution that research could make to human progress. 

 It also convinced him that one of the best investments one could make for 

 society was properly chosen and directed research. Colonel Thompson had 



