14 
Undoubtedly Galsworthy’s “two inches” are an unjust exag- 
geration. Many business men are idealists. The world is dotted 
with scientific, educational, and charitable institutions which are 
James Smithson, 
monuments to business men of that type— 
Stephen Girard, Peter Cooper, Matthew Vassar, Ezra Cornell, 
Cecil Rhodes, Andrew Bernhard Nobel, Andrew Carnegie, Mar- 
shall Field, Edwin Gould, Alfred T. White, not to mention those 
still living. These names are recalled only as outstanding types 
of a class. Other business men have invested in securities, but 
have lacked the long vision which enabled them to see that the 
greatest safety, the largest returns, and the deepest satisfactions 
of life are to be had by investing in those institutions which yield 
returns to others and contribute to the advancement of science and 
— 
art, education, and civilization. 
A Botame Garden is such an institution. Whatever measure 
of success may have attended the efforts of this one, 1s recorded 
in the twenty-two Annual Reports that have preceded. The im- 
as well as the large view has already 
, 
portance of the “long view ’ 
been emphasized in some of these reports. It needs to be kept 
constantly in mind and to be restated from time to time. Why 
should the builders of a botanic garden be less ambitious than 
the builders of the Seville Cathedral? We have not half realized 
what it would mean to Brooklyn, to civic advancement in general, 
to education and science and art, to develop our fifty acres of 
plantations to such a perfection of beauty, and our scientific and 
educational program to such high standards of accomplishment 
“ that those who come after us may think us mad to have attempted 
it.’ What a wonderful and unusual opportunity is here presented 
for private philanthropy. 
We must not lose sight of the substantial accomplishment of 
the past twenty-three years; to do so would spell discouragement. 
We do not fail to remember generous benefactions and the sus- 
tained and active interest and the moral support which have ac- 
companied them; to do that would be most ungenerous and forget- 
ful. But, what is still more important, we must not be unmindful 
of what has not been accomplished, of how far short we have come 
of the ideal of accomplishment; to do this would be to lose a most 
effective stimulus to continued endeavor. 
