430 



The Journal of Heredity 



land fail in parentage. If my daugh- 

 ters desire the practical kind of educa- 

 tion indicated, and there be an institu- 

 tion where such i)ranches are taught 

 my trustee is instructed to supply the 

 means, otherwise nothing is to be 

 expended for 'higher education.' At 

 the time of marriage my trustee is 

 instructed to pay to my daughter or 

 daughters the same amount as pro- 

 vided for my son, and for each child 

 born to her she is to receive the same 

 sum to be paid according to the same 

 conditions as above proxided for my 

 son. * * * 



"In order to make myself better 

 understood in this my last will and 

 testament I desire first to explain that 

 for many years I have held to the 

 belief that wealth, especially great 

 wealth, in the hands of any party 

 should be regarded to some extent as 

 a sacred trust for it has cost the life and 

 labor of some one, perhaps of many, 

 to produce it. While a man has a 

 legal right to do as he pleases with 

 what is his own, he does not always 

 have the moral right to do so. Money 

 or property wisely employed benefits 

 the entire community, as well as the 

 individual owner; unwisely employed it 

 becomes a detriment to the commu- 

 nity, and when de\oted to idleness and 

 luxury-, or squandered in fast and 

 riotous living it becomes a curse to the 

 one who possesses it. This is so well 

 understood by many that it has been 

 well said that probably the worst thing 

 that could happen to the majority of 

 mankind would be to inherit wealth and 

 to be relieved of the necessity of earn- 

 ing a living. Accumulated wealth in 

 its power for good or evil might be 

 compared to water gathered together 

 in a storage reservoir; it can be made 

 to turn the wheels of industry or 

 irrigate a valley or do both at the same 

 time, but uncontrolled and unguided it 

 becomes a power for destruction, and 

 out of its [proper chaimel it soon be- 

 comes a torrent of mud, polluting and 

 destroying e\er\thing in its path. 



"Another thought which has pos- 

 sessed my mind for a long time is that 

 everv man should coiitribulc some- 



thing of his savings to some worthy 

 cause, for it is only by so doing that we 

 can repay the debt we owe to those 

 sturdy pioneers of progress who by 

 their unselfish efforts have, in all 

 countries and ages, helped to make 

 civilization possible. This thought has 

 been confirmed and strengthened by 

 the con\'iction, strong in my mind, that 

 this world with its vast resources and 

 powers, must have been created for a 

 purpose, and that purpose must have 

 been the e\olution and development of 

 man. 



"The idea that tiie forces and powers 

 of nature, chemical, mechanical and 

 electrical and all of the vast supplies of 

 coal, oil and minerals, were here to 

 remain forever unused and unapplied, 

 is to my mind unthinkable and as in- 

 conceivable as the idea of a great 

 factory, equipped with modern machin- 

 ery, being located in an iminhabited 

 country. 



"Man, then, being the object and 

 purpose of creation, it becomes our 

 duty to co-operate with nature in has- 

 tening the day of his perfection, for 

 man is a creature of evolution, and 

 still an unfinished product. To be as 

 brief as possible, I am now convinced 

 from some study and much thought, 

 that it is only by a greater knowledge 

 and application of the laws of life and 

 growth that man can hope to hasten 

 his progress upwards toward that 

 happy day when weakness and sin will 

 be reduced to a minimum and when 

 the least efficient of mankind will be the 

 equal of the greatest of today. Reli- 

 gion alone can never work this change, 

 for polish and refine a man as you 

 will, the work has all to be done 

 over again with his son, for polish 

 is not hereditary any more than 

 the clothes a man wears. Religion at 

 its best is but a crutch to help men 

 walk, to aid the weak and wayward 

 through this life. 



"What the world needs is a race of 

 men who are neither crippled in body 

 or mind; for when men are born right, 

 they will have no need to be 'born 

 again.' Religion can help us to lofty 

 ideals but we must look to science to 



