528 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1380 



The seriousness of the risk of obsolescence 

 and the enormous economic waste which re- 

 sults therefrom are effectively presented by 

 Mr. Frank J. Parsons, Director of the New 

 York Community Trust: 



Judge F. H. Goff, originator of the community 

 trust plan, is authority for the statement that in 

 England alone there are some 40,000 foundations 

 or trusts with fixed objects. The great majority 

 of these bequests have become obsolescent by rea- 

 son of social or economic changes. The situation 

 finally became so serious in England that Parlia- 

 ment passed an Act, the intent of which was to 

 revive the trusts and renew their usefulness. 



The United States, although young, is by ne 

 means free from illustrations of the foUy of mak- 

 ing charitable gifts with fixed objects. Benjamin 

 Franklin, one of the wisest of Americans, set 

 aside a certain sum of money in his will, to be 

 used only for the maintenance and benefit of a 

 certain type of artisan, numerous at the time, 

 but non-existent to-day because of changes in 

 social conditions and the introduction of ma- 

 chinery. Wise in his own generation, Franklin 

 failed when he tried to provide for the indefinite 

 future. 



Prior to 1850 Bryan Mullanphy, a wealthy law- 

 yer and at one time mayor of St. Louis, person- 

 ally helped hundreds of travelers who became 

 stranded in his city on their way to the great un- 

 developed West. When he died it was found that 

 he had left one third of all his property to the 

 City of St. Louis, as trustee, to "aid and assist 

 worthy and distressed travelers and emigrants 

 coming to the City of St. Louis lona fide to settle 

 for a home in the West." His act was greatly 

 commended and all thought he had wisely ap- 

 plied his charity to meet a great need; yet fifteen 

 years later the railroads had pushed into the 

 West far beyond St. Louis, and the number of 

 needy travelers coming within the terms of the 

 bounty of Mullanphy 's will was greatly diminished 

 and is now practically nil. The estate now 

 amounts to $975,000, and the three Commissioners 

 having the management of the city 's trust are still 

 bound by the original terms of the will as laid 

 down in 1851. 



In 1907 Eobert N. Carson, of Philadelphia, left 

 $3,500,000 for the care and education of "poor 

 white healthy girls, both of whose parents shall 

 be deceased," and in 1909 Charles E. EUis, also 

 of Philadelphia, left $4,500,000 for "full orphan 

 or fatherless girls." The hampering and restric- 



tive conditions of the wills an each case were such, 

 however, that after the lapse of more than ten 

 years the trustees of these two great gifts are 

 earing for but 114 girls, while the funds are said 

 to be sufScient to provide for from 600 to 1,000 

 girls.2 



The following " illustrative purposes " are 

 quoted from the Resolution and Declaration 

 of Trust creating the New York Community 

 Trust: 



(a) For assisting public educational, charitable 

 or benevolent institutions, whether supported 

 wholly or in part by private donations or by pub- 

 lic taxation; 



(6) For promoting scientific research for the 

 advancement of human knowledge and the allevia- 

 tion of human suffering or the suffering of ani- 

 mals; 



(c) For the care of the sick, aged and helpless; 



(d) For the care of needy men, women and 

 children ; 



(e) For aiding in the reformation of (1) vic- 

 tims of narcotics, drugs and intoxicating liquors, 

 (2) released inmates of penal and reformatory 

 institutions, and (3) wayward or delinquent per- 

 sons; 



(/) For the improvement of living and working 

 conditions ; 



(g) For providing facilities for public recre- 

 ation; 



(A.) For the encouragement of social and do- 

 mestic hygiene; 



(i) For the encouragement of sanitation and 

 measures for the prevention of disease; 



(j) For investigating or promoting the investi- 

 gation of or research into the causes of ignorance, 

 poverty and vice, preventing the operation of such 

 causes, and remedying or ameliorating the con- 

 ditions resulting therefrom. 



Science as well as charity has its " dead 

 hand " trusts. It is wholly impossible for any- 

 one to predict future conditions or needs. 

 Consequently the community trust idea should 

 interest all who desire to promote the public 

 welfare with minimum risk of having their 

 gifts pass into desuetude. Many of the ex- 

 isting foundations and corporations which 

 bear the names of individuals are in principle 



2 These statements are in part quoted from 

 Mr. Parsons and in part paraphrased for the 

 sake of brevity. 



