“Tainted” Money by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, Cal. · Sep 13, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 37.

“Tainted” Money

By Editor

“Tainted” Money.—No, Mr. Rockefeller's money is not “tainted,” any more than many another man's money is tainted who gives liberally to benevolent purposes. Money is money, and that is all; it has no character. It is all right for Mr. Rockefeller to give of his vast fortune to worthy purposes, and it is all right for societies and institutions to take his money, provided they will take it without feeling obliged, by either apology or silence, to indorse his methods of getting money. But will they so receive it? that's the point. Which one of his large beneficiaries has found any fault with the trust idea, of which he is the most noted exponent—after receiving of his gifts? And where is there one that would accept a million or so without exercising an extreme charity toward the means by which the donor had acquired his wealth? We have heard much discussion of Mr. Carnegie's many gifts on the ground of tainted money, altho he is also of the trust magnate class. If money were tainted because of questionable business methods, and were generally refused on that ground, many educational and charitable institutions, and many churches, would soon be bankrupt.