There was then forced upon me the necessity to organize and plan this department of our daily tasks on as distinct lines of progress as we did our business affairs; and I will try to describe the underlying principles we arrived at, and have since followed out, and hope still greatly to extend.
It may be beyond the pale of good taste to speak at all of such a personal subject--I am not unmindful of this--but I can make these observations with at least a little better grace because so much of the hard work and hard thinking are done by my family and associates, who devote their lives to it.
Every right-minded man has a philosophy of life, whether he knows it or not.

Hidden away in his mind are certain governing principles, whether he formulates them in words or not, which govern his life.
Surely his ideal ought to be to contribute all that he can, however little it may be, whether of money or service, to human progress.
Certainly one's ideal should be to use one's means, both in one's investments and in benefactions, for the advancement of civilization.
But the question as to what civilization is and what are the great laws which govern its advance have been seriously studied.

Our investments not less than gifts have been directed to such ends as we have thought would tend to produce these results.

If you were to go into our office, and ask our committee on benevolence or our committee on investment in what they consider civilization to consist, they would say that they have found in their study that the most convenient analysis of the elements which go to make up civilization runs about as follows: 1st.

Progress in the means of subsistence, that is to say, progress in abundance and variety of food-supply, clothing, shelter, sanitation, public health, commerce, manufacture, the growth of the public wealth, etc.
2nd.