Life of Isaiah V. Williamson/Chapter 6

by John Wanamaker

VI

Philanthropy His Real Business

From this time on, he regarded his life and its powers as a trust to be enlarged, controlled and administered diligently, savingly, and solely for others. From his retirement for communion with his own soul and with his Maker, he came out into the open of a new life and surrendered himself wholly to the duty before him as he saw it. He knew the mighty energy of money, and he would gather and rightly direct it. But it went hard with him that day, to let go the dream of leisure and hope of travel and study, to go back again to a desk and an office, to the labor he had laid aside as he thought forever, when he had no personal wants to serve. No one but himself knew that in the Court of Conscience, he was passing upon himself a life sentence.

He had a definite purpose now, and he set himself to daily work to carry it out in the most practical way. Unfaltering in his termination and without vagueness or flabbiness, he concentrated and consecrated himself to his self-chosen task. It was noticeable to his old friends that a new light was in his eyes. He practically withdrew himself from the world at large and took long walks of inquiry into existing benevolences, with a view of helping them rather than multiplying organizations. Just as he had done on Market Street, when in business, in examining into the character, capacity and actualities of business firms that sought to buy goods of his firm on credit, so did he go into the objects of charitable and other institutions, the quality of work, their methods of management, and the accuracy of their reports and financial statements.

He would put his finger on the weaknesses and waste of organizations that directors and trustees seemed to be ignorant of, and he made it a rule to leave those which he decided were sentimentally impractical so severely unhelped as to call down upon him the condemnation of some of his friends, who did not know the facts about their institutions as well as he knew them. For hours he would sit silent and alone with a small pencil in hand, and look off at some distant object while he thought out his problems.

Always economical in his habits, his expenses became smaller. He lived in the simplest way, dressing more plainly and dispensing with everything he could do without.

At this very time, he was giving away secretly thousands and tens of thousands of dollars, covering up his hand so that only two or three persons would know the source of the gifts.

During this time and through the fifties, his wealth grew much more rapidly than he could wisely distribute it. He never speculated. He paid in full for what he bought and put it in his boxes to keep until the right time to sell. First of all, he made himself thoroughly familiar with all the corporations, their men and methods of management, and the possibilities of advancing values. The hard-headed, thorough business man that he had always been, held him off from being drawn into operations through friendship or sentiment.

He dealt not in vague expectations or by promising prospectuses but in the plain actual facts.

Being known to have cash always on hand, he was sought for to join the best things being organized, and almost as constantly the doubtful schemes that wanted the use of his name to give respectability to proposed operations.

On occasions when invited into investments and directorates upon a special and lower basis than other people, he indignantly declined, declaring that to do so would dishonor him in his own sight and prevent him from looking his friends in the face.

He made the most exhaustive inquiries into the situation of everything he thought of investing in, and after he put his money into any undertaking, he kept close watch on its operations and its operators to the extent, sometimes, of becoming a member of its board and serving as a committee man, in order to give personal attention to make the returns profitable to himself and other stockholders. He made much money from the study of and investment in city real estate, in which, by his foresight, he went ahead of the changes and revolutions ever going on in city localities, buying properties sure to advance and holding them for a time. His practice with all his investments was to sell at a fair profit and not to wait to get all the advance, but let other people have the chance for a part of it, taking the money and profit he had made, and reinvesting again in another locality to repeat the turnover in the same way.

There was no jumpy luck in all this, nor favored knowledge of conditions beyond the opportunity and reach of other men. It was his thorough organization of himself to look for and think over existing conditions, and the use of plain, common sense in acting thereon.

He worked hard and long, and in fact more zealously than in the days he was storing up the first hundred thousand.

Fifteen years now follow that this modest, unobtrusive man, with a genius for money-getting, buried himself contentedly in delving, digging, mining and storing for the poor and weak, for whom he had accepted a charge from his Maker. His body constitutionally weak, his life wearing thin, confined to the narrow spaces of an office, his chosen food but little more than a crust, making one suit last the usual time of two, and his spirit soaring higher and higher as he toiled and saved to make and distribute his gains for humanity, that they might breathe good cheer and strength and happiness upon others unfavored by fortune.

What a lifetime it was, that period from 1850 to 1865! With hungry mind, he analyzed the energies of money. He selecting the altars upon which to lay it. He was constantly subjected to the criticisms, stabs and scorn of fellow citizens and misinformed newspaper writers, who regarded him as "the threadbare philanthropist." Maligned by those whose appeals for aid for their charities or enterprises were unsuccessful, who wished to deprive him of his liberty to determine where to place his money, he steadily went on, meek and silent, all the time carrying on his little shoulders the hospitals, homes and schools with which he had loaded himself up for future aid.

As his friend of many years, the late Henry C. Townsend, said in 1891, in his address at the opening of the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, of which he was one of the original trustees:

"When he reached the age of nearly seventy, his fortune probably amounted to about $4,000,000; and at that period of his life, yielding to the impulses of his naturally kindly and sympathetic nature, keenly alive and responsive to the claim of all forms of suffering humanity, and regarding himself as only a steward of the large fortune he had acquired by a life of integrity, self-denial, and intelligent efforts, he began a system of wise, judicious and liberal distribution of his means, giving in various directions and for a variety of purposes, in a broad and catholic spirit, both money and property, to hospitals, schools, homes and similar charitable and educational organizations. The aggregate of his donations during this period of his life, from the age of seventy to eighty-six, while not known during his lifetime, was ascertained after his decease to have amounted to (independent of the endowment of this school) about $4,000,000, a sum believed to be larger than that ever given by any one individual in his lifetime in this country for benevolent purposes."

This was the result of a gradual mental process rather than of any sudden outside influence. However, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, in his historical sketch of "The Founding of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital," suggests that Isaiah V. Williamson's benevolent start was caused by an appeal made to him, in 1872, for that hospital scheme by two members of the committee having in charge the raising of funds from individual donors. The State Legislature in April, 1872, granted to the new hospital in West Philadelphia, $100,000, "on condition that $250,000 in addition should be collected from other sources, and that at least two hundred free beds for injured persons should be maintained forever"; and later made other appropriations. The City Councils granted five and a half acres adjoining the university site, on condition that the new hospital should furnish fifty free beds for the indigent sick. Subscriptions were also asked of the public generally, in sums of $3000 or multiples, giving each donor "the right to nominate one or more free patients in the hospital." This is what General Chamberlain has to say regarding the visit to the Quaker financier:

"One picturesque incident, at least, arose in this private subscription. Isaiah V. Williamson was a man noted for his wealth, but almost equally for his unwillingness to give from it. Two members of the committee, however, one of whom was Dr. William Pepper (at that time the Provost of the University), with some reluctance, braved his common reputation, visited him in his dark little office in an obscure building on a narrow street (30 Bank Street), and laid their request before him. He allowed them to talk for almost an hour, only asking two questions, and then brought the interview to a close by saying he would think the matter over. In a few weeks the hospital committee were surprised to receive from him a subscription of $50,000, the largest single contribution to the hospital fund. But, curiously enough, from that time forward, Mr. Williamson became a liberal giver to philanthropic objects. He gave $50,000 more to the University and left $100,000 to it in his will, and his office became a regular calling place for those interested in various charities."

This quotation should doubtless be taken with several grains of salt. How could General Chamberlain fairly assume to know what no one knew, but the man himself, as to his dedication of himself, not in public, a score of years before that visit to solicit for the University Hospital? Other assertions have been made that Williamson gave grudgingly, particularly at that period; but hesitation for careful examination is not the same as disinclination. One of the editorials in the Philadelphia papers at the time of his death declared that "he was seldom a voluntary and never a cheerful giver"; that "he was never a leader, and often not even a follower, in the movements of the progressive or the philanthropic"; and that if it had not been for "the ceaseless and wisely directed efforts of sincere philanthropists who cultivated his friendship and confidence, the Williamson School would never have been founded."

This is painfully untrue.

If if could be proved that Mr. Williamson never gave anything spontaneously and generously, of his own initiative, it would at least be to his credit that there was something in his heart which could respond to definite appeals, or that he could succeed in overcoming a natural ungenerosity. But the reverse is true. In numerous instances, his gifts were not only voluntary, but absolutely secret—as, for example, in the many gifts which he made to various charities under the pseudonym of "Hez," which no one knew stood for him till after his death.

That certain great-souled people, of whom he sought counsel, did exert a positive influence over him in this direction at various times, and that he appreciated their spirit and rose to the occasion, is manifest. The charities of Peter Williamson and his daughter, Mary, made such an impression on him that in his will of 1874, it was directed that $10,000 should be left to Mary to assist her in carrying on her charitable work. The same amount was entered for Mrs. J. Bellangee Coxe, for the same purpose; and it is well known that as Miss McHenry was greatly admired by him for her unselfish character, fine executive ability and energy, in founding and carrying on the Lincoln Institution, the Educational Home, and other enterprises for young men; and, as has been said, some of his first large gifts were in the direction of her work. It is plain that the years of money-getting had not withered his heart.

His long-time friend, William C. Ludwig, was another who exerted a great influence over Williamson, both by example and positive pressure. For many years the philanthropist was accustomed to consult Ludwig more or less regularly regarding benevolent causes in mind, often not only following his advice, but going on far beyond his suggestions. As will be seen, this was particularly so in the matter of the Merchants' Fund.

But whatever the influence, subjective and objective, which set this great engine of charity going, the fact remains that the number and variety of Williamson's gifts in three or four years, from 1873 to 1876, are simply bewildering, even with the incomplete records which we have. Alfred Helmbold, Jr., who was his private secretary for seven years before his death, has collected such memoranda as he could of those years. The benefactions amounted to at least $200,000, aside from the gift to the University Hospital. Mr. Helmbold's list is here classified and arranged alphabetically.

Asylums and Homes

• Asylum for Relief of Persons Deprived of Use of Their Reason.
• Church Home for Children.
• Clinton Street Boarding Home for Young Women.
• Foster Home Association of Philadelphia.
• Frankford Asylum for the Insane.
• Frankford Home for the Insane.
• Franklin Reformatory Home for Inebriates.
• Home for Incurables.
• Home for Infants.
• House for Homeless.
• House of Refuge.
• Howard Institution Under Care of Women Friends.
• Lincoln Institution for Soldiers' Orphans.
• Newsboys' Home.
• Old Men's Home.
• Pennsylvania Asylum for Indigent Widows and Single Women in the District of Kensington.
• Pennsylvania Industrial Home for Blind Women.
• Philadelphia Home for Incurables.
• Temporary Home Association.
• Temporary Home for Children.
• Union School and Children's Home.
• Union Temporary Home for Children.
• Western Provident Society and Children's Home of Philadelphia.

Benevolent Funds and Societies

• Bank Clerks' Beneficial Association.
• Bucks County Association.
• Central Employment Association.
• Female Association of Philadelphia for the Relief of the Sick and Employment of the Poor.
• Fuel Saving Society of City and Liberties of Philadelphia.
• Mercantile Beneficial Association of Philadelphia.
• Merchants' Fund.
• Northern Association of the City and County of Philadelphia for the Relief and Employment of Poor Women.
• Pennsylvania Seamen's Friend Society.
• Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
• Philadelphia Lying-in Charity for Attending Indigent Females at Their Own Homes.
• Philadelphia Protestant Episcopal City Mission.
• Philadelphia Society for Employment and Instruction of the Poor.
• Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons.
• Seamen's Fund Society.
• Soup Societies—all of the regularly organized ones in Philadelphia.
• Union Benevolent Association of Philadelphia.
• Western Association of Ladies of Philadelphia for Relief and Employment of the Poor.

Hospitals and Dispensaries

• Children's Hospital.
• Church Dispensary of Southwark.
• Episcopal Hospital.
• German Hospital.
• Germantown Dispensary and Hospital.
• Howard Hospital and Infirmary for Incurables.
• Jefferson Medical College Hospital.
• Jewish Hospital.
• Medico-Chirurgical Hospital.
• Northern Dispensary of Philadelphia.
• Orthopaedic Hospital of Philadelphia.
• Pennsylvania Hospital.
• Philadelphia Dispensary.
• St. Luke's Hospital, South Bethlehem.
• University Hospital.
• Women's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Colleges, Libraries, and Other Educational Institutions

• Academy of Natural Sciences.
• Cambria Library Association of Johnstown.
• Educational Home for Boys.
• Haverford College.
• Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
• Industrial Home for Girls.
• Library Company of Fallsington.
• Mercantile Library.
• Philadelphia School of Design for Women.
• Swarthmore College.
• University of Pennsylvania.
• West Philadelphia Institute.
• Women's Medical College.
• Yardleyville Library Company.

This is undoubtedly an imperfect showing, for Williamson was always as reticent as possible regarding his gifts. Information had to be gathered from one source and another after his death. To many of these causes the contributions were fixed annual subscriptions, which were later found to have been permanently provided for in his will of 1874, according to certain definite percentages, thus revealing his accurate knowledge of the details and relative needs of certain benevolent organizations at that time. As an illustration of this, the Mercantile Beneficial Association received annually not less than $600 by the provisions of the will.

It is possible that Williamson came across the saying a member of Parliament once shrewdly uttered, out of personal observation as one of the laboring class, that "charity creates much of the misery it relieves, but does not relieve all the misery it creates." It is evident he held a similar opinion; and tried to avoid unwise, careless, thoughtless methods that have often done more harm than good. He seems to have preferred, usually, to contribute to the organized city charities rather than to the special local work of the churches. One of his chief reasons, according to Mr. Helmbold, was that "the needs of the suffering could be better investigated and understood by those having charge of these matters than from his personal efforts."

On the other hand, it is true that in numerous instances he gave secret personal attention to individual cases of need, or did this through his secretary—who was frequently his almoner in charitable deeds never publicly known. It seems to be true, also, that in a quiet way he helped many a feeble church in gifts. This is borne out by an exclamation known to have been made during the last year of his life, when told that two well-dressed ladies, coming in a carriage, had called at his office and asked for a contribution toward an expensive altar rail in a rich church:

"Rich church, eh? Well, I've got no use for rich churches. When I give money, I don't give to rich churches; I give to struggling ones."

In that first period of systematic giving in the '70's he made his gifts chiefly from the income of his investments, and as a rule pledged money only as he had an expected income to meet his promise. At times many of his valuable securities were not producing incomes, though increasing in value; and in fact the increase of his four millions, at seventy years, to three times as much in the last fifteen years of his life, was largely due to this great appreciation of values in capital stocks, bonds and real estate.^[1]

As an illustration of his method of giving away his income, it may be mentioned that about 1868 or 1870 he owned several lots or squares in the southwestern part of Philadelphia, which he was interested in building up. This section was in the neighborhood around Carpenter, Christian, Reed, Dickinson, Mt. Holly and Lingo Streets, between Fifteenth and Twentieth. As these properties were sold, he made advances to insure the erection of buildings, and reserved yearly ground rents, according to a local Philadelphia custom now not so much in vogue as formerly. Of those hundred or more ground rents nearly all were given to various charities during his lifetime.

While Williamson's charities were usually bestowed secretly, coming as something of a surprise to the beneficiaries, there were numerous occasions when he openly made them conditional, in order to get other people stirred up. On one occasion, for instance, when he was asked to give $10,000 to the Home for Incurables—to which he had given before, and in which he was deeply interested—for the purpose of purchasing additional ground adjoining the Home, he replied to the committee that if they would raise $5000 from other people by a certain time, he would give the other $5000. This was accomplished, and thus the circle of the Home's friends and supporters was enlarged.

From the time that it became publicly known that he was a large giver he was, of course, beset on all sides by appeals, and his mail brought begging letters from all over the world, some of them absurd or impudent—the common experience of men and women known to be wealthy or generous-minded. Many of these requests, both distant and local, could only be ignored. But to any straightforward and apparently worthy cause or person, he would listen patiently and sympathetically, generally asking a few penetrating questions, and usually, without giving aid at the time, would close the interview by saying: "I will look into the matter."

This was no idle answer, intended only to get rid of suppliants. It was a promise which he fulfilled. He "looked into the matter" with surprising thoroughness; and if the decision was favorable, the amount of his gift was usually surprising, also.

This desire to get the facts at first hand and to decide for himself is illustrated in a characteristic story told of him. On one occasion he had contributed to a certain cause in which a lady was deeply interested. She said to her father that while it was a generous gift, it was insufficient to accomplish her purpose, but she was afraid to ask again. Her father suggested that she should write a letter and he would deliver it. But Williamson was not satisfied with that; he asked that the daughter should come to him; he wanted the story of need from her own lips, and also wished to reassure her of his confidence in the work. When she went away from his dingy office, she carried an additional check for $10,000.

The circle of his sympathy was wide. Any great calamity stirred his heart; but also the poverty and distress of the humblest peddler who strolled into his office with a basket of cheap notions on his arm, from whom he would always buy something—perhaps a spool or two of thread, a paper of pins, or a stove lifter—odds and ends which he subsequently gave away when occasion offered. He was invariably strongly moved to help the man who was trying to help himself, however humble the effort. But for mere beggars, low or high, he had little sympathy.

Among the many benevolences of the last decade or so of Williamson's life a few stand out with special boldness on account of the large sums given while he was living. Among these the University of Pennsylvania at one time received a gift of fourteen acres of city property valued at $200,000; the Episcopal Hospital ten acres valued at $75,000; and the Woman's Hospital and College authorities thirty-eight acres in the southern section of the city, supposed to be worth more than $1oo,ooo. Besides the $50,000 or so given to Swarthmore College several years before, the sum of $80,000 was added in 1888, which the trustees used in founding "the I. V. Williamson Professorship of Civil and Mechanical Engineering."

Of the larger charities, also, were the Mercantile Library, the Merchant's Fund, and the House of Refuge. His active interest in the Mercantile Library dated back to 1873 or earlier, when one of the directors who knew Isaiah V. Williamson approached him on the subject of giving $10,000 to establish a "Williamson Fund," the annual income to be used in the purchase of new books of interest to mechanics and tradespeople, with Williamson's name printed on the inside label as the donor, thus keeping his generosity before the patrons of the Library. He replied that the notion was "all rubbish," and he could not allow his name to be used in that manner. The disappointed director gave it up and went home. However, Williamson "thought it over" in his usual way, and in a few days informed the director that he would do a little something for him. Deeds were turned over to the Library, embracing valuable timber and coal lands in Clinton County, worth $35,000 or more; and later, other gifts of ground rents brought his contribution up to $50,000. Thus eventually, whether he would or no, the "Williamson Fund" was established in the Mercantile Library.

As to his interest in the Merchants' Fund, no doubt Ludwig had a good deal to do with that. He was one of its organizers in 1854, and its president from 1869 till his death in the latter part of 1889; and its purpose was very near his heart—to aid fellow-merchants who had met with reverses and were in distress. It was natural that Williamson, who valued so highly Ludwig's judgment in benevolences, should sympathize with him in this manner, especially as he had himself passed through the struggles and anxieties of a city merchant. In the early '70's, accordingly, he joined with others in various subscriptions to this fund, his own amounting to about $15,000. Feeling the importance of a largely increased permanent endowment, he worked actively to get others aroused on the subject; and not meeting with the response he desired, he simply did it himself—a little later conveying to the association property on Chestnut Street above Seventh, worth $85,000 or more, and making his total subscription to the fund $100,000 at the lowest valuation. Among the managers and ardent friends of the fund in those days was Edmund A. Souder, one of Williamson's young business contemporaries when he first came to Philadelphia.

Regarding the gift of $105,000 to the House of Refuge, there are some especially interesting features. In one of the semi-official accounts of the history of that institution the date of his gift is entered as February 2, 1889, only a month before his death. But the subscription seems to have been made during the preceding year, in three payments of $35,000 each. The special occasion was the removal of certain departments of the institution from the city to the country, in order to erect new buildings and establish the "cottage" system at Glen Mills, giving the boys more freedom, and so far as possible doing away with the prison-like methods of former years. The idea had so appealed to William Massey, the wealthy brewer, that he had recently subscribed $100,000 to it. Williamson must have been familiar with the history of the institution from the first, as it was organized in 1826, a few months after he came to Philadelphia, and have known the long devotion to it of Isaac Collins, Alexander Henry, and their children from the first. But his attention had been particularly drawn to it for some time, leading him to make a careful study of the whole situation, and his interest in the House of Refuge became so great, through his examination of its past history and future plans, that he resolved to give it a lift whether or no. Meeting Massey a little later, their conversation is said to have been something like this:

"They tell me," remarked Williamson, "that you have given a hundred thousand to move the House of Refuge boys out into the country. That is good. There is something in nature to heal the diseased mind as well as the diseased body."

"That is true; but it is not enough. What will you give?" asked Massey, in his wholehearted way.

"I thought about it all last night," said Williamson. "The forlorn boy lies close to my conscience; and I have promised them a hundred thousand or so."

"Bless my heart! Have you? Come and take lunch with me."

"Thank you, Mr. Massey, but I have my lunch here in my pocket."

During those years—the '70's and onward—Williamson's old affection for the country relatives and country life was as warm as ever, manifesting itself in various ways as occasion offered.

In 1875 he came to the rescue of the Library Company at Fallsington, the village of his early years. The Library was incorporated in 1802—the year preceding his birth—with thirty-five shareholders. It began with 138 volumes, some of which are still in service. As a boy and young man he must have made use of the Library frequently. It had been maintained after a fashion ever since, but its scope was very limited and in the early '70's its life seemed flickering. The organization was barely kept alive through the courage and perseverance of three or four individuals. One of the villagers kept the cases of books at his house, and acted as librarian, with a trifling fee. But Williamson put new life into the enterprise by giving $5000 as an endowment fund, of which the interest was to be used in purchasing new books. This was made conditional upon the capital stock being increased to at least one hundred paid-up shares providing for the maintenance and incidental expenses of the Library. The result was that the organization took on a new and larger life. Public enthusiasm was aroused. A library building was erected four years later, to which Williamson contributed one-half the expense. At the time of the Library's centennial, in 1902, there were more than seven thousand volumes listed in its catalogue.

Williamson also had a part in the formation of the Bucks County Association, in 1876, in which Judge Edward M. Paxson, Amos Briggs, John O. James, Theodore C. Search, and John Stackhouse were officers of the first Board of Managers, and of which many eminent Philadelphians, who had come from Bucks County, became members. The purpose, besides providing a suitable rallying place during the Centennial Exhibition, was to perfect a permanent organization, with rooms and social features, and to afford whatever encouragement and protection it might to young men settling down in the business of the city.

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1. Before he died he had amassed a fortune of $20,000,000, of which he disbursed $5,000,000 during his lifetime to various charities. In his offerings it was sufficient for him that they were deserving and commanded his confidence, and public mention of his contributions was a matter of great dislike, for, of all things, he especially avoided notoriety.