In November, 188(3, he letired frcrn liis
active duties as iiispeetori of schools, and
in April, 1888, he went to Liverpool to
meet his daughter, who had sailed from
N-ew York. Wliile hastening toward the
dock, he fell, and died without regaining
consciousness.
SHOULD ’GENIUS BE ENDOWED?
In this day of endowment, when the
goveniraent j>ensi(jns ev^ry soldier, and
rich men, who spend their lives mak
ing money, and in the end of like look out
upon brains and genius struggling in pov-
■trty, and then give to pension these pov
erty-stricken ones, it is an interesting
question as to whether brains and genius
should be endowed. A little time ago
“(’urrint Literature” gave some inteiest-
ing information a.s followij on the sub
ject and about literary men :
Years ago, wiien he was himself poor,
unknown and almost friendless, Mr. Up
ton Sinclair registered a vow that, if he
could litlp it, no other young author should
lever suffer what he had suffered. He
wrote a book, “The -Journal of Arthur
Stirling,” in which, with a wealth of har-
Iowing detail, he pictured the life-struggle
of " young poet who strived and starved
and .inally committed suicide. He wrote
an article for The Independent in which
he told of a “cause” he had found that
summoned all his devotion:
“I sum it up for you in this one sen
tence: That the salvation of American lit-
■erature de]>ends upon the saving of the
young author from the brutali;;ing slavery
of ‘What the Public Wants.’ It is my
thesis that the thing we call ‘the world’
never has been and never canJie such that
a Ulan of gvnius should be ^iubniitted to
its control; that ‘control’ is the shame and
the blot and the agony of the long, long
story of literature. It always has been
possible, and always will be possible, in
no way but one—by the world’s denying
.0 the man of genius a living, and a
chance to do his wonk, unless he will
conform to its ways.”
He proposed for a remedy for this en
slavement of genius “an institution to
-be subsidized by rich men for the purpos*
of endowing young authors of talent.”
Mr. Sinclair’s proposed institution has
not been realized, but bo is hopeful that
it may be. Ht has talked of his plan to
a well-known philanthropist, who evinced
considerabte interest, and suggested that
the opinions of representative writers be
obtained. In pursuance of this sugges
tion, Mr. Sinclair addressed an open ktter
to fifty of the leading authors of Europ,*,
and the United States. '
What he had in mind, he made clear,
was a permanent endowment analogous
to the Nobel Fund. Its purpose would
be “the enconragment of vital creative
literary work, by the establishment of
scholarships or prizes, to be given for a
period of two or three years with the pos
sibility of continuance if the candidate’s
work sliould make it seem worth while.”
He said, more si>£‘ifically: ^
“The provision of such an en-'owment
would have to be drawn with cart;. They
should make clear that what is sought is
young work rather than perfect work;
work of a forward-looking tendency, by
writers who.se future is before them; and
work of a new and path-breaking nature—
not simply conventional and well-bred and
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academic work. The competition should
be o|)en to manuscripts published and un-
pu.jlisliid: but only to writers who aie
dependent upon their own efforts for a
living. Also we should exclude books
wliich have had a considerable sale; for
there is no need to help successful au
thors. ’ ’
The success of the undertaking, Mr. Sin
clair conceded, would depend upon the
selection of judges; and in view of the
fact that there is no such thing in this
world as infallibility, it would be impossi
ble to ])lease eve yone. But surely three
men could be foimd who (1) have produc
ed vital work themselves, and (2) have
shown ]>enetration, sympathy and balance
in their judgments upon the work of oth-
eis. A certain number of the prizes, he
thought, should be by the award of all
three judges; there should be at least one
prize for each judge to award on his
own individual opini(m. “In matter of
importance such as this.” he procee-ded,
“it would be' worth making many mis
takes to achieve one success. If we could
save one Chatterton or Keats it would be
worth all the cost and trouble.”
“The awards should be for three classes
of work; poet'V, fiction, and prose writing
of an inspirational character. There
should be in each class one prize of one
thousand dollars for three years, and two
prizes of five hundred dollars for three
y^rs. I estimate the' other expenses; sal-
^wv of manuscript readers three thousand
dollars, salaries of judges three thousand
dollars, office expenses one thousand dol
lars—a total of $2.5,000 for three years’
experiment. ”
Mr. Sinclair added the following facts
to clincl^ his argument:
“1. Milton, Shelby, Byron, Browning.
Ruskin. Swinburne, Hugo and Goethe were
all men of means.
“2. Wordsworth, Southey, Tennyson, all
received incomes or pensions.
“3. Marlowe, Chatterton, Poe, Keats,
and recently George Gissing and John
Davidson died miserably.
“4. Men like .Johnson. Carlyle, Whitman
and Meredith have left testimony to the
neglect and poverty which handicapped
them.
“Of the few poets we have now,
has a pension, and recently went
into bankruptcy, and are
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disg:acefully poor, and —
a hermit in a hut. I might tell you of a
score of other men who are in utter des
titution, or who have to cheapen and de
grade their work deliberately; for in
stance, . Men like this do not cry
their woes from housetops, and they do
not write begging letters. But they would
accept an award which was made under
conditions which made it a public honor.”
Nearly twenty of the authors took the
trouble to reply, and their| letters are
printed in a recent issue of The Indepen
dent. The opinions expressed are very di-
veree. A few unreservedly indorse Mr.
Sinclair’s plan. The strongest letters,
however, are f;om those who contend that
financial endowment of genius is impos
sible and undesirable.
The poets, Edwin Markham and Bliss
Carman, ax’e among the stoutest champions
of the plan. “There are many things to
commend it,” says Markham, “and noth
ing to condemn it. For one thing it would
tend to give dignity to poetry and hope
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to poets. While it might call out more
poetasters, it would also tend to increase
the work of the bards, the authentic say-
ers. And anything that will add to the
[K)etic treasure of the nation will add to
the nation’s glory. Verily, in these times
of materialistic fatalism, anything should
be welcomed that will add to the ideal
element in our civilization.” Mr. Car
man writes, similarly;
“In the plan you outline I can see' no
objections; and I believe that the most ar
dent theorist for social reform must even
tually come to your way of thinking.
“For e'ven in the most perfectly OTr
ganized society, poetry would still be in
need of somethings more than popular sup
port. In the very nature of poetry there
will always be' something a little in ad
vance of our common aims, understand
ing, and aspirations. If it is worth while,
it cannot ever be quite fully valued in
its ow’n day, or rather, I should say,
widely enough valued to be self-sustaining.
And as you truly point out, the best po
ets who have come to maturity have al
ways had some means of livelihood at
their command. The idea that any sort
of an artist or workman is all the better
for being doome'd to a life of penurious
worry, in such a silly old fallacy, one
wonders it could have persisted so long.
“A little hardship is good for every
man at the beginning of his career, no
doubt. Gives tone to his moral system,
and tempers his character. But a contin
uity of it is crushing. The plight of be
wildered and striuggling genius is a dis
grace to us all, but one which your noble
purpose would do much to remove, I be
lieve. ’ ’