If I Were 21

While on vacation I visited an old bookstore. I say visited because to me used books are more like old friends. I found a small book, written in 1918, by Dr. Frank Crane, a Methodist minister and author. The title of this 42-page gem is simply “21.” Each of the ten chapters begin with, “If I were 21 I would…”

The first chapter is titled: “If I were 21 I would do the next thing.” Dr. Crane talks about the value of work, capitalism, and the connection of the individual to society. I summarized some of his key points and included a couple quotes from the book as well:

• The first duty of a human being in this world is take oneself off other people’s backs.
• I would not wait for the ideal job, that is always a job the other fellow has.
• It is important to find the best thing to do. If I were a young artist, I would paint advertisements if that were all I could find until I could paint landscapes.
• I would go to work, nothing in all this world I have found is so good as work.

Dr. Crane states that the wage system is the best and most practical means of coordinating human effort. “What spoils it is the large indigestible lumps of unearned money that, because of laws that originated in special privilege, are injected into the body politic, by inheritance and other legal artificialities.” Having said that, Dr. Crane says that if he were 21, he would resolve to take no dollar for which he had not contributed something in the world’s work. If given a million dollars by a philanthropist, he would decline it. He would give his inheritance from a rich father over to the city treasury. If he were 21, Dr. Crane states that he would keep clean of endowed money (does this go for churches and not-for-profits? – ouch). “The happiest people I have known have been those whose bread and butter depended upon their daily exertion.”

As to giving an inheritance over to the city treasury, Dr. Crane feels that all great wealth units come, directly or indirectly, from the people and should go to them. He said that if inheritance was limited to $100,000, there would be no trouble with the wage system. This sounds like a very modest inheritance by today’s standards. The fact is, $100,000 in 1918, inflated at 3% a year, equals a little over $2 million dollars today. It is still relatively a modest inheritance compared to the net-worth of Bates and Bezos.

I think Dr. Crane was concerned about the wealth of someone in his day like Andrew Carnegie, who was worth over 300 billion in today’s dollars. Carnegie was on the same page as Dr. Crane, writing the Gospel of Wealth after he retired. Before he died in Lenox, MA, Andrew Carnegie gave most of his wealth away. If you have been to a public library, there is a good chance that it was started with a gift from the Carnegie Foundation.

I find it interesting that 100 years ago discussions about the role of wealth, the dignity of work, and the intersection with our faith was being held in the public square. Similar ideas and discussions are being presented today – absent the intersection of our faith. If the church wants to get relevant, it’s time to claim our seat at the gospel of wealth table.