DOWNING COLLEGE,
CAMBRIDGE.
_19 April, 1902._
I returned yesterday from a winter spent in the Canaries where I am
compelled to take refuge. Already I have read your article about gifts
for non-charitable purposes and have been delighted by it. It puts an
accent on what I think a matter of great historical importance--namely
the extreme liberality of our law about charitable trusts. It seems
to me that our people slid unconsciously from the enforcement of the
rights of a c.q.t. to the establishment of trusts without a c.q.t.--the
so-called charitable trusts: and I think that continental law shows
that this was a step that would not and could not be taken by men whose
heads were full of Roman Law. _Practically_ the private man who creates
a charitable trust does something that is very like the creation of an
artificial person, and does it without asking leave of the State.
I only saw Thayer for a few hours, but I feel his death as the death of
a friend. The loss must be deeply felt at Harvard.