MR. SAMUEL INSULL, PHILANTHROPIST [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—At the dinner given by Mr. T. P. O'Connor, M.P., at the House of Commons, on March 2Ith to Mr. Samuel Insull, the multi-millionaire of Chicago, eulogistic references were made (both by the host on that occasion and Lord Birkenhead) to Mr. Insull's efforts on behalf of the British Red Cross in his adopted country as well as his most valued support of the Allied cause during the War. If I may trespass on your valuable space, I would like to place on record my own expe- rience of his disinterested generosity. I was in Chicago in 1915 in the employ of a German, and finding my position under then existing conditions intolerable, applied to Mr. Insult (whom I did not know personally) with a view to obtaining a more congenial environment. He sent his secretary to see me, afforded me financial assistance during a period of great stress, and advised my returning to the Mother Country (where at that time positions were fairly easy to secure even for a man of my age—fifty-three), eventually providing me with a first- class passage (which included my wife) to England. Apart from my letter to the Chicago Press on the War, he knew nothing of me. I have never even had the privilege of meeting him, and am sure, therefore, that you will agree that such disinterested philanthropy is unparalleled.—I am, Sir, &c.,
OWEN HOWARD OWEN.
Sampford Brett, Somerset.
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