Why do the people "applaud" Oppenheimer?

From the text:

They want to hear your voice again. Sir Ernest Oppenheimer. Some of them applaud you, and some of them say thank God for you, in their hearts, eVen at their bedsides. For mines are for men, not for money. And money is not something to go mad about, and throw your hat into the air for. Money is for food and clothes and comfort, and a visit to the pictures. Money is to make happy the lives of children. Money is for security, and for dreams, for hopes, and for purposes. Money is for buying the fruits of the earth, of the land where you were born.