Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1880-12-01

maNs SWdu C TO-, MT. 4Hman mas num-
Der of private enterprises. Among others
he is engaged in the guano and fertilizer
trade, the manufacture of which is now a
great standard industry, some idea of the
magnitude of which may be gathered from
the fact that he had $525, 600 of his indiyid-
ual cash capital invested in it last season.
From one factory he took 10000 tons
from another 5000, and so on through.
The business being SO satisfactory. he will
the coming season have 100000 in the
same trade, controlling over 25,O00 tons,
chiefly on commission. With ell this he
has everything so systematizsd and moves
with such promptness and decision that be
spends from four to six months OF each
year with his family at the seaside or some
resort 1t is cardinal part of his creed
never to speculate or to take any specula-
tive risk. In the papers of his firm there
are the strongest articles against specula-
ton, either as firm or by either of the
members as individuals. The profits,
therefore, though immense, are perfectly
legitimate, and come certain and steadily
Mr.. Inman lives easily and comfortably,
and having culture and taste, finds that bis
wealth, instead of palling, only opens ever
fresh vistas of enjoyment. He devotes q
large sum annually to charity and philan-
thropy. The handsome donation of his
firm to the Hood children, the largest
made by any single firm, will be remem-
bered. In quieter way he has done
much more-as, for instance, he has given
over $4,000 individually to the First Pres
byterian church of this city. In short, he
presents the interesting spectacle of man
of fine instincts, excellent health, and felic-
itous relations, who has made fortune
while he is young enough to enjoy 1t TO
the fullest-and has so ordered his habits
that he has not dulled his impulses, chilled
the genial currents of his soul or hardened
his heart in the struggle with the world.
For the next ten years his income should
average S250,000 year, and from that
time forward will be fully half a million a
year, if he remains in business. What a
| life of usefulness and happiness is ahead of
this man! With happy Christian home,
| loving wife and affectionate children, a
heart still fresh and nature yet unwarped
with clear head. and a current OF
strong old Presbyterian blood coursing
| through his veins-truly his lines are cast
in pleasant places.
What an example is here for our young
men! What brilliant promise to draw
them away from the arid ways of politics
and the hardly less irid:ways of profession
| al life! Just look at the chapters in this
one mans history. AT twenty out of the
dust and heat of battle, penniless and
| alone; at twenty-five worth $50, 900, hap
PLY married, and at the head Of pros
porous house; at thirty six worth million
and a half, in good health and heart, and
with net income of over 100000 year!
Follow the probabilities. At forty-six
worth five million dollars and possessed oI
an income of over half q million year,
and just in the prime of a well-ordered
life. How this example should draw itS
followers! How completely it should
teach that in the wrangiing of public life
| and the pretentious ways of the professions
there is not all the honor or usefulness
All! butt is impossible to attain such dizzy
heights as this2 To be sure, there will b.
few who can hope for such successful
nothing is surer than that young maj
who starts with clean habits, a clear heaC
and faithful soul, and works earnestly
and devotedly can get far enough aloni
this road to come into the :sunshino, Will
dew and the air of the morning embalm
the earth.
AS for me, should be charged with ir-
reverence if l wrote down bow many poll
ticians, in my opinion, this one youny
merchant is worth. The mere computa
ton gives me some hint of the severe con
tempt with which solid men of bushes
look out from their world upon the bab
bling orators who declare that paralysis o
prosperity waits alternately upon the vic
tory or defeat of faction of salary
mongers. should like to strike balanc
between the lives of John Inman, mer
chant, and some one of our eminent latte
day statesmen, when both are dead, an
see which had done the most and the bet
ter work. Then we should see how mucl
speeches counted against deeds-prophec
against performsnce-boastiug against fuI
fllment. To drop into metaphor, we ma
say that the farmer and mechanic Great
the blood which enriches the body corpo
rate-the merchant, stationed in the heart
supplies the vital force that sends it cours
ing through the veins-the professions
man tempers the flow. gauges its curren
and defines Limitations the politi
clans, camped along its channels, fatten o
its exhalations aud put the whole body in
} fever by swearing that the veinous is su
perior to the arterial blood, or vice versa
not hesitating to spill either to disprove th
excellence of the other. a. W. @.
IL