Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-09-11

seek homes in the new and still unsettled part
of the country. Land grants to railroads have
no been an unmixed evil. The railroads have
settled the land and increased the value of the
governments part of the land. l have myself
discouraged bonanza farms. l like to sell
small farms. 1t is not to the interest of rail
roads to sell land to land spectators. The
roads want the produce to carry. 1t has been
my experience that men who are industrious
will succeed. You can most always find some
thing behind the failure of man,
''What proportion of the American capitalists
are self-made men,"
''Nearly all. They have made their own for
tune. There has been no system of Inherited
wealth among capitalists of this country. don't
think there is any aristocracy of wealth here,
nor will there be in the future. The laws OF
this country don't permit entailment Of estates.
You will it to your children and they dlssipate
it as much as you could wish. Your hired man
may be your sons master in time. There Is no
danger of any great association of corporate
alth in the future endar gering the liberty OF
happiness of the people. The danger lies ID
the accumulation of large bodies of uneducated
laborers. We should develop and extend the
education of the masses. Education is the
protection against future harm. 1t would ben
eft labor more than anything else"
"Are labor unions injurious or benehclalr'
81 can't say. haven't paid much attention
to that subject"
s'Wouldn't it be practical to establish in man
ufacturing businesses some system of assurance
whereby part of the laborer's earnings, and per
haps the profits of capital, could be put into d
fund to be used in the laborer's old age, when
he is unemployed?'
''The trouble about assurance among laboring
men is that it is good thing in theory but not
in practice. The drones would be apt to get g
hold of the money and spend it. With the fund
under the control of employers the plan might
work"
81 don't think" said Mr.. Gould in conclu-
sion, THAT there is any future danger to be APP
pretended from corporate franchises. The fact
that they are not exclusive removes that danger.
They are not monopolies. A monopoly, COM
bining all the railroads, or any of the great cor
porate industries, is an impossibility. Nobody
need have any fear from me. I broughtnothing
into the world, and it is certain l can't take
anything away with me. l believe that men
should be so educated that if they found no
room in a certain industry they could turn their
hand to something else. 1t is free country and
everybody should be given the opportunity to
do that which they can do best. We are all
working together, rich and poor alike, not one
to destroy the other, but each and collectively
to demonstrate the success of our form of gov
eminent and the stability of American institu-
tions.''
People may differ as they please con-
corning Mr.. Gould's career, and they will
be sure to differ, but all must be in agree
ment that he has given the public a plain,
simple statement of the story of his life,
from his humble origin on the old farm,
his toll for an education, his day of small
beginning, with glimpses of his achieve
ments and success. In some parts it reads
like romance, but in reality it is not
such. He bought into railroads which
other people could not handle when the
stock was down, and as he puts it, devel-
oped the section tributary to the lines and
made the property an asset. In other
words, he boughtwhen other people wanted
to sell and sold when other people wanted
to buy. e+-ts1
To the soldier, the statesman, the author
and the poet are ascribed genius, but it
seems man of business may be a genius
as well. That he must have ability, dlsci-
pline, Intellectual resource and force, Mr..
Gould's story fully shows. If the general
public think no better of Mr.. Gould than
before hearing the secret of his success, he
has at least shown them what a man may
accomplish by honest, hard work, by
study and devotion, by faithful application
These things are the genius of success, and
upon this foundation any mans career
may be an ample success. The industri
GUS thrive. The drones consume.