The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-19
MEN WHO SUCCEED.
What Il Mans "Luck?'-Bad Logic-The
Searching Eye.

HOW 90 ilty sct dic"N' ~" - 'o'''S
men promoted and others not. By what
process of selection are the successful
men picked out from the ranks! Take
mercantile life, for instance. Is there
any definite system of promotion theres
Is there searching eye that is always on
the lookout for those who promise to he
capable meny Or is 1t luck and chance
that cause some men to succeed and
other men to fail or to remain where
they aref
Men rail against "fate." There are
always some thousands, il not some
millions. Of our fellow creatures who are
doing this, and who blame everything,
from the stars to the weather. for the i'll
success in the.midst of which they find
themselves, sooner or later. But were
they not themselves largely to blame for
not getting onl II jealous and impair
tial critic were to examine the records OF
their lives from day to day, would he
not find very good reason, or plenty OF
reasons, perhaps, why fortune had not
smiled on the complainantsf One often
hears that So-and-so is down on his
luck" Tom is now in the same humble
position that he held ten years ago, while
Dick is happy in the favors Of the coy
jade fortune, and Harry, as il to explain
matters, says: 'It's Just Toms luck!"
But was it, or is it! What is mans
"luck?" Is rational MAJ going to be-
Ieve that every individual has his own
particular moon which rules the tides of
his life irrespective Of his own volitioni
Toms bad luck" and Dicks Sgood
luck, and Harry's medium fuck' may
prove to be. il you examine closely, only
the result Of the exertion or the lack of
exertion made by Tom, Dick OF Harry in
their course through life. One hears a
great deal of talk about ''self made
men," and, on the other hand, one often
hears it said that there is not the chance
for men to make good fortunes for them.
selves that there was a generation back.
Competition, you are assured, is 1.-The
life of trade" but also the death of indi-
viduality
Says the young fellow Of today: The
self made man about whom we hear 50
much promoted themselves. They had
the advantage Of living in a time when
they could take affairs into their own
hands, and they did not have TO depend
as we do upon the good graces of others.
Look at Horace Greeley as a case in
point. Greeley was his own editor,
printer and compositor, and he pub
lished his paper in meager, announcement
quarters. Look at Thurlow Weed, start
ing a country weekly while his family
were compelled to live for days without
tea, sugar or meat-on bread and hutter
only, with cold water! You couldn {
start in the newspaper business in that
fashion today; there is too much
competition; conditions have changed
capital is required. And so it is
through the various lines Of business.
You don't find men running small shops
nowadays-that is, you find but few Of
them, and the number is growing grad
ually less. This is the day Of big capital,
big enterprises, big everything, and men
cannot start in for themselves as they
could twenty years ago, with anything
like the same chances of success"
On the face Of ii there seems 10 be a
good deal Of logic in such a presentation
Of the case. But it were idle to let mat
tiers rest here. If it is -ue that times
and conditions have changed. then men
must change with them and adapt them
selves 10 circumstances. A man must
bear himself well before that searching
eye After all it is just as true as ever
II was, despite this talk of luck that
a man is the architect of his own fort
une. Men are rising today, although
competition is keener than ever it was;
they are making the. individuality felt
as their fathers did in Ase days gone by.
\ good deal is said about opportunities
and taking advantage Of them; about
opportunities coming to some men and
none to others. But, after all, is it not
the most successful man who practically
creates his opportunity by keeping out Of
the ruts, and by handling affairs differ
entity from the methods employed by
other menf
1t is quite true that young man de-
string TO be money king, after the
fashion Of Mr.. Jay Gould, might find 1t
impracticable to attain his end by begin
ming in the businhss Of peddling mouse.
traps around the state Of New York.
The embryo Aston of today will doubt
less find the fur trade monopolized, and
the young Vanderbilt will discover that
steam ferry boats, owned and managed
by municipal corporations, arc quite
likely to shut away from his modest dory
any possible profits arising from trans
portation. When westerner got into
New York and made the journalistic
srark fly, he had to take advantage OF
every modern improvement" in the
world of newspaperdom in order 10 carry
his point. lie could not, like Greeley or
Thnrlow Weed, go into a cellar or an
attic and pull his own papers off press
run by man power, unless he was delIb-
erately searching for bankruptcy. lie
had served his apprenticeship in the
humber walks of newspaperdom; he
had been Il reporter and had driven the
pencil at high speed over many reams of
dismal ''copy." The searching eye is on
the lookout for just such man, man
who had the pluck to do things in his
own way and to create opportunities
wherever it is possible to do so.-Boston