Waco evening news. (Waco, Tex.) 1888-1889, 1888-10-05
arrrvt, MEN WHO rsvccEs6Trs |

process of selection are the successful
men picked out from the ranks? Take
MERCANTILE life, for Instance Is there
{ any definite system OF promotion there?
Is there searching eye that is always on
the lookout for those who promise to be
capable men? Or Is it luck and chance
that cause some men to succeed and
other men to fail or to remain where
they area
Men rail against ''fate. - There yate
always some thousands, II not some
millions, of our fellow creatures who are
doing this, and who blame everything
from the stars to the weather, for the Ill
success in the midst of which they find
themselves, sooner or later. But were
they not themselves largely to blame for
not getting ol If "A 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
3. reasons, perhaps, why fortune had not
smiled on the complainants2 One often
hears that So-and-so is 'down on his
luck" Tom is now in the same humble
J position that he held ten years ago, while
Dick is happy in the favors of the coy
jade fortune, and Harry, as if to explain
matters, says: ''It's just Toms luck!"
~ But was it, oryfs itl Wlatf Is mans
'.l&c1" Is rational man going toNbe-
heve that every individual has his own
particular moon which rules the tides Of
his fife irrespective of his own volitionp
Toms 'bad luck" and Dicks ..good
lutlz,'' and Harrys medium luckn may
prove to be, if you examine Closely only
the result of the exertion or the lack Of
exertion made by Tom, Dick or 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, generatiorsback.
gsCompethien, you arc assured, is ssflie
life of trade, U but.also-the death OF indi-
viduality.
Says the young fellow of today: THE
self made man about whom we hear SO
much promoted themselves. They had
the advantage of living in q 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 case in
point. Greeley was his own editor,
printer and composition, and he pub
ished his paper in meager, inconvenient
quarters. Look at Thurlow Weed, start
ing a country weekly Wilde his family
were compelled to live for days without
tea, sugar or meat-on bread and butter
only, with cold water You couldn't
start in the newspaper business in that
fashion today; there is too much
competition; conditions have changed;
capital h. is. required. And, so, it is
through the various lines of business.
You don't find men running small shops
powadays--that is, you find but few of
them, and the number is growing grad
tally less. This is the day of big capital,
mg enterprises, big everything, and men
cannot start in for themselves as they
could twenty years ago. with anything
Ike the same Chances of success"
On the face Of it there seems to be q
f1good deal Of logic in such approximation
Nof tho case. But it were idle to let mat
tiers rest here, If it is true that times
and conditions have changed, then men
must change with them and adapt them
selves to circumstances A man must
bear himself. we'll before that searching
eye. After all it is Just as true ms evcr
it was. despite this talk of ''luck,' that
man is the architect of his own fort
une. Men are rising today, although
competition is keener than ever it was;
they are making their individuality fell
as their fathers did in the days gone by.
A good deal is said about opportunities
and taking advantage of theme about
opportunities coming to some men and
mono to others. But, after ali, Is ittnot
the most successful man who practically
creates his opportunity by keeping out Of
the ruts, and by handling affairs differ
emily from the methods employed by
other menu
1t is quite true that young mans d.
string, to be q money king, = after tle
9 fashion Of Mr.. Jay Gould, might find h
impracticable to attain his end by BEGIN
ming in the businhss of peddling mouseA
traps around the state Of New York.
The embryo Astor of today will doubt
less find the fur trade n,onopolized. and
1.-THE young Vanderbilt will discover that
leteam ferry boats, owned and managed
by municipal corporations, are quite
likely to shut away from his modest dorv
any possible profits arising from trans
portation. When westcrner got intl.
! New York and made the ioirnalistib.
spark fly, he had to take advantage az
every, ''modern improvementp in tlsa
world of newspaperdom in order to carry
his point. He could not, like Greedy or
Thurlow Weed, go into q cellar or an
attic and pull his own papers off a. press
run BY man power, unless he .,was,d elib-
eiately searching for bankruptcy. Hh
had served his apprenticeship in the
humber walks of newspaperiiona; lie
had been reporter and lad dlivsnvthe
pencil at high speed over many rcams,of
dismal 'copy." The searching eye is,on
the lookout for just such a nYan, q man
wholad the pluck to do things in hi.
own way and to- create opportunities
whenever it klpossible to do.so.--Rbefom