The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-05-31
CHARACTER AND CAPITAL.

1t is related of Girard that when a
! young tradesman, having bought and
| paid for bag of coffee, proceeded to
wheel it home himself. the shrrewd old
merchant Immediately offered to trust
his new customer to as many more
bags as the latter might desire. The
trait Of character revealed by the
young man in being his own porter
had given the millionaire confidence in
him at once. His reputation was made
with Girard. He became a favored
dealer with the enterprising merchant,
throve rapidly and in the end amassed
fortune.
No mere capital will do so much for
young men as character. Nor will al
ways even capital and connection COM
bined In your own experience, we
have known many beginners who have
utterly failed, though backed by ample
means and assisted by the influence of
large circle of friends. In some cases,
indeed considerable experience, as well
as industry and perseverance, has been
added to these advantages, yet without
securing success. We have known such
persons, after a failure in their pur-
suit to try second, and even third,
yet with no better result, although still
assisted by capital. by friends and even
by their own activity. The secret was
that they had missed, somehow, max
ing character for themselves.
On the other hand, it is a. common
occurrence to see young men begin
without cent, yet rapidly rise to for
tune. They achieve this triumph by
establishing, at the outset, a reputation
for being competent business men. Few
are so fortunate as to do this by a
single characteristic act, like the pur-
chaser who won Girard's good will by
wheeling home the bagffi for generally
neither veteran merchants are as
shrewd as the famous millionaire, nor
young dealers as energetic as his Gus
toner. But a consistent life of saga
city, economy and industry, invariably
establishes the right kind of reputation
in the end. Confidence grows up in in
fiuential quarters towards the young
beginners. Old merchants shake their
heads approvingly and say: He IS of
the right stuff and will get along"
Credit comes. as it were. unsought
Connection follows. The reputation of
the new aspir4nts widens and deepens;
his transactions begin to be quoted as
trade flows in on him from
every quarter, and in a few years he
retires with a competence, or remains
to become a millionaire. All this is the
result of establishing, at the outset a
character of the right sort.
We may say. to every young man |
about TO start in life, make a charac-
ter for yourself as soon as possible. Let |
it also be a distinctive one. 1t is bet |
ter to have a name for excelling all |
others in some one thing than to en- |
Joy simply a notoriety for general |
merit. Are YOU a mechanic ?-OutStriD
your fellows in skill. Are you young
superior in a particu-
ar branch. Are you a clerk?-be the
pest bookkeeper your employers have.
Are you in a store make yourself ac-
Iuainted with the various buyers. in
hort, become known for an excellence
peculiar to yourself; acquire "a special
Y, as it is called, and success is GER
ain, because you VIII have, az it were,
monopoly, and dictate your own
erms.
Money may be lost. without fault of
our own, by some sone or another of
he accidents of life. Connections may
e broken up, by death. or failure. or
hange of interests. But character re-
Mains through all. It belongs to the
Individual and is above the chances of
ate. Thousands who have lost all
lse, have recovered themselves by
aving a character to start anew with; I
ut no man, without business charac-
ar, has ever risen from the ruin caused
Y the loss of capital, or the destruc-
on of connection. .a...t sa