The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-04-10

| Topeka Commercial Club Wednesday
! Evening.
taken any form though it is suggested
that the association would like to secure
site on the southwest corner of Eighth
and Kansas avenue or on the lot west
of it facing on Jackson street.
Mr.. Beardsley spoke for 40 minutes or
more in a clear and forcible way that
carried conviction as to the Importance
of the propositions which he laid down.
The most valuable asset that a city
has" said he, lis in its young men, and
its development depends upon nothing
else so much as upon the character of
the men who shall manage its activities.
And this idea of the Importance of hav-
ing the right kind of men is not limited
to the man who shall be in the lead It
is just as important that there be the
right men among the rank and file. In
every great movement in history, while
we know the names of iSOla ted men who
have been leaders, they have been pos
sible because of the mass of men of
like mind who were about then and be-
meath them"
Mr.. Beardsley further said:
The individual man who desires to
reach, in his own life. the best results
attainable by him, does not permit his
life to drift; is not willing that it shall
be merely the result of the play of ex-
ternal and internal forces, acting upon
his life as they may chance to act He
makes for himself a definite plan and
endeavors to meet his surroundings AMI
to graDple with the tendencies of his
own nature. and in this way control,
and determine what his own character
shall be. 1t is Just as possible in the
city for a reasonable body of its citi-
zenship, from year to year, to deter
mine what the course of the city's de-
velopment shall be; and. largely to
bring about the type of municipal life
upon which they determine.
In this city of Topeka, the one body
whose conscious purpose it is to study
the life of the city in all its relation
ships, and to bring about the material
development of the city is the body
which is gathered here this evening. I
have seen a list of the membership of
this body, and of the committees TO
which the chief part of its work is as
signed. You have undertaken to bring
about the Strengthening of the CONNER
cial interests of the city, the enlarge
ment of its manufacturing industries,
and to see to it that it is given it's
proper leading place among the COM
mercial cities of the state of which it is
the central city.
It is with this fact in mind that I
am permitted tonight to ask attention to
one of the elements which have to do
with the welfare of the city-the young
men of Topeka The man IS. after all
in every enterprise, the most important
factor When a body of business men
have determined upon any business en-
I
agreed upon is as to the man who shall
have its chief management The diff
ference between success and failure de-
ponds upon this choice. Old Thomas
+ Carlyle had this fact in mind when he
referred to Mrs. Glass receipt for rab-
bit pie, who said, the first and chief
thing is to get your hare" Get the
man. says he, and all is got"
A gentleman who had met Mr.. Phil
Armour in his life time told me some
months since that Armour had said to
enterprises, he had always room for
men who were worth twenty-five thou
sand dollars a year And while there is
always a large body of men seeking en-
ployment, it is true in every city that
it is not possible to find in sufficient
number. men equipped for the best
places.
I was talking the other day with a
gentleman about a certain business en-
I said to him was a the time being car
ried on with success told him of the
change Of men at the head of affairs and
of the results attained under the new
| leadership and he emphasized to me
+ again the fact that this was but another
+ instance of the proposition that the man
is the most important element in every
enterprise.
one of the most splendid Illustrations
of the belief in this man element in af-
fairs, is illustrated in the will of the late
Cecil Rhodes. He had been himself a
/ student at oxford university. He con-
/ ceived the idea Of the great force which
/ could be exerted upon the movement of
/ the worlds history, if the English speak
/ inc. people might be bound together. To
accomplish that result he has made pro-