The leader., 1902-05-28

SLodI 1OIOuu0S were uOG dLudSScu Ny
the painful processes of severe tot
and miserly savings. On the contrary
hard earnings and small savings
played no part in the business. In
every case there was shrewd and
timely Selling and utilizing of oppor.
tunities, or the creating of them when
they did not present themselves. Such
| fortunes as those of the Rockefellers
and of Senator Clark, of Montana, re-
suited from getting possession of the
natural treasures of the earth, in the
form of petroleum in one case, and
of gold and copper mines in the other
There were many more like them who
were fortunate enough to strike rich
mines and were Intelligent enough to
develop them successfully.
Then there were other great for
tunes which were made by a shrewd
manipulation of the millions in United
States bonds that we're issued to Sc
cure the construction of transconti-
mental railroads. The money arising
from these bonds was handled fol
several decades without the payment
to the Government even of interest
and the result was the creation of a
crop of great fortunes. 1t may be
said that anybody with such oppor-
tunities which those who utilized them
had presented to them, without any
effort on their part, could have secured
the same results. But this is much
to be doubted. A certain degree Of
boldness and of absolute unscrupu
lousness was required which every man
does not possess.
What was done in those cases was
generally accomplished by men who
were not highly educated; but they
have long ago found out their need of
education, and particularly of the high
est scientific training, and so they
fastened to employ such talents and
requirements. Great fortunes have
been made in late years out of scien
tiic processes and mechanical inven-
tions, and for these the chemist, the
electrician and the mechanician, with
their scientific and mathematical train
ing, are Indispensable.
But the latest essay towards the
requirement of great wealth is in the
creation of opportunities to control the
supplies of various articles of daily
use and necessity. This is done by
the combination of the small fortunes
of numerous individuals. Their means
are assembled under the management
of some great organizer like Pierrepont
Morgan, who is college man, and
some industry engaged in the manu-
facture of an article of common con
sumption is brought under the control
of monopoly. Thus have arisen the
Whisky Trust, the Sugar Trust, the
Steel Trust and many other such com
binations which control markets and
seek to dominate National and State
Legislatures and courts in their in
terests. Then there are the trans
portation trusts, which will sooner OF
later consolidate into one vast organ
ization, controlling all the railroads
in the Republic and all the ships that
steam into and out of its ports.
From this it is seen that the ancient
processes of hard work and hard liv
ing are no longer efficacious to create
fortunes. What was done by those
means in a lifetime is now accom-
plished in a single deal or turn Of
business. The slow and heavy plod
ders are now of little use, save in
humble places. What are wanted are
keen and quick powers of observation
to discover opportunities for exploit
ing, and an intellect ready to appre.
bend every fact presented to it, and
swift to appraise its value and to make
the combinations by which it can be
utilized. There is also great demand
for smooth and agreeable manners in
approaching those who are to be oper-
ated on, and a deft adroitness allied
with hypnotic powers, by which those
who are to be used can be controlled
by single will.
For all these purposes, polite &C
complishments and stores of scientific
knowledge are indispensable. There
never was a time when the services
of the college man were SO necessary
a factor in the amassing of the great
fortunes which are the most striking
feature in the life and business of the
Twentieth Century.
In this connection, Prof. Thurston,
of Cornell University, in an article in
the February Popular Science Month
ly, says:
"The unlearned and uneducated man
will always have his place in this world
of ours; but yet he will not hereafter
have such opportunities, however great
his natural abilities, as he has had in
the past. It is sometimes mot very
often said by successful" men of
this class that the boy who grows up
without learning, and who gives his
boyhood's years to unskilled labor in