Arizona republican., 1905-03-06
PHoENIx. ARIz., MARCH G, 1sO5-
Make Your Own Opportunities.

My purpose was to make good in the town where I was born-make good for myself and the folks; and l did"
 In these few, simple words, John X. Johnson. the new governor Of Mime sota, condenses the simple story of his life, as told in a recent magazine ar ticle. This young man. born in pow erty. cradled in want, hemmed in on every hand by seemingly insurmount- able obstacles, and without friends or opportunity for education or advance ment of any sort, has added one more name to the glorious roll of American bows with mo chance" who have con- quered diversity and risen to distinc- tion. He has proved again that the world stands for a determined soul, and that success is in the man. not in the chance. He pushed ahead and tried to make good" No responsibil- ity frightened him. A chance was all he wanted. He did not wait for it; he made it.
 People who are made of the right kind of material do not make excuses; they work. They do not whine, they keep forging ahead. They do not wait for somebody to help them; they help themselves. They do not wait for an opportunity; they make it. Those who complain of no chance confess their own weakness-their lack of efficiency. They show that they are not equal to the occasion-that they are not greater than the obstacle that confronts them.
 NO chance" has ever been the ex- cuse of those who fail. Interview the great army of failures; most of them will tell you that they never had an opportunity like others, and there was no one to help them, and that no one would give them a boost. They will tell you that the good places were all filled. that every occupation or profess sion was crowded, that there was no chance for them, and that all the good opportunities were gone.
 After one of Alexander's campaigns he was asked if he intended to take the next city if he had an opportun- ity. "Opportunity!" he thundered. ''Why, I make opportunities" It is men that make opportunities that are wanted everywhere. It is a dangerous thing to wait for opportunities until it becomes a habit. Energy and in clination for hard work ooze out in the waiting. Opportunity becomes in visible to those who are doing noth- ing. or looking somewhere else for it. It is the great worker. the man who is alert for chances that sees them.
 Some people become so opportunity blind that they cannot see chances any where-they would pass through a gold mine without noticing anything precious-while others will find oppor- tunities in the most barren, out-of-the- way places. Bunyan found opportun- ity in Bedford jail to write the greatest aIlegory in the world on the untwisted paper that had been used to cork his bottles of milk. A Theodore Parker or Lucy Stone sees an opportunity to go to college in a chance to pick ber- ries. One boy sees an opening to his ambition in a chance to chop wood, wait on table, or run errands, where another sees no chance at all One sees an opportunity to get an educa- tion in the odds and ends of time, evenings and half-holidays, which an other throws away.
 While you are saying, There is no chance for me-" and 'T can't" thous- ands of boys and girls in this country with nothing like your opportunities are tearing the words impossible" and 'T can't out of their dictionaries. While you are thinking of the great things you would do if you only had a college education and a little money to start with, others much less favored by fortune are annih1Iating these ob- stacles and forging ahead. Many of these poor boys and girls are not only starting without friends, money, in- fluence or any assistance whatever, but are. beside. heavily handicapped by others depending upon them or by some physical deformity; yet they are defying the fates which you say are Keeping you back