The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1908-06-04

workers and mostly peasants to whom
the factory ways seem strange, whose
traditions and impulses are not of the
factory and city but of the pillow and
a cramped bit of black earth. Thus the
Russian has one of two roads to travel,
that to the farm or to the factory,
while in America, besides the farm and
factory, are the mines, the fisheries, the
numbering mills and cattle ranches, Of
fering opportunities innumerable to
earn an honest living. But merely earn
ing living does not or should not salts
fly the ordinary person whether he be
American or Russian, English or German,
he should work for greater things.
Most people do strive for higher things,
but to great many this simply means
the accumulation Of wealth. There are
higher things than riches in life, but
since humanity is striving so hard to
gain this gold America has wondrous
opportunities for those who toll with
this end in view.
Among examples of the possibilities
afforded by our own American institu-
tions for money gathering John D..
Rockefeller stands easily first. How
ever unfavorable the criticisms upon
his methods, maybe there can be no
difference of opinion as to the extra
ordinary thoroughness of the results.
He is commonly, and probably correctly,
credited with having amassed more
gigantic fortune than any other indi-
vidual in the history of the American
commonwealth. How was the foundation
for this great fortune laid? At ten years
of age John D. Rockefeller was hoeing
potatoes for a farmer at 81 cents per
day. He economical and when he had
saved fifty dollars he loaned it to a
neighbor at II interest. When the in
terest was paid it amounted to $3.50.
This set him to thinking for he saw by
easy calculation that it represented
nearly ten days labor and from this
time on he determined to make money
work for him. And his prudence, self
reliance and economy have carried him
to the topmost round on the ladder of
success in money gathering.
One Of the strongest proofs that
America offers greater opportunities to
become more wealthy than her neighbor
across the sea has not been told. What
lures the titled foreigner to America:
1t is the call of the countless millions
of the American heiress. The man with
a title comes to America, places himself
on the market and is knocked down to
the highest bidder-purchased for a
fortune. Then when the sale is com.
pleted he returns to the old world to
scatter broadcast in pleasure seeking
and dissipation the earnings of hard
working generation of Americans. Our
young women are ridiculed. We are
more disguised with them than the
thing they purchase. This is an oppor.
tunity that comes with wealth. Never
theless we are everyone Of US running
pushing, fighting, trampling our fellow
men under foot in our wild pursuit Of
the almighty dollar, and how often the
race is won at the cost of the honor
health and happiness of the victor
How do the conditions for social stand
ing in America and Russia compare!
Birth and not worth determines the
social position of the Russian, no diff
ference how great the mental power
how high and noble the intellect, he
must be backed by train Of ancestors
of good social standing, or the mar
counts for nothing. Caste, that unjust
division of nations people, is the chair
that is binding the Russian peasant TO-
day. 1t has stifled his ambition and BY
30 doing has stif1ed industry as we'll
Free one of these people from the fet-
ters of caste and let them come tt
America where every man has the op
portunity of free development, and he
becomes as efficient, or even more &c
than the native born. 1t is not the
child of noble birth that gains pre-
eminence in America. 1t is the honest
upright characteristics and menta
ability of the individual that counts
Who was Booker T. Washington, and
what is he? A humble American negro
born slave on Virginia plantation
the exact place and date of his brit
unknown. His ancestors were slaves
as was he until after the civil war whel