Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-12-22
Fortune Was Born OF Luck

result Of hard work, great foresight
and sagacity. But l am absolutely
convinced that luck often plays as
important a part in creating wealth
as ability and hard work.
Take my own case. Before I en-
tered the Union army as an Indiana
volunteer, l was succeeding very we'll
as young business man. l was eau
tious without being timid; l was in
dustTious; l was optimistic and en-
thusiastic, and l tell you enthusiasm
counts for everything in the way of
making fortune under ordinary con-
d1tions. But, curiously enough,
though l applied all these character
1stics to business after the war was
over, everything l attempted went
wrong, and when | finally received my
appointment as collector of the port
of San Francisco, l was delighted, for
was absolutely dependent upon the
salary that the position brought me
for my support.
Well, one day there came into the
office OF the collector about the queer
est looking sea-faring man l ever saw.
But he had a clear and honest eye,
and very soft and mellow voice, and
l was Immediately impressed
81 want you to come down and
see what l have on my ship he said.
1 asked him why, but he would
say no more, so, after little hesita-
ton, | accompanied him to his YES
sci. There he showed me a great
heap of sealskins, sailed down.
q am going to take these to
London to be dyed, but first l have
a proposition to make to you,' he
said. 1 wont you and some of your
friends to victual my ship, guarantee
the wages of the crew and furnish me
with a little money so that l can get
to London; then, when l come back,
| want you to victual my ship and
guarantee the crews wages once more,
and for doing this l will give you a
share in the sealskins will get on my
next trip
Il asked him where he had got the
skins then on board and where he in
tended to get the others, but he re-
fused to tell. l must rely on his good
faith in the matter, he said; all he
would tell me was, that he knew
where there were millions of the best
seals to be found anywhere in the
world and he alone knew where. Did
Ssant to come in with him?
Now, wouldn't you say that was a
most reckless proposition for me to
consider? Yet I did consider til
don't know why to this day-and per-
suaded two Of my friends to join me
in doing what the captain wished.
And something more than year later
that old fellow put into port with his
vessel loaded down with a new lot Of
sealskins, and my share of the profits
was several thousand dollars Then
he told us where lay the island on
which he had discovered the seals
in such great quantities, and imme-
diately we organized company that
secured from the government the ex-
elusive right of conducting sealing op-
erations on the island in question.
THAT was the beginning of the
famous Alaska Commercial Fur COM
pzny. 1t brought me fortune, and it
was a case Of pure luck. And curious
ly enough, from that time on to this
day, I have been almost invariably
successful in every business under
taking in which l have had part, al
though to many of these ventures I
have not begun to give the thought
that l gave to those earlier ventures OF
mine which turned out so disastrous.
ly that I had to look to Uncle Sam for
Job. When that queer old sea cap
tain came into my Office and persuaded
me to look at his sealskins, my LUCY
/ changed for good"
/ tCopyrig5t- 1910. by E. J. Edwards. An
Rights Reserved.)