Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-26
WORKER WINS IN
RACE FOR RICHES
Brains, Not Inherited Wealth,
Necessary in Business To-
day, Says B. C. Forbes.
BY 3. c. FORBES.

4, America the workman Of yesterday
T.. .,s capitaIist of o-day. And the work.
an Of to-day will be the capitalist of
tomorrow, Have no doubts on that score.
Law often do we hear: 1.-THE workman
,owadays hasn't chance" Hasn't he?
Yesterday that complaint was made TO
ne by a man who has been moderately
,,csessfuI challenged it. Straghtaway
set thinking on the subject.
Let's see now, Just who is who and
who was who.
VINO are these terrible capitalists, any
way7 Where did they come from? Were
thew born that way or did they make
themselves? Were they once upon a time
ordinary workers like the rest of US? Did
thew start at scratch?
Wells let's start with the (reputedly)
richest man on earth. Was John o.
Rockefeller born with a golden spoon in
his mouth? Was his brother William also
enormously wealthy? No. John D. was az
moor as a church mouse and borrowed a
modest sum TO start business on his own
account.
How about the next in line, Andrew
Carnegie? Did he not begin In an engine
room at dollar or two a week and have
10 slave like a grown-up to exc out a
slender existence for his mother? No sill
yer spoon there-not even a steel one;
nothing but a horn one, | trow.
The greatest Industry in the United
States is railroadlng. The first railroad
arant in this country was to Commodore
Vanderbilt. He, as all the world knows,
was not reared on any lap of luxury. The
greatest living railroad man in America is
/ lie
influence when he set out to fulfill the in
Junction decreed upon fallen Adam, but
he has worked like a trojan ever since
transforming wIdernesses into fruitful
farms and making two blades Of grass
grow where only weeds grew before, thus
earning for himself the enVlable title,
THE Grand Old Man Of the Northwest"
And was not Edward H.. Hartman the
son Of a poor, underpaid minister, and did
he not do his own capital makng7
Gall the roll of other great railroad men,
dead or alive, and you will find that most
every one Of them began at the very bot
tom What Of such notable railroad pres
dents as Underwood, Of the Erie; Elliott,
Of Northern Pacific; Ripley, Of Atchlson;
Willard of Baltimore and ohio; Brown, Of
New York Central; Earring, Of st. Paul;
Rea Of the Pennsylvania; Bush, Of Mis-
souri, Pacific; kruttschnltt, of the South
srn Pacific; TrumbelI, Of Chesapeake
and Ohio; Truesdale, of Lackawanna, and
score Of others2 Not one Of them was
born great or had greatness thrust upon
him. They have won II by the sweat
Of their brows and brans.
Not one Of our steel magnates was born
rich. Gary, the head Of the Steel Corpo-
ration, was a none too opulent Illinois
lawyer, and President Farrell won his
spurs as a steel salesman. Schwab, 1.-The
greatest steel man OF them ALL" according
to Carnegie, was once as poor as he is
now rlch-he owns more than half Of the
Bethlehem steel Corporations $4,000 900
preferred stock on which 5 per cent dVi-
bends are now being paid.
Theodore N. Vail, the genius who has
amazed Christendom by his building up
Of the most wonderful telephone system
In the world, a system beside which all
others are Lilllputian, has had to start
from seratch-not once, but oftener. No
switchboard operator has been kept as
busy as he.
Was not Edison as scant Of cash as the
-proVerbial inventor at the outset2 John
Mackay was not burdened with load Of
Inherited riches. Neither was Hammond,
Oh, Typewriter fame; non Henry Ford, the
automobile wizard, whose personal profits
last year were In the neighborhood of ten
million dollars, his confreres declare.
James g. Duke, the tobacco king, made
MS own gigantic fortune. George B..
Cortelyou, head of the Consolidated Gas
Company Of New York, is an ex-stenog
'Ne,'N'' iHS pECSluCHl ON INC tat 9CsA
national bank in the United States, Frank
A. Vanderbilt, was once financial news
reporter, and was something even lower
before he got that job, In Chicago.
Henry p. Dawson, the active head Of
the greatest banking firm In America, that
Of J. p. Morgan G. Co., used to work on a
tarm during school vacations. He began
70 earn his own living about the age gid
60 youths are leaving the nursery.
Turning to merchant princes, did not
john Wanamaker start as an GRAND boy
IN a book store2 Horace 3. Claflin, found
er on the biggest wholesale dry goods firm
m the country, and father Of John Clafiin,
Us present able head, began very humbly.
macy' Strauss, Bloomingdale, Gfmbel and
otner names will spring to mind.
NO. the race to-day Is not to the born
rlon' inherited wealth can not keep
oraIness son at the head Of any huge en-
terprise. Brains, not a bursting bank
rolL form the all-necessary qualification
pampered sons of multi m illionalres are
more often ornaments than useful cogs in
me industrial wheel. There Is no room in
me teverish struggle for interfering fig
ureheads.
The winner is the Industrious, intei-
gent worker. He is the capitalist of to-
morrow Just as he is the head of almost
every industry to-day. There Is lots OF
room at the top. And the pathway Is
GEAR for all. There are more big Jobs
awaiting really big men to-day than there
are pig men awaiting Jobs.
mr.. Grumbler, ! hope ! have replied to
your crouch, even though il has had to
oe written at express speed and without
TfFNIA l.