The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-04
"U You Want to Succeed, Stick to One Business
 Says Mr. T. H. Motion, Findncier and Builder
By DOLLY DALYYMPLN

Every man-and especially every young
 man-has it in himself to win out in the
 battle of life if he will only use his brains
 and force himself to have the proper initiative.
 There is no such thing as lack of op- portunity.
 | But
 There is such thing as not seeing it when the opportunity presents itself. \ What most men mean when they say hthey have not had chance is that things shave not been made so easy for them hhah they could achieve a success in some line without effort without great eff fort.
 IfN a man doesn't succeed in these kdays, and times when the whole world | is atl his feet, it is nobodys fault but his ownl
 1 Look about you and see the tremendous lisuccess Athat many have made right here lin Birmingham, men who started without penny, without any pull without any influence without any great ability. even
 Among the highly successful business men of this community, one who stands for integrity, honesty and unqualified abil- l ity, there is none more worthy to be held frup as am example than Mir. Thomas Henry Molton the owner of the Motion hotel date hostelry which has been opened in Birmingham.
 MT. Motion stands for the conservative. cautious, business man! He stands for the sane,, normal, busi- ness man.
 He's never . been a "plunger,' so to speak,
 The 'get-rich-quick" theory has never appealed to him, and MT. Wallingford and his type are relegated to the back shelf in his scheme of business Prominent socially, we'll as commer- cially, in this big city. and throughout the soaiths there is none whose advice from a business point of view is more de- sirable than MT Moton, for he started his 1 career in Birmingham when he was young and Birmin gham was young, and today he is one of her shining lights, prosperous, happy and proud of hfs record as a busi- ness man, and of his success which he modesty admits, after insistent question ing on the part of the interviewer" But if you never done anything but build the handsome Melton hotel, you'd be written down successful" I said, after asking MT. Motion if the hotel was his hobby" or just exactly how he did 1 feel about it.
 1 He stroked his heard and looked at me quzically, and then smiling, said:
 'The hotel has been my hobby if you l call it that, for at least the past two years. It took a lot of thinking and planning to make up my mind what was l the best thing to put on that corner at 1 Fifth avenue and Twentieth street"
 "Tell me something about the early | q VIC nf hIf In QirTfr r,o9lo quested, and what your first ventures were"
 You can't write any story of my do- 1 ings in Birmingham that would interest people came the answer quickly. why not?" I asked. 1 Because it's too personal" MT. Motion replied.
 l Let me be the judge of that" I sug- gested. Just tell me the story and let me make the setting for it.' Well, all right. I'll leave 1t to you" he said, as he began at the beginning. q came to Birmingham on October Is, 1886. II came for the purpose of engaging in the
 real estate and insurance business. Be- fore l left Montgomery I had sent out letters and circulars, and when got here found the clients isitting on the door steps waiting
 Birmingham was very tiny, little town then, was it not?" I asked
 
 opened an office at No. 113 North Twen- tieth street, where Venable now has a i stand. In those days there were few well known real estate men here-John G. Smith, E. V. Gregory, J. J. Going and others. During the boom of 1886 200 or 300 real estate men flashed on the hori- zon, coming merely as specuators not as bona fide real estate dealers" I How did you happen to select Birming- T ham to cast your lot ,in?" asked.
 "It was through a young fellow, MT. w. E. Brown, clerk in the land regis
 trars office in Montgomery" MT Motion told me. My sister had married Mr. Charles J. Smith and was living here, and that had some influence with me, and I may say right here that I owe my suc- cess. if have had any in the business world, to the late Dr. Joseph R. Smith. came here with S6o00 in cash. I had de-
 termined not to speculate, but carry on a
 legitimate, conservative business The temptation however. was too great and after a short time I found my S60OO tied up in Investments. Now, you know my
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