The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1915-04-30
ON GETTING RICH


Often we have wondered how men
get rich, but we have never worried
about it. Why they are SO intent on
getting rich, however, has caused us
sleepless nights. The more we have
thought about it and looked into it,
the more we have become convinced
that rich men are, weak victims of
circumstances; persons caught in the
current, so to speak, and whirled
along at a terrific rate, and always
glancing longingly at idlers who have
nothing to lose and nothing to gain,
and who are therefore free men.
Honestly we would not be rich if we
could, for we believe it is more fun
to shoot at mark, than to be the
mark We think Frank p. Walsh,
formerly of Kerry Patch, has more
fun out Of firing verbal bombs at the
rich than the rich have in dodging
them. Man is fighting animal, and
should never permit himself to get
in a. position where he has nothing to
fight for-nothing to gain by a fight,
but something to lose by not fighting.
To allow oneself to get in a position
like that is in time fatal. 1t is too
tedious and nerve-wracking. The
champion is always at disadvantage.
1t must be an awful station to be
"First in Everything" like the Post
Dispatch, for instance. Think of the
yawning abyss under one who is
"First in Everything" And can one
continue to be "First in Everything"
unless he continues to fight, and how
can he continue to be "First in Every
thing" if he fights? We sincerely
hope we will never be First in Ev-
erything." In fact, we wouldn't care
to be first in any thing, come to think
of it, and especially in the manner Of
sacrificing ourself for phrase, which
analyzed, means absolutely nothing.
The tragedy of doing ones best, Of
holding to ones highest ideal and ac-
complishing it, is that at once. it is up
to him to do something better, to
struggle toward higher ideal, for
every ideal crumbles as soon as it is
approached.
But of all the ideals, the one to be
rich, puzzles us the most, and that is
why we have been delving into the
works of Mr. Robert Holmes, of the
j. A. Holmes Lumber Company, and
erstwhiIe director of the st. Joseph
Lead Company of Bonne Terre, Mis-
souri,. The works in question are
called pamphlets. They are directed
to the stockholders Of the st. Joseph
Lead Company. They are more or
less voluminous and filled with finan-
cial scandal Of sort. Dutifully we
have read them, but ekey perplexed
us, although they Ree. well written,
and no doubt Gear ts g5rsbns familiar
with the purposes and aims of finan-
,iers. We quite get Mr.. Holmes point
of view and reason for writing these
His family are large
in the Lead Company,
and he feels that the company is not
receiving the benefits Of able man
agement. Also, we gather that while
Mr.. Holmes, being far from a condi-
tion of penury, is not particularly in
tent on increasing his wealth by writ
ing these booklets, lin fact he has re-
fused high offers for his stock, since
their publication. because the offers
did not include the other and smaller
of the company, we be-
lieve he is made unhappy by ineffi-
anu anu NtieNSy
as man must be at some
thing or other, he feels it duty to
expose this incompetency and ineffi-
cheney in the management of the
Lead Company. Also, we gather that
Mr.. Holmes, realizing that money in
itself is hardly a satisfactory goal
for man of his intellect and under
feels that to throw himself
into fight of this kind, is more sat
isfying to his instincts, which appear
to us to be honest. In other words,
if Mr.. Holmes, can be said to have
purpose in this three years battle
which he has been waging against the
Of the st. Joseph Lead
Company and the st. Louis Union
Trust Company, that purpose would
appear to us to be very worth
while one. He believes in good man
n q \