Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-06-26
STOP WORKING
BEGIN THINKING
The Man Who Earns His Bread by
the Sweat of His Brain Is Sure to
Get On in the World--The Exam
pie of Cecil Rhodes.
By GEORGE W. DoUGLAs

"A away left his office IN the care OF hi
secretary He did not expect any emergency
to arise while he was gone. On his return
he asked the man how he had got along
oh all right" was the reply "Jone'
called up about his contract. There was Q
point that he was in doubt about, and told
him to go ahead in the usual way"
what" thundered the man-they always
thunder in such circumstances. WHAT The
contract was not like the old ones, and we
put that point In that he says he did not
understand in order to change the conditions
80 we could make little more money out Of
IT, why did you not tell him the difterence7"
'T never thought Of itl'
But why did you not think Of it7"
II suppose the real reason, Mr.. Harrison,
ia that II were able to think OF such things
I would not be working for you for $50 a
week"
This man at that moment started on the
! way to promotion for the reason that he
had entered that group of men known as
those who know not and know that they
know not The next time he would think,
Cecil Rhodes was one Of the men who
lifted himself above the general level because
he used his brains Once, in reminiscent
mood, no explained to some friends that
after he had been in South Africa for a
while he decided to stop working and to
begin to think. He had discovered by OBJ
servation and reading that the men who ac-
complshed great things were the men who
did some thinking in advance. They earned
what they got by the sweat of their brains
and not by the sweat OF their brows alone.
When Rhodes began to think he saw a great
South Africa, united to the British Empire
and enormous wealth for the men who had
the courage to risk everything in the de-
velopment OF the resources of the new coun-
try.
There Are No Canine Caesars
The difference between Rhodes and the
African lions was that the lions were con-
tent with satisfying their animal appetItes
II animals think 1t Is In the most rudlmen-
tary way. There are beasts 1 know, who
post sentinels while they feed, in order to
detect the approach of danger. have n dog
which knows enough on a hot day to stir up
the fresh earth under shrub that he may
get comfortable place in which to lie and
when his bed has become hot from his body
have seen him get up and turn the cool
side Of the pillow uppermost by digging the
earth over again to bring a fresh lot to the
surface And when Teddy is hungry he will
eat and he drinks when he is thirsty But
reason with him as may he will hide under
the bed during thunderstorm, or else cling
to my heels though I were Higher
Power that could protect him from the ter
rifying noises.
The dog is about as intelligent an animal
as we know. But there are no canine
Caesars. And you may search the books in
vain for the records OF Socrates among
So far as we know the law of brute life Is
based on a narrow range of intellectual ac-
tlvities. The animals have never organized a
State nor Formulated n system OF philosophy.
They have not built cities and they woulS
not work 20 years on a problem in chemistry
or physics or go hungry while searching for
a process of making porcelain glaze. There
are no Pnlissys among the beasts.
But the Man sits him down and thinks and
thus distinguishes himself from all other
brute and human. Lincoln's medi-
tations during the years or his apprentice
ship to life were to some purpose. He lived
in the free outdoors and worshiped in
hypaethral temples open to skyey influences
and illuminations, and grasped firmly the |
elementary principles OF truth and Justice
Martin Luther's mind worked and he got hold
of an idea, to him a rare and precious
thought, for which he was willing to die.
Watt thought and the steam engine was Edi-
son thought and the electric light fllumined
the dark places Henry Ford thought and the |
automobile was transformed from a TOW OF
the rich into a necessity for the man OF mod
crate MEANS and tool Of everyday use
Men of Action Are Men of Thought
The orator who declared that the country
needs men OF action and not men OF thought
did not know what he was talking about.
There has never been an action wo- tn while
that was not preceded by thought 1t was |
not blind impulse that won the Franco-Ger-
man War, but careful planning and long
years OF preparation. You may say that
this was not worth while, but the German
will disagree with you. Carnegie did not
blunder into mastery of the iron trade, and
Rockefeller did not "just happen" to control
the oil business No philosopher wrestlinR
with problem in metaphysics ever put
harder thought into his task than these men
devoted to the mastery OF the secrets OF the
forging of steel and the refining OF petroleum.
Your failure TO discover the destiny OF the
human soul will not affect It's ultimate fate,
but If you fail to forecast the future in your
business you are overwhelmed with disaster
A man by thinking may be unable to add
one cubit to his stature, but ne can broaden
the foundation OF empires. He can raise him
self from a private in the rear ranks TO the
control or an army. and he can In one short
lifetime transform half a continent from a
Jealous group OF settlements
into an integral part OF great nation.
He who despises thought ana the thinker.
despises the very foundations on |
which achievement Is built. It was Fletcher,
of saltoun, who remarked that II he could
write the songs OF a nation he did not care |