The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-05-25
THURSDAY, MAY rs, 1916.
The Riches Of Poverty.

The recent death Of William a. caro-
ner. president of the Chicago and North
Western Railway company took from
active life a man who did real things
The life of President Gardner carries q
real inspiration to boys and young men
who would do things. His>life was the
elimination Of steady progress as
result of ambition based on unfiagglng
interest in his duties. He was one OF
the FCpoor boys" who became rich and
famous and he became rich and famous
because he rendered service. President
Gardner did not have the proverbial
silver spoon to make him the president
of great railway company, but ne
had grit and willingness to do one thing
well with the understanding that doing
one thing well always led to doing bet
ter things better. He knew how to sub
ordinate himself to authority and when
he came into his own, he knew how to
use, authority over subordinates. He
has taken into his confidence lot of
poor boys and made them rich men.
Tn fact the entire organization of the
North Western Railway which he guild
ed for years is made up Of men who
found something Of the riches of pow
erty.
The story of the life of President
Gardner and the men who have been
associated with him in the making up
of a great railway organization leads
one to think that after all it is the rich
boy and not the poor boy that is to be
pitied. We are prone to wonder after
all if it is not the "poor little rich
boy" and the "rich little poor boy.V
There is something that comes to
poverty that never comes with wealth
and the history of the world seems to
show that the door Of opportunity opens
easier to the boy born poor than the
boy born rich. 1t must be remembered
that we always hear the story of the
poor boy who dies rich but the rich
boy who dies in poverty is forgotten
long before the end comes. 1t is the
attainment of men that interest other
men. Most men care little for failures.
The chances of the poor boy becom-
ing rich today are greater than ever be-
fore. He may believe that his poverty
is handicap yet he gets with it GER
tain vested rights that do not come to
the boy he considers more fortunate.
The rich boy is raised in the lap of lux
ury, often he is surfeited with forms of
education which he does not need. He
learns none of the lessons of thrift
which come with knocking up against
the world. Life comes so easy to him
that he misses the chance of fighting
for existence and place in the world.
The poor boy on account of his poverty
studies basic theories. He learns to
start at the bottom and when he begins
to 60 up he knows what he is building
ON.
William A. Gardner knew every
angle of the business of a great rail
way company. He had been a tele-
graph operator, a station agent, a
traffic division manager, train dis
patcher and everything else that goes
to make up the routine of railroad
business. When he became president
he knew just what there was to be
done by the other men. He had no
false ideas of what to expect from sub
ordinates, He had been a good subor-
dinate and knew from actual observa-
ton.
The rich boy father in most cases
objects to the boy beginning at the
bottom and if he does, he goes to work
subsidized with fathers wealth. He
is handicapped in that he does not have
the chance to work out real problem
of life for himself. The real knowledge
of every phase of life is gained bv
coming into contact with that very
phase of life. The poor boy must win
through his own initiative. There is a
JOY to him in winning. The rich boy
feels that he has little at stake and if
he loses he still has riches to fall back
upon.
1t is beginning to ook as if the day
OF the poor boy is going to be perpetual.
You may put fence about the rich
boy and make him exclusive but YOU
can not put up bars to keep the poor
boy with real brain from making il
felt. The rich boy soon finds that he
needs the brain of the poor boy to
make his riches greater.
The real lesson that is to be gathered
from the life of President Gardner is
the fact that he knew how to use the
ability he had and that he used it re.
CARELESS Of handicaps. A lot of Other
rich boys who started along with him
have been forgotten. Therefore we say
that after all the tragedy of life settles
about the head of the rich boy and that
the real opportunity is given to the
poor boy.
A War Referendum.