The Washington herald., 1916-06-24
The Opportunity in the Man.
BY ORIsON SWEET MARDEN,

/ Of all the euloges of James J. Hill, the great
railroad genius and empire builder, that pro-
nounced by Jacob H. Schif is the most sgnih.
can't
4 James J. Hill," said Mr.. Schiff, "was not
alone empire builder, but even more up
litter of the human race. His every thought he
devoted to the betterment of conditions of his
Ifellow-men."
/ Here millionaire, indeed, beside whose
splendid work for humanity the fortune which
he had incidentally accumulated shrinks into in
significance.
| 1t has been said that for every dollar he got
Mr. Hill deserved thousand. When realize
that, scattered along the 5000 miles of railroad
he constructed in the great Northwest, there are
100000 farms, with 65,ooo,ooo acres of improved
land. worth $5,oooooo.ooo, will think this not
an extravagant, but conservative, statement.
1t was his genius that opened up the Northwest
and made these rich productive farms possible
and there is no doubt that if his object had been
personal aggrandizement or gain, he could have
ranked among the greatest of Americas multi
millionaires
/ If to make two blades of grass grow where
only one had grown before be success, this mans
life was indeed colossal success. 1t. is, above
ALL rich in inspiration and encouragement for
young men starting out, without capital inhu-
ence to make their way in the world.
! The son of an h-Canadian farmer and a
Scottish mother, born in Ontario young Hill
had no other capital to start with than the
strong brain, clear grit, and sturdy character
traits he inherited from both parents
| He was in his eighteenth year when, three
years after the death of his father, he left his
home in Canada and crossed the border to make
fame and fortune in the United States. After
travelling from Maine to Minnesota, he decided
to go to work in St. Paul where he secured a
JOB as stevedore and clerk combined, with firm
of shipping agents
| Here the young man began his training for
his life work empire builder. He always knew
that his chance would come when he was ready
for it, and instead of being satisfied like so
many young men with performing this duty OF
his position, he began to investigate and to study
the problems OF water transportation. He never
dropped the study until he thorough master
of the subject.
Study, thoroughncss in whatever he did, and
hard work at the bottom of all his success
He did not believe in luck and used to tell
young men that luck and laziness never went
together; that luck always accompanied hard
work and dead-in-earnest endeavor
| Mr.. Hill was not one Of those self-made men
who bellttled education, for he was himself a
ISiCdt SluuCHt ana lover OF nne arts But the
knowledge gained from his own experience and
the hiring and handling OF great numbers of men
convinced him that a college education, to be of
any practical value, must have a lot of practical
training to back it. Young men with theoretical
knowledge, but without the common sense and
practical ability to make it available, were like
Easter hats, he said pretty nearly all trimmings
! In Mr.. HILLS opinion the great trouble with
most college men is that, in the practical affairs
OF lite, they depend more upon their book learn
ing than they do upon their special training
Yet he declared that, so far as getting on in a
business way is concerned it is the special train
ing and not the college education that counts.
In my opinion, both count with the man who
has intelligence enough to make his academic
training Of practical value. But it is unfortu-
nately true that many graduates in acquiring an
education seem to lose their practical talent, or
at least have it wholly undeveloped How many
do we see who are painfully conscious of their
inability to make any of their book learn
lng; to transmute knowledge into practical
powerl Instead of capacity for independent
thought and action, they have developed ten
dency to lean upon authority Their heads are
ful OF facts and theories, but they lack the
ucal enlclency which grasp principles and
accomplish results. They do not appear to be
able to concentrate their energies with sufficient
torce to accomplish any one thing
What the whole world is looking for is the
man who can do things, not for the one who can
only put forward theories as to how they should
De done. There is no place in the practical world
Tor the mere theorist. The man who knows how
is the man who is needed everywhere
A study OF the life of James J. Hill the self
made man and empire builder, should be a
stimulus to every youth in the land, an object
lesson to the ambitious and aspiring who are
eager to make the most OF themselves and be of
real service to the world 1t demonstrates once
again that the opportunity is in the man, not
outside of him.