Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-11-25
THE MAN WITH THE GOODS

THE editor Of 4 country newspaper re-
= marked to hardheaded old woman
who chanced to drop into his office a few
years ago:
I sec that Henry Ward, Beecher is
sixty years old today"
''Yes2" was the noncommlttal reply.
Hes n very famous man." the editor
explained.
"Humph" shifted the old woman. "If
he was ever going to amount to anything
It was certainly about time"
She expressed the prevailing opinion
that II success and fame do not discover
n man by the time he is sixty he will be
doomed to die among the unknown great
Most OF us would put the age still
younger. Alexander Hamilton was one Of
the trainers Of tho Constitution and Sec
retary OF the Treasury when he was little
moro than n boy Napoleon was a youth
when he became ono of the leading fig
ures In the period of the French Revolu.
tion William Pitt was Premier OF Eng
land at the age OF twenty.four. Henry
Clay was made Speaker of the House of
Representatives at thirty-four. Rudyard
before he was thirty. History is full of
similar examples, from Alexander the
Grent to Mary Picltford.
But the man who is not yet famous,
that Is, the man to whom the opportunity
to prove his worth in a conspicuous posi-.
tion has not yet come, need not be dis.
couragod. There is still hope for him.
Ten years ago Woodworking major of
engineers in the United States army was
unknown outside of his own profession.
He was forty.elght years old, 1t had
taken him twenty.seven years to rise
from the rank of Lieutenant to that of
major. Tho biggest engineering job ever
projected was waiting for some one capa-
BILE OF handling it. The greatest engineer
of Europe had attempted 1t and failed.
American engineers VINO had succeeded
in lesser enterprises had tried 1t for
while and had given 1t up. Then this en-
gineer. fortyeight years old, unknown
outside of the army was ordered to do
the thing which others had found impos-
slble.
The job was the severing Of two cont.
nents and the building of waterway for
ocean.going ships.
The man was George W. Goethals.
He obeyed the order and built tho Pan.
anna Canal.
Now. at the age of hfty.eight, he has
been retired from the army and Is free to
serve the world wherever there is another
great undertaking demanding the services
of n man who can accomplish what he
sets out to do.
There We're two reasons for his success
The flrstSwas that he had been on his Job
from the beginning of his career He did
not work for fame, but he mastered his
profession. The second was that he be-
lieved it possible to do what he undertook
Skill and confidence did the trick.
1t all seems very simple, now that 1t is
DONE And in truth it was as simple as it
seems. There is nothing complicated or
mysterious in any big success. The an
nails of the great all read alike, whether
fame comes early or late. The man who
gets there is the man who has equipped
himself When opportunity knocks at the
door he is ready to answer the summons.
From the beginning of time the work
OF the world has been done by the men
able to do it. No one asks how old they
are or how young. where they were born
or what their ancestry was. All it asks is,
Can you do the Job&"
The case OF Woodrow Wilson is even
more remarkable than that of General
Goethals. Six years ago he was known by
name TO only small part OF the nation.
Now he has been reelected to the presi-
dency by the largest popular vote ever
polIed for any candidate for office in any
nation of the world. And Grover Cleye- |
land, who emerged from obscurity into the
Presidency within two years, was just as
remarkable an illustration of the working
of the law.
The man who has the goods gets there. |
A SANTA CLAus PROBLEM