The daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Leflore Co., Miss.) 1916-1919, 1917-04-18
.NorHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS"

~ ~ ka ~
We are all familiar with the trite quotation,
lrNothing succeeds like success" 1t meets US on
all sides. 1t is the ne plus ultra of argument as
to efficiency, and is a literal illustration of the
truth of the Masters assertion that unto him
that hath, shall be given"-except that it doesn't
always exactly fulfill the Masters conception of
the thought.
Nowadays, when the sovereign voters of a
municipality are faced with the need of choosing
a crops of officials to safeguard the public in
~terests, the voters Immediately begin to question
the fitness of each man proposed The ability of
the candidate. which in most instances is his chief
recommendation (and, in the RIGHT SENSE,
should beg, is discussed freely, and the whole in
dustrial and business life of the man is laid bare
to the public gaze. But the clinching argument
have been prosecuted with energy and vigor, and
intelligence and sound judo nent. AS a result, he
is what the whole world rao:,urces a successful
man.
Now we argue that if tnis man has been so
successful with his own af LIS, it necessarily fol-
lows that he will be equally so with the affairs of
the people. So we rally an place him in power
and in too many instances : gaka to the fact that
we have dropped our candy.
1t is true that nothing 1,ccecos like success"
but not in the sense in which we mostly accept it.
Nothing so we'll succeeds in binding us to the real
defects of human character as little success in
a particular line. Who has not seen the disas-
trous failure of many men who have been success
full in the lines with which they were familiar,
when they have undertaken work for which they
had neither aptitude, knowledge nor training?
1t is discouraging indeed to the citizen possess
ed of real civic pride to see the destinies of his
community committed to men who have nothing
better to recommend them than the fact that they
have accumulated money and property. This sue
cess, instead OF being a recommendation, is too
often a fatal barrier to their usefulness, in that
it shows self-interest to be their ruling passion.
Many of earth's greatest benefactors have
been men who never accumulated much wealth.
In many instances the reverse is true-they have
spent and been spent in the service of humanity.
We are most forcibly reminded of the truth
of this assertion on the death of Count Zeppelin
in Germany recently. Born Of noble family, heir
to princely estates, he early in life was imbued
with an idea to further the progress of the human
race by developing air navigation. His time, his
energy, and the bulk of his vast fortune
went into the experiments until at his
death he was what one might term
a successful failure" He had entirely lost sight
of his own interests, but he had conferred on hu-
mainly a boon which, in the arts of peace, time
alone can estimate, for the day will come when rap
i'd transit in the air will be as common as the rail-
roads of today.
In our municipal affairs let us lose the idea
that the man who is successful with his own af-
fairs will be the same with the affairs of the peo-
pie. We have seen a man who accumulated a for
tune at stock raising, but who, when entrusted
by his people with building a system of pike roads,
sunk a large bond issue in mud. He had raised
steers and knew how. He had NEVER built
roads, and FAILED when he attempted it.
Success is relative. The man who can con-
struct a perfect street is a pronounced success,
though he hasn't a dollar to his name.
And the greatest success Of all is that Of the
man who can aid in the success Of the largest
number Of his fellow men.
Let us cease comforting Office upon men merely
as tribute to their success. Find the man with
the ability to perform the duties required, and
then entrust them to him.
Success will be the result.
IA N m pa % A
GEORGE SYLVESTER WRECK.
IA IA hn "a
George Sylvester Viereck is the name of the
young man who has been editing the magazine
until lately known as, The Fatherland, an %out-and-
out organ of German opinion in the United States.
Viereck has been lambasted as much and as un-
mercifully as Bob LaFollette and "Gum Shoe"
Bill Stone.
Like the boy that stood on the burning deck,
Viereck stood up for the cause of the Kaiser until
the ship sunk.
More than usual interest has been elected in
what will Viereck say" now that the American
Government is at war with Germany. 1t seems,
however, that Viereck is no reasonable person.