The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1918-11-23
FORTUNES NOT
MADE IN RUTS.

3. C. Forbes in The Wall Stree
Journal: Fortunes were never nlad'
by travelling in ruts. Most of the
successful American leaders had II
get out Of the business In which the.
originally began and courageousls
start Off on new tracks before they
achieved any wonderful results. II
the Old World the natural thing is
for the son to follow his fathers foot
steps. In the New World the sons
who have risen highest more often
! than not have carved out riches for
their own feet, changing their course
If necessary, even after they have
passed the meridian Of life.
Edward L. Doheny. new oil king OF
Mexico and California, had never
seen an oil we'll until he was almost
40, and on his fortieth birthday had
not saved a dollar for each year of
his life. He has made at least a mil
lion dollars a year from oil since
lthen-he is now g..
James Stillman was ready to retire
from business-he was a cotton mer-
chant-before ever he sat at bank
| desk; yet it was as a banker that he
made his reputation and the bulk of
his huge fortune.
e. Fl. Gary was a lawyer and also
a judge, and had reached middle age,
before he became associated with the
steel industry.
A. Barton Hepburn was a school
teacher, school principal, a lawyer,
mI1 tnPa "a
fore he had anything whatever to do
with banking. But he raised the
Chase National bank from next to
nothing to one Of the strongest in the
whole country, and made such a
name for himself that the highest
honors in the banking and CONNER
cial worlds were conferred upon him,
/ including the presidency Of the New
York Chamber Of Commerce.
John D. Ryan was an oil drummer
until we'll into his 30s, and then be-
came associated with Marcus Days
financial institutions in Montana be-
fore ever he tried his hand at man
aging a copper mine. Yet he is now
recognized as the ablest copper auth
ority H. III. Rogers ever picked, and,
indeed, second to none in the coun-
| try.
Were one to analyze the careers of
two or three hundred Of our leading
men of finance and industry it would
probably develop that not half OF
them continued in the line of busi-
ness in which they started, but struck
boldly out into the direction where
they saw the biggest opportunities
and where their inclination lay.
One of the earliest and most mo-
table instances Of this asCommodore
Vanderbilt, who was so old before he
turned to railroading that his family
and his advisers importuned him to
let, well enough alone and not to en-
ter an entirely new field at his time
of life. !
This readiness Of brainy giants to
take up new things and to throw
their whole selves into them is really
one Of the principal reasons why the
United States has led the world in
so many lines Of endeavor. Wealthy
Europeans, as rule, avoid the new,
avoid untried paths; they are in
clined to worship precedent. +
The American is fascinated by
novel problems. by ungauged and un-
gaugeable difficulties. He glories in
building a Panama canal after Eur
ope's most famous engineer had fail
ed. Because Europe has never ven
tured to build skyscrapers that is no
reason why a Woolworth should not
rear a structure more than SO stories
In the air. For centuries man had
dreamed OF flying, but without sue
cess; yet a, two y. obscure American
lads, nothing daunted, experimental
until they conquered the air. The
original Mccormick was farmer.
not a mechanic, but that did not
deter him from making up his mind
to produce a machine which would
cut grain, and he did not give up un-
til he had made both a reaper and a
fortune. 81