The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-05
By CHARLES S. MELuEN

V
 StoCkbridEr, Mass., Sept 5-AI- thoush | am, out of the "swim." I have been oblo thus far to turn my capital Cvor SD that my income amounts to as much as f ever did.
 "Trs all on account of the middle men, It sceus my expenses have lucrcasod three times as much as they were bcfoyv> the war, Df course tho wa~ ls responsible fov part of th.s increase, but for ,hc res ! blame it onto tha mtddlcucu,
 Fifty per CorJ, Of Che population of this country arc producing, And ft IS certain that a great proportion of the 50 DOT cvut, arc middlomcu
 They iuclvdc bankers, brokers, aucttouoyrs or6 tho Lord knows what sorna ot whom, no doubt. work hard for a IIv'us, and some of whom are barnaClCS.
 auldiCmCnS Profits.
 Aa an instance showing how tho ron-producing 5O per cent, live, let me tel you about one particular product | raisC--cclory,
 T wanted Co soil about 10 acres of thIs product, and accordingly notified a commission man, ITo offered me one cent a bunch, The retailers at that time vycrc selling it at 25 cents a buuch, Rather than sell tho eel cry at such ridlCulously low price I let it rot in the ground,
 This enormously wide margin be- tween what tho farmer gets and what the retailer gets exists in the turn over of tho majority of the farmer s products. It Is an abnormal COndi- ton, and a condition that must soon ,r or later cEanEe-mure people must become producers.
 I think it would be Q good move on the part of the government to aS- sist people to get on the land.
 Tho plans of Secretary of Interior Lane thus far seem tC have failed Co win the approval of Congress, and vet. if he had been able to go through with his scheme 1t certainly would have been good stroke of business on the part of the government.
 While the return to the govern mcnt for financing such a scheme would be slow at first. it would not be many years until tho country got 1t all back, and then, look at what a5- set tho country would have.
 And the quickest way for the coun- try Co get into a normal condition is to increase production in all lines. Is would solve the problems which for the most part seem to be matched in the thickly conEcsted, overpopulated cities.
 New York has 9Oo,0oo foreigners in one a1uara mile. While there are no doubt many factory hands among them who are essential 10 the eco homie fabric of the country. there are many who arc elling out an eN- lstaucc as middlemcu.
 There are a lot of men in soft jobs who arc scarcely making ends meet who. # they had Inc sumption to shed their l5zincss. could be real pro- dacors.
 It's surprising how many droucs there arc. ! used to remark to my self about it when I was getting the urinca1y salary of Sgg.oO month in a railroad office.
 As soon 1s the whistle blew at noon or closing tiuo the stopping of pencils sounded like a barrage of ma chime guns It did not matter whether |ha users of tho pencils were half through adding a column of figures ur u0t--d0wu went the pencils.
 ur course. in a mans success everything does not depend upon his talent as grind" Opportunity plays aU important part.
 Then, too. having perception enough to avail oneself of opportunity is another important part of the mental equipment of the successful man Courage and seIf-couddence Ca step out even though the outcome may not be certain are also necessary qualities.
 The first opportunity that came to mo to rise in the railroad business filled me full of misEivings whether ] should take advantage of it or not ] knew from the standpoint of sea s0ucd experience l was not qualified to ulI the position. I had had very little outside experience, knew very little about construction, tracks and the troubles of the operators of the trains, and the troubles that would come up in dealing with the pub l.c
 But after much fearful thought decided to put in for the job. Fort. unately for me, ] was given a trial and l worked as hard as l knew how 10 make good.
 As soon as l became familiar witt this work l began to observe tho work of the man who was ahead ot me, and I absorbed as much infor. nation about his work as was pos sible. It was not long before another opportunity presented itself
 It was another stickler, and wasn't quite sure whether I shoulC take advantage of 1t or not.
 I took the job, however, and again made good. It was in a man ner similar to this that l met all tn, rest of the opportunities that followeO and I always had the same menta struggle as to whether or not I shoul, accept them. Now. as I look bacl over my A years of railroading, I car see where l might have gone alonl different lines than I did.
 There were many men whom me in my railroad experience who strucl me as being more capable than ] They went their way, and I wen mine Many of these men later cam under my Jurisdiction - men wh, were thoroughly capable, but fo whom the opportunities did not breal exactly right, or for whom they Ie, from the big goal instead of towar, it.
 So you see, there is some luck in mans progress besides the con scicntious work he must do in learn