The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1921-12-22
work Hard, Increasingly and Save Some
Money and Success is Yours is Dec
laration of Railway Head.
SAYS HE DESPISES THE IDLE RICH
From Boy Earning Ten Cents Day. Mr.. Beggs Has
Risen to Be the Greatest Electrical
Financer in World

VIII pull you down than help you I'd,
have found, however, that it is bet
ter to boost someone else up the lad
der Of success instead of pulling him
down. By boosting him, you auto
matically make a place on the rungs
for yourself"
Tells of His Own Start.
And then Mr.. Beggs told of the way
IN which he had started in life. Be-
fore telling of that interesting story.
however, it might be wise to say that
Mr.. Beggs is "A years of age, looks so
and does the work of a man of Is.
tie has hit the ball al his life and has
started many other men on the right
road to success. As president and
general manager of the Milwaukee
Electric Railway G. Light companv-
with controlling interests in other
similar projects in st. Louis and Bos-
ton, as well as countless smaller pub
lie utility projects in the United
States, Mr.. Beggs may be considered
success.
Il started in life turning 1900 bricks
2 day for the sum Of 20 cl4Its, . "
beggs Stat6a. Prom 5here was a
butcher-5oy in Philadelphia, and / did
odd chores in Harrisburg. did any,
thing that | could find to do. always
made it point to save something.
That is my advice to any young man.
Save something for a rainy day and
for the day that an opportunity NAV
come up-opportunities do come up
unexpectedly and with little ready
cash they are turning points in a
mans career. Being born in poverty,
however, is heritage" he said.
Had Real Struggle.
The struggle of Mr.. Beggs in his
climb upward interested the audience
at ST. Matthew's. The trials and pri-
vations undergone by Mr.. Beggs made
their impression upon the gathering
at the Guild hail. He told of an ex-
perience that he once had when he
was getting SO a week in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania. 81 went to three board
ing places and they all wanted $3.50
a week for board. But l finally pre-
vailed upon one landlady and l was
given a small room On the top floor,
where the roof slanted down, for SIS
a week. l afterwards married my
landlady's sister," Mr.. Beggs said.
Related to Burns.
Mr.. Beggs attributes his success in
part to his parentage. On his moth
er's side of the family, Mr.. Beggs
inherits the Celtic qualities of mag
ination, poetry and romanticism. From
his father, Mr.. Beggs takes the thrift
of the Scotch and their outstanding
character. Mr.. Beggs stated that he
was distantly related to Robert Burns,
Scottish poet, as the wife of Robert
Burns was a Beggs before her mar
riage to the Scotch bard.
As worker and a producer, Mr..
Beggs has an adherence of the idle
rich. "The idle rich / despise," he
declared. "It's the idle rich that
bring odium on men who have gotten
along in life. When my work ceases
to be my recreation, I'll quit. / re-
tired once, on the first Of November,
1898, and | had the ambition to see
every corner of the earth. I did not
work during that year or the next.
Those two years were the only vaca-
ton that l ever have had. I don't
have time nor the inclination for va
cations. But Thomas A. Edison and
other friends of mine urged me to 20
to Cincinnati and straighten up a mat
ter of a public utility in that city.
couldn't refuse and after two years
in that city the street car lines were
on a paying basis In the spring of
1896-it was in February was called
to Milwaukee where the public utili-
ties were in bankrupt condition.
They were re-fnanced and put on q
paying basis and some of the men IA
the house are old enough to remembsR
that. I have been working ever since.
And want to die fighting the good
fight"
As a lifelong manager of public
utilities, Mr.. Beggs declared that he
had gotten more abuse and adverse
publicity than perhaps any other man
in the United States. "The newspa-
pers went after me, are still after me,
and will, / suppose, be after me-" he
remarked smilingly.
When the applause had died down
after Mr. Beggsi speech, the entire
assemblage Joined in the singing Of
Christmas carols. The collection
which had been taken at the dinner
table, one-half of which is to be given
to the st. Matthew's Friendly club and
the other half to the Kenosha com
munity basket fund, was found t.
hava matted so5-