Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1922-12-15
PUT SAFETY LAST
British Sailor Reversed the Usual
Order of Things.
Much TO Be Said In Commentator OF
the Change, Says Writer in
Eastern Magazine.

Captain Campbell, v. c., royal navy.
hero of mystery ships, used to put in
his night order book as a closing ad-
monition, safety last"
Time and again Captain Campbell
took chance and came through, while
the cautious took their caution down
to Davy Jones' locker.
America was discovered because
Christopher Columbus dared to jump
across the sky line. The restless and
audacious enterprise which advanced
the frontiers OF American business was
but carrying on of the explorer and
the pioneer.
The sheltered-life theory means
either premature demise or an over
supply of weaklings. The street that
breeds strong men is not Easy street.
Danger and risk are as essential in
molding strength as air and food are,
observes the Saturday Evening Post.
America would do we'll at this mo-
ment to call back something of the
devil-may-care bravado of her cattle
kings and her clipper captains. They
were strong men with strong vices, but
also with strong virtues; pungent char
acters in pungent age.
The life of Sir William Van Horne Is
great sermon on the text safety
last" Donald Smith and his col
leagues had vision of clamping all
British North America with an iron
10 NFinvnonn1ic To
consult with James ]. Hill.
"You need" said Hill, ga man Of
great mental and physical power to
put the line through. Van Horne can
do it."
From the first the scheme was prob
lematical. The railway man who un-
dertook 1t was risking his career. Van
Horne had before him an assured sue
cess in the United States, but as a
friend put it, "He went off chasing rab-
bits into the wilderness" The task
which called him was the execution
Of the greatest railway project in the
world. The natural obstacles to be
overcome were unparalleled. Un-
daunted he turned his back on the easy
places and yentured forth.
Said one of his engineers, "He al
ways acted as II nothing were impos-
sible. He was not always right. He
was the kind that would 60 out on the
side of 1 mountain and say Blow that
down. He would not ask IL 1t could
be done. He would say, DO til Some
In ir,,racCihln r1ndnN
ordinary circumstances, but he had
such luck. Some accident or other
would happen so the thing could be
blown up or torn down without any
harm. His luck. his daring and his
fearlessness just carried him through"
Or, to put it more clearly, pluck car
RED him through.
Physical obstacles were the least Of
the opposition met by Van Horne and
his colleagues. ION one fateful day in
July" writes Professor Shelton, when
the final passage of the bill was being
tensely awaited. the Canadian Pacific,
which can borrow $50,0OO,0OO any day
before breakfast, was within three
hours of bankruptcy for lack Of few
hundred thousand dollars"
Optimism Is nice word, but right
now pluck is thousand times more
what we are needing. Amid the soft
ness of today we need more stoutness
of heart. There is a Gaelic phrase,
"Sioul fear ferrail," which means "the
sons Of manly men," On the floor Of the
stock exchange, on the floor Of the
reeking foundry, wherever there Is hest
tation there Is call for the sons OF
manly men, a call for those who are
possessed Of that good old-fashioned
Anglo-Saxon virtue Of pluck.