The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-02-09

The following Is presented as
reply to many letters which come to
the writer Of this column from time
to time, sometimes from men who
have become cynical, more often
from ambitious young men who
admire the achievements Of leaders
I'm our business and financial world
and who want to know something
about how these men got their start.
In America the workman Of yes.
terday is the capitalist Of today. And
the workman of today will be the
capitalist of tomorrow. Have no
doubts on that score. How often do
we hear: 1.-THE workman nowadays
haven't a chance" Hasn't he?
Let's see, now, just who is who
and who was who.
Who are these terrible capitalists
anyway? Where did they come
from? Were they born that way or
did they make themselves? Were
they once upon a time ordinary
workers like the rest Of US? Did
they start at scratch?
Let's begin with the reputedly
richest man on earth. Was John ID.
Rockefeller born with a golden
spoon in his mouth? Was his
brother, William, also enormously
wealthy? No. John d. was as poor
as a church mouse and borrowed
modest sum on which to start bust
ness on his own account.
How about Andrew Carnegie? Did
he not begin in an engine room at "A
dollar or so a week and have to slave
like a grown-up to exc out a slender
existence for his mother? No silver
spoon there-not even a steel one,
only horn one.
The greatest industry in the
United States is railroading. The
first railroad giant i'm this country
was Commodore Vanderbilt. He, as
all the world knows, was not reared
on any lap of luxury. James ].
Hill had neither purse nor influence
when he set out to fulfill the in
junction decreed upon fallen Adam,
but he worked like a Trojan trans
forming wildernesses into fruitful
farms and making two blades of
grass grow where only weeds and
waste luxuriated before, and thus
earning for himself the title, THE
Grand Old Man of the Northwest"
And was not Edward II. Hartman
the son Of a poor, underpaid minis.
ter. and did he not do his own CAPT
tai making?
Call the roll of other great rail-
road men. dead and alive, and you
will find that almost every one OF
them began at the very bottom.
What such notable railroad presi-
dents as Underwood. OF the Erie;
Howard Elliott. of the Nothern Pa
cific: Rea, of the Pennsylvania
Kruttschnitt. Of Southern Pacific:
Truesdale, Of Lackawanna. and a
score of others? Not one of them
was born great or had greatness
thrust upon him. They have won
1t by the sweat Of their Srows and
brai1R.
Not one Of our steel magnates was
born rich. Gary. the head of the
Steel Corporation, was a none too
opulent Illinois lawyer, and Presi.
| dent Farrell, after starting as a day
laborer. won his spurs as a steel
salesman. Schwab. "the grea test
| steel man OF them ALL" according to
Carnegie, was once as poor as he
| now Is rich-he is the largest stock
holder and the dominator Of the
Bethlehem Steel Corporation.
Theodore N. Vail, the genius who
amazed Christendom by his build
ing up Of the most wonderful tele-
| phone system in the world, a sys.
tenn beside which all others are
| Lflliputian, had to start from
scratch-not once, but oftener. No
switchboard operator was ever kept
| buster than he.
| Was not Edispn as scant of cash
at the outset as the proverbial in
| ventor-he begged his first break.
fast in New York? Henry Ford,
the automobile wizard, recently re-
| called that less than twenty years
ago he couldn't get credit to buy a
Thanksgiving turkey; now he is
rated as second only to Rockefeller